Mathematical morphology: A useful set of tools for image analysis

In this paper we give an overview of both classical and more modern morphological techniques. We will demonstrate their utility through a range of practical examples. After discussing the fundamental morphological ideas, we show how the classic morphological opening and closing filters lead to measures of size via granulometries, and we will discuss briefly their implementation. We also present an overview of morphological segmentation techniques, and the use of connected openings and thinnings will be demonstrated. This then leads us into the more recent set-theoretic notions of graph based approaches to image analysis.     

Resilience of organisations and territories: The role of pivot firms

How can organisations and territories contribute to maintain a high level of innovation while at the same time adapting to a turbulent environment? We give an answer to this question by mobilizing the concept of resilience. In order to do this, we develop a conception of resilience based on two dimensions. First, an organisational dimension which refers to the capacity of an organisation to manage a disturbance to its environment and to develop a new pathway and, a territorial dimension which refers to the collective capacity of the actors to contribute to facilitate the development of territorial responses to external disturbances. We illustrate this double dimension of resilience by focusing on the role of pivot firm as major actor in a territory.     

Regional Tertiary Students and Living Away from Home: A priceless experience that costs too much?

For financial reasons, an increasing number of tertiary students in Australia are forced to work long hours each week, and they are becoming more likely to be living in relative poverty. This study aimed to explore and describe the economic situation of students at a provincial Australian university campus, and the role that type of residence plays in their financial well‐being. A large‐scale self report survey dealing with students' financial experiences during the 2003 academic year, was distributed to a convenience sample of students from across the courses offered on the campus. Quantitative data analysis was completed using SPSS and qualitative data was analysed thematically. Results indicate a strong relationship between type of residence and financial well‐being. Rural students may be especially vulnerable to the effects of financial distress, because of issues such as low cash‐flow on many family farms, and the long distances many travel to attend regional universities. This study indicates a number of possible avenues to protect students from living in poverty.     

Product Design and Supply Chain Coordination Under Extended Producer Responsibility

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation focuses on the life‐cycle environmental performance of products and has significant implications for management theory and practice. In this paper, we examine the influence of EPR policy parameters on product design and coordination incentives in a durable product supply chain. We model a manufacturer supplying a remanufacturable product to a customer over multiple periods. The manufacturer invests in two design attributes of the product that impact costs incurred by the supply chain—performance, which affects the environmental impact of the product during use, and remanufacturability, which affects the environmental impact post‐use. Consistent with the goals of EPR policies, the manufacturer and the customer are required to share the environmental costs incurred over the product's life cycle. The customer has a continuing need for the services of the product and optimizes between the costs of product replacement and the costs incurred during use. We demonstrate how charges during use and post‐use can be used as levers to encourage environmentally favorable product design. We analyze the impact of supply chain coordination on design choices and profit and discuss contracts that can be used to achieve coordination, both under symmetric and asymmetric information about customer attributes.     

Female board directors' resilience against gender discrimination

Despite regulatory efforts to promote gender diversity on boards, women are still severely underrepresented in board leadership in the UK, beyond FTSE 100 companies. Evidence suggests that women, when poorly represented in the workplace, are more likely to suffer discrimination. In this study, we report the first-hand experiences of gender discrimination suffered by female directors and present the process of how they build resilience through developing coping strategies. Such resilience-building processes seem to vary with the length of board experience of female directors. At the outset of their board journey, they adopt avoidant coping strategies of denial and disengagement. However, with experience in boards, they gain the confidence to pursue the active coping strategy of seeking and extending support. This qualitative study is based on 42 elite interviews of board directors and is guided by the resilience theory, in the context of top FTSE boards. The article also discusses the contribution of the study to theory, praxis, and policy.     

Compliance Strategies under Permits for Emissions

We characterize the trade‐offs among firms' compliance strategies in a market‐based program where a regulator interested in controlling emissions from a given set of sources auctions off a fixed number of emissions permits. We model a three‐stage game in which firms invest in emissions abatement, participate in a share auction for permits, and produce output. We develop a methodology for a profit‐maximizing firm to derive its marginal value function for permits and translate this value function into an optimal bidding strategy in the auction. We analyze two end‐product market scenarios independent demands and Cournot competition. In both scenarios we find that changing the number of available permits influences abatement to a lesser extent in a dirty industry than in a cleaner one. In addition, abatement levels taper off with increasing industry dirtiness levels. In the presence of competition, firms in a relatively clean industry can, in fact, benefit from a reduction in the number of available permits. Our findings are robust to changes in certain modeling assumptions.     

Past,Present, and Future: Editorial on Virtual Reality Applications to Human Services

Abstract

“Virtual Reality” interventions in human services may include 360° video, augmented reality, mixed reality, and fully immersive 3-dimensional virtual reality simulations. A variety of applications have been evaluated in various fields of study, including medicine, social work, psychology, and human performance training. Currently, the state of research of VR interventions in human services has primarily focused on efficacy and effectiveness research, with few studies evaluating “scaling up” or implementation of VR interventions in larger populations. Unfortunately, the state of efficacy and effectiveness studies of VR interventions still remains weak with some applications due to smaller sample sizes, lack of randomized control trials, and a gap in reporting key intervention qualities, dosage, and outcomes. With new developments in combining artificial intelligence with VR, realism and the potential for human interaction with computer generated simulations may boost presence and immersion within these applications. This editorial provides an overview of the state of virtual reality applications in human service provision, potential gaps to be addressed by research in the future, and the development of AI based interactive sequences that may boost use presence.