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This paper draws on the results of telephone surveys conducted to assess the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the young people of two longitudinal cohorts (aged 19 and 26 years old at the time) of the four countries that participate in the Young Lives research programme: Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam. We first review the pandemic experiences of these four countries, which differed significantly, and report on the responses of the individual young people to the pandemic and the measures taken by governments. Our main focus is on how the pandemic and policy responses impacted on the education, work and food security experiences of the young people. Unsurprisingly the results show significant adverse effects in each of these areas, though again with differences by country. The effects are mostly more severe for poorer individuals. We stress the challenges that COVID-19 is creating for meeting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, in particular in making it more difficult to ensure that no one is left behind.

Contemporary businesses face rapidly evolving changes and complexities that challenge their respective managerial responses and capabilities. The natures of information and communication systems, ways of doing business, knowledge-transfer methods, diffusion channels of innovation, and industrial habitus are shifting. Additionally, methods, concepts, and frameworks to study these challenges need to be in accordance.

Many of these features characterizing the new business environment influence not only the consumer business, but also the business-to-business (B2B) sectors and their ways of functioning. Interestingly, the influence also connects domestic with international business through the global connectedness. This is particularly visible in marketing communication, as the difference between domestic and international business communication has further diminished due to digital and virtual dimensions and applications. In this new age, it is assumed that new ventures and small- and medium-sized enterprises can turn their vulnerabilities and size constraints into competitive advantages by addressing these challenges with efficient social media usage. To address this technology-enabled dimension of B2B relations, the authors present a case study illustrating how a firm advances its relationship management and communication by introducing social media instruments. The study contributes to relationship management and international marketing communication and provides new insights into the workings of social media within the B2B context.

To report on the evaluation of error of a face matching system consisting of a 3D sensor for obtaining the surface of the face, and a two‐stage matching algorithm that matches the sensed surface to a model surface.

Rigid mannikin face that was, otherwise, fairly realistic was obtained, and several sensing and matching experiments were performed. Pose position, lighting and face color were controlled.

The combined sensor‐matching system typically reported correct face surface matches with trimmed RMS error of 0.5 mm or less for a generous volume of parameters, including roll, pitch, yaw, position, lighting, and facecolor. Error accelerated beyond this “approximately frontal” set of parameters. Mannikin results are compared to results with thousands of cases of real faces. The sensor accuracy is not a limiting component of the system, but supports the application well.

The sensor supports the application well (except for the current cost). Equal error rates achieved appear to be practical for face verification.

No similar report is known for sensing faces.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on: first, what major impacts do organizers perceive special events to create, and how do they measure an event’s success? second, do these perceived impacts align with the major themes of economic benefits, social impacts, and community cohesiveness revealed in the existing literature? and third, why do event organizers perceive these major impacts?

In order to gain a better understanding of the types of community impact event organizers anticipate from, and attempt to solicit through special events, this study makes use of a survey with open-ended questions. Such questions enable a broader discussion between interviewees and interviewers, giving interviewees greater response leeway and generating more material for the researcher’s analysis.

Findings suggest that bringing the community together, producing economic benefits for local businesses, and creating socializing and educational opportunities for visitors are the primary impacts anticipated by interviewed event organizers. In particular, providing a positive experience by getting the community involved proves to be the key element to the success of any special event discussed.

There are a couple of limitations to the study. First, the study presented a relatively small sample. Second, these results may relate to the institutions located along Lake Erie where parks and recreation have long been viewed as an integral part of community life.

This study represents a first attempt to complement the quantitative data in the former research with a qualitative study. Through in-depth interviews, it sets out to create a dialogue from the event organizers along Lake Erie in the USA to help better understand the impacts of special events prepared by Parks and Recreation Departments.

Douwe Beijaard, PhD, is full professor and director of the Eindhoven School of Education, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands. His current research themes are the professional identity, quality and development of (beginning) teachers, as well as teachers’ roles in educational innovations.

Researcher Highlight: Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875–1950)