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An overview of the current use of handwritten text recognition (HTR) on archival manuscript material, as provided by the EU H2020 funded Transkribus platform. It explains HTR, demonstrates Transkribus, gives examples of use cases, highlights the affect HTR may have on scholarship, and evidences this turning point of the advanced use of digitised heritage content. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper adopts a case study approach, using the development and delivery of the one openly available HTR platform for manuscript material.

Transkribus has demonstrated that HTR is now a useable technology that can be employed in conjunction with mass digitisation to generate accurate transcripts of archival material. Use cases are demonstrated, and a cooperative model is suggested as a way to ensure sustainability and scaling of the platform. However, funding and resourcing issues are identified.

The paper presents results from projects: further user studies could be undertaken involving interviews, surveys, etc.

Only HTR provided via Transkribus is covered: however, this is the only publicly available platform for HTR on individual collections of historical documents at time of writing and it represents the current state-of-the-art in this field.

The increased access to information contained within historical texts has the potential to be transformational for both institutions and individuals.

This is the first published overview of how HTR is used by a wide archival studies community, reporting and showcasing current application of handwriting technology in the cultural heritage sector.

Introduction Much work has been done on the phenomenon of electropolishing since it was discovered by Jaquat. Most of this work was directed towards the elucidation of the polishing mechanism as well as establishing conditions for polishing of different metals and alloys. Studies on the polishing mechanism have revealed that electropolishing is a diffusion‐controlled process, which takes place at the limiting current, and electropolishing can therefore be treated quantitatively using the theory of mass transfer to the cathodic deposition of metal and metal powder. Some work has been done on the study of electropolishing under forced convection mass transfer conditions. A notable recent investigation involving copper and copper‐based alloys in a stirred cell is due to the study of Gabe and strongly suggests a diffusion‐limited mechanism at low temperature. Fouad et al. studied mass transfer under free convection in the electropolishing of vertical copper electrodes in phosphoric acid.

Human resource analytics (HRA) is a practice that is emerging within the human resources function. This chapter aims to provide an overview of the knowledge that currently exists about HRA and to identify facilitators and restraints of using HRA. Based on both emerging trends in the literature and in-depth interviews with key practitioners in the field, the authors deduce recommendations for organisations to effectively employ HRA. The analysis shows that HRA is ready to add value towards organisational effectiveness, although barriers exist in realising its potential for the same. Facilitators of HRA include the right set of competencies, with relationship building identified as especially important.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) present challenges in their social and communication skills such as difficulties in developing interpersonal relationships and verbal and nonverbal communication; repetitive and restricted behaviors concerning resistance to environmental change, stereotyped movements and unusual reactions to sensory stimuli; and significant delays in motor development and performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a combined visual arts and exercise program on the communication and social behavior skills of people with ASD.

The research was conducted in a Creative Employment Center of People with Disabilities, and the sample consisted of 18 participants with ASD divided randomly into a control group (CG) (n = 8) and an experiment group (EG) (n = 10). The Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) was used prior and after the implementation of the intervention program. EG participants attended an intervention program, whereas CG individuals followed their daily routine activities, and they only completed the SCQ prior and after the program.

EG demonstrated statically significant improvements in communication skills and social behavior, compared to the results of the CG. Furthermore, participants with Asperger’s syndrome showed a higher improvement rate compared to participants with autism, while no statistically significant differences were noticed concerning gender and age of the participants.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to investigate the effect of a combined visual arts and adapted physical activity program on the social and communication skills of people with ASD.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of mutual funds during the COVID-19 pandemic with environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. The main research question is whether mutual fund performance differs with respect to the level of the mutual fund’s ESG score.

The data set contains global fund data, and mutual fund performance is analyzed using two types of data envelopment analysis (DEA) models: the DEA portfolio index (DPEI) and the range direction measure (RDM) DEA. Propensity score matching and logistic regression are also applied.

The results reveal that: nonequity mutual funds present significantly higher performance compared to the performance of equity mutual funds; mutual funds with high ESG scores are associated with significantly higher performance compared to those with low to medium ESG scores; funds with high ESG scores experience higher performance irrespective of their type; and efficiency scores derived from the RDM DEA are significantly higher than those derived from the DPEI model.

Investors, fund managers and market participants can benefit from the findings of this study and improve their investment decision-making process, including more sustainable funds in their portfolios. Regulators and policymakers should further promote or even require the inclusion of more sustainable investments in the financial products offered by institutional investors. The main limitation of the study is related to data availability regarding the ESG score of mutual funds.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that provides robust evidence in support of a positive association between ESG scores and mutual fund performance during the pandemic-induced crisis applying a DEA methodology.

This study investigates the influence of organizational social capital (OSC) on the social and economic performance of social enterprises (SEs) in Greece and the mediating role of social entrepreneurship orientation (SEO) in these relationships.

A theoretical framework was developed integrating resource-based theory, OSC theory and behavioral entrepreneurship theory. The data were collected from 345 Greek SEs and structural equation modeling (SEM) with bootstrap analysis was employed to estimate path coefficients.

This study shows that OSC positively impacts SEs’ social and economic performance, while SEO mediates only the relationship between OSC and SEs’ social performance. This research offers insights for scholars, practitioners and policymakers in social entrepreneurship by highlighting the significance of OSC and SEO.

This study contributes to the literature on SEs by integrating resource-based theory, OSC theory and behavioral entrepreneurship theory, presenting a novel comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding SEs’ performances. Additionally, the study advances the understanding of SEO as a mediator in the relationship between OSC and SEs’ social and economic performance. The unique focus on the Greek context provides a valuable setting for examining the relationships among OSC, SEO and SEs’ performances.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of mean stress and stress amplitude on the asymmetric cyclic deformation behavior of SA333 Gr-6 C-Mn steel. Such type of loading may arise during the service period because of the load fluctuations, thermal gradients and sudden loading like seismic events. Tests were also carried out at different temperatures to understand the effect of it on sensitiveness of the materials deformation behavior.

Cylindrical specimen of 8-mm gauge diameter and 15-mm gauge length was fabricated from the pipe section along its axis. Stress controlled ratcheting tests were carried out by using triangular waveform for cyclic loading. The strain accumulations were measured using 12.5-mm gauge length extensometer. Ratcheting tests were carried out at fixed stress amplitude of 400 MPa and mean stress varying from 0 to 75 MPa, whereas at the fixed mean stress of 100 MPa and stress amplitude varies from 300 to 400 MPa at 300°C. To study the effect of temperature on ratcheting behavior, tests were carried out at a load of 100 MPa mean stress and 350 MPa stress amplitude, with a varying temperature between room temperature and 350°C. The stress rate of 115 MPas-1 was kept constant for all the tests.

Increase in mean stress and stress amplitude, ratcheting strain and plastic strain amplitude increases, whereas ratcheting life decreases. With an increase in temperature, ratcheting life increases and strain accumulation decreases up to 300°C, whereas on further increase in temperature, strain accumulation increases with reduction in ratcheting life. Minimum ratcheting rate was observed at 250°C and 300°C. The dynamic strain aging (DSA) phenomena lead to the hardening of the material. The investigated steel shows DSA temperature regime lies between 250°C and 300°C. The failure modes at 250°C and 300°C temperature was transgranular, whereas at 350°C complete ductile.

The stress rate and loading condition may vary to study the ratcheting behavior.

From this study, the critical cyclic load may be determined. The DSA temperature regime of this material is determined at this stress rate. This could help to evaluate the cyclic deformation behavior of the material with temperature changes.

In this investigation, the DSA temperature regime has been determined where maximum ratcheting life, minimum strain accumulation and ratcheting rate were observed. The critical load where the minimum life of the material occurred at elevated temperature is 100 MPa mean stress and 400 MPa stress amplitude.

Place-based foodstuffs have gained salience in markets worldwide and geographical indication (GI) products are prominent examples. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the governance (formal and informal institutions) of the European and Japanese GI schemes, discuss the variety of procedures of implementing the features of the governance system (inclusion and exclusion of actors) for six GI cases and reflect on future GI governance.

The criteria for assessing the six cases were descriptive and analytical and the information and data come from official documents, literature (scientific and “grey”), interviews, observations and personal communications with key-informants of the GI systems. Three of the cases are categorized as “failures” and are included to provide more insights on the diverse dynamics of GI systems.

Registration of GIs seems to be a process rather than a single step, requesting coordination and consensus and an interplay between internal and external actors. “Success” and “failure” are relative and related to self-governance processes and the openness of the social system of the GI to establish transparency on inclusion and exclusion. GI systems require constant management and re-definition of production quality or geographical boundaries to adapt to market, climate or technological change.

The paper introduces GI systems categorized as “failures” (either products that did not register as GIs in the end or did register but failed to keep the registration) which provides more insights on how to design and manage complex GI systems.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss added value in the context of current research information systems (CRISs) based on metadata enrichment.

This discussion paper uses literature review as well as analysis of CRISs specifications to discuss added value possibilities.

Added value of the CRISs is in their integration and interoperability with the same and similar information systems. Since metadata plays key roles in interoperability of information systems, therefore focussing on metadata-related issue can add considerable values to CRISs. Two types of metadata can be distinguished in every CRISs including macro- and micro-metadata. In terms of macro-metadata common European research information format (CERIF) by itself is an added value for CRIS because it draws a complete view of the research landscape including entities and their relations. CERIF metadata structure is designed in such a way that supports micro- and macro-metadata.

There is a lack of literature on adding value to research information systems especially CRIS and particularly how value can be added in CRISs still is an unanswered question. CRIS developers can use this paper as a road map to choose the most valuable strategy for adding value to their systems.