Alternative Framework Research Articles

Ukrainian versus Pan‐Russian Identities: The Roots of Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

AbstractThis article critically analyses commonly used descriptions of Ukrainian politics as divided between ‘nationalist’ versus ‘pro‐Russian’, and ‘ethnic’ versus ‘civic’ forces which do not adequately explain Ukrainian politics or understand the roots of Russian military aggression against Ukraine in 2014 and 2022. An alternative framework is provided of competition between Ukrainian identity, which believes Ukrainians are a distinct people different to Russians, and pan‐Russian identity, which believes Russians and Ukrainians are ‘fraternal brothers’ who have always been and always will be united in the Russian World. The Euromaidan Revolution, Russian military aggression in 2014, increasing domination of Ukrainian identity policies and weakness of pro‐Russian political parties led to the progressive marginalisation of pan‐Russian identity in Ukraine. The marginalisation of pan‐Russian identity and unwillingness of Presidents Petro Poroshenko and Volodymyr Zelenskyy to implement the Russian version of the 2014‐2015 Minsk Accords, which would have transformed Ukraine into a Russian satellite, led to the Kremlin's decision to launch a full‐scale invasion on 24 February 2022. The goals of Russia's full‐scale invasion were and remain regime change (i.e., installation of a pro‐Russian puppet regime), destruction of Ukrainian identity (i.e., de‐nazification) and its replacement with a hegemonic pan‐Russian identity in a truncated (i.e., without Crimea and New Russia [southeast Ukraine]) Little Russian satellite controlled by Russia (i.e., de‐militarisation).

Standing against racial capitalism: Reconsidering psychology's role in dismantling systemic racism.

The American Psychological Association's resolutions on dismantling systemic racism represent a watershed moment in our discipline, yet confusion remains as to what it means to "dismantle" racism given psychology's emphasis on changing individual beliefs. This submission will review the tension between "idealist" interpretations of critical race theory emphasizing individual beliefs and "realist" perspectives contextualizing racism within political economic arrangements. Psychology's adoption of an "idealist" framework will be shown to privilege a neoliberal project emphasizing individual change and symbolic performances of racial justice instead of structural changes benefitting people of color's material existence. Drawing on a decolonial critique of racial capitalism, we propose an alternative framework to challenge our discipline to broaden its political imagination by supporting evidence-based policies to dismantle racism as a structural and political force. This includes universal policies to reduce racial and economic inequality and population-specific policies such as reparations for African Americans predicted to stimulate economic growth. Urgently, the decolonial lens challenges psychology to theorize racism not as a primarily individual phenomenon but a political force that divides and conquers while enriching white economic elites. To fulfill the promises of the American Psychological Association's resolutions, we must directly challenge the political economic interests that benefit from racism and contribute to the common good as a form of "loving care." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Navigating political terrain: a comprehensive review of leadership theories in political science

Political science is increasingly focusing on the study of leadership factors in its field scope. Therefore, the primary objective of this article is to systematically analyze the use of leadership theories in scholarly publications of political science. This paper also underscores the lack of leadership theories or concepts in political science, offering insights to anyone interested in examining leadership in this academic discipline. This study introduces an alternative framework for analyzing leadership, specifically emphasizing political leadership. Thus, the question addressed in this study is: What leadership theories are applied to the study of political science? This study utilizes the systematic literature review approach, except for the Appraisal Quality stage, to examine political leadership theory and the notion of utilization as discussed in political science. The ROSE protocol is employed in this study due to its suitability for mapping and qualitative studies. Furthermore, PICo is used to formulate research questions in the context of this study. The results of this study, which involved the review of 75 papers, revealed the implementation of leadership theories and concepts in 15 distinct contexts or focus areas. The analysis of leadership in political science places significant emphasis on the dimensions of transformative and transactional leadership styles. Both leadership styles are frequently used in various research contexts. Overall, the prevalence of transformative and transactional leadership theories in political science can be understood as a reflection of the constraints political scientists face in comprehending the nature of leadership within a political context from a scientific standpoint.

An Analysis on Hedging Strategies of Corporates under Ukraine Conflict

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has precipitated significant market volatility, notably affecting the energy and agricultural sectors. This paper offers a concise analysis of corporate hedging tactics in this tumultuous context. Specifically, it examines the energy sector's reaction to fuel price escalations and supply disruptions, highlighting Trafigura Group's revised risk management strategies utilizing financial derivatives to combat market unpredictability. Concurrently, the paper scrutinizes the Louis Dreyfus Company's (LDC) strategic response within the agricultural domain, acknowledging DC's proactive risk management measures, including asset insurance, alternative operational frameworks, and advanced risk assessment protocols. Additionally, the paper delves into the strategic allocation of gold as a corporate hedging instrument amidst geopolitical strife, evaluating its historical efficacy, crisis performance, and status as a potential financial refuge. The discourse concludes by articulating the imperative for adaptive, ongoing recalibration of corporate hedging strategies, underlining the integration of conventional assets like gold for comprehensive risk management amidst the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis.

Bayesian joint modeling of multivariate longitudinal and survival outcomes using Gaussian copulas.

There is an increasing interest in the use of joint models for the analysis of longitudinal and survival data. While random effects models have been extensively studied, these models can be hard to implement and the fixed effect regression parameters must be interpreted conditional on the random effects. Copulas provide a useful alternative framework for joint modeling. One advantage of using copulas is that practitioners can directly specify marginal models for the outcomes of interest. We develop a joint model using a Gaussian copula to characterize the association between multivariate longitudinal and survival outcomes. Rather than using an unstructured correlation matrix in the copula model to characterize dependence structure as is common, we propose a novel decomposition that allows practitioners to impose structure (e.g., auto-regressive) which provides efficiency gains in small to moderate sample sizes and reduces computational complexity. We develop a Markov chain Monte Carlo model fitting procedure for estimation. We illustrate the method's value using a simulation study and present a real data analysis of longitudinal quality of life and disease-free survival data from an International Breast Cancer Study Group trial.

Mahalanobis balancing: A multivariate perspective on approximate covariate balancing

AbstractIn the past decade, various exact balancing‐based weighting methods were introduced to the causal inference literature. It eliminates covariate imbalance by imposing balancing constraints in a certain optimization problem, which can nevertheless be infeasible when there is bad overlap between the covariate distributions in the treated and control groups or when the covariates are high dimensional. Recently, approximate balancing was proposed as an alternative balancing framework. It resolves the feasibility issue by using inequality moment constraints instead. However, it can be difficult to select the threshold parameters. Moreover, moment constraints may not fully capture the discrepancy of covariate distributions. In this paper, we propose Mahalanobis balancing to approximately balance covariate distributions from a multivariate perspective. We use a quadratic constraint to control overall imbalance with a single threshold parameter, which can be tuned by a simple selection procedure. We show that the dual problem of Mahalanobis balancing is an norm‐based regularized regression problem, and establish interesting connection to propensity score models. We derive asymptotic properties, discuss the high‐dimensional scenario, and make extensive numerical comparisons with existing balancing methods.

Group Ownership, Group Interests, and the Ethics of Cultural Exchange

AbstractIn this essay, we address an important problem in the ethics of cultural engagement: the problem of giving a systematic account of when and why outsider use of insider cultural material is permissible or impermissible. We argue that many scholars rely on a problematic notion of collective ownership even when they claim to be disavowing it. After making this case, we motivate an alternative framework for thinking about cultural exchange, which we call the core interests framework. We conclude with some reflections on how this framework helps to raise interesting questions about the most promising accounts of wrongful cultural appropriation.

Contextualizing Transnational Chinese Christianity: A Relational Approach

In recent years, the number of Chinese Christian organizations in Europe has grown considerably compared to other overseas Chinese community organizations. They can mobilize transnational networks and resources to expand religious space in host societies and form a highly visible social force. Although the rise of early Christianity in the Western world has been considered an outcome of inherent religious strength, especially in terms of its central doctrines and religious ethics, this article suggests that in the diasporic Chinese world where Christianity constitutes a non-indigenous religious tradition, social relatedness based on native place, family, and kinship ties provides a more useful context for understanding its dynamic expansion and cross-regional transmission. Drawing on anthropological fieldwork conducted in Europe among overseas Chinese Christian traders and entrepreneurs, this research seeks an alternative framework for understanding the religious-cultural dynamics of Chinese Christianity in the context of transnational migration.

Fatigue on the Beautiful Blue Ocean: the mediation effects of occupational stress and job performance in the job demands-resources theory

ABSTRACT Fatigue is a constant risk impacting the seafaring ability regardless of existing skills, knowledge or received training regarding safety in the shipping industry. A seafarer typically loses focus on personal duties when experiencing high fatigue levels, which results in unproductive distractions. The current study provided an overview of the factors contributing to seafarer fatigue while developing an alternative framework by applying the job demands-resources (JD-R) theory with occupational stress and job performance as the mediators. Purposive sampling was performed to recruit respondents, with a total of 250 valid responses collected via an online questionnaire. Subsequently, structural equation modelling was conducted via the SmartPLS software, which discovered that all direct and mediation hypotheses were supported. Hence, the findings could serve as a reference for seafarers and shipping companies to reflect on the present working practices based on job demands and resources. The results would not only be beneficial to academics but also could practically ensure the sustainability of the maritime industry.

Bio-analog dissipative structures and principles of biological behavior

The place of living organisms in the natural world is a nearly perennial question in philosophy and the sciences; how can inanimate matter yield animate beings? A dominant answer for several centuries has been to treat organisms as sophisticated machines, studying them with the mechanistic physics and chemistry that have given rise to technology and complex machines. Since the early 20th century, many scholars have sought instead to naturalize biology through thermodynamics, recognizing the precarious far-from-equilibrium state of organisms. Erwin Bauer was an early progenitor of this perspective with ambitions of “general laws for the movement of living matter”. In addition to taking a thermodynamic perspective, Bauer recognized that organisms are fundamentally behaving systems, and that explaining the physics of life requires explaining the origins of intentionality, adaptability, and self-regulation. Bauer, like some later scholars, seems to advocate for a “new physics”, one that extends beyond mechanics and classical thermodynamic, one that would be inclusive of living systems. In this historical review piece, we explore some of Bauer's ideas and explain how similar concepts have been explored in modern non-equilibrium thermodynamics and dissipative structure theory. Non-living dissipative structures display end-directedness, self-maintenance, and adaptability analogous to organisms. These findings also point to an alternative framework for the life sciences, that treats organisms not as machines but as sophisticated dissipative structures. We evaluate the differences between mechanistic and thermodynamic perspectives on life, and what each theory entails for understanding the behavior of organisms.

Antecedents of memorable heritage tourism experiences: an application of stimuli–organism–response theory

Purpose Based on stimulus-organism-response theory, this study aims to develop and tests a model of memorable heritage tourism experience (MHTE). The model proposes that experiencescape, experience co-creation, education and photography are important antecedents of MHTE, which is then a driver of place attachment. Design/methodology/approach Data for this study were collected using a Web-based questionnaire of people aged 18 years and over who had a heritage tourism experience during the previous three months (February–April 2023). The survey was distributed in May 2023 using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). A survey link was posted on MTurk, which remained active for the first week of May 2023. Out of the 283 responses received, 272 were valid responses from individuals who met the participation criteria. Findings Experiencescape, experience co-creation, education and photography were found to be positive drivers of the MHTE, with a positive relationship between MHTE and place attachment. Originality/value Many studies linked to memorable tourism experience (MTE) mainly replicate Kim, Ritchie, & McCormick’s (2012) MTE scale, regardless of the specific study context. This study offers an alternative framework through which alternative antecedents and outcomes of tourists’ MTE can be identified.

Intimate Partner Abuse and Homicide During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Situational Action Theory Analysis

During the COVID-19 pandemic, stay-at-home restrictions significantly changed people’s daily lives around the world. Opportunity and strain theories predict this would lead to an increase in intimate partner abuse (IPA), including intimate partner homicide (IPH). This paper applies an alternative theoretical framework—situational action theory (SAT)—to explain mixed findings regarding changes in IPA and unexpected findings regarding (a lack of) changes in IPH. It is argued that SAT may contribute to explaining the impact of stay-at-home restrictions on IPA and IPH in three important ways: 1. by addressing the fact that motivation is necessary but not sufficient for explaining action and better specifying how motivation translates into IPA and IPH; 2. by addressing the fact that people perceive different alternatives for action and better specifying why some people come to see IPA and IPH as acceptable action alternatives; 3. by addressing the fact that exposure affects people differently and better specifying how stay-at-home restrictions shaped people’s activity fields and, in turn, their perceptions and action choices.

Amitav Ghosh’s The Calcutta Chromosome: A Pluriversal Narrative to Decolonise the Past and Confront Universal Eurocentrism

The Calcutta Chromosome takes readers on a convoluted journey through time and space. At once a work of science fiction, a medical mystery, and a history of malaria research, this hybrid novel sets into rivalry India’s old-time wisdom and spirituality against Western science and English colonial presumptuousness, thus advocating transmodernity and the pluriversality put forward by critics such as Rosa María Rodriguez Magda, Enrique Dussel and Walter Mignolo, among others. This paper will analyse the way in which this novel denies the existence of a universal scientific method by deconstructing the certainties of an exclusively rationalist discourse whose discoveries have often gone hand in hand with exploitation, unequal power relations and colonization. Jacques Derrida’s notion of différance and Emmanuel Levinas’s ideas about the ethics of silence and knowledge will also be used to analyse silence as an alternative epistemological framework through which the dominant discourse can be undermined and the subaltern heard, and as a means to make amends for the injustices of the past by reclaiming the histories written by those who were made ‘others’ by the English imperial power.

Global Perspectives on Climate Crisis in Postcolonial Literature: Decolonizing Ecological Narratives

This paper explores the intersection of postcolonial literature and global perspectives on the climate crisis, focusing on how literary narratives decolonize ecological discourse and advocate for environmental justice. Postcolonial literature, emerging from regions formerly colonized by Western powers, offers unique perspectives on environmental issues, challenging dominant Western narratives and proposing alternative frameworks rooted in cultural and historical contexts. Through a comparative and thematic analysis of selected texts, this research examines how postcolonial authors critique colonial legacies, highlight environmental degradation’s disproportionate impact on marginalized communities, and envision sustainable futures grounded in cultural resilience and ecological stewardship.

Notes on Verbal Aspect in Three Vedic Prose Narratives

AbstractThis article summarises the synchronic system of verbal aspect manifest in three Middle Vedic prose narrative texts, investigating the use of various morphological categories with past reference (especially the imperfect, perfect and aorist). I show that the imperfect and perfect are both compatible with multiple aspectual readings (perfective, imperfective and anterior); in the terminology of Dahl (2010), both may have neutral aspect. The aorist is largely restricted to anterior readings but can be perfective. Additionally, I consider the diachronic context of this system, outlining differences from the earlier one visible in the Early Vedic of the Rigveda and discussing the probable diachronic trajectory connecting the two. After commenting on the possibility of characterising the synchronic system within the alternative framework of Altshuler (2014), which lacks the category of neutral aspect, I conclude with notes on the use of the sentential particles ha, nu and vai in the text samples. The first of these seems to be associated with perfective aspect, while the latter two are both associated with anterior aspect.

Separation of Multicomponent Micro-Doppler Signal with Missing Samples

The problem of separating multicomponent micro-Doppler (m-D) signals is common in the field of radar signal processing. In some implementations, it is necessary to separate the multicomponent m-D signal that contains missing samples. To address this issue, an optimization model has been developed to recover and decompose multicomponent m-D signals with missing samples. To solve the underlying optimization problem, a two-algorithm-based alternate iteration framework is proposed. This method uses three techniques—the null space property, ridge regression method, and matching pursuit principle—to estimate the individual component, complex-valued differential operator, and regularization parameter. Finally, as shown by both simulation and measured data processing results, the proposed method can accurately separate the multicomponent m-D signal from incomplete data.

Reevaluating Cosmic Origins: A Critical Analysis of Relic Radiation and Cosmometric Assumptions in Big Bang Cosmology

This article presents a critical examination of two key aspects of Big Bang cosmology: the nature and observability of cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation and geometric inconsistencies or “cosmometric contradictions” within established approaches to cosmology. By dissecting the conventional interpretation of the CMB as relic radiation from a primordial fireball, we uncover that the standard model’s reliance on a spatially homogeneous fluid to represent radiation and matter underestimates the propagation of radiation and leads to the conclusion that the observability of the CMB contradicts its purported origins. Treating free radiation as if it expanded with the universe while disregarding that it escapes from its source at the speed of light is termed here as the “relic radiation blunder”. Furthermore, we delve into the cosmometric contradiction, highlighting how the calculated distances in standard cosmology imply a universe that exceeds the spatial limitations of its own foundational premise. This makes it evident that standard cosmology is not a unitary theory but involves models with conflicting spatial extensions. The analysis suggests a need for a revised understanding of redshift phenomena and cosmic expansion. It advocates for a reassessment of the underpinnings of cosmology, urging the scientific community to consider alternative frameworks that reconcile these critical inconsistencies. This work challenges the inviolable core of established cosmological theory, calling for a paradigm shift to foster foundational advances in our understanding of the universe.

Predicting nature recovery for river restoration planning and ecological assessment: A case study from England, 1991–2042

AbstractThe Global Biodiversity Framework established ambitious goals for nature recovery which governments must now incorporate into national legislation. In England, legally binding targets require authorities to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030 and reverse the decline by 2042. Riverine invertebrates represent a substantial proportion of the species contributing towards the targets. Thus, understanding the response of these species to potential river restoration actions is key to target delivery. We model counts for 188 riverine invertebrate taxa using zero‐inflated generalized Poisson models, applying the models to both inform river restoration planning and set expected values for use in ecological assessment. We identify catchment‐specific restoration strategies that combine one or more actions involving the removal of channel modifications, reductions in nitrate concentrations and reductions in total dissolved phosphorus concentrations as the most likely to deliver species abundance targets across three joint climate–socioeconomic scenarios. By hindcasting species abundances under alternative target frameworks, we also demonstrate a new approach to setting expected values in ecological assessment, accounting for changes in water temperature and hydrology that confound historical reference models presently used by regulators. Our findings represent the first systematic attempt to prioritise major actions to deliver species abundance targets in England, providing valuable insights for policymakers, river restoration practitioners and authorities responsible for monitoring river ecosystems.

RE-AIM for rural health innovations: perceptions of (mis) alignment between the RE-AIM framework and evaluation reporting in the Department of Veterans Affairs Enterprise-Wide Initiatives program.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Rural Health (ORH) supports national VA program offices' efforts to expand health care to rural Veterans through its Enterprise-Wide Initiatives (EWIs) program. In 2017, ORH selected Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM), an implementation science framework, to structure the EWI evaluation and reporting process. As part of its mandate to improve EWI program evaluation, the Center for the Evaluation of Enterprise-Wide Initiatives conducted a qualitative evaluation to better understand EWI team' perceptions of, and barriers and facilitators to, the EWI evaluation process. We conducted 43 semi-structured interviews with 48 team members (e.g., evaluators, program office leads, and field-based leads) representing 21 EWIs from April-December 2020. Questions focused on participants' experiences using strategies targeting each RE-AIM dimension. Interviews were inductively analyzed in MAXQDA. We also systematically reviewed 51 FY19-FY20 EWI annual reports to identify trends in misapplications of RE-AIM. Participants had differing levels of experience with RE-AIM. While participants understood ORH's rationale for selecting a common framework to structure evaluations, the perceived misalignment between RE-AIM and EWIs' work emerged as an important theme. Concerns centered around 3 sub-themes: (1) (Mis)Alignment with RE-AIM Dimensions, (2) (Mis)Alignment between RE-AIM and the EWI, and (3) (Mis)Alignment with RE-AIM vs. other Theories, Models, or Frameworks. Participants described challenges differentiating between and operationalizing dimensions in unique contexts. Participants also had misconceptions about RE-AIM and its relevance to their work, e.g., that it was meant for established programs and did not capture aspects of initiative planning, adaptations, or sustainability. Less commonly, participants shared alternative models or frameworks to RE-AIM. Despite criticisms, many participants found RE-AIM useful, cited training as important to understanding its application, and identified additional training as a future need. The selection of a shared implementation science framework can be beneficial, but also challenging when applied to diverse initiatives or contexts. Our findings suggest that establishing a common understanding, operationalizing framework dimensions for specific programs, and assessing training needs may better equip partners to integrate a shared framework into their evaluations.

Scaling approaches and macroecology provide a foundation for assessing ecological resilience in the Anthropocene.

In the Anthropocene, intensifying ecological disturbances pose significant challenges to our predictive capabilities for ecosystem responses. Macroecology-which focuses on emergent statistical patterns in ecological systems-unveils consistent regularities in the organization of biodiversity and ecosystems. These regularities appear in terms of abundance, body size, geographical range, species interaction networks, or the flux of matter and energy. This paper argues for moving beyond qualitative resilience metaphors, such as the 'ball and cup', towards a more quantitative macroecological framework. We suggest a conceptual and theoretical basis for ecological resilience that integrates macroecology with a stochastic diffusion approximation constrained by principles of biological symmetry. This approach provides an alternative novel framework for studying ecological resilience in the Anthropocene. We demonstrate how our framework can effectively quantify the impacts of major disturbances and their extensive ecological ramifications. We further show how biological scaling insights can help quantify the consequences of major disturbances, emphasizing their cascading ecological impacts. The nature of these impacts prompts a re-evaluation of our understanding of resilience. Emphasis on regularities of ecological assemblages can help illuminate resilience dynamics and offer a novel basis to predict and manage the impacts of disturbance in the Anthropocene more efficiently. This article is part of the theme issue 'Ecological novelty and planetary stewardship: biodiversity dynamics in a transforming biosphere'.