Critical Analysis Research Articles

Experimental and Computational Insights Into the Magnetic Anisotropy and Magnetic Behaviour of Layered Room-Temperature Ferromagnet Cr1.38Te2

Abstract We investigate the structural, magnetocrystalline anisotropy, critical behaviour, and magnetocaloric effect in the layered room-temperature monoclinic ferromagnet Cr$_{1.38}$Te$_2$. The critical behavior is studied by employing various techniques such as the modified Arrott plot (MAP), the Kouvel-Fisher method (KF), and the critical isothermal analysis (CI) around the Curie temperature ($T_C$) of 316 K. The derived critical exponents are self-consistent and obey the rescaling analysis. The Monte-Carlo simulations reproduce the experimentally obtained critical exponents. However, the derived critical exponents do not suggest any single universality class of the magnetic interactions. On the other hand, the renormalization group (RG) theory suggests 3D-Ising type long-range exchange interactions [$J(r)$], decaying with distance ($r$) as $J (r) = r^{-(d+\sigma)}= r^{-4.73}$. Further, magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy density (K$_u$) is found to be temperature dependent. The ground state magnetic easy-axis ($b$-axis) is identified by analyzing the magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy (MAE) using the density functional theory calculations. Maximum entropy change -$\Delta S_{m}^{max}$$\approx$2.51 J/kg-K is found near the $T_C$.

A Socio-Cognitive Account of Ideological Manipulation in Chinese Translation of Political Opinion Articles

ABSTRACT In the realm of politics and media, particularly in situations of conflict, translation plays a critical role in resisting the discourse of news texts towards the socio-political correctness of the target society. Translation researchers have long focused on ideological manipulation and related techniques, notably in the translation of political news, linking ideologically motivated translation techniques to their macro functions (socio-political factors) via critical discursive approaches, but rarely have they examined what mediates these techniques and the social context. The main aim of the present study is to provide a socio-cognitive account of such ideological manipulations based on van Dijk’s notion of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The corpus of the study consists of opinion articles covering the Ukrainian conflict, originally published by American news institutions, and their corresponding Chinese translations in Chinese newspapers. Documented and supported by several examples, the findings suggest that the manipulations are mainly motivated by the polarization of “US” and “THEM”.

Bureaucrats on Douyin: The Official Appropriation of Egao in Promoting Tourism on Chinese Social Media

ABSTRACT Egao (spoofing), a popular form of Chinese parody, employs humorous and mocking techniques in verbal and visual forms. Its grassroots nature often endows egao with an anti-authoritarian stance, but little scholarly attention has been paid to the increasing use of egao by Chinese public officials on social media. This article looks at this new trend by examining how local officials on the Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin, use egao. Drawing on Bakhtin’s concept of carnivalesque, we employ Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis to examine the online communication style of 54 official accounts on Douyin. We thereby highlight three key features of the dynamic and complex nature of power relations in contemporary political communication in China: how they represent ethnic minority cultures; how they use typical egao forms to parody rebellious characters and subvert traditional Confucian junzi images; and their use of ‘light’ egao to reconstruct ancient characters and heroic images through Gufeng and Wuxia genres. We argue that the power relations between officials and the grassroots are not subverted but rather disguised through a complex negotiation within the state’s promotion of cultural soft power, tourism, and economy, which is aligned with Xi Jinping’s political doctrine of ‘Telling the China Story Well’.

The “mythologies” of women at work, interrupted: feminist origins antenarratives from Harvard Business Review and Western University’s The Quarterly, Part I

Purpose The author aims to walk beside the singular privileged class of White women’s suffrage feminist origin story to (re)construct plausible feminist fragmented threads as antenarratives in the context of business management education. To accomplish this (re)assembling of threads, the author examined two North American business trade publications created and used within two business schools, Harvard University’s Harvard Business Review (HBR), established in 1922, and Western University’s The Quarterly Review of Commerce (The Quarterly), established in 1933. Design/methodology/approach The author carefully reviewed almost 4,000 articles from HBR and The Quarterly, focusing on 308 articles that addressed the experiences of complex women. With this subset of collected articles, the author highlighted overlooked details, accidents and errors, generating interest and curiosity about the emergence of these fragmented and paradoxical origins that align with Foucault's histories of errors. By grouping these narrative fragments into themes and conducting a critical discourse analysis that incorporated influences from the external environment, the author reconstructed plural feminist origins antenarratives. Findings The themes discovered, including women as consumers, explicit working women concerns, women as authors/coauthors, diversity and social justice initiatives, and women in higher education/training, are not merely descriptive observations. They are the building blocks for identifying and analyzing the power relations circulating among feminist origins antenarratives within management education circles. These antenarratives include shedding light on women working in capitalist contexts, the educational needs of business women, and men and naming (but not breaking) the “mythologies” of women at work. These findings are transformative to the understanding of plural feminist origins. Originality/value The uniqueness of this work lies in its threefold contributions: moving away from the notion of a singular feminist origin story and instead embracing the complexity of multiple, paradoxical and incomplete origins; shedding light on the spectrum of power relations – ranging from productive to oppressive – that shaped the experiences of women in two management educational circles during the first half of the 20th century; and introducing the concept of inflection points, which underscores the fluidity of knowledge.

Polish Mother and (Not) Her Children: Intersectional State-Violence against Minors in Poland

This article seeks to explain the political responsibility that Polish right-wing female politicians directly associated with the 2015–2023 Polish government and the then-ruling Law and Justice Party bear in the state-sanctioned violence against minors in the context of LGBT- and immigration-related issues. Its main assumption is that, in times of the nationalist surge that has been sweeping Poland, women using anti-LGBT and anti-immigration discourses helped to legitimize discriminatory state practices and, consequently, made a significant contribution to the enactment of white, Christian, and heteronormative identity on Polish children. Drawing upon Critical Discourse Analysis, this work examines the anti-LGBT and anti-immigration political talk by female politicians who, in their narrative strategies, adopt the position of a “Polish mother” on a mission to save a “child in danger”. Through my analysis, I aim to demonstrate that anti-LGBT and anti-immigration discourses are equally significant areas of women’s political engagement. Despite the prevalent cultural norms of caring motherhood, women do exercise their agency in political struggles as supporters of discriminatory state policies directed against minors by re-politicizing a symbolic figure of the “Polish mother”.

Seismic capacity evaluation of reinforced concrete moment-resisting frames with steel damper columns using incremental critical pseudo-multi impulse analysis

Steel damper columns (SDCs) are energy-dissipating members that are suitable for reinforced concrete (RC) moment-resisting frames (MRFs) and those often used for multistory housing. In a previous study, the authors proposed an energy-based prediction procedure for the peak and cumulative response of an RC frame building with SDCs. In this procedure, the accuracy of the equivalent velocity of the maximum momentary input energy (VΔE1*)–peak equivalent displacement (D1*max) relationship is essential for improved prediction. In this article, the seismic capacity curve (VΔE1*–D1*max relationship) of RC MRFs with and without SDCs is evaluated using incremental critical pseudo-multi impulse analysis (ICPMIA). In the ICPMIA, which is based on a study by Takewaki and coauthors, the structure is subjected to various intensities of critical pseudo-multi impulsive lateral force. An ICPMIA of planer four 8- and 16-story RC MRFs with and without SDCs is performed to obtain their structural behaviors under various intensities of pulsive input. Then, the seismic capacity curve obtained from the ICMPIA results are compared with the predicted results based on the simplified equations. The main findings of this article are as follows. (i) The seismic capacity curve of RC MRFs without SDCs strongly depends on the number of impulsive lateral forces (Np). As Np increases, the seismic capacity decreases. The predicted seismic capacity curve severely underestimates that obtained from the ICMPIA in the case of large Np. This trend is notable when the level of pinching behavior in the RC members is severe. (ii) In the case of an RC MRF with SDCs, however, the influence of Np on its seismic capacity curve is small. The predicted seismic capacity curve agrees very well with that obtained from the ICMPIA. The influence of the level of pinching behavior in RC members on the seismic capacity curve is small.

Criticality and partial synchronization analysis in Wilson-Cowan and Jansen-Rit neural mass models.

Synchronization is a phenomenon observed in neuronal networks involved in diverse brain activities. Neural mass models such as Wilson-Cowan (WC) and Jansen-Rit (JR) manifest synchronized states. Despite extensive research on these models over the past several decades, their potential of manifesting second-order phase transitions (SOPT) and criticality has not been sufficiently acknowledged. In this study, two networks of coupled WC and JR nodes with small-world topologies were constructed and Kuramoto order parameter (KOP) was used to quantify the amount of synchronization. In addition, we investigated the presence of SOPT using the synchronization coefficient of variation. Both networks reached high synchrony by changing the coupling weight between their nodes. Moreover, they exhibited abrupt changes in the synchronization at certain values of the control parameter not necessarily related to a phase transition. While SOPT was observed only in JR model, neither WC nor JR model showed power-law behavior. Our study further investigated the global synchronization phenomenon that is known to exist in pathological brain states, such as seizure. JR model showed global synchronization, while WC model seemed to be more suitable in producing partially synchronized patterns.

The curious case of atrium urbanism: voids in and of capitalism

All produced spaces are curious since they could, by definition, be different. Atriums—double height or greater vertical voids typically to be found in skyscrapers’ lobbies—are an interesting illustration of this general contention. An internal feature of super-tall architecture the world over, the atrium flourishes in parts of cities where land value is high and given that atria could be occupied with directly rentable space this is an ostensibly puzzling affinity. Drawing primarily on the ideas of Henri Lefebvre and Walter Benjamin, this paper suggests that the presence of atria in major commercial—and increasingly public—buildings grows from oblique attempts to generate surplus value. Paradoxically, it is the voided space of the atrium that explains this strategy. My argument is that voids of open space can actually increase the value of objects, bodies, and practices that are assembled in and around them; paradoxically ‘emptiness’ itself can be monetised in a context of rentier capitalism. Defamiliarising the atrium, which is a distinctive and singular architectural feature of this moment, suggests a wider research agenda for those interested in critical analysis of the contradictory spaces that are produced when capital builds.

Critical analysis of debates on Tamil populism: perspectives from the field

ABSTRACT This study engages with debates on Tamil populism using insights from the field. The initial theorists of Tamil populism characterised it broadly into two — assertive populism propagated by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and paternalist populism promulgated by the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). However, recent scholarship has strongly opposed this characterisation, arguing that Tamil populism approximates left populism. With these confounding views as the backdrop, we argue, through field insights, that one cannot discount the formulation of Tamil populism along assertive/paternalist lines. Secondly, we contest the recent formulation that the Dravidian Model approximates left populism.

Shifting systems of racial inequity: Applying critical race psychology to advance racial justice

AbstractSince the murder of George Floyd in 2020, a renewed and more mainstream attention to systemic racism emerged. Critical Race Theory (CRT) has permeated the larger public discourse around race more than ever before. Yet, social, scientific, and political backlash intended to silence conversations about the systemic and power‐driven nature of racism have also characterized these years. 30+ years have passed since CRT's introduction as a critical analysis of how the legal system fails minoritized groups; 20+ years have passed since CRT's introduction into the social psychological field. Although psychology provides a strong foundation for the CRT tenets, incorporating CRT into the field of psychology has lagged behind many other fields (e.g., sociology, education). In two installments, this special issue (re)introduces psychological researchers to CRT and Psychological Critical Race Theory (PCRT), underscores CRT's importance and limitations in the context of psychological research, features novel applications and directions in CRT, and addresses the current political climate of opposition to discussions of CRT. This second installment looks outward highlighting psychological research applying (P)CRT frameworks to advance racial justice. We conclude with reflections on the history of CRT and PCRT and the shifts necessary in our scholarship‐activism to dismantle systems of racial oppression.

Fossil-fueled stories: an ecolinguistic critical discourse analysis of the South African government’s naturalisation of fossil fuels in the context of the climate crisis

ABSTRACT In recent years, aging coal power plants, lack of maintenance, and issues of poor governance have resulted in a high frequency of rolling scheduled blackouts, throughout South Africa. This has led to greater urgency being placed on switching to renewable energy sources, which South Africa has great potential for Oyewo et al. Despite this, and the current reality of the global climate crisis, South Africa continues to rely heavily on coal, not only as an energy source at home, but also as a key part of the country’s export economy. This paper utilises a corpus-assisted, ecolinguistically-informed critical discourse analysis framework to investigate the ways in which members of the South African national government construct the use of coal and other fossil fuels in light of a global climate crisis. The data for this paper consists of a variety of public-facing texts from the South African national government on the topic of climate change. Our analysis revealed that despite a stated commitment to prioritising renewable energy by the government, its implicit messaging normalises the continued use of fossil fuels and minimises their serious negative impacts.

Integration in development: assessing socio-economic strategies of Kazakhstan and Central Asia

The study focuses on the specifics and peculiarities of the implementation of strategic plans in the sphere of economy and politics of Central Asian (CA) countries in response to the challenges of deglobalisation. The purpose of the article is to analyse and evaluate the socio-economic strategies of Kazakhstan and Central Asian countries in the context of their integration processes and development, and to determine their impact on regional stability and international cooperation. The study was conducted using such scientific methods as systematic literature review, meta-analysis, analytical synthesis, comparative and critical analysis. The scientific significance of the study lies in the systematisation and critical analysis of the strategies of socio-economic development of CA countries through the prism of their participation in regional integration processes, which allows to deepen the understanding of this multidimensional phenomenon. The practical significance of the work is expressed in the formation of proposals for the optimisation of integration processes, which is important for the creation of an effective economic environment in the region. The results of the study are of value for the academic community, politicians and experts dealing with regional integration and international economic relations in general. The recommendations proposed in the article can be used to develop more effective mechanisms of interstate interaction and the formation of sustainable economic policy.

The Role of Humanization and Robustness of Large Language Models in Conversational Artificial Intelligence for Individuals With Depression: A Critical Analysis.

Large language model (LLM)-powered services are gaining popularity in various applications due to their exceptional performance in many tasks, such as sentiment analysis and answering questions. Recently, research has been exploring their potential use in digital health contexts, particularly in the mental health domain. However, implementing LLM-enhanced conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) presents significant ethical, technical, and clinical challenges. In this viewpoint paper, we discuss 2 challenges that affect the use of LLM-enhanced CAI for individuals with mental health issues, focusing on the use case of patients with depression: the tendency to humanize LLM-enhanced CAI and their lack of contextualized robustness. Our approach is interdisciplinary, relying on considerations from philosophy, psychology, and computer science. We argue that the humanization of LLM-enhanced CAI hinges on the reflection of what it means to simulate "human-like" features with LLMs and what role these systems should play in interactions with humans. Further, ensuring the contextualization of the robustness of LLMs requires considering the specificities of language production in individuals with depression, as well as its evolution over time. Finally, we provide a series of recommendations to foster the responsible design and deployment of LLM-enhanced CAI for the therapeutic support of individuals with depression.

The biased narrative of vulnerable women: gender analysis of smallholder farmers’ contextual vulnerability to climate change in the Taita Hills, Kenya

Climate change is increasing challenges in the agricultural sector for smallholder farmers. A key element in successful formulation of adaptation strategies is the analysis of vulnerability to climate change. This study examines smallholder farmers’ contextual vulnerability to climate change through their perceived vulnerability and focuses on gendered narratives and power structures in the Taita Hills, Kenya. The key methods are semi-structured interviews (N = 28) and a critical discourse analysis. The collected data consists of two-headed household interviews, single-headed household interviews, and key informant interviews with different stakeholders from the agriculture sector. Results indicate that contextual vulnerability can form a baseline for understanding individuals’ possibilities to adapt to changing environmental and climatic conditions. Outcome vulnerability analysis, that treats vulnerability as an endpoint output following mitigation actions, offers highly relevant information, but it is not alone enough for understanding the challenges and possibilities of climate change adaptation. Women and men farmers’ coping and adaptation response strategies did not differ notably, which supports the criticism of the gendered nature of vulnerability discourse. Differences in strategies appeared to be more linked in intersectional aspects between farmers in single-headed and two-headed households. Furthermore, the vulnerable women narrative did not reflect women farmers’ agency and centrality in the agriculture sector. The discourse of climate change adaptation should be corrected towards addressing structural challenges that can place people in a vulnerable position within diverse contextual conditions and intersecting attributes.

Teaching Poetry: What is Taught and What Should be Taught? Case Study of Secondary Schools Offering Literature in English at the Advanced Level in Rwanda

Teaching poetry as a literary genre has been a research topic of interest worldwide. However, the gap is observed in teaching poetry in secondary schools in Rwanda, where students are not given the quantity and quality of knowledge and skills they deserve. This descriptive study investigated poetry teaching practices and examined whether teachers are teaching what they should be teaching to equip students with critical thinking, analysis, and language skills. Adopting the descriptive research design and the mixed method approach, the study is built around three objectives: to explore how poetry is taught to students doing literature in English at the advanced level of secondary schools; to investigate the aspects of poetry that are often taught and those that are not; and to assess the challenges that teachers of literature in English face while teaching poetry. The study is guided by New Criticism Theory, Multimodality Approach, and Reader Response Theory. It used both quantitative and qualitative methods. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data from 22 teachers of literature in English selected purposefully from 16 schools that offer literature in English as a main subject at the Advanced Level. The study findings revealed that students are highly at risk as teachers of this subject exhibited poor competence in teaching and analysing poetry. Besides, some teachers don’t give poetry a focus, and others don’t teach it at all. The issue becomes more acute when one considers the general lack of adequate resources. The study recommends the University of Rwanda, the College of Education, REB, and their partners set policies for increasing teachers’ competences in the field of literature in general and teaching poetry in particular. Individual teachers of literature in English should feel confident while handling poetry as a literary genre. If an issue arises, instead of simply leaving out the topic, let them consult their colleagues in the nearby schools for a common understanding.

Power and paths in transport planning and policy: the case of E39 Romsdalsfjord, Norway

ABSTRACT The appraisal stage is crucial to the later success of transport infrastructure megaprojects. Stakeholders must be engaged early to protect their interests. This article analyses power dynamics and rationalized knowledge in long-term timelines and trajectories using critical discourse analysis. It examines a case where powerful stakeholders directly influenced decision-making. The Norwegian Public Road Authority planners helped local and regional community stakeholders collaborate over 13 years. This collaboration successfully advocated for a fixed-link concept alternative in the national transport plan. The findings suggest considering changes to the planning framework and local execution.

“You're on your own, kid”: A critical analysis of Australian universities' international student mental health strategies

AbstractMental ill‐health is a serious and growing problem among university students in Australia. Within this cohort, international students are particularly vulnerable. International students in Australia have fewer social rights than domestic students and are at elevated risk of social isolation, exploitation in employment, precarious housing, financial insecurity, and racism and discrimination. When mental health challenges arise, international students are also less likely than their domestic counterparts to access support services. Against the backdrop of this escalating problem, this article presents a critical analysis of Australian universities' policy approaches to international student mental health. We ask: (a) How many universities have such policies publicly available, and (b) how do these policies understand and seek to address the problem of international student distress? Drawing on a documentary analysis of publicly available university mental health strategies, we find that—in the comparatively rare cases where such documents exist—international students' mental ill‐health is generally framed in these documents as an individual concern, placing the onus on individual students to develop “resilience” and/or seek out help. Leveraging theoretical insights concerning the collective production of (mental) health and illness, we caution that this individualisation of student distress naturalises and depoliticises the logics of financial exploitation and neglect that contribute to many international students' mental health problems to begin with.

Searching for Ways of Settling Land Conflicts by Peaceful Means in Cameroon: A Critical Analysis of the Peacemaking Role of the ‘Land Consultative Board’

The regulation of Land tenure systems is one of the main sources of conflicts in Africa and one of the continent’s most difficult realities to pin down. In its 1974 land reform, the Cameroonian legislature sought to strike a balance between traditional norms and modern instruments, between administrative, judicial and customary authorities, in order to establish an inclusive, democratic and peaceful system of land tenure. The establishment of the Land Consultative Board as the regulatory instrument the state planned to use in land matters was projected as the answer to this quest. While the original intention remains laudable - to enable the state, guarantor of the general interest to acquire a local instrument with the appropriate legitimacy and capable of ensuring the peaceful regulation of land tenure. It has to be said that, almost 50 years later, this ambition has not been achieved. The recurrence of land conflicts and the density of disputes reflect the inadequacy of the rules governing land tenure in Cameroon, depriving the board of any real regulatory authority. The central argument of this paper is that the legislator's ambition was not sincere because of the precedence of the administrative authority to the detriment of other actors. The choice of evaluating this working assumption through the theory of the instrumentation of public action is therefore essential. It makes it possible not only to determine the legislator's intention through textual and contextual analysis, but also to observe the interplay of actors around this regulatory instrument through an interdisciplinary approach. Between its structural inability to acquire real autonomy and the barely concealed desire to downgrade custom, its role has steadily diminished along with its influence, though without disappearing. It remains, however, the institutional relic where the philosophy of the “palaver tree,” supported by the practice of non-violence and democratic dialogue, can still survive, as well as the keystone of the entire land tenure system of the country. The analysis of the consultative Board’s peacemaking role through its instrumentation (or its instrumentalisation) opens up new perspectives for understanding the regulation of public action in our so-called Southern countries, especially for decision-makers, donors and any actor interested in the thorny issue of land tenure insecurity.

Gambling Control in a Cost‐of‐Living Crisis: An Analysis of the White Paper High Stakes: Gambling Reform for the Digital Age (2023)

This article explains the broader stakes of contemporary British gambling reform debates, via an analysis of the White Paper High Stakes: Gambling Reform for the Digital Age (2023). I lay out the context to the White Paper, and I summarise its main proposals, focusing especially on efforts to reduce the harms caused by gambling. I also offer a critical analysis of one particularly significant and contentious proposed reform: mandated affordability checks for online gambling, when losses reach certain thresholds. I suggest that these checks reflect and deepen a shared regulatory, industry, and academic faith in online gambling technologies to resolve social responsibility problems, with wider implications for consumer surveillance and public health.

"Isn't that what you want, to be accepted?": Critical analysis of LGBTI+ characters on television series in the United States

In recent years, there has been an exponential increase in the number of LGTBIQ+ characters and storylines appearing in serialized fiction in the United States. This has gained importance due to the effects of media discourses on social imaginaries with regard to the sexual diversity of a community that suffers a high degree of social, political and labor discrimination. The objective is to critically analyze which are the general trends in recent years. Hence, this research is based on a critical discourse analysis of fictional series from the last decade, from two levels: first, the macro-level, in which the discourse around which the storylines are based is analyzed; and a second micro-level, which addresses the issues of lexicalization, focus and conceptual polarization. The results suggest the existence of a dual pattern in these characters, whereby they are based within the construction of a homonormative narrative and/or otherwise placed in marginal or socially excluded settings. Moreover, many traditionally common stereotypes are maintained, and sexual identity and orientation continue to feature prominently among the main story arcs of these characters. It is thus concluded that quantitative growth is insufficient if it is not accompanied by greater normalization.