Conceptual Frame Research Articles

Trust as a sensory mode of engaging culturally diverse communities in net zero futures

ABSTRACT This article examines the role of trust – as a sensory mode of knowing and engaging in everyday environments – in generating community-based routes toward sustainable futures in a culturally diverse situation. To do this we outline a theory of trust and apply trust as a conceptual frame for understanding international students’ relationships to their everyday environments. We focus on how trust can participate in carving new pathways to net zero carbon emissions, in processes whereby decolonization and decarbonization become interwoven trajectories. In doing so, we draw on ethnographic research undertaken with culturally diverse local and international students and staff on a university campus committed to working toward net zero emissions. Treating such sites as living labs for investigating how net zero comes about simultaneously demonstrates and surfaces the role of sensory and embodied modes of trust and engagement in this process. Thus, we argue that trust and the sensory knowing it entails offer a conceptual and practical prism with applications across community initiatives.

Reconceptualizing Franchisee Performance: A Configurational Approach in a Base‐of‐the‐Pyramid Context

AbstractThis paper proposes and tests a new conceptual framing for franchisee performance that draws on institutional complexity to explore the interaction of corporate, market, and relational logics of performance. Extant research draws on corporate and market logics to explain performance; however, this does not explain individual franchisee performance in complex institutional environments such as Base‐of‐the‐Pyramid (BoP) markets where relational logics may be more important, thereby limiting explanations of how franchisee outlets perform. Drawing on data from a network of 58 franchise outlets in the context of Kenya, we conduct a configurational analysis related to sales outcomes. We leverage fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to map out the conditions under which franchisees exhibit higher sales performance. Results show that three distinct configurations can lead to increased sales performance. Our results paint a nuanced picture of combinations of factors that result in franchisee success with relevance to the BoP context and beyond.

Communication and Deliberation for Environmental Governance

Environmental governance occurs through and is shaped by communication. We propose a typology of public communication, classifying it by directionality (one-way or two-way) and objective (informational or operational). We then review how communication types influence individuals’ cognitive frames, values, and environmental behaviors. Though one-way communication is common, its impact is often limited to influencing cognitive frames. Research on two-way informational communication demonstrates a greater ability to align cognitive frames and values among individuals, and research on two-way operational communication demonstrates the greatest impact on conceptual frames, values, and environmental behaviors. Factors that affect the impact of communication include the medium through which it occurs, trust, timing, and social-material context. Among these, our review considers new directions in public communication research that focus on the role of digital platforms, misinformation, and disinformation. We conclude by synthesizing research on deliberative communication, a case of communication among citizens guided by democratic ideals.

Translational simulation revisited: an evolving conceptual model for the contribution of simulation to healthcare quality and safety

The simulation community has effectively responded to calls for a more direct contribution by simulation to healthcare quality and safety, and clearer alignment with health service priorities, but the conceptual framing of this contribution has been vague. The term ‘translational simulation’ was proposed in 2017 as a “functional term for how simulation may be connected directly with health service priorities and patient outcomes, through interventional and diagnostic functions” (Brazil V. Adv Simul. 2:20, 2017). Six years later, this conceptual framing is clearer. Translational simulation has been applied in diverse contexts, affording insights into its strengths and limitations. Three core concepts are identifiable in recently published translational simulation studies: a clear identification of simulation purpose, an articulation of the simulation process, and an engagement with the conceptual foundations of translational simulation practice. In this article, we reflect on current translational simulation practice and scholarship, especially with respect to these three core concepts, and offer a further elaborated conceptual model based on its use to date.

Figurativeness and Humour in Covid-19-Related Internet Memes

Figurativeness and Humour in Covid-19-Related Internet Memes

From policy dumping to a participatory framework: re-envisioning the English medium instruction policy in Kazakhstan’s mainstream schools

ABSTRACT Situating EMI policy and planning within the mainstream school in Kazakhstan, this study probes how STEM (sciences, technology, engineering, mathematics) teachers manage the policy, what challenges they confront, and how they respond to the challenges. Employing ‘agency’ as a conceptual frame, the study analyzed 58 teachers’ interviews representing six regions of the country. Findings suggest that teachers’ lower-level English proficiency and lack of English teaching experience challenge them to cope with the policy. However, teachers do demonstrate signs of what we describe as ‘responsive agency’, referring to teachers’ employment of available resources to make up for their language deficiencies. The policy apparently suffers from ‘policy dumping’ and disjunction because the traditional policymakers/actors put the burden of policy implementation mainly on teachers without providing them the required support and resources they need. Policy dumping renders local teachers eliminated from decision-making processes. The way forward is a non-traditional and non-technocratic participation framework.

How textbook images frame the gender roles of women in science and elsewhere: a content analysis of elementary school science textbooks

ABSTRACT Based on the concepts of gender framing and gender categorisation, this content analysis evaluates the images of adults (N = 1655) and the portrayal of women from the 6 series of science textbooks authorised by the Japanese Ministry of Education for use in elementary school science classes in the 2022 academic year. The images were counted and coded according to the activities the participants were engaged in. Data were then analysed according to three potential patterns for transmission of gender roles – invisibility, low stature, and domesticity. The content analysis showed differences between the 6 series in terms of their portrayal of women and of female scientists, however, across all series, there were fewer women portrayed than men, fewer female scientists than male, and fewer women were presented as important ‘people to study’. Women were less likely to be shown in high-status decision-making roles, as demonstrating ‘brilliance’, or as being rewarded or recognised for their scientific achievements. They were, however, more likely than men to be depicted in images connected to themes of domesticity than as scientists or in other professional situations. Domestic themes such as childcare could still be seen in images of female scientists or women at work.

Playing to learn? Analyzing participants' framing of competition and professional conduct in maritime simulations

This study scrutinizes how a simulated scenario framed as a competition is discussed in a post-simulation debriefing, where students reflect on game-like play in the context of professional education. This study draws on Erwin Goffman's (1974/86) analytical concept of framing. In particular, the analysis focuses on the instructor's and students' authentic conversations during a debriefing session and explores how these conversations open up negotiations of professional and playful learning. The research design is ethnographically informed and based on observations, field notes, and 34 h of video data from a navigation course in which 35 bachelor's students from a Norwegian university participated. Our analytical findings reveal that the activity undergoes continuous negotiation between two framings: professional and competitive. In professional framing, students are held accountable for adhering to professional rules, regulations, and norms of “good seamanship.” In the competition framing, students were competing to win the race. Moreover, as the competition mode intensified, students prioritized winning the race over adhering to the rules and regulations of the profession. Consequently, the findings illustrate how a competition framing within a professional education context has engaged the students, letting them demonstrate their knowledge and skills in a playful manner. Furthermore, the findings emphasize the need for an additional exploration of the opportunities and challenges of competition on professional decision making and ethical conduct in settings where simulation-based learning is utilized for training, particularly in domains that train students in high safety standards.

Introduction: towards migration-violence creative pathways

ABSTRACT This introduction to the special issue on ‘Arts-based approaches, migration and violence: intersectional and creative perspectives’ highlights the complexities and paradoxes in relation to existing debates in the field. Drawing on the emerging body of rich work that has recognised the importance of arts-based approaches within research on migration and violence, the introduction provides a critical assessment of the nature of the connections between the two in methodological, empirical and conceptual ways. It explores these intersections across multiple geographical scales, temporalities and imaginations through innovative creative research. In contributing to these debates, the introduction and the papers included in this special issue examine the potential for new insights, understanding and transformations to emerge through engaging with visual, performative, visceral, embodied and collaborative arts-based research. Yet, it also addresses some epistemological and ethical concerns including tensions around participation, positionality, co-production and the decolonisation of research. The introduction also aims to move beyond evaluating the benefits and drawbacks of arts-based approaches and provides a conceptual frame delineated as ‘migration-violence creative pathways’ that emphasise feminist and embodied perspectives. The frame does not prescribe how to engage with the creative arts, but rather encapsulates the variety of ways to do so. Finally, we set out an agenda for future creative research on migration-violence connections that highlights some practical, epistemological and conceptual suggestions for critically and productively engaging with arts-based approaches.

An Overview of Data Collection in Health Preference Research.

This paper focuses on survey administration and data collection methods employed for stated-preference studies in health applications. First, it describes different types of survey administration methods, encompassing web-based surveys, face-to-face (in-person) surveys, and mail surveys. Second, the concept of sampling frames is introduced, clarifying distinctions between the target population and survey frame population. The discussion then extends to different types of sampling methods, such as probability and non-probability sampling, along with an evaluation of potential issues associated with different sampling methods within the context of health preference research. Third, the paper provides information about different recruitment methods, including web-surveys, leveraging patient groups, and in-clinic recruitment. Fourth, a crucial aspect addressed is the calculation of response rate, with insights into determining an adequate response rate and strategies to improve response rates in stated-preference surveys. Lastly, the paper concludes by discussing data management plans and suggesting insights for future research in this field. In summary, this paper examines the nuanced aspects of survey administration and data collection methods in stated-preference studies, offering valuable guidance for researchers and practitioners in the health domain.

Attitudes toward sustainable development and employer brands: comparing generations X, Y and Z in two countries

PurposeThis study investigates how sustainability influences employer branding across generational cohorts – Generations Z, Y and X – and between two neighboring countries, Slovenia and Croatia, with different economic development levels.Design/methodology/approachA comparative cross-generational survey was conducted among respondents from Slovenia and Croatia to assess the impact of sustainability on employer brand perception. The survey explored generational attitudes toward sustainability and its integration into the employer value proposition.FindingsThe study found that all the generational cohorts view sustainability as an important factor in their evaluation of employer brands. Generation X showed the most favorable attitude toward sustainability, followed by Generation Z, highlighting the need for organizations to communicate sustainability efforts effectively to attract these groups. However, there were subtle differences between the countries, with Slovenian respondents indicating a slightly higher preference for sustainable practices. Additionally, while Generation Z may not have the same financial leverage as Generation X, their high valuation of sustainability in employer branding demonstrates their future influence as they enter the workforce.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations include the survey’s conceptual framing, which may be inherently biased toward the more affluent Generation X’s capacity to prioritize sustainability and the focus on USA-based generational definitions, which may not be fully applicable across different cultural settings. Future research could address these limitations by refining the conceptual approach and expanding the sample to include more diverse geographical contexts.Originality/valueBy comparing responses from two economically distinct neighboring countries, the study reveals complex inter-generational dynamics and national contexts affecting sustainability’s role in employer attractiveness.

Alan Fox and the managerial “unitary” frame of reference in unionised companies: context, roots, elaboration and international applicability

PurposeThis study investigates the origins and elaboration of the managerial “unitary” frame of reference associated with Alan Fox, focusing on unionised firms: the industrial relations context, intellectual roots, elaboration, adaptation by other writers, and international applicability.Design/methodology/approachTracing the above requirements through contemporaneous sources.FindingsFox’s designation of the unitary frame needs to be understood in its 1960s’ context, particularly the promotion of “productivity bargaining”, and its furthering through management training and education. Fox’s specific contribution is identified. Subsequent UK writers have underplayed the importance of the legal dimension of managerial authority, especially relevant in the US context, while other extra-economic factors bolster the managerial unitary frame in authoritarian societies such as China.Originality/valueThe use of Fox's neglected 1960s’ writings; tracking how Fox developed the unitary frame concept and how it was funnelled into the narrow parameters of non-unionism by subsequent writers; identifying its applicability beyond the UK (with the USA as a historical example and China as a contemporary one).

Laser and Astrophysical Plasmas and Analogy between Similar Instabilities

Multipulse laser–matter interactions initiate nonlinear and nonequilibrium plasma fluid flow dynamics and their instability creating microscale vortex filaments, loop-soliton chains, and helically paired structures, similar to those at the astrophysical mega scale. We show that the equation with the Hasimoto structure describes both, the creation of loop solitons by torsion of vortex filaments and the creation of solitons by helical winding of magnetic field lines in the Crab Nebula. Our experiments demonstrate that the breakup of the loop solitons creates vortex rings with (i) quasistatic toroidal Kelvin waves and (ii) parametric oscillatory modes—i.e., with the hierarchical instability order. For the first time, we show that the same hierarchical instability at the micro- and the megascale establishes the conceptual frame for their unique classification based on the hierarchical order of Bessel functions. Present findings reveal that conditions created in the laser-target regions of a high filament density lead to their collective behavior and formation of helically paired and filament-braided “complexes”. We also show, for the first time, that morphological and topological characteristics of the filament-bundle “complexes” with the loop solitons indicate the analogy between similar laser-induced plasma instabilities and those of the Crab and Double-Helix Nebulas—thus enabling conceptualization of fundamental characteristics. These results reveal that the same rotating metric accommodates the complexity of the instabilities of helical filaments, vortex rings, and filament jets in the plasmatic micro- and megascale astrophysical objects.

Envisioning Information Access Systems: What Makes for Good Tools and a Healthy Web?

We observe a recent trend toward applying large language models (LLMs) in search and positioning them as effective information access systems. While the interfaces may look appealing and the apparent breadth of applicability is exciting, we are concerned that the field is rushing ahead with a technology without sufficient study of the uses it is meant to serve, how it would be used, and what its use would mean. We argue that it is important to reassert the central research focus of the field of information retrieval, because information access is not merely an application to be solved by the so-called ‘AI’ techniques du jour. Rather, it is a key human activity, with impacts on both individuals and society. As information scientists, we should be asking what do people and society want and need from information access systems and how do we design and build systems to meet those needs? With that goal, in this conceptual article we investigate fundamental questions concerning information access from user and societal viewpoints. We revisit foundational work related to information behavior, information seeking, information retrieval, information filtering, and information access to resurface what we know about these fundamental questions and what may be missing. We then provide our conceptual framing about how we could fill this gap, focusing on methods as well as experimental and evaluation frameworks. We consider the Web as an information ecosystem and explore the ways in which synthetic media, produced by LLMs and otherwise, endangers that ecosystem. The primary goal of this conceptual article is to shed light on what we still do not know about the potential impacts of LLM-based information access systems, how to advance our understanding of user behaviors, and where the next generations of students, scholars, and developers could fruitfully invest their energies.

From the Phenomenon of Self-Sufficiency to the Mechanisms of Self-Determination

The paper presents a systematic analysis of key explanatory concepts of different levels of abstraction, being used in the psychological and interdisciplinary concepts for the explanation of the phenomenon of self-sufficiency. The phenomenon of self-sufficiency is defined basing on the understanding of person as the instance which human being as an autonomous agent may oppose to both internal impulses and external pressures, biological and social determinants acting both from within and from outside. The closest construct is that of agency. Agency is viewed as personality variable, reflecting the person’s capacity to initiate and control their actions. Agency appears as the explanatory construct as regards the observable phenomenon of self-sufficiency. However, being holistic and indivisible, it, in its turn, needs a more detailed analysis. Such a brief analysis is provided for the psychological constructs of proactivity, autonomy, personal causation and self-determination as well as for more specific theoretical models of intrinsic / extrinsic motivation, phases of a motivated action, personality potential as the potential of autoregulation, and freedom and responsibility as two sides of personal causation and autodetermination, taking shape during the transition from childhood to adulthood. Freedom is treated as the highest form of activity, a side of personal causation and autodetermination which allows us feeling independent of outer pressures and inner impulses. Responsibility is the second side of personal causation and autodetermination, the highest form of autoregulation, associated with viewing oneself as a cause of some events in the world, it is a controlled capacity of producing goal-directed changes in oneself and in the world. In conclusion the construct of personal life position as an integral person’s attitude to one’s own life is introduced. The constructs analyzed in the paper present the multilevel conceptual frame for treating the phenomenon of self-sufficiency.

Plantation Technologies

In this article we investigate plantation agriculture as a technology aimed at extracting natural resources, utilising unpaid labour, and installing regulatory authority. Using the oil palm plantation territories of Johor State in Malaysia – a core zone of palm oil production, manufacturing and export – as a case study, we ask how more-than-human assemblages enabled the expansion and refinement of oil palm plantations in Malaysia and contributed to the material transformation of the territory. We also explore how plantations can be mobilised as an analytical device to study the urbanisation of territory through agro-industrial production. To explore those questions, we present three episodes of more-than-human involvement in assembling oil palm plantation territories in Johor. Through the conceptual frame of the operationalisation of territory, we bring into dialogue literature on the Plantationocene with critical urban studies and the history of urbanisation.

In/exclusion in fashion discourse: Are we in or out?

This article analyzes the conceptual framing of inclusion and exclusion in fashion discourse, discussing how women are denied or restricted the access to the bounded space of fashion based on a part of their identity, be it their race, religion, disability, gender identification, body weight, or social class. It relies on the data corpus is 1061 Vogue articles, collected between July 2019 and June 2020 and analyzed qualitatively. The current study complements ample research on the container metaphor in political discourse and aims to open a debate on the role of this metaphorical model in a so far largely overlooked discourse of fashion. Drawing on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Critical Discursive Psychology, I demonstrate how the container metaphor pinpoints the repertoire of inclusivity, problematizes the dichotomous relationship between the center and periphery of the fashion industry, and normalizes roles of insiders and outsiders in fashion.

Design and Development of Quadcopter’s Frame

The purpose of this research is to obtain a design and prototype of quadcopter’s frame, which be developed further as a quadcopter that capable of carrying payload of 1.5 kg with flight time of more than 20 minutes. The design begins with estimating the values of Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW), required thrust, propeller dimensions, and wheelbase dimensions of the quadcopter. The results show the MTOW of the quadcopter was 5 kg, with each motor requiring of 2.5 kg of thrust per arm. The wheelbase dimension was 790 mm, and the propeller diameter of 17 inches. A wheelbase dimension was utilized to develop three conceptual frame designs for the quadcopter. The three conceptual designs were selected using a decision matrix table. The selected design was calculated for its structural strength by applying a load of 2.5 kg on each motor mounting. The results show the maximum stress value of 21.17 MPa, the maximum deflection of 3.5 mm, and safety factor of 22.44. Then, the prototype of quadcopter’s frame was manufactured. Therefore, the producing of prototype was measured the mass and deflection. Based on the measurements conducted, the quadcopter frame has an actual mass of 595 grams and a maximum deflection of 3.7 mm. The actual deflection value and the actual mass are close to the deflection and mass obtained from the calculation.

Engaging diverse voices across sites of curriculum making in Australia: realities and possibilities

AbstractResearch to date has pointed out that during periods of curriculum reform, public debate gets politicised resulting in an over-emphasis on top-down approaches to curriculum making. As a group of curriculum inquiry researchers, we are concerned that teachers, students, school leaders and community organisations are often side-lined as integral curriculum actors in curriculum making processes. This paper challenges top-down, discipline-siloed conceptualisations of curriculum making by bringing together three separate curriculum projects, as illustrations, for the purpose of rendering diverse articulations of curriculum as a social process. We apply Priestley et al.’s (Priestley et al., Curriculum making in Europe: Policy and practice within and across diverse contexts, Emerald Publishing Limited, 2021) sites of curriculum making as a conceptual frame, to articulate the diversity of curriculum making activities, curriculum actors and sites of curriculum making in primary and secondary settings. The three illustrations include examining how teachers and students participate in curriculum making about Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia at macro and meso sites; how listening to secondary students as curriculum actors allows them to contribute to shaping school History beyond the nano sites of the classroom and how community and arts-based approaches empower primary students to engage in nano curriculum making (e.g. Hannigan & Kelly, Hannigan and Kelly, Lin et al. Sinner et al. Irwin (eds), Community arts education: Transversal global perspectives, Intellect, 2023). By engaging a collaborative approach that uses illustrations to draw a complementary transdisciplinary picture of the realities and possibilities of curriculum making across different sites, this paper makes a novel methodological contribution to the field of curriculum inquiry.

Психологическая непрерывность как онтологический критерий личной идентичности субъекта

In the current article the author considers the problem of the subject’s personal identity. The analysis of this concept seems to be very relevant, since in today’s public space the concept of identity is used, firstly, as non-problematic, and, secondly, as completely politicized. The analysis of the concept of identity is important because philosophy can look at the subject’s identity without prejudice and thereby depoliticize its concept. And ontology as a branch of philosophy is able to carry out a truly fundamental and comprehensive research of the concept of the subject’s identity. Personal identity turns out to be an ontological concept because the subject exists as identical to itself, and consistent reflection on the modes of existence of the subject inevitably leads us to discover the concept of its identity. The subject of the article is the subject’s personal identity. On the basis of philosophical methodology and on the method of historical analysis, the author of the study considers personal identity as something non-self-evident, placing it in the conceptual framework of subjectivity proposed by Levinas. The personal identity of the subject is endowed with the status of a mediator, smoothing out the collision of the same and the other. In this research, human identity appears as both a space and the result of a collision of familiar experience and new impressions – in the terminology of Levinas – identical and different. The temporal structure of the subject’s identity is revealed. The concept of an ontological criterion of personal identity is put forward and four historical concepts that offer such a criterion are considered: Locke, Hume, Kant and Parfit. Thus, four ontological criteria are found – consciousness, memory, transcendental criterion and psychological continuity. Each criterion is analyzed, integrated into the ontology of the subject’s personal identity and the role of each criterion is traced in the organization of its temporal structure. The results of the research are the reconstruction of the discovered concepts in the status of ontological criteria of personal identity, their comparative analysis is carried out. It is concluded that Parfit’s psychological continuity is the most consistent of all the analyzed criteria because it simultaneously affirms the possibility of the subject’s personal identity and outlines the boundaries of the application of this concept. Though psychological continuity doesn’t fit in Levinas’ conceptual frame because it doesn’t solve existential and ontological problems, that exist around concept of personal identity.