Conceptual Perspective Research Articles

Marketing ‎and entrepreneurship‎: challenges and opportunities‎

ABSTRACT In the current special issue, we emphasize that entrepreneurial marketing is influential for enterprises to endure competitive, customer inspiration, relevant, satisfaction and loyalty in the market environment. The aim of the special issue is to generate academic debate about the importance of marketing to entrepreneurship. The best research papers were selected from International Conference on Business and Technology ICBT’2021 conference, which were evaluated by the guest editors, and all were subject to double blind peer review. The conduction of quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-method research is essential to expand theories and discover opportunities and challenges facing Small and medium-sized enterprises SMEs while formulating entrepreneurial marketing strategies. Concerning the existing contextual gap, even though social entrepreneurship varies in different countries from legitimate and conceptual perspectives, it is clear that it has received less attention in some contexts. Therefore, we highlighted many of these topics within the papers selected to be published in this special issue.

Corporate social responsibility: a review with potential development

PurposeThis paper aims to review bright sides of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and touches on its dark sides, providing researchers and CSR-driven lay readers with a starting point for further contributions and discussions. The paper also outlines a conceptual perspective about CSR scale development relevant to the uncertain times Syrian Arab Republic is still facing.Design/methodology/approachWith a top ten-journal set indexed in social science citation index (SSCI), the current paper reviewed dozens CSR-references. In different search settings, the paper also included other authoritative references relevant.FindingsCSR, whose bright side is still in the lead, is a significant working philosophy that can keep stakeholders posted on the extent to which organizations can sustain businesses and protect society's welfare at interconnected levels (economic, social, ethical and environmental, among others).Research limitations/implicationsThe review at hand has only covered the tip of the CSR iceberg.Practical implicationsInvesting in CSR transparently could lead to a promising sustainability.Social implicationsWith transparent CSR information, stakeholders (including the public and policymakers) could make an informed decision regarding the extent to which organizations with CSR could protect their well-being.Originality/valueThe current review makes an authoritative reference point new in the CSR literature. In addition, it bridges a research gap not yet studied – by bringing a roadmap outlining a potential CSR-scale development that could cope with the postwar reconstruction phase (an example of which being Syrian Arab Republic).

Like our foremothers survived: Self-education, direct confrontation, and humor as resistance coping in Black womxn and femme college student being

In our continued study of Blackness and being, we must emphasize the quotidian—or everyday—strategies that young Black womxn and femmes employ to cope with anti-Black gendered racism and its psychological impact at historically and predominantly white institutions. As such, the purpose of this article is to give prominence to the resistance types of coping strategies that Black womxn and femme college students used to maintain their dignity at a predominantly white university of the American West, where the psychological aftermath of anti-Black gendered racism remains hidden under dense layers of neoliberalism, affluence, faux progressivism, and whiteness. I approach this topic from the conceptual perspective of Blackness and being at the nexus of gender by combining discourses on the ontologies of Blackness, and Black feminist thought and epistemology. In the study that informs this article, I utilized qualitative mixed methods—one-on-one interviews, focus group interviews, and participant observation. Like our foremothers whose survival was predicated on the subtle and purposeful coping strategies they engaged, Black womxn and femme college students’ resistance coping styles were demonstrated in the everyday presence of anti-Black gendered racism. Findings reveal that Black womxn and femme undergraduate students demonstrated three main types of resistance coping when experiencing anti-Black gendered racism: (1) self-education; (2) direct confrontation with aggressors (e.g., racists, sexists, homophobes, elitists); and (3) humor. I conclude with recommendations on transformative justice, monetary trusts, longitudinal data collection, and critical curriculum at historically and predominantly white educational institutions.

Comparative Education in Zoology Teaching: a historical-curricular analysis

This paper presents a historical analysis of Zoology curricula in Brazil, based on comparative education. Data were collected in six documents that portray the historical context from the curricular structure of Colégio Imperial de Pedro II to the National Common Curricular Base. The following criteria for comparison and analysis were used: zoological curriculum discourse, scientific content, method used and historical context. The results showed that the teaching of Zoology has historically passed through 4 curricular phases, namely: 19th century from the 19th century and the Brazilian Empire, Positivist from the Cold War and technological dispute, Technicists from the military dictatorship and the progressive discourse and Skills and Competencies that arise at the time of discussion of post-critical theories of curriculum in Brazil. It is concluded that the Teaching of Zoology suffered political and social determinants that influenced its conceptual perspectives and zoological curricular discourse during the period used.

Проблематика західної історії преси: критичний історіографічний огляд (1974–2020 рр.)

This review article makes an attempt to accomplish a historiographic overview of the works in problematic of the history of press in the West. The aim of this paper is to make a synthetic overarching historiographic overview of Western studies in Media History, specifically in Press Studies and more specifically – in Press History. The scientific novelty of the research: for the first time in the Communication and Media Studies in Ukraine (the so-called “Theory and history of Journalism) Western perspectives and concepts regarding the research problem of Journalism History are discussed here. We conducted the qualitative analysis of main works in Media History on the basis of influential Western international peer-reviewed journals (American Journalism Review, Communication Quarterly, Media History, Journalism History). Specifically, for the first time, we introduce here in the Ukrainian scholarly discourse a milestone pioneering research essay of world-renowned American scholar, Professor J. W. Carrey The Problem of History of Journalism (Journalism History, 1974). Itsimpact on transformation of conceptual perspectives to studying Media History in Western scholarship has been analyzed. We have elucidated common and different perspectives, interpretations, concepts and methodology of studying history of media, in particular press, in Western academic discourse. It has been argued here the relevance of reconsidering Ukrainian concepts and perspectives towards studying history of journalism, specifically from the mainstream (in the West) interdisciplinary perspective of the Cultural Studies, Behavioral Psychology, Global History and last but not least, – Communication and Media Studies. It has been accentuated in this paper a necessity of selective interpolation of Western perspectives on Media History in the Ukrainian humanities, specifically Journalism History curriculum discipline. The conclusions have been drawn and the perspectives of follow-up historiographical works in Media History (specifically, Press History) in the Ukrainian scholarship have been put forward. Keywords: Journalism History, Media History, histories, historiography, overview, press, Western, American, concept, perspective, сultural рistory; Cultural Studies; Communication and Media Studies.

From Me to We

Groups play a pivotal role in human lives and may be even more important at this current moment when the human species faces myriad intractable issues. It could be argued that groups that are able to form tight connections may be needed now more than ever. While many empirical studies of groups focus on group performance, productivity, and effectiveness, or group “doingness,” this paper introduces a recent study that explored group “beingness” and the experience of manifesting deep union and oneness, an intersubjective phenomenon called coherence. Coherence has been written about from a theoretical and conceptual perspective, as well as from a practice perspective, but it has rarely been investigated empirically. An interpretive phenomenological investigation of coherence inquired into the phenomenon through the facilitation of two group coherence sessions immediately followed by group interviews. The study’s design aimed to explore coherence from the intersubjective perspective, allowing participants to make meaning of their coherence experiences in community. This paper introduces the study and its findings and posits the importance of this type of group phenomenon in our current human reality.

Electric utility valuations of investments to reduce the risks of long-duration, widespread power interruptions, part I: Background

ABSTRACT Power industry stakeholders are devoting increasing attention to the risks of long-duration, widespread interruptions (LDWIs) in electricity service. There is concern that these risks are heightening due to more frequent and severe extreme weather events. Numerous studies have examined various aspects of the problem, primarily from an engineering and conceptual perspective. This is the first of two papers reporting the results of a study of LDWIs that focuses on their economic aspects, takes an empirical approach, and includes consideration of institutional factors affecting utilities’ efforts to reduce their vulnerabilities to these disruptions. This paper presents background on the problem, including cost concepts relevant to economic valuation of measures to reduce the risks of LDWIs, valuation methods, and the role of the concept of ‘resilience’ in shaping analysis in this area. This material provides context and motivation for the second paper, which reports on a series of case studies.

ORDER PROBLEM AND THE CONCEPTUAL ATTITUDES OF MODERN THEORETICAL SOCIOLOGY

The article discusses modern conceptual perspectives in which clarification of the problem of social order is implemented. In this discussion, the following thesis is accepted: the well-known work of T. Hobbes "Leviathan..." is not just one of the explorations, albeit a classic one, on this topic, but acts as a kind of "possibility structure" for all and any subsequent attempts and experiences in this regard. This thesis is, in fact, also the task of consideration and its result (already as proven). It turns out that the Hobbesian solution is not only (and rather not) an answer to the question of order, but a brilliant working model, using which it is convenient to form various theoretical propositions. Hobbes's "Leviathan" gives space for the appearance of cardinal themes / regions / contents of theoretical consideration in modern social philosophy and sociology. Consideration of the topos of the birth of society as an order of coexistence of human individuals-actors; the nature of the corresponding potentials; the genesis of order and its mechanisms; possibilities and conditions for the continuation of the social, i.e., ordered state and its changes, transformations, grounds for the universality (super-individuality) of the order and the relationship of these grounds to the level of individual existence, consciousness and action, etc. This demonstration is carried out through consideration of approaches to the problem of social order by Talcott Parsons, Jürgen Habermas, Nicolas Luhmann and Harold Garfunkel. In this context, the approaches of Pierre Bourdieu and Anthony Gedens are also mentioned.

The Iconographic Type of the Coronation of the Virgin in the Renaissance Italian Painting in the Light of the Medieval Theology

This article highlights the artistic and conceptual relevance of the iconographic type of the Coronation of Mary in Italy during the Late Middle Ages and Early Modernity. We have analyzed 14 Italian Renaissance paintings, aiming to discover the possible doctrinal sources that inspire them. From a conceptual perspective, we have specified that the iconography of The Coronation of the Virgin in Italy is directly inspired by the comments of some Church Fathers and medieval theologians and hymnographers. From the formal perspective, we discover that three different iconographyc types complement each other as progressively more complex variants of a similar basic structure.

Public Relations

RELATIONS has, for reasons not that obvious, been neglected in terms of theoretical conceptualization in the study of communication phenomena. Though the field has seen a number of text books and articles written on public relations, attempts to put public relations in conceptual theoretical perspectives have been limited. The need therefore is to elevate the study of public relations to higher theoretical levels, which could also benefit industry eventually. In this article Lewin's field theory, and in particular his topology of the inner per- son has been put forward as a focus domain of how to conceptualize public relations in an organizational context. Public relations is playing the mediating role between individual and individual, organization and individual as well as organization and organization. Lewin's field theory, as such, provides the communicologist with exploratory alter- natives to the study of public relations.

TURKEY’S EXTERNAL DIFFERENTIATED INTEGRATION WITH THE EU IN THE CONTEXT OF INTEGRATED BORDER MANAGEMENT AND ITS RELATIONS WITH FRONTEX

Amaç: Bu çalışma, Türkiye’nin sınır yönetimi konusunda AB ile harici farklılaştırılmış entegrasyonunun sınırlarını ve belirleyici faktörlerini Entegre Sınır Yönetimi (ESY) sisteminin uygulanması ve AB Sınır ve Sahil Güvenlik Ajansı (FRONTEX) ile işlevsel işbirliğinin durumu kapsamında analiz etmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Yöntem: Makalenin kuramsal bölümünde, harici farklılaştırılmış entegrasyon ve belirleyici faktörleri, farklı politika aktarımı modelleri ve literatür haritalandırılması üzerinden kavramsallaştırılmaktadır. Ampirik bölümdeyse, ESY’nin uygulanması ve FRONTEX ile işbirliği konularında gerçekleşen farklılaştırılmış entegrasyonun kapsamı Avrupa Komisyonu Türkiye ilerleme/ülke raporları temel alınarak incelenmektedir. Entegrasyonun kapsamını ve sınırlarını etkileyen faktörler, makalenin kuramsal bölümünde gerçekleştirilen haritalandırmadan yararlanılarak ele alınmaktadır.Bulgular: Makalenin ana bulgusu, cazip ve güvenilir teşviklerin Türkiye’nin sınır yönetimi konusunda AB ile entegrasyonunu kolaylaştırırken, sektörel siyasallaşmanın ve öngörülen yüksek uyum maliyetlerinin harici farklılaştırılmış entegrasyonu olumsuz etkilediğidir.Özgünlük: AB-Türkiye ilişkilerinin ele alındığı yazında, harici farklılaştırılmış entegrasyon konusundaki kuramsal çalışmalar az sayıda olmakla birlikte, oldukça da yeni bir alandır. Bunun ötesinde, kuramsal tartışmaları farklı politika alanları bağlamında inceleyen sınırlı sayıda ampirik çalışma bulunmaktadır. Bu makale, AB-Türkiye ilişkilerini, göç ve sınır yönetimi gibi oldukça önemli ve güncel bir politika alanında, harici farklılaştırılmış entegrasyon tartışmaları bağlamında inceleyerek özellikle Türkçe yazına önemli ve özgün bir katkı sağlamaktadır.

Quantitative Structure-Toxicity Relationship in Bioactive Molecules from a Conceptual DFT Perspective.

The preclinical drug discovery stage often requires a large amount of costly and time-consuming experiments using huge sets of chemical compounds. In the last few decades, this process has undergone significant improvements by the introduction of quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) modelling that uses a certain percentage of experimental data to predict the biological activity/property of compounds with similar structural skeleton and/or containing a particular functional group(s). The use of machine learning tools along with it has made life even easier for pharmaceutical researchers. Here, we discuss the toxicity of certain sets of bioactive compounds towards Pimephales promelas and Tetrahymena pyriformis in terms of the global conceptual density functional theory (CDFT)-based descriptor, electrophilicity index (ω). We have compared the results with those obtained by using the commonly used hydrophobicity parameter, logP (where P is the n-octanol/water partition coefficient), considering the greater ease of computing the ω descriptor. The Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) curing activity of 32 pyridyl benzamide derivatives is also studied against Tryphanosoma brucei. In this review article, we summarize these multiple linear regression (MLR)-based QSAR studies in terms of electrophilicity (ω, ω2) and hydrophobicity (logP, (logP)2) parameters.

Steunwerwing in Suid-Afrika

This article focuses on lobbying in South Africa, with special reference to the business sector. Lobbying does indeed take place in South Africa, but is on an ad hoc and unstructured basis when compared with the USA, for example. Most of the persons who perform local lobbying functions do so in a part-time capacity while maintaining major positions as interest-group officials, PROS In companies or as corporate executives. Rather than trying to measure their influence In the policy-making process, the study analyses the level of interest group activity and the lobbying techniques they employ. The institutional foci of lobbying activities are also identified. Conceptual and comparative perspectives are integrated with the empirical data.

Moving forward: Diverse conceptual and theoretical perspectives to advance career proactivity research

Research interests have surged recently to unpack the different elements or forms of career proactivity, which is presumed to carry important implications for one’s career (Klehe et al., 2021). However, as revealed in our bibliometric review (Jiang et al., 2022), career proactivity remains a complex domain which resides in various research themes in vocational and organizational psychology. While these insights emerging from the bibliographic analyses echo well-established perspectives in the wider career development literature, they do suggest broad directions future research may follow to move this field forward, such as clearing up the conceptualization of career proactivity, taking contextualized views, bridging historical traditions across domains, and developing new theories. That being said, since most existing career studies do not directly address “proactivity” due to constrained or ambiguous knowledge about the nature of being vocationally or occupationally proactive, the themes and clusters were largely hidden behind the literature that indirectly attends to individuals’ actions or behavioral tendencies (or indicators reflecting/fostering these actions or tendencies). What seems challenging for career proactivity research in the future, is still the complexity of identifying a clearer and more precisely defined thread that can bind these themes in a coherent, meaningful manner.

Formulated Mathematical Model for Delayed Particle Flow in Cascaded Subsurface Water Reservoirs with Validation on River Flow

Migration of pollutant particles into subsurface water reservoirs through point sources is largely involved mixing processes within the system of water flow. Possible potential sources of pollution to these point sources include municipal wastes, septic loads, landfills, uncontrolled hazardous wastes, and sewage storage tanks. The mixing processes of pollutant significantly alter their predictive rate of flow in the water reservoirs, and therefore the time inherent in mixing processes need to be accounted for. In this study, pollution of subsurface water reservoirs mainly rivers and streams through contaminated water point sources (CWPS) was studied through a conceptual perspective of mixing problem processes in water tanks. The objective was to formulate a discrete time delay mathematical model which describes the dynamics of water reservoir pollution that involve single species contaminants such as nitrates, phosphorous, and detergents injecting from a point source. The concentration x t of pollutants was expressed as a function of the inflow and outflow rates using the principle for the conservation of mass. The major assumption made in modeling of mixing problems using tanks is that mixing is instantaneous. Practical realities dictate that mixing cannot occur instantaneously throughout the tank. So as to accommodate these realities, the study refined the systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) generated from principles of mixing problems in cascading tanks, into a system of delayed differential equations (DDEs) so that the concentration of pollutant leaving the reservoir at time t would be equal to the average concentration at some earlier instant, t − τ for the delay τ > 0 . The formulated model is a mathematical discrete time delay model which can be used to describe the dynamics of subsurface water reservoir pollution through a point source. The model was simulated on municipal River Nyakomisaro in Kisii County, Kenya. Physical and kinematic parameters of the river (cross-sectional lengths, depths, flow velocities) at three river sectional reservoirs were measured and the obtained parameter values were then used to evaluate coefficients of the formulated model equation. The system of DDEs from this simulation was solved numerically on MATLAB using dde23 software. From the graphical views generated for concentration of pollutant x t versus time t , it was established that the developed DDEs cover longer time series solutions (characteristic curves) than that from the corresponding ODEs in the same reservoir indicating that time necessary for particle flow through water reservoirs is underestimated if ODEs are used to describe particle flow. Also, the graphical views indicated similar tendencies (characteristics) in particle flow with time elapse even though initial values of concentration x t were different for every potentially recognized single species pollutant considered in each river reservoir. Hence, longer values of time t will imply more pollution in the water reservoir and vice versa. By introducing time delays due to constituent mixing processes in water quality simulation models that make use of advection-diffusion equation such as Qual2kw, the findings of this study can help for better understanding of the contaminant’s accumulation levels and their rate of transport in water resource. These will assist, for example, water-quality protection agencies such as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), World Health Organization (WHO), and National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) for the need to generate efficient and effective remedial strategies to control or mitigate hazardous or risks arising from water pollution.

Conflicting logics of the postpandemic university

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual frame for scholars who draws on the conflicting logics of the postpandemic university.Design/methodology/approachThis feature paper is based on a systematic review of research and studies conducted in the field of higher education. It illustrates broader trends with respect to how the various elements of contemporary and conflicting challenges present themselves within higher education institutions (HEIs).FindingsA combination of literature review and fieldwork across a broad range of scientific fields presents a potentially powerful means of reducing the gap between research and practice. For this reason, this paper sets out to provide conceptual perspectives as to contemporary and conflicting challenges in higher education.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper presents many descriptive results from HEIs in the western world which do not allow for making global inferences toward the entire higher education sector.Practical implicationsThe results have a number of implications for the postpandemic university. Among them are that HEIs should not only be more open toward contemporary changes but also embrace previously excluded student populations with their purpose-driven and sustainable orientation toward life.Originality/valueThis paper presents a conceptual contribution to contemporary challenges in higher education as a way of refraining from one-size-fits-all approaches. It demonstrates how institutional positioning and profiling depend on conflicting logics. Consequently, each institution of higher learning needs to address these challenges in line with their strategic, economic and political settings.

Prayer and Healing: A Study of 83 Healing Reports in the Netherlands

The setting: 83 reports of healing related to prayer (HP) were evaluated between 2015 and 2020 in the Netherlands. Research questions: What are the medical and experiential findings? Do we find medically remarkable and/or medically unexplained healings? Which explanatory frameworks can help us to understand the findings? Methods: 83 reported healings were investigated using medical files and patient narratives. An independent medical assessment team consisting of five medical consultants, representing different fields of medicine, evaluated the associated files of 27 selected cases. Fourteen of them received in-depth interviews. Instances of healing could be classified as ‘medically remarkable’ or ‘medically unexplained’. Subsequent analysis was transdisciplinary, involving medical, experiential, theological and conceptual perspectives. Results: the diseases reported covered the entire medical spectrum. Eleven healings were evaluated as ‘medically remarkable’, while none were labelled as ‘medically unexplained’. A pattern with recurrent characteristics emerged, whether the healings were deemed medically remarkable or not: instantaneity and unexpectedness of healing, often with emotional and physical manifestations and a sense of ‘being overwhelmed’. The HP experiences were interpreted as acts of God, with a transformative impact. Positive effects on health and socio-religious quality of life persisted in most cases after a two and four year follow-up. Conclusions: the research team found it difficult to frame data in medical terms, especially the instantaneity and associated experiences in many healings. We need a broader, multi-perspective model to understand the findings. Horizontal epistemology, valuing both ‘subjective’ (experiential) and ‘objective’ data, may be helpful. An open dialogue between science and religion may help too. There is an analogy with healing narratives in the Bible and throughout church history. Future studies and documentation are needed to verify and clarify the pattern we found.

Music Theory in Serbia: Tracing the Legitimation of the Disciplinary Identity

In comparison to the (Western) European tradition, the development of music theory in Serbia has been quite short. Milan Milovuk’s works, dating from the 1860s, were the first published theoretical writings in Serbian. Nevertheless, this development was substantial, leading from basic music theory in Milovuk’s pioneering works to an interdisciplinary field of research that is fully integrated into today's global map of the discipline. Through this expansion, the status reconfiguration of music theory in Serbia took place from propaedeutics to an autonomous scientific field. However, the transformation of the discipline was not the subject of scientific research until recently. The questions about the nature of a musical-theoretical work, on what basis and with what convictions it is carried out, what kind of knowledge it produces, and what the impact of that knowledge is can be considered an exception in music theory writings in Serbian. Likewise, the legitimisation of certain types of musical-theoretical work about the discipline as a whole or its relevant parts has only recently become represented in our scientific literature. In this article, I investigate the reasons for the indicated epistemological certainty of music theory in Serbia and study the traces of its disciplinary legitimation in both diachronic (historical-developmental) and synchronic (theoretical–conceptual and methodological-epistemological) perspectives.

Pinceladas de historia - Contrapunto - An educational experience mediated with video games

- “Pinceladas de Historia - Contrapunto” is a prototype of an electronic game to present in a graphic and animated way historical facts of our country and from them build critical thinking in children and young people who have access to it.
 The video game was thought of as a necessity, since teaching history at school allows students to build conceptual perspectives.
 Currently, students have lost interest in learning history, they see it as one more requirement of their educational program, which becomes an additional difficulty for the teachers who are in charge of taking the course. That is why Brushstrokes of History seeks to help break the stereotype regarding learning history and also promote knowledge of the most relevant events in our country.

Conceptual structure and perspectives on “innovation management”: A bibliometric review

The present study aims to analyze “Innovation Management” using a bibliometric technique. To this aim, Web of Science (WOS) citation database was used to extract the articles. Then, the received files were combined and integrated using Bibexcel. In the next step, the data were illustrated and analyzed by R Studio and R package. The results identified well-cited articles, active, and influential journals, and authors in the field. In addition, investigating the strategic diagrams and thematic evolution maps revealed basic, developed, emerging, and obsolete issues in “Innovation Management”. During the recent years, many researchers have focused on some issues with a forward-looking approach such as “Emerging Technologies”, “Patent Analysis”, as well as “Nanotechnology”, “Service Innovation”, and “Technology Transfer”. The results represent a comprehensive understanding of the evolutionary process of each field and are considered as a coherent instrument for research policy.