Conceptual Thoughts Research Articles

Religious Ethics in a Conflicted Word—On Ethical Motivation between Political Theology and Anthropology

The article seeks to define the concepts of religion and ethics as well as their compound. It does so (1) by asking for the supposed demarcation line between religious and secular ethics and (2) by considering the relation of religious ethics and political theology. Based on the respective findings, the article offers a meta-ethical perspective on the subject by challenging the anthropological backdrop of both secular and religious ethics. In conclusion, it proposes a formal approach to ethical judgment that may function as a discerning method when it comes to the assessment of specific models of religious and/or secular ethics. In this regard, the article provides conceptual thoughts on ethical motivation and the operationalization of ethics on an institutional level.

Metrical Formation and Rhyme in Taysīr Subūl's Aḥzān Ṣaḥrāwiyyah Collection: A Stylistic Study

This study focuses on the principal stylistic characteristics of metrical formation and rhyme in the poetry collection of Taysīr Subūl Aḥzān Ṣaḥrāwiyyah ‘Desert Sorrows’. It explores the impact of traditional Arabic metrical forms on articulating the poet's real-life and psychological experiences. The research also delves into the importance of rhyme in fostering a unified emotional flow, maintaining the continuity of events, and culminating the poet's conceptual thoughts. The study concludes that Subūl's selection of classical Arabic meters (Buhur) and their metrical variations significantly contribute to the freedom and fluidity of his expression, enriching the rhythmic and semantic depth of his poetry. The varied application of softened rhyme schemes emerges as a prominent stylistic feature, encouraging readers to ponder over the implications and meanings of his poetic lines.

Data Management in Biorefineries: Conceptual Thoughts on Lean Digital Twinning

Biorefineries offer a new solution for the sustainable production of chemicals, materials, fuels, heat, and power while reducing dependence on non-renewable resources and helping to mitigate climate change. To ensure a broad implementation of biorefineries, efficiency is vital in the planning phase and must be monitored during operation. However, optimizing biorefinery processes can be challenging due to the inherent complexity of biomass feedstock, its variability, and the several technology combinations available. Digital mapping or modeling through approaches such as Digital Twins can lead to a better understanding of the processes involved. A Digital Twin fed by continuous process data can contribute to optimizing biorefinery processes, improving efficiency and helping to minimize adverse impacts. However, acquiring all relevant process parameters can be challenging due to the need to implement sensors and the volume and quality of the generated data. Here, we present the concept of Lean Digital Twin for biorefinery optimization to achieve efficient operation and monitoring while keeping overall data acquisition, processing, and storage as simple as possible. We show that implementing data-driven optimization strategies can help ensure the sustainability of biorefineries.

Towards a sustainability-oriented development of biointelligent products

A sustainable and safe satisfaction of needs can be expected to be achieved through so-called biointelligent systems, resulting from the convergence of life, engineering, and computer sciences. In the context of product design, two fundamental challenges emerge. First, the integration of living elements represents a component that has been largely absent from traditional development processes. Second, a variety of additional challenges arise to ensure contributions to sustainability, resulting from its multidisciplinary nature, e.g. miscommunication, various methodological approaches or conflicts of objectives. Therefore, a product development process that integrates biology, technology and informatics while considering sustainability aspects from the outset is becoming necessary. Given that existing sustainable product development concepts like Design for Sustainability or Ecodesign primarily refer to conventional product development methods, addressing sustainability in the development of biointelligent products poses a novel challenge. This work aims to propose a "Design for Biointelligence" framework by elaborating conceptual thoughts on a sustainability-oriented guideline for the development of biointelligent products. As a result, we state that a biointelligent product integrates biological and technical parts, transmits information through interaction between these parts and promotes sustainability. Through a case study of a biointelligent sensor system, potential challenges associated with developing biointelligent products were identified and conceptual thoughts on a guideline were elaborated.

Analisis Hukum Penyelesaian Kerugian Negara Ditinjau Dalam Perspektif Hukum Pidana

This study aims to determine and analyze the process and mechanism for resolving State Financial Losses in the Perspective of Criminal Law and to determine and analyze the application and legal settlement of the findings of the Supreme Audit Agency of the Republic of Indonesia (BPK RI) on the occurrence of state financial losses in state financial management. This research uses library data (library research) to obtain theoretical or doctrinal conceptions, opinions or conceptual thoughts from previous research related to the objects examined in this study which can be in the form of laws and regulations, books, scientific works, papers and other works. The results of the research show that the existence of Article 4 of the PTPK Law as the basis for law enforcement of corruption that harms state finances is to emphasize that when state financial losses have switched or entered the realm of criminal law, the return of financial losses does not eliminate the criminal liability of the perpetrators of corruption that harms state finances and the Supreme Audit Agency Regulation Number 3 of 2007 concerning Procedures for Settling State Losses Against Treasurers starts from handling initial information, which starts with information on state / regional losses then proceeds with the formation of the State Loss Settlement Team (TPKN); then Examination by the Supreme Audit Agency; Settlement through Certificate of Absolute Responsibility (SKTJM); Settlement through Decision Letter of Deadline Determination (SKPBW); and Settlement through Encumbrance Decision Letter (SKP).

Addressing agricultural labour issues is key to biodiversity-smart farming

There is an urgent need for agricultural development strategies that reconcile agricultural production and biodiversity conservation. This is especially true in the Global South where population growth is rapid and much of the world's remaining biodiversity is located. Combining conceptual thoughts with empirical insights from case studies in Indonesia and Ethiopia, we argue that such strategies will have to pay more attention to agricultural labour dynamics. Farmers have a strong motivation to reduce the heavy toil associated with farming by adopting technologies that save labour but can negatively affect biodiversity. Labour constraints can also prevent farmers from adopting technologies that improve biodiversity but increase labour intensity. Without explicitly accounting for labour issues, conservation efforts can hardly be successful. We hence highlight the need for biodiversity-smart agriculture, that is farming practices or systems that reconcile biodiversity with land and labour productivity. Our empirical insights suggest that technological and institutional options to reconcile farmers' socio-economic goals and biodiversity conservation exist but that more needs to be done to implement such options at scale.

КОМПАРАТИВІСТСЬКА ПАРАДИГМА У ПРАЦЯХ Ю. БОЙКА-БЛОХИНА: «ВЗАЄМОДОТИКАННЯ І СХРЕЩЕННЯ» ПІДХОДІВ

КОМПАРАТИВІСТСЬКА ПАРАДИГМА У ПРАЦЯХ Ю. БОЙКА-БЛОХИНА: «ВЗАЄМОДОТИКАННЯ І СХРЕЩЕННЯ» ПІДХОДІВ

현직 유아교사의 ‘유아 원격교육에서의 유아교사’에 대한 이미지

Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine how incumbent early childhood teachers who have undergone changes due to COVID-19 image early childhood teachers in remote education. Methods In this study, metaphor analysis was conducted to find out the human conceptual system and thoughts from the perspective of experientialism. The subject of the study is 172 early childhood teachers with remote education experience. The researcher distributed the research subject a sentence-completed metaphor analysis questionnaire, “In remote education, the early childhood teacher is ( ). Because it is ( ).” After organizing the collected data in Excel, it was analyzed using the conceptual metaphor method(Gok & Erdogan, 2010) that revealed the metaphor tendency and metaphor type. While the researchers repeatedly read the data, the final results were derived through classification, categorization, and recategory. Results As a result of the study, early childhood teachers perceived early childhood teachers implementing remote education as robots, guides, entertainers, researches, capable of doing anything, leaders, a person who teaches others, and people who would disappear. Conclusions Through the results of this study, it was revealed that early childhood teachers perceived difficulties and limitations in their roles in early childhood remote education, and various implications were also provided for the new role of early childhood teachers for childhood remote education in the post-COVID-19 era

Emotion and International Business: Theorising Fear of Failure in the Internationalisation.

The road to internationalisation is paved with risk, uncertainty, the possibility of failure, and the Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) phenomenon. However, the process of internationalisation (IP) theory treats an individual decision-maker as a “black box.” Emotions are largely ignored by international business (IB) researchers. This study offers conceptual thoughts on the role of fear of failure in the process of internationalisation. It argues that managers experience this emotion in making internationalisation decisions for a firm, which is an area of study that requires further understanding. Following the content analysis method in the literature review and a theory-based adaptation approach to complete the conceptualisation, this manuscript joins the scholarly conversations on “connecting the IP model to people” and “emotion and internationalisation.” Focussing on fear of failure as a new perspective, this manuscript contributes to IB literature by suggesting new avenues in understanding decision-making about international activities by embracing psychological insights. It also contributes to IB practitioners by offering implications for understanding one’s emotional state and its effect on decision-making about internationalising ventures.

Towards a Circular Bioeconomy? Pathways and Spatialities of Agri‐Food Waste Valorisation

AbstractThe treatment of organic waste, by‐products and other residual materials from bio‐based industries is currently changing from disposing to recycling and reusing activities, which may create significant added values. However, these valorisation pathways as well as their institutional and geographical contexts are not yet sufficiently understood. From an actor‐centric perspective, we seek to shed light on extant practices of agri‐food waste valorisation using the examples of potato and rapeseed production in Lower Saxony, Germany. Drawing on conceptual thoughts on circular bioeconomies and the nexus approach, we will show that these practices not only depend on the availability of (technological) solutions but are affected by changing economic and political environments in combination with place‐specific conditions and local networks. We further describe the cross‐sectoral relations, synergies and externalities that come along with by‐product valorisation in multi‐use systems, while also revealing the fragile stability of circular bioeconomies that are linked to the food–feed–energy nexus.

Solving the restructuring problems of (former) old industrial regions with smart specialization? Conceptual thoughts and evidence from the Ruhr

(Former) old industrial regions are a specific kind of lagging regions that suffer from long-term restructuring problems and deindustrialization. They are back in the focus of many researchers as well as media observers, because of the rise of populist parties in many of these regions in North America and Europe. Therefore, new policy options are discussed in the literature. In this paper, we critically discuss the effects of smart specialization as the most recent regional policy strategy in Europe on solving the restructuring problems and deindustrialization in (former) old industrial regions and we illustrate our analysis with a view on the Ruhr in Germany. Since smart specialization focuses on existing endogenous potential and entrepreneurial discovery processes from the region, vested interests in (former) old industrial regions might hinder necessary restructuring. Although potentially path transformation might be fostered in some cases, overall, smart specialization is certainly not a quick fix for solving long-term negative effects of restructuring and deindustrialization in (former) old industrial regions.

YOUNG PEOPLE’S VISIONS FOR LIFE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE IN LATIN AMERICA

Abtract Young people steer their life trajectories against the backdrop of profound transformations of rurality. They are considered protagonists in the present and future of rural areas; however, their experiences and perspectives on life in, and away from, the countryside have been scarcely acknowledged in academia. Considering conceptual thoughts on new mobilities, place-based belonging, and new ruralities, we argue that young people are a highly dynamic and continually reassessing group. In four case studies realized independently in Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Mexico, we closely involved young people with multiple participative methods to express their perceptions, concerns, and demands. We experiment on ways to integrate our insights for future comparative studies. Beyond the diversity in local contexts, we found convergences in young people’s visions, which motivate them to stay or leave, with wider implications for the sustainability of rural places. “Living in between” thereby encapsulates multifaceted hybrid possible countrysides away from constraining dichotomic views. Keywords: (im)mobilities, Latin America, rural places, socio-environmental transformation, young people.

Compassion As an Intervention to Attune to Universal Suffering of Self and Others in Conflicts: A Translational Framework.

As interpersonal, racial, social, and international conflicts intensify in the world, it is important to safeguard the mental health of individuals affected by them. According to a Buddhist notion “if you want others to be happy, practice compassion; if you want to be happy, practice compassion,” compassion practice is an intervention to cultivate conflict-proof well-being. Here, compassion practice refers to a form of concentrated meditation wherein a practitioner attunes to friend, enemy, and someone in between, thinking, “I’m going to help them (equally).” The compassion meditation is based on Buddhist philosophy that mental suffering is rooted in conceptual thoughts that give rise to generic mental images of self and others and subsequent biases to preserve one’s egoism, blocking the ultimate nature of mind. To contextualize compassion meditation scientifically, we adopted a Bayesian active inference framework to incorporate relevant Buddhist concepts, including mind (buddhi), compassion (karuna), aggregates (skandhas), suffering (duhkha), reification (samaropa), conceptual thoughts (vikalpa), and superimposition (prapañca). In this framework, a person is considered a Bayesian Engine that actively constructs phenomena based on the aggregates of forms, sensations, discriminations, actions, and consciousness. When the person embodies rigid beliefs about self and others’ identities (identity-grasping beliefs) and the resulting ego-preserving bias, the person’s Bayesian Engine malfunctions, failing to use prediction errors to update prior beliefs. To counter this problem, after recognizing the causes of sufferings, a practitioner of the compassion meditation aims to attune to all others equally, friends and enemies alike, suspend identity-based conceptual thoughts, and eventually let go of any identity-grasping belief and ego-preserving bias that obscure reality. We present a brain model for the Bayesian Engine of three components: (a) Relation-Modeling, (b) Reality-Checking, and (c) Conflict-Alarming, which are subserved by (a) the Default-Mode Network (DMN), (b) Frontoparietal Network (FPN) and Ventral Attention Network (VAN), and (c) Salience Network (SN), respectively. Upon perceiving conflicts, the strengthening or weakening of ego-preserving bias will critically depend on whether the SN up-regulates the DMN or FPN/VAN, respectively. We propose that compassion meditation can strengthen brain regions that are conducive for suspending prior beliefs and enhancing the attunements to the counterparts in conflicts.

Market and Institutional Limits in Supplying Animal Welfare: some Conceptual Thoughts for Future Agricultural Economic Research

Providing adequate levels of farm animal welfare is a challenge in today’s societies. Economic research indicates that neither market valuation for credence attributes in opaque markets, nor transparency improved market valuation with labelling schemes, nor non-market valuation in hypothetical markets to consider non-use values, nor non-monetary valuation in an ethical context are suitable to capture the value dimensions of farm animal welfare adequately. Monetary and non-monetary valuation problems stem from the complex concept of farm animal welfare and ethical challenges in utilitarian and anthropocentric approaches. Animal centred valuation of farm animal welfare is suggested as one future venue of economic research conditioned on overcoming speciesism.

Социально-историческая категория «опыт».

Since experience is a manifestation of the implementation of the program of the life cycle of a thinking person, and only a thinking creature can create conditions for the manifestation of signs of the observed object of a particular existence in interconnection, interaction and understanding with other thinking creatures, the category of experience may have signs of an object of a social nature, but, in addition to Moreover, in the process of implementing the cognitive and creative activity of creatures thinking in this area of existence, conditions are created for remembering knowledge in the objects of knowledge and creation of an indefinitely large number of facts of the manifestation of cognitive and creative activity of thinking beings, and this suggests that experience can also have a historical character. In accordance with this view, it can be argued that the concept of experience is in the nature of a social and historical category. The objective of this scientific article is to disclose, based on the analysis of conceptual thoughts set forth in classical sociological theory, the idea of the social and historical category of experience from the point of view of a transcendental worldview, and to demonstrate, by the example of some imaginary knowledge, the orientation of the life cycle program, as a separate individual being thinking, and their entire civilization.

Calibration of a Multiphase Model Based on a Comprehensive Data Set for a Normal Strength Concrete.

Hygro-thermo-chemo-mechanical modelling of time-dependent concrete behavior requires the accurate determination of a large set of parameters. In this paper, the parameters of a multiphase model are calibrated based on a comprehensive set of experiments for a particular concrete of grade C30/37. The experiments include a calorimetry test, tests for age-dependent mechanical properties, tests for determining the water desorption isotherm, shrinkage tests, and compressive creep tests. The latter two were performed on sealed and unsealed specimens with accompanying mass water content measurements. The multiphase model is based on an effective stress formulation. It features a porosity-dependent desorption isotherm, taking into account the time-dependency of the desorption properties. The multiphase model is shown to yield excellent results for the evolutions of the mechanical parameters. The evolution of the autogenous shrinkage strain and evolutions of the creep compliances for loading at concrete ages of 2 days, 7 days, and 28 days are well predicted together with the respective mass water content evolution. This also holds for the evolution of the drying shrinkage strain, at least for moderate drying up to one year. However, it will be demonstrated that for longer drying times further conceptual thoughts concerning the coupled representation of shrinkage and creep are required.

The effect of Future Expansion on Architectural Form of University Buildings Sulaimani University - the Old Campus as a Case Study

Future expansion is an extension of an existing building by adding new parts or connecting with buildings in order to create new expression and function for the building, expansion in general deals with future situation, building as it doesn’t need expansions, but within time factor it needs the expansion and the changes. The expansion in educational buildings is very important and needed for the changes of the learning process , that’s why , the design of the educational buildings should be very re-actionable with the changes , beside reserving the formal unity of the new and old buildings and the needs of the learning process .
 This research ,study the relationship between Future Expansion on Architectural Form and the effect of Future Expansion on the architectural form of Kurdistan Region of Iraq university buildings, the problem of the research is lake of knowledge in studying the effects of expansion in the formal unity in university architecture, for that the study focused on two parts , the first is the theoretical side and the conceptual thoughts of the factors of the study , the second one is the practical study and the graphical analyzing of the case study(old campus of Sulaimani University), and discussing the outcomes ,and the conclusions of the study.

TATA CARA DAN PROSES PENYIDIKAN TERHADAP PELAKU TINDAK PIDANA PENCURIAN UANG MELALUI ATM DI KEPOLISIAN RESOR KOTA BESAR MEDAN

This study aims at determining and understanding the causes of money theft via ATMs in the Medan City Police Legal Area, investigators' strategy in conducting investigations of money theft via ATMs in the Medan City Police Station, the obstacles faced by Medan City Police Department investigators in handling money theft through ATMs. The data used in this study are primary data and secondary data. Primary data were obtained from the field by conducting interviews and case studies with related parties. Secondary data were obtained through library research or study documentation to get secondary data. Through this research, thoughts, doctrines, opinions or conceptual thoughts from previous studies relating to the object of study research were obtained. The results showed that the causes of theft through ATMs were economic factors, environmental factors, social factors, low religious and moral experience, educational factors, family factors, and mental illness called kleptomania. The strategy of investigating the crime of money theft through ATMs by the Medan City Police is by following up the report immediately, making an investigation warrant and an investigation warrant, conducting a crime scene by examining the results of CCTV recordings, searching for traces / fingerprints of the perpetrators at the crime scene, looking for evidence used by the offender to commit a crime and to make a crime scene sketch to be attached to the minutes of the crime scene inspection. The obstacles faced by Medan City Police investigators in investigating the crime of money theft through ATMs are the absence of CCTV installed in the ATM room, the installed CCTV has been damaged so that the picture is no longer clear, there is no trace or fingerprint of the perpetrator in the ATM room because the perpetrators used gloves and damaged the crime scene because someone had come in and out of the ATM room before the police came to inspect the crime scene.

Education in the Perspective of Muhammad Rashid Rida

Discussions related to the field of education always centered the attention of scholars in whatever circumstances of Muslims, either in the position of progressive or regressive. This situation posits the significance of education in the human civilization of shaping the personality of the ummah and towards the development of the country. Amongst the Islamic scholars that contributed to this field is Muhammad Rashid Rida. His conceptual thoughts on education are seen to be relevant as a reference in the realm of modern education. Henceforth, this article aims to identify the views of Muhammad Rashid Rida towards the concept of education, teaching and learning processes and the dualism issue in the educational system within the Islamic circle. This research paper adopting the approach of qualitative by its primary source is obtained through the content analysis on the magazine Al-Manar. The research findings indicate the thoughts of Muhammad Rashid Rida in the aspect of education is comprehensive and covers the whole stages of education. He also emphasizes the requirement of reforming in few aspects in order to get an education as the agent of reviving the triumph of ummah’s civilization.

Political Hostility and Local Government Crisis in Bangladesh: Ruling Party’s Supremacy and Opposition Party’s Costs of Being Outside of the State Power

Bangladesh has a history of political unrest and supremacy of the ruling party. Recently, representatives of the local government were suspended for being accused in cases of political violence. The ruling party is defining the suspensions as a legal process; on the contrary, the opposition political parties are claiming it as political hostility and a way of controlling local governments. There are shortages of research on contemporary political challenges and its consequences. Thus, this study considered local government representative suspensions as a case to exemplify the political hostility and local government crisis in Bangladesh. This study also demonstrated some theoretical points to frame the conceptual thoughts, likewise explained the status and some historical illustration of governmental intrusion over local government. Besides, this study applied the qualitative method to discover the research queries. Consequently, the analysis outlined substantial political supremacy and hostility in Bangladesh and its adverse impact on local governance.