Conceptual Development Research Articles

Food-Energy-Water Nexus in compliance with Sustainable Development Goals for integrating and managing the core environmental verticals for sustainable energy and circular economy

Food, energy, and water resources are intricately interconnected, and nexus provides a holistic approach for addressing these complex links to minimize inefficiencies and waste. Nexus approach and circular economy are considered as effective solutions for sustainability. Quantification of these relations is the first step towards incorporating nexus modeling which helps sustainable production and consumption. For achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, understanding and effectively managing the FEW nexus becomes imperative. With an integral performance perspective, there is a need to address the interdependencies and trade-offs among food, energy, and water systems and challenges of economic, social and environmental sustainability. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the FEW nexus, identify key opportunities and challenges, and propose integrated strategies for managing these core environmental verticals sustainably. The study addresses the accomplishment of these goals through nexus approaches and outlines the need for technological advancements for shared benefits among resources, contributing to conceptual development of nexus and circular economy. The results highlight the critical importance of adopting a nexus approach to advance sustainable development goals, enhance resource efficiency, and promote synergistic solutions across food, energy, and water systems.

Understanding Self-Government

Increasingly the go-to option for managing separatism, territorial autonomy provides special self-government for territorially concentrated minorities. Rather than an institution in its own right, autonomy is often studied as a form of decentralization and federalism or an endpoint in peace processes. To aid in conceptual development and demonstrate varied applications, this paper analyzes the varied forms and uses of territorial autonomy. The best-known forms are democratic and post-conflict. Less understood are indigenous, authoritarian, and ‘nested’ autonomies. These types of territorial autonomy are approach by distinct scholarly subfields and feature varied causes, institutions, effects, and defects.

Financial hardship after cancer: revision of a conceptual model and development of patient-reported outcome measures.

Aim: This qualitative study refined a conceptual model of financial hardship and developed measures corresponding to model constructs. Methods: Eighteen women with breast cancer recruited through a comprehensive cancer center completed interviews. A qualitative framework analysis was conducted of the interviews. Results: Participants experienced varying levels of financial hardship. Protective factors included good health insurance, work accommodations and social support. Participants worried about cancer care costs and employment. Programs for alleviating financial hardship had high administrative burdens. Four preliminary financial hardship measures were developed: coping, impacts, depression and worry. Conclusion: Reducing administrative barriers to benefits could reduce financial hardship after cancer. More research is needed on the effects of out-of-network/formulary care and denials of coverage and to validate the measures.

The Reconstruction of Religious Court Decision Execution on the Fulfilment of Children’s Rights Post-Divorce in Indonesia

Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine the reconstruction of Religious Court decision execution on the fulfilment of children’s rights post-divorce in Indonesia. Theoretical Framework: This research is based on the postulate that court decisions ideally aimed to guarantee justice and legal certainty for the parties, but in reality, not all judge’s decisions can be implemented as well. This can be seen in the implementation of religious court decisions in Indonesia regarding children's maintenance rights post-divorce. Design/Methodology/Approach: This research uses a juridical-normative method. The sources and techniques of data collection were obtained from documentation studies, literature, and interviews with informants. The data analysis technique uses a deductive approach to formulate a conclusion. Findings: The results of this research show that on the one hand, the regulation of the father's obligations towards child support post-divorce in the judge's decision at the Religious Courts refers more to the positive laws that implemented in Indonesia. On the other hand, positive law in Indonesia has not yet effective in regulating the execution of judges' decisions regarding the children's rights post-divorce because it is only voluntary and lacks coercive power. Research, Practical & Social Implications: As the implication of the research, family law in Indonesia needs to be reconstructed through conducting special regulations regarding the execution mechanism regarding the fulfillment of children's rights post-divorce to be more regulatory, binding, and coercive. Originality/Value: The value of the research originality became an explanatory method for the conceptual development of the reconstruction of Religious Court decision execution on the fulfilment of children’s rights post-divorce in Indonesia.

Students’ Tool-Shaped Conceptualisation of the Idea of Statistical Distributions: The Case of Frida

This article presents a case study that explores digital experiences in statistics teaching within Danish lower secondary school, focusing on the development of students’ statistical concepts. The study tracks the progress of a student named Frida, who engages with the digital tool TinkerPlots over the span of a year. Frida developed a unique ‘plot–stack–drag’ technique that significantly influenced her conceptual development during this period. Her routines with the tool not only supported her in some instances, but also created conflicts due to their impact on her personal goals and anticipations. This article delves into the educational implications of the dialectical relationship between students’ development of tool-based routines and their personal goals established during the process. The research findings highlight the profound impact of interactions between students and digital tools, such as TinkerPlots, on shaping students’ understanding of statistical concepts. This underscores the importance of educators’ heightened awareness of students’ personal goals and anticipations influenced by digital tools, which, in turn, opens the door to innovative learning opportunities.

Organisations and Citizens Building Back Better? Climate Resilience, Social Justice & COVID-19 Recovery in Preston, UK

The impacts of COVID-19 on cities across the United Kingdom were significant and diverse, whilst ongoing climate-related, sustainability and social challenges were highlighted and sometimes amplified. Lessons from organisational and citizen experiences and their responses have the potential to improve local sustainability and resilience to global events; hence, they must be examined. We report findings from a project conducted in Preston (UK) exploring how COVID-19 recovery might accelerate organisation-led and citizen-led action for the wellbeing of people, places and the planet. The project used a settings approach to public health and combined qualitative research with conceptual development; the former involved online interviews and group dialogues with members of several local anchor institutions, whilst the latter examined synergy between community wealth building, Doughnut Economics and place-based climate action. We explore two themes—anchor institutions’ strategic priorities and plans; ‘building back better’, and its future sustainability implications. These revealed four cross-cutting aspects: wellbeing, tackling societal inequalities, collaborative working, and COVID-19 as a catalyst for transformative change. Informed by ‘Doughnut-Shaped Community Wealth Building’, organisations are encouraged to embed commitment to equitable and inclusive climate action; consolidate the co-operative approach developed during the pandemic at strategic, operational and grassroots levels; take a nuanced approach to future work policies and practices; work across anchor institutions to advocate collectively for supportive national-level policy to build a sustainable, wellbeing economy.

Food insecurity: addressing a challenging social problem with supply chains and service ecosystems

PurposeExtant literature in supply chain management tends to address a portion of the product flow to make food accessible to clients in need. The authors present a broader view of food insecurity and present nuances relevant to appreciate the complexities of dealing with this social problem.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted an inductive study to reveal the deep meaning of the context as managers of nonprofit organizations (NPO) define and address food insecurity. The focus was on a delimited geographic area for capturing interactions among NPOs which have not been described previously.FindingsThis study describes the role of supply chains collaborating in unexpected ways in the not-for-profit context, leading to interesting insights for the conceptual development of service ecosystems. This is relevant because the solution for the food insecure stems from the orchestration of assistance provided by the many supply chains for social assistance.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors introduce two concepts: customer sharing and customer release. Customer sharing enables these supply chains behave like an ecosystem with no focal organization. Customer release is the opposite to customer retention, when the food insecure stops needing assistance.Social implicationsThe authors describe the use of customer-centric measures of success such improved health measured. The solution to food insecurity for an individual is likely to be the result of the orchestration of assistance provided by several supply chains.Originality/valueThe authors started asking who the client is and how the NPOs define food insecurity, leading to discussing contrasts between food access and utilization, between hunger relief and nourishment, between assistance and solution of the problem, and between supply chains and ecosystems.

Diversifying Quranic revision methods using gamification-based teaching material for tahfiz education

This study discusses the development procedure of the global tahfiz game (GTG) as a teaching aid for the Quranic revision subject for tahfiz students based on the gamification concept. Comprehensive design and development research (DDR) was used as the research method. The analysis includes conceptual and material development, expert evaluation, testing, and the final product. The development of concepts and materials used in this gamification was based on the theoretical framework of mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics (MDA), with the application of tahfiz education elements. To examine the ability of GTG prototype to tackle the users’ needs, we have conducted the usability analysis. The expert teacher's mean score for the trial run on this gamification was high at 4.85. The trial run score for student participants was also high (4.45). The result demonstrated that most of the constructs are perceived at a high level by respondents. Thus, this indicated the high usability of GTG to be used as a teaching aid for a Quranic revision subject. The gamification of Quranic tahfiz based on board games has been finalized through recommendations and improvements based on the evaluation. The study findings are expected to be useful for educational institutions or researchers in developing teaching materials using the MDA framework for gamification, particularly in the field of Islamic education.

Fostering planetary health in polluted environments: lessons from the Xonacatlán Indigenous Council in Mexico

BackgroundThe communities of El Salto and Juanacatlán face negative impacts on human and ecosystem health due to their proximity to the second-largest industrial area in Mexico. Despite living in a region negatively impacted by high levels of pollution, these communities have organised to foster planetary health by reforesting with native plants, campaigning to stop further industrial development, and founding the Xonacatlán Indigenous Council (XIC) to reclaim traditional ways of living. This research project seeks to advance insights on the implications of fostering planetary health from the perspective of communities facing adverse socioeconomic and environmental conditions. MethodsThis qualitative study draws from participatory action research, Indigenous storywork, and ethnography. The XIC acted as the community advisory board of this research project and two XIC members are part of the research team. We investigate whether the stories and practices of community members associated with XIC contribute to fostering planetary health. Research activities will include 40–60 participants in storytelling interviews, story-making workshops, and participant observation in XIC activities. Data collection started on Nov 20, 2023, and will be finalised in August, 2024. FindingsOur ethnographic analysis investigates local understandings of the relationships between human and ecosystem health. Anticipated findings include stories about the rejection of narratives of industrial progress due to environmental damage, the reconnection with Coca identities and traditional ways of relating to the land, and the use of direct action to counteract the negligence of the state-sponsored public health system and assert local planetary health needs. InterpretationBy assessing grassroots Coca Indigenous action as a site of collective expertise on planetary health, we expect that this research project will bring attention to how people living in polluted environments can inform the conceptual development of planetary health and expand the range of practical initiatives that are considered fundamental to sustaining human and ecosystem life. FundingNone.

Romantic Hope and “Black Despair”: A Brief History

Scholars coordinate the historical emergence of political hope with the French Revolution, Romanticism, and the secularization of inherited theological ideas. This essay argues that the conceptual development of political hope functioned as a technology of racialization. Drawing attention to how hope’s theological opposite, despair, had become synonymous with racial slavery in the late eighteenth-century British political imagination, it unpacks the figural logic of “black despair” and shows how this logic subtends the Romantic conception of political hope as a hereditary right of the white liberal subject.

Blockchain adoption in supply chains: implications for sustainability

This study aims to systematically review the current academic literature on blockchain and supply chain management (SCM) to explore the antecedents and sustainable outcomes of blockchain adoption and identify factors that influence blockchain adoption at different stages of implementation in supply chains (SC). This review follows the 6 steps and 14 decisions of conducting a systematic literature review (SLR) to comprehensively review 69 papers published in Academic Journal Guide (AJG) 3 and above journals between 2008 and 2023. Based on the content analysis of the selected papers, this study identifies antecedents and outcomes for blockchain adoption. This study further identifies influential factors in each blockchain implementation stage. A conceptual framework is developed to facilitate the conceptual development of blockchain adoption for sustainability in SCs. This study extends the prior studies of blockchain adoption in SCM with the consideration of how blockchain affects the SCM from the aspects of economic, social, and environmental. This review identifies four major themes in the topic of blockchain implementation and SCM, thus assisting researchers in avoiding focusing on the investigation of mature and saturated topics. The research gaps are identified, and future research directions are recommended for scholars, thereby enabling the comprehensive development of blockchain adoption in SCs.

Interior design concept of Ukrainian brands clothing store

The issue of retail establishments design and planning is considered based on the example of clothing store interior conceptual development. The relevance of finding new forms of expression of Ukrainian identity in design is justified, in particular, clothing stores of Ukrainian brands, which today are not only trade establishments, but also the popularizes of Ukrainian culture. Based on the results of the analysis of literary sources and design experience, trends regarding the formation of the interior space and content of modern clothing stores were revealed, including: versatility; combination of various functions; a new interpretation of mannequins; change of exposure according to the principle of the gallery. A separate direction of form creation is the combination of national iconic elements of culture and modern requirements for arranging space. The purpose of the research is to develop a concept of a modern, multifunctional retail space, a color and style model that combines modern European trends and a new look at Ukrainian culture and its origins. The main theses of the concept are modeled on the example of the design development of the interior of a clothing store of Ukrainian brands. It is proposed to organize the store space as an exhibition platform for local artists with a new interpretation of elements of Ukrainian culture. Means of expression of the defined task are: space zoning, color model, use of ornament, design of decorative and compositional element. The purpose of the conceptual composition of stylized mannequins is to allegorically and abstractly depict the national idea and peculiarities of the history of the Ukrainian nation with the help of images, shapes, poses, and colors. The color model is based on the connection between Ukrainian culture and the culture of Northern Europe, and the placement of the figures refers to the ancient Slavic understanding of the sides of the world and their symbolism. Stylized ornaments with unconventional presentation are offered as decor on architectural and structural elements. It was concluded that the interior of a Ukrainian clothing store should be formed as an exhibition and presentation platform for Ukrainian designers, combining a recognizable identity with modernity; to represent Ukraine in a new way for Ukrainians and foreigners. The means of expressing the formulated demands should influence the historical national consciousness through indirect associations and symbols, which are based on historical and cultural artifacts.

Legitimating Policy Branding: Constructing “Sellability” of Sweden’s Feminist Foreign Policy

This article examines how foreign policy branding is legitimated as a response to human rights crises. Drawing on legitimation theory (van Leeuwen, 2007), this study takes a discourse perspective with a focus on the enactment of foreign policy in communication and argues that legitimacy is the foundation for constructing a convincing and credible image of a country and its foreign policy. Building on the example of Sweden’s feminist foreign policy and an analysis of relevant policy documents, three themes were formulated. These illustrate that Sweden’s feminist foreign policy branding was legitimated by framing the policy as a form of “good” activism, creating a knowledge brand of the policy, and aligning the policy branding with established discourses of solidarity. Thus, the study suggests that a branding logic imposed by the attention economy leads foreign policy communication to focus on constructing “sellability” of foreign policy, legitimating it in ways that make it relatable to wider publics. This article contributes to foreign policy communication research through the conceptual development of foreign policy branding.

Mobile Application Software as Guidance and Counselling Tool for Students of Federal College of Education, Gidan Madi

This project aims to develop a Mobile Application Software as a Guidance and Counselling Tool for Students of Federal College of Education Gidanmadi, Sokoto State, Nigeria. The goal is to provide students with a convenient, accessible, and effective way to access mental health services and support. The project involves a needs assessment, literature review, conceptual framework development, user interface design, mobile application development, usability testing, data analysis, design changes and evaluation. The methodology will be tailored to the specific needs and goals of the research, and may involve different stages and methods depending on the context and resources available. The expected results of developing a mobile application software as a guidance and counselling tool for students include increased accessibility, improved student well-being, enhanced counselor efficiency, greater student engagement, increased student retention, and improved student satisfaction. At the end of the research the students can be able to use the mobile application software for easy access to counselling and guidance services that can help them cope with various challenges they face in their academic and personal life. Guidance and counseling, Information and communication technology, Mobile application

Aesthetic Value in Marketing Art Gallery: Conceptualization and Scale Development

This study aims to develop a measurement tool for a new concept in aesthetic marketing called Aesthetic Value. The paper provides a framework for understanding individual motivations in consuming art galleries, starting with exploring art theory, aesthetics, and experience as a source of aesthetic value. The research then defines the construct and its dimensions, which are used to create a measurement tool and develop a conceptual model. Data collected from survey is used to evaluate the overall aesthetic value model. Finally, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) determines the number of components that should be retained in the construct. The study concludes that Aesthetic Value has four dimensions: artwork, facilities-place, knowledge, and emotion. This conceptualization provides a robust foundation for understanding customer value in the context of consuming art galleries by considering various relevant elements of Aesthetic Value. The article also discusses the potential use of this concept in the future, allowing researchers to accelerate further theoretical development in this area.

Relational Quantum Mechanics, quantum relativism, and the iteration of relativity

The idea that the dynamical properties of quantum systems are invariably relative to other systems has recently regained currency. Using Relational Quantum Mechanics (RQM) for a case study, this paper calls attention to a question that has been underappreciated in the debate about quantum relativism: the question of whether relativity iterates. Are there absolute facts about the properties one system possesses relative to a specified reference, or is this again a relative matter, and so on? It is argued that RQM (in its best-known form) is committed to what I call the Unrestricted Iteration Principle (UIP), and thus to an infinite regress of relativisations. This principle plays a crucial role in ensuring the communicability and coherence of interaction outcomes across observers. It is, however, shown to be incompatible with the widespread, conservative reading of RQM in terms of relations, instead necessitating the adoption of the more unorthodox notion of perspectival facts. I conclude with some reflections on the current state of play in perspectivist versions of RQM and quantum relativism more generally, underscoring both the need for further conceptual development and the importance of the iteration principle for an accurate cost-benefit analysis of such interpretations.

Goal Orientation for Fair Machine Learning Algorithms

A key challenge facing the use of machine learning (ML) in organizational selection settings (e.g., the processing of loan or job applications) is the potential bias against (racial and gender) minorities. To address this challenge, a rich literature of Fairness-Aware ML (FAML) algorithms has emerged, attempting to ameliorate biases while maintaining the predictive accuracy of ML algorithms. Almost all existing FAML algorithms define their optimization goals according to a selection task, meaning that ML outputs are assumed to be the final selection outcome. In practice, though, ML outputs are rarely used as-is. In personnel selection, for example, ML often serves a support role to human resource managers, allowing them to more easily exclude unqualified applicants. This effectively assigns to ML a screening rather than a selection task. It might be tempting to treat selection and screening as two variations of the same task that differ only quantitatively on the admission rate. This paper, however, reveals a qualitative difference between the two in terms of fairness. Specifically, we demonstrate through conceptual development and mathematical analysis that miscategorizing a screening task as a selection one could not only degrade final selection quality but also result in fairness problems such as selection biases within the minority group. After validating our findings with experimental studies on simulated and real-world data, we discuss several business and policy implications, highlighting the need for firms and policymakers to properly categorize the task assigned to ML in assessing and correcting algorithmic biases.

Freedom from interference: Decisional privacy as a dimension of consumer privacy online

The introduction of AI-based technologies has dramatically altered the premises for consumer privacy, enabling the unprecedented manipulation of consumers’ decision-making online. Given these recent threats to consumer privacy and autonomy, and considering autonomy as the ultimate outcome of privacy, I propose that a reconceptualization is warranted to reflect contemporary consumer privacy challenges and to realign the concept with its theoretical foundations. To this end, I introduce the dimension of decisional privacy, focused on autonomy versus interference in consumer decision-making. Building on previous privacy literature and extending previous theorizing about information privacy and decisional privacy as complementary, I posit that these two dimensions of privacy together comprise consumer privacy. Addressing protection from interference as an under-communicated function of consumer privacy, the paper aims to clarify, exemplify, and engage in the conceptual development of decisional privacy in the context of consumer decision-making online. In addition to its significance for consumer wellbeing and democracy collectively, the extension of consumer privacy to explicitly encompass interference has theoretical implications for privacy concern, the proxy used to measure privacy, yielding important insights for marketing scholars and practitioners.

Critical behavior and Joule-Thomson expansion of charged AdS black holes surrounded by exotic fluid with modified Chaplygin equation of state* *Supported by the Doctoral Foundation of Zunyi Normal University of China (BS [2022]07, QJJ-[2022]-314), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12265007, 12264061). The research partially was supported by the Long-Term Conceptual Development of a University of Hradec Králové

By considering the concept of a unified single fluid model, referred to as modified Chaplygin gas (MCG), which amalgamates dark energy and dark matter, we explore the thermodynamic characteristics of charged anti-de Sitter (AdS) black holes existing in an unconventional fluid accompanied by MCG. To accomplish this objective, we derive the equations of state by regarding the charge as a thermodynamic variable. The effects of MCG parameters on the critical thermodynamic quantities ( , , ) are examined, followed by a detailed analysis of the diagram. To provide a clearer explanation of the phase transition, we present an analysis of the Gibbs free energy. It is important to note that if the Hawking temperature exceeds the critical temperature, a distinct pattern is observed known as swallowtail behavior. This indicates that the system undergoes a first-order phase transition from a smaller black hole to a larger one. The critical exponent of the system is found to be in complete agreement with that of the van der Waals fluid system. Furthermore, we investigate the impact of MCG parameters and black hole charge on Joule-Thomson (J-T) expansion in the extended phase space. The J-T coefficient is examined to pinpoint the exact region experiencing cooling or heating, and the observation reveals that the presence of negative heat capacity results in the occurrence of a cooling process. The impact of MCG on the inversion curve of charged black holes exhibits a striking resemblance to that observed in most multi-dimensional black hole systems. In addition, it is worth noting that certain parameters exert a significant influence on the ratio . For specific values of the MCG parameters, the ratio is consistent with the charged AdS black hole. The parameters γ and β have a non-negligible effect on the isenthalpic curve.

CYBERSECURITY ANALYTICS IN PROTECTING SATELLITE TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS: A CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF CURRENT TRENDS, CHALLENGES, AND STRATEGIC RESPONSES

Cybersecurity is a critical concern in satellite telecommunications networks, given their vulnerability to cyber threats. This abstract presents a conceptual development of current trends, challenges, and strategic responses in using cybersecurity analytics to protect these networks. The paper discusses the increasing reliance on satellite telecommunications, making them attractive targets for cyber attacks. It explores the role of cybersecurity analytics in detecting and mitigating these threats, highlighting the importance of proactive monitoring and threat intelligence. Challenges in cybersecurity analytics for satellite networks are identified, including the complexity of satellite systems, the limited visibility into network traffic, and the evolving nature of cyber threats. The paper discusses strategic responses to these challenges, such as the use of advanced analytics techniques, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to enhance threat detection and response capabilities. Key trends in cybersecurity analytics for satellite networks are examined, including the growing adoption of cloud-based security solutions, the rise of insider threats, and the need for collaboration between satellite operators and cybersecurity experts. The paper also discusses the importance of regulatory compliance and the role of industry standards in ensuring the security of satellite networks. In conclusion, the paper emphasizes the importance of cybersecurity analytics in protecting satellite telecommunications networks and recommends a proactive approach to cybersecurity that includes continuous monitoring, threat intelligence sharing, and collaboration with cybersecurity experts.
 Keywords: Cybersecurity, Analytics, Satellite, Telecommunications, Conceptual Development.