Critical Position Research Articles

Criticality, Diversity, and Journey

This article will reflect on diversity of thought as an educational task and a remedy for the challenges of the contemporary world, where uncertainty, disorientation, and fear are strongly felt. The main areas of creating diversity will be highlighted, primarily criticality, with a focus on the idea of critical thinking, as well as social diversity and traveling. Diversity is primarily associated with stepping beyond one’s own boundaries (egocentric, sociocentric, etc.) and actively embracing otherness. Therefore, I will strive to present my understanding of criticality against the backdrop of key and model concepts of critical thinking to emphasize zetetic criticism as an attitude leading to diversity of thought. Simultaneously, I will connect criticality with DEI efforts and the value of travel. Both of these activities illustrate two possible dimensions of stepping beyond the boundaries of one’s own perception of the world (trans-personal dimension, trans-objective dimension), and both should be supported by shaping a critical attitude.

Корпоративные инициативы духовенства Тобольской епархии по материальному обеспечению священно-церковнослужителей (последняя четверть XIX – начало XX в.)

The article deals with the initiatives of the clergy of the Tobolsk diocese in the issue of material provision of clergy and clergymen in the last quarter of the XIX - early XX centuries. The article characterizes the clergy in the context of the socio-economic status of clerics, based on the regional material. It shows the transition from institutional to corporate method of material provision of the clergy due to the critical attitude of the clergy to the reforms of the pension system, as well as the process of formation of new forms of non-state pension provision among the clergy. For the first time on the basis of the material presented in Tobolsk diocesan bulletins the evolution of the statute of the mutual aid fund of the clergy of the Tobolsk diocese, as well as the factors that influenced its changes and additions were traced. It is shown that in the process of administration of the new diocesan structure there were issues that were not spelled out in the first draft of the fund, which did not provide for all cases of issuing a lump-sum allowance, return of membership fees to the participants of the fund and the issuance of refundable loans and required immediate consideration. On the basis of the reports of the Mutual Aid Fund of the clergy of the Tobolsk diocese the cash flow, the issuance of lump-sum allowances and loans of the Mutual Aid Fund of the clergy of the Tobolsk diocese in 1894-1914 are traced. The author comes to the conclusion that the evaluation of the activities of the mutual aid fund of the clergy of the Tobolsk diocese can not be considered only through the prism of the received lump sum benefits and loans. In spite of the fact that the main task of the fund was not achieved - the transformation into an emeritus fund, and the clergy did not receive non-state pensions, it was possible to achieve a positive impact on the material situation of the clergy, who were in extremely difficult financial situation.

Machine learning in drug delivery

For decades, drug delivery scientists have been performing trial-and-error experimentation to manually sample parameter spaces and optimize release profiles through rational design. To enable this approach, scientists spend much of their career learning nuanced drug-material interactions that drive system behavior. In relatively simple systems, rational design criteria allow us to fine tune release profiles and enable efficacious therapies. However, as materials and drugs become increasingly sophisticated and their interactions have non-linear and compounding effects, the field is suffering the Curse of Dimensionality which prevents us from comprehending complex structure-function relationships. In the past, we have embraced this complexity by implementing high-throughput screens to increase the probability of finding ideal compositions. However, this brute force method was inefficient and led many to abandon these fishing expeditions. Fortunately, methods in data science including artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI/ML) are providing ideal analytical tools to model this complex data and ascertain quantitative structure-function relationships. In this Oration, I speak to the potential value of data science in drug delivery with particular focus on polymeric delivery systems. Here, I do not suggest that AI/ML will simply replace mechanistic understanding of complex systems. Rather, I propose that AI/ML should be yet another useful tool in the lab to navigate complex parameter spaces. The recent hype around AI/ML is breathtaking and potentially over inflated, but the value of these methods is poised to revolutionize how we perform science. Therefore, I encourage readers to consider adopting these skills and applying data science methods to their own problems. If done successfully, I believe we will all realize a paradigm shift in our approach to drug delivery.

Altered functional connectivity subserving expressed emotion environments in schizophrenia: An fNIRS study

Living in high-expressed emotion (EE) environments, characterized by critical, hostile, or over-involved family attitudes, has been linked to increased relapse rates among individuals with schizophrenia (SZ). In our previous work (Wang et al., 2023), we conducted the first feasibility study of using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) with our developed EE stimuli to examine cortical hemodynamics in SZ. To better understand the neural mechanisms underlying EE environmental factors in SZ, we extended our investigation by employing functional connectivity (FC) analysis with a graph theory approach to fNIRS signals. Relative to healthy controls (N=40), individuals with SZ (N=37) exhibited altered connectivity across the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC), and left superior temporal gyrus (STG) while exposed to EE environments. Notably, while individuals with SZ were exposed to high-EE environments, (i) reduced connectivity was observed in these brain regions and (ii) the left vlPFC-STG coupling was found to be associated with the negative symptom severity. Taken together, our FC findings suggest individuals with SZ experience a more extensive disruption in neural functioning and coordination, particularly indicating an increased susceptibility to high-EE environments. This further supports the potential utility of integrating fNIRS with the created EE stimuli for assessing EE environmental influences, paving the way for more targeted therapeutic interventions.

Stillbirth Simulation for Nursing and Midwifery

Collaboration is necessary to design and execute a nursing simulation that meets undergraduate and graduate competency expectations for communication, effective relationships, and stillbirth care. This simulation plan aligns with the ten international healthcare simulation standards published by the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL). Course faculty work with simulation faculty, staff, and volunteer actors to plan and implement a consistent experience for pre-licensure and or graduate nursing students to develop critical clinical skills and attitudes across spheres of care while caring for parents experiencing pregnancy loss.

The Moral Agent: A Critical Rationalist Perspective

The Moral Agent: A Critical Rationalist Perspective

Причини та форми корупційної взаємодії у сфері освіти

The problem of corruption is important for many countries because corruption undermines trust in the government, violates the rule of law and leads to socio-economic inequality in the country. In different spheres of society, manifestations of corruption can be observed. Overcoming corruption in the educational environment is an extremely urgent problem since corruption is incompatible with the main purpose of education – to educate and encourage young people to the correct civic position, patriotism, respect for laws and human rights. The link between corruption and the ignorance of the public, the lack of civic engagement, tolerance and global courtesy is traced in the article. It is established that the formation and consolidation in society of the principles of intolerance to corruption are primarily influenced by legal nihilism, which manifests itself in a critical attitude to law as a form of organisation of life in the State. Attention is focused on the exceptional importance of legal education of young people, in particular in the spirit of intolerance to any manifestations of of corruption. It is noted that the causes of corruption in Ukraine are historical and are characterised by a deep penetration of corruption into the sphere of everyday life of society. into the everyday life of society. The article analyses the causes of corruption in the educational sector, which reflect individual factors of corruption in higher education institutions. The main models of corruption practices in education are investigated. It is concluded that the most significant obstacle to the eradication of corruption in education is the interest and acceptance of its existence both on the part of representatives of the teaching staff of educational institutions and students of all levels. Compliance with the requirements of scientific and pedagogical integrity in educational activities, as well as the avoidance of actions influenced by private interests should become the basis of the educational process in Ukraine.

The Teacher Fosters Students' Courage and Critical Attitude

The Teacher Fosters Students' Courage and Critical Attitude

Negotiating local linguistic and epistemic realities through critical language pedagogy (CLP) in Pakistan

ABSTRACT With critical pedagogy (CP), teachers and students are empowered to disrupt the dominant ideological structures that tend to dehumanise people and impose oppressive historical consciousness upon them as historical subjects. Inspired by CP, over the last three decades critical language pedagogies have been conceptualised to promote social justice and counter privileged ideologies. This study examined university teachers’ pedagogical engagement with students’ local multilingual resources and epistemologies in the Remedial English classes at Pakistani universities. The study made use of theoretical insights such as coloniality, raciolinguistic perspectives and critical scholarship on multilingualism. Findings suggest that some teachers maintained the linguistic and epistemic hierarchy that favoured English, American/British accent, Anglo-western literature and culture, while other created multilingual and epistemic spaces where students’ local languages, nativized English varieties, culture and values could find a place. Furthermore, the Remedial English course perpetuated a gap between word and world by ignoring students’ contemporary concerns, such as discursive (values, culture) as well as material (unemployment, corruption, human rights, environmental degradation, etc.) factors. Some teachers’ use of bottom-up agency to counter foreign literature and a monoglossic model of instruction suggests how some teachers with a critical pedagogical attitude can empower their students to reclaim their historical and social roots.

Playing an Augmented Reality Escape Game Promotes Learning About Fake News

AbstractThe spread of fake news poses a global challenge to society, as this deliberately false information reduce trust in democracy, manipulate opinions, and negatively affect people’s health. Educational research and practice must address this issue by developing and evaluating solutions to counter fake news. A promising approach in this regard is the use of game-based learning environments. In this study, we focus on Escape Fake, an augmented reality (AR) escape game developed for use in media literacy education. To date, there is limited research on the effectiveness of the game for learning about fake news. To overcome this gap, we conducted a field study using a pretest-posttest research design. A total of 28 students (14 girls, mean age = 14.71 years) participated. The results show that Escape Fake can address four learning objectives relevant in fake news detection with educationally desired effect sizes: Knowledge acquisition (d = 1.34), ability to discern information (d = 0.39), critical attitude toward trustworthiness of online information (d = 0.53), and confidence in recognizing fake news in the future (d = 0.41). Based on these results, the game can be recommended as an educational resource for media literacy education. Future research directions are also discussed.

Stress invariants and invariants of the failure envelope as a quadric surface: Their significances in the formulation of a rational failure criterion

When stress invariants up to the second order are employed to construct failure criterion for brittle materials, it involves three independent terms and therefore there are three coefficients to be determined. However, there are only two conditions available associated with the strengths under uniaxial tension and compression. Systematic examinations have given to the invariants of the failure envelope as a quadric surface according to analytic geometry. For the failure envelope to meet the basic assumptions, in particular, infinite strength under and only under hydrostatic compression, one of the coefficients can be eliminated based on rigorous mathematical inferences. As a result, it reproduces the Raghava-Caddell-Yeh criterion, which has never been rationally established before but is now in this paper. The failure envelope takes the form of circular paraboloid for brittle materials in general. The criterion degenerates to the von Mises criterion, giving a circular cylindrical failure envelope for ductile materials as a special case. It is as rational as the von Mises criterion in the sense that the assumptions made and the conditions available are logically sufficient for the complete establishment of the failure criterion without any ambiguity.

Історіографічні рефлексії опонентів Р. Конквеста: суб’єктивна і об’єктивна критика

The purpose of the article is to reveal the contradictory historiographic reflections of the opponents of the famous American researcher of Stalinist political terror and the Holodomor Robert Conquest, subjective assessments and scientific criticism. The research methodology consists of the principle of historicism and an interdisciplinary approach, methods of comparative historiographical analysis of sources, as well as elements of the "theory of reflections". General scientific methods (deductions, inductions), concrete-historical (chronological, problem-thematic), textology and scientific biographical methods are used. The applied task of the article is to resolve the conflicting assessments of the role and place of the Ukrainian scientific community in America and Conquest personally in the study of the Holodomor, refuting the scientist's subjective criticism. The scientific novelty is due to the goal and task of the analytical article, the formulation of the problem in the context of historiographical reflection, that is, the identification of subjective criticism of the scientific work of the Conquest, especially its interpretation of the causes and consequences of the Holodomor. Western literature has many works, the authors of which expressed a critical attitude to the scientific-historical interpretation of the scientist's Soviet political system, Stalin's regime, and mass terror. Our task was to establish the signs of motivated criticism of key problems: the causes of Stalin's terror, the concept and phenomenon of famine-genocide, the historiographic origin of the term "terror by hunger." The subject focus, rather than a descriptive and bibliographic review of the Scientist's works, seemed more constructive to us. The Conclusions emphasize Conquest's significant contribution to the historiography of the Holodomor, the presence in its approaches of elements of self-reflection, a restrained and balanced assessment of the historical forms of genocide, the avoidance of any ideological dependence, and a tolerant attitude to other opinions. The opponents' arguments turned out to be unconvincing, sometimes subjective and biased. They related to specific historical facts and events that revealed the worldview and political preferences of the opponents themselves. Conquest recognized objective criticism, especially regarding the number of victims of Stalin's terror. His calculations were not "random", but academically weighted, based on official statistics, historical literature, memoirs, and Soviet periodicals. The publication of his works in Soviet scientific journalism magazines of the late 1980s meant "objective" recognition of his merits, refutation of "subjective" criticism and accusations of "falsification".

Determinants of users' unverified information sharing on social media platforms: A herding behavior perspective

The proliferation of unverified or false information by irresponsible users can significantly amplify the spread of misinformation or fake news. Despite growing research on unverified information sharing, a comprehensive understanding of the varying influences of different factors and strategies to mitigate this issue remains under investigation. To address this research gap, this study, rooted in the theory of herd behavior, develops, and tests a model theorizing the reasons behind social media users' unverified information sharing. Data was collected from 510 respondents across six regions of China using a convenience sampling method. The collected data was analyzed using Mplus. The results from this study indicated that perceived severity, state uncertainty, and herding have a significant positive influence on unverified information sharing. These results enrich the understanding of unverified information-sharing behavior among Chinese social media users. Drawing from these results, we suggest platform administrators and policymakers mitigate herd behavior tendencies and stem the spread of misinformation by disseminating timely, accurate, and authoritative information. Since this action will reduce users' perceptions of severity and uncertainty. Social media users are also advised to stay vigilant over the implications of herd behavior and foster a more critical attitude towards information sharing.

Heuristics in philosophy

This article argues that heuristics play a key role in philosophy, in generating both our verdicts on proposed counterexamples to philosophical theories and philosophical paradoxes. Heuristics are efficient ways of answering questions, quick and easy to use, but imperfectly reliable. They have been studied by psychologists and cognitive scientists such as Gigerenzer and Kahneman, but their relevance to philosophical methodology has not been properly recognized. Several heuristics are discussed at length. The persistence heuristic can be summarized in the slogan ‘Small changes don’t matter’. Without it, updating would present an intractable problem for both natural and artificial intelligence. But our reliance on the persistence heuristic also makes us vulnerable to paradoxes of vagueness. Disquotational heuristics of various kinds are considered. They play central roles in our ascriptions of truth, falsity, and belief, but they also generate semantic paradoxes such as the Liar and Frege puzzles about coreference. The use of an additive heuristic for combining reasons is also discussed. Our reliance on fallible heuristics in philosophy does not make philosophical knowledge impossible, just as our reliance on fallible heuristics in perception does not make perceptual knowledge impossible. Nevertheless, it should motivate us to take a more critical attitude to our data. By identifying and analyzing the heuristics on which we rely, we may be able to work out where they make us most vulnerable to error.

Using LanM Enzymes to Modify Glucagon-Like Peptides 1 and 2 in E.coli.

Selective modification of peptides is often exploited to improve pharmaceutically relevant properties of bioactive peptides like stability, circulation time, and potency. In Nature, natural products belonging to the class of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) are known to install a number of highly attractive modifications with high selectivity. These modifications are installed by enzymes guided to the peptide by corresponding leader peptides that are removed as the last step of biosynthesis. Here, we exploit leader peptides and their matching enzymes to investigate the installation of D-Ala post-translationally in a critical position in the hormones, glucagon-like peptides (GLP) 1 and 2. We also offer insight into how precursor peptide design can modulate the modification pattern achieved.

Critical realism as a fractal philosophy

ABSTRACT There are two overarching questions that guide this paper: What are some potential issues with the criterion for judgemental rationality as developed by Bhaskar? How can critical realism itself be justified without foundationalist assumptions or an infinite regress of justification? The paper considers how Bhaskar’s criterion for theory choice – developed in the natural sciences – can also be applied in the social sciences, how a criterion developed within epistemic relativity can be applied to overcome judgemental relativity, and explores justification of critical realism and of research inspired by this philosophy of science. It will be argued that a fractal form of justification can be an important approach to justify critical realist philosophy and its meta-philosophy (or ‘the philosophy of philosophy’). I also seek to demonstrate that such fractal justification, and insights from other fractally coherent philosophies, can be helpful to provide answers to several of the issues with Bhaskar’s criterion for judgemental rationality that are presented.

Family in the Woods

Captain Fantastic, an independent drama written and directed by Matt Ross in 2016, and starring Viggo Mortensen, addresses several themes that are central to utopian studies: the viability of an intentional community removed from mainstream civilization, the possibility of living in harmony with nature, as well as the ambition to inculcate alternative cultural values by a radical educational program. The main character, Ben Cash, decided to raise his entire family of 6 kids in the dense forests of Washington state. While training them to survive under extreme circumstances in the wilderness, he also undertakes their entire education, encouraging individual thinking and a strongly critical attitude to mainstream American society and culture. The sudden suicide of his wife forces Ben to return to ‘normal America’, confronting him with both the consequences of his parental decisions and his potential responsibility in his wife’s death. The essay interprets the movie in the context of the American utopian tradition, particularly its individualist variety exemplified by the myth of the American Adam and the ideas of Thoreau's Walden (1854). Captain Fantastic fulfils a crucial generic criterion by skillfully satirizing some of the characteristic features and attitudes of mainstream American culture through the eyes of the children who experience it for the first time, subjecting the conventional ‘American utopia’ to a trenchant criticism. At the same time, it also questions the possibility of radical alterity: can a single family defy society by re-enacting a mythical American pattern and abandoning civilization to raise their kids in the woods? Do parents have the right to experiment on their children after their utopian hopes of opposing American capitalist society have been dashed? The clash of utopias is ultimately resolved by Ben's decision to admit his responsibility for his wife's mental illness and death and to give up the backwoods utopia and settle on a farm, conforming to another fundamental American symbol: the pastoral ideal of the garden.

Prospective of Management and Supervision in Latin American Education

Purpose: Reflect on the approach to topics such as educational supervision, educational management, the importance of these aspects and the guidelines that currently govern this type of processes, likewise the importance lies in demonstrating the importance of this process in current education ensuring that children and young people in all countries have quality education. Methodology: The methodology of the article is based on the reflective qualitative method. Sánchez Silva (2005) defines it as follows: “The reflective tradition privileges values, norms and creates patterns of behavior that favor an analytical and critical attitude aimed at reviewing and evaluating ideas, assumptions, theories and conventional methods” (p.116). Furthermore, according to Edmund Husserl (cited by Menéndez, 2012), reflection is fundamental in phenomenology, being one of its main tasks to analyze experiences in an organized way. Results and Conclusions: Raise awareness about the importance of assigning suitable people to these positions, ensuring that they fulfill the responsibilities they acquire and also training teachers and directors in everything that educational supervision brings with it so that they can take decisive and participatory roles. since all types of opinions must provide significant elements. Furthermore, within the general guidelines in current education, it must be taken into account that this is an instrument of public policy that is based on the general law of the system, generating in turn a motivation and a direct relationship of the topics discussed since the The main element is the teacher, thus generating the necessary changes to provide students with quality education. Implications: This research provides implications for educational and government policies to continue strengthening Educational Supervision and Management policies in Latin America. Originality/value: This research offers novelty by reflecting on how public policies impact educational supervision and management in Latin American institutions.

The Late Pliocene–Middle Pleistocene Large Mammal Faunal Units of Greece

Located at the eastern corner of Mediterranean Europe, Greece occupies a critical position for mammal dispersals to/from Europe, Asia, and Africa and constitutes a potential passageway towards Western Europe. During recent decades, numerous fieldwork campaigns in several Pliocene–Pleistocene sites have greatly enriched the fossil record and provided valuable taxonomic and biostratigraphic data. However, a fully developed reference biochronological unit scheme for the Greek record that could contribute to correlations at a continental scale is still pending. In this article, we provide the updated Late Pliocene to Middle Pleistocene large mammal succession, and we introduce the Faunal Units (FUs) of Greece. We define eight FUs, the Milia, Dafnero, Gerakarou, Tsiotra Vryssi, Krimni, Apollonia, Marathousa, and Apidima FUs (from the oldest to the youngest), which are determined by a set of first and last local occurrences. The results form the basis for discussion of already set turnovers, dispersals, and extinction/immigration events and showcase the importance of the local record for the investigation of the European terrestrial ecosystems. By developing the first detailed biochronological scheme for the Pliocene–Pleistocene of Southeastern Europe, this study comprises the basis for an expanded Balkan faunal unit scale and a reference framework for future investigations.

Islamic Religious Education in Forming Muslim Identity in the Modern Era

In the modern era, Muslim identity develops as a result of complex interactions between religion, culture, technology and the social environment. This identity reflects the deeply rooted Islamic values inherent in every individual. Changes in the social environment, especially in the digital world, also have a significant influence in shaping Muslim identity. This research uses a qualitative approach with a literature study method. In this case, the author collected library data from Google Scholar. The results of this research, first, are that high school students in the contemporary era are educated as shown by their critical attitude, but they do not have Islamic character which is reflected in their behavior. Second, it is felt that the implementation of Islamic religious education in schools has not been optimal in forming Muslim identity, this is indicated by the fact that knowledge and good behavior at school are not carried over into its application in society. Third, the synergy between educational institutions and students' parents is a perfect combination concept in forming the identity of the Muslim generation in the contemporary era. Through good intense communication with students' parents and innovative efforts by teachers, it is hoped that the Islamic values obtained at school can be applied by students in their daily lives, thereby creating an environment where Islamic religious values become an integral part of students' Muslims identity.