Cross-disciplinary Perspective Research Articles

A better scholarly future rests on reuniting the West with the rest, the present with the past, the theory with practice

ABSTRACT Holism, i.e. the unity of theoretical and applied reality across disciplinary demarcations, is the main leitmotiv here. The scholarly disciplines of political science, law, sociology, philosophy, anthropology, and history provide the context for the discussion. The only realistic way to understand, explain, and address global challenges is to think beyond the existing scholarly divides within academia. In the course of the discussion, scholasticism and methodological perfectionism come under fire – not only as unintended façades for Western ethnocentrism, but also as the source of reform policies and prescriptions which tend to rest on partial (and often potentially misleading) diagnoses. The argument is that only when the analysis is holistic, is the diagnosis more accurate and the prescription effective. The article calls for a cross-disciplinary perspective of an integrated, interconnected, complex whole in order to, first, better understand and explain, and then secondly, to successfully address the attending applied challenges.

Addressing graduate capability through action research: a cross-disciplinary perspective in a New Zealand context

The concept “graduate capability” has been created to respond to the trend that tertiary education graduates routinely encounter uncertainty and complexity. Adopting a multiple-site action research design, this study explored ways to address graduate capability across five disciplines in a New Zealand vocational education institution. Participants were 215 students and 21 teaching staff. Data collection included interviews, team meetings, and a variety of pedagogical documentation. Ethnographic content analysis was used for data analysis which generated five discipline-specific approaches to graduate capability intervention. Each approach included five dimensions: selection of focus capability items (FCIs) for intervention, composition of FCIs, strategies to address FCIs, impact of the intervention, and relationship between the intervention and the academic programme. This study not only helps the sampled programmes address graduate capability in an intentional and systematic way, but also offers an operational framework for designing capability intervention programmes in similar settings.

Rethinking data‐driven decision support in flood risk management for a big data age

AbstractDecision‐making in flood risk management is increasingly dependent on access to data, with the availability of data increasing dramatically in recent years. We are therefore moving towards an era of big data, with the added challenges that, in this area, data sources are highly heterogeneous, at a variety of scales, and include a mix of structured and unstructured data. The key requirement is therefore one of integration and subsequent analyses of this complex web of data. This paper examines the potential of a data‐driven approach to support decision‐making in flood risk management, with the goal of investigating a suitable software architecture and associated set of techniques to support a more data‐centric approach. The key contribution of the paper is a cloud‐based data hypercube that achieves the desired level of integration of highly complex data. This hypercube builds on innovations in cloud services for data storage, semantic enrichment and querying, and also features the use of notebook technologies to support open and collaborative scenario analyses in support of decision making. The paper also highlights the success of our agile methodology in weaving together cross‐disciplinary perspectives and in engaging a wide range of stakeholders in exploring possible technological futures for flood risk management.

Black Panther in widescreen: cross-disciplinary perspectives on a pioneering, paradoxical film

ABSTRACT Critics and scholars alike hail Black Panther (2018) as a celebratory cinematic response to decades of racial injustice in Hollywood while also calling attention to popular culture's limited means to transform structural oppressions. Our Introduction to this themed issue explores the provocative tensions—between jubilation/disappointment, progress/retrogression, and reality/fantasy—that surround Black Panther. These tensions have animated the Black Panther franchise since its inception and continue to shape the character's cinematic rendering. Our interpretation of Black Panther as reformist yet simultaneously pernicious cinema is framed by paradoxical ideation not only as the core narrative device for the film and its comic antecedents, but also as the central feature of its mediated context—first as a product of Marvel Comics and now the Walt Disney Company.

“詩-圖”學視野下的清代“秋林讀書圖”及其題詩———以翁方綱與同人對“漁洋讀書圖”的題詠爲中心

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.
 翁氏和友人、門生關於王士禛“秋林讀書圖”的題詠對該畫題在乾嘉時代文人畫壇的日漸流行和進入詩歌的頻繁題詠潮流中起了一定的帶動作用。作爲一個畫題，“秋林讀書圖”發源於元代畫家，屬於在後世漸盛的“讀書圖”系列畫題中較早出現的，在明清時代比較盛行。因具有濃鬱的士人情調，它成爲文人創作和題詠的對象。“讀書圖”系列畫題具有較强的交際性和私屬性特點，翁氏及其門生、友人對漁洋“秋林讀書圖”的幾十年間的題詠活動體現了這一點。這些題畫詩對於我們認識王士禛與翁方綱的詩學關係、學緣和翁方綱所在的乾嘉時代學風，以及圖畫與詩歌關係的某些面向，都具有重要意義。翁方綱在題寫、欣賞“漁洋秋林讀書圖”過程中，體悟到的詩學旨趣及詩—畫藝術本體論（“詩髓”説）富有理論價值，值得重新認識。
 The inscriptions on Wang Shizhen’s (1634-1711) “Reading in the Autumn Groves” by the disciples and friends of Weng Fanggang (1733-1818) boosted the increasing popularity of these kinds of paintings and inscription of poetry on paintings in the Qianlong and Jiaqing eras (1736-1820). The title “Reading in the Autumn Groves” was first created by Yuan-dynasty painters, appeared in a “Reading” series of painting titles that became increasingly popular, and contributed to the formation of a new vogue in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Because of its rich intellectual appeal, it won the favor of the literati and became an object of literary creation and inscription. The series of “Reading” painting titles are strong in both communicative and private features, which is reflected the decades of similar works by Weng Fanggang, his disciples and friends, who inscribed on Wang Shizhen’s paintings under the title “Reading in the Autumn Groves.” These inscription poems are of great significance in our understanding of the relationship between Wang’s and Weng’s poetics, their academic backgrounds, and the scholarship styles of the Qian-Jia era in which Weng mainly lived, as well as some aspects of the relationship between painting and poetry. In the process of inscribing and appreciating these paintings titled “Reading in the Autumn Groves,” Weng Fanggang gained enlightenment in poetics and the ontology of the art of poetry and painting from a cross-disciplinary perspective (called “Marrow of Poetry” theory). These have rich theoretical value and are worth re-consideration.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Standards: Supporting Children in the Care of Children’s Services

The purpose of this research was to examine the utilization of enhanced practice standards for children in care with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Children in care with FASD represent a vulnerable population and require multiple supports from a cross-disciplinary perspective. Children removed from the care of their parents were identified as having needs beyond standard care provided within Children’s Services in Alberta. To address this concern a project was initiated in 2002 and completed in 2005 which identified positive benefit from an increase in caseload hours for workers responsible for children with FASD in the Aboriginal Unit including more contact with children and additional supports for foster parents. Standards regarding family visitation are also highlighted. An additional casework position was developed in order to decrease caseloads and meet the standards. Changing the way child welfare and foster care services are delivered for children with FASD is an important phenomenon to study and this research may guide future interventions.

Stories Re-Told

This paper introduces three umbrella terms (Literal Adaptation, Spirit Adaptation, and Creative Adaptation) that define the broad approaches to creating an adaptation through the consideration of the literature of six different fields and their approaches to the study of adaptation. They are as follows: the study of Classical Mythology (a sub-set of Classics), Cultural Studies, Adaptation Theory (from Film Studies), Fan Fiction Studies (from Fan Studies), Folklore Studies, and Translation Studies. While Library and Information Studies (LIS) does occasionally deal with adaptation, often in the form of Children's Literature and/or Fairy Tales, there is no widely-accepted theory or method to doing so. Therefore it is absent from the six disciplines that were reviewed, though it has substantial cross-over with each. As scholarship becomes more interdisciplinary, juggling the terms of a variety of fields becomes more important and more challenging. This paper aims to provide three accessible terms for those interested in studying adaptions from a broad or cross-disciplinary perspective that can substitute for the lengthy and specialized vocabulary of each individual discipline. It may also provide an example for others looking to similarly synthesize a set of cross-disciplinary vocabularies.

Cross-Disciplinary Appraisal of Knowledge and Beliefs Regarding the Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders in India: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

Background:Many healthcare professionals, including pediatricians, psychiatrists, Clinical Psychologists (CPs), Occupational Therapists (OTs), and Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs), are involved in the identification and intervention of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in children. Distinctive training backgrounds and professional exposure can result in contrasting ideas regarding the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of ASD. Only a few studies have addressed the cross-disciplinary perspective of knowledge, belief, and awareness about diagnostic criteria required for diagnosing ASD.Materials and Methods:A total of 154 allied healthcare professionals (98 SLPs, 33 CPs, and 23 OTs) participated in the study. The survey tool used for this study was adapted from a previously available survey on the assessment of knowledge and belief about ASD and self-efficacy.Results:The overall knowledge and belief of allied healthcare professionals regarding ASD differed significantly across the groups. However, the knowledge of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5) diagnostic criteria for ASD did not differ significantly between the groups.Conclusion:Our findings have salient clinical implications and advocates for the continued education of healthcare professionals in India regarding recent diagnostic criteria for ASD.

Eclectic Approaches to Analyze Recreational Cruise Sustainability

This research note highlights eclectic approaches to analyze recreational cruise sustainability. Whilst recreational cruising have become increasingly popular, studies to date are largely fragmented, often adopting an economically-centric perspective based on a particular cruise market or specific destinations. This research note advances cross-disciplinary perspectives to analyze recreational cruise sustainability via novel data-collection methods such as geographical information systems (GIS), remote sensing data, along with underwater and surface audio recording of cruise-related and marine biology (dolphins, humpback whales) activities. These methods may prove extremely effective to inform contemporary and future theory and management practices related to sustainable real-time impacts on visitor mobility to manage parks and recreational zones. Subscribe to JPRA

The values of trees and woodland: a discourse-based cross-disciplinary perspective on integrating ‘revealed’ evaluations of nature into environmental agendas

ABSTRACT Discourse analysis has been widely applied to the study of environmental communication, highlighting how language is used to reflect and affect our attitudes towards the natural world. The potential of discourse analysis to ‘reveal’ the values that people attribute to nature has recently been recognized in the context of environmental debates. This paper takes a new cross-disciplinary approach to the analysis of evaluation, combining a discourse approach (specifically Appraisal analysis) and insights from environmental philosophy and environmental policy to address the following main questions: (1) Which values of nature may be embedded in discourse about nature? (2) To what extent are these values represented in people’s narratives about trees and woodland in the U.K.? (3) What are the implications of the findings for the critical analysis of evaluative discourse? (4) What are the implications of the findings for environmental organizations? The analysis is applied to a sample of 514 woodland narratives collected by the U.K. charitable environmental organization Woodland Trust in 2016. The study highlights new critical perspectives that may be gained from the analysis of evaluative discourse and the importance of considering and fostering people’s affective relationship with the natural world in building a strong basis for environmental action.

Infusing Humanities in STEM Education: Student Opinions of Disciplinary Connections in an Introductory Chemistry Course

The Next Generation Science Standards and other educational reforms support the formation of deep connections across the STEM disciplines. Integrated STEM is considered as a best practice by the educational communities of the disparate disciplines. However, the integration of non-STEM disciplines is understudied and generally limited to the integration of art (STEAM). Humanistic STEM blends the study of STEM with interest in and concern for human affairs, welfare, values, or culture. This study looks at an infusion of the humanities into an online chemistry course to see if there is an influence on student connection between course content and cross-disciplinary perspectives. Specifically, students were asked about the course making clear connection to STEM disciplines, between science and non-science, between science and the real world, and a widened perspective of science connection other courses in their degree programs. Items on a Likert scale were presented as part of the end of course evaluations and yielded 59 responses. Although no statistically significant difference in the pre- and post-infusion agreement, it is evident that the additional perspectives did no harm. The positive movement in this pilot study encourages further investigation with stronger infusions of both STEM and humanities content.

Introduction

Abstract This introduction to the Special Issue on Networked Emotion and Stancetaking summarizes the individual and collective contribution of the included five research articles. We argue for the relevance of discourse-pragmatic theories, methods, and concepts for furnishing cross-disciplinary perspectives into the study of emotion online. Such perspectives are arguably needed in order to clarify the intricate connections between (re)presentations of emotion online and changing practices of news-making and news consumption, story sharing and participation, and public stancetaking in social media and beyond. We propose that empirical analyses of networked practices of stancetaking – epistemic, affective, or narrative – can pinpoint the construction and dissemination of different types of participant positions and stances, including multimodal ones, as well as the creation and uptake of specific frames for interpreting events and crises affectively.

The scope of regional innovation policy to realize transformative change – a case study of the chemicals industry in western Sweden

ABSTRACT Economic geography and innovation studies are increasingly asking how regional industrial development paths develop. This paper addresses the scope of regional innovation policy to influence transformative change in regional industries, such as that needed to cope with grand societal challenges including climate change. We take a cross-disciplinary perspective using the regional innovation system framework, which is focused on innovation-based regional development, and complement this with insights from the sociotechnical transitions literature and its conceptualizations of sociotechnical regimes and niches. Empirically, we study the case of the chemicals industry in the Gothenburg–Stenungsund region, Sweden’s largest basic chemicals industry cluster. Shifting from discussion to action appears challenging for this regional industry, despite advances in technology development, ongoing co-operation between the region’s public and private sectors and its ambition to become an international leader in the production of sustainable chemistry products by 2030. Using this case, we present a broader view of path development, one that includes under-addressed policy approaches attempting to create new sociotechnical alignments that require co-evolving changes across technologies, infrastructures, regulatory frameworks and other societal dimensions, both within and beyond the regional context.

Digital health: Critical and cross-disciplinary perspectives Deborah Lupton

Digital health: Critical and cross-disciplinary perspectives <i>Deborah Lupton</i>

What Can History Contribute to Nonprofit Education?

The field of nonprofit studies and teaching has grown significantly over the past 40 years and is increasingly adopting a cross-disciplinary perspective. However, until recently, history has been largely absent from the curriculum. This paper attempts to redress the imbalance. While acknowledging that the past cannot provide a ready-made template for the future, it argues that history is essential for our understanding of the way in which the nonprofit sector has developed and can provide lessons for future courses of action, as well as helping to reconnect voluntary organisations to their founding values and missions. The paper draws on a range of examples from the history of the sector in the UK and the experience gathered by the author in teaching a history of philanthropy module to students on the charity master’s programme at the Business School (formerly Cass), City, University of London.

Sometimes being wrong is better than always being right

International Journal of Therapy and RehabilitationVol. 26, No. 8 EditorialSometimes being wrong is better than always being rightMassimiliano PolastriMassimiliano PolastriCorrespondence to: Massimiliano Polastri Email: E-mail Address: [email protected]Physiotherapist, Medical Department of Continuity of Care and Disability, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, St Orsola University Hospital, Bologna, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorMassimiliano PolastriPublished Online:3 Sep 2019https://doi.org/10.12968/ijtr.2019.0100AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail View article References Eurostat. Healthcare personnel statistics – dentists, pharmacists and physiotherapists. 2016. https://tinyurl.com/y4n2bcr2 (accessed 3 August 2019) Google ScholarHall M, McFarlane LA, Mulholland S. Positive clinical placements: perspectives of students and clinical educators in rehabilitation medicine. Int J Ther Rehabil. 2012;19(10):549–556. https://doi.org/10.12968/ijtr.2012.19.10.549 Link, Google ScholarHammick M. Reading and reviewing the literature. Br J Ther Rehabil. 1994;1(1):43–46. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjtr.1994.1.1.43 Link, Google ScholarHassenkamp AM. Clinical reasoning: a student's nightmare. Br J Ther Rehabil. 1998;5(2):75–77. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjtr.1998.5.2.14218 Link, Google ScholarJacob T, Itzchak EB, Raz O. Stress among healthcare students – a cross disciplinary perspective. Physiother Theory Pract. 2013;29(5):401–412. https://doi.org/10.3109/09593985.2012.734011 Crossref, Google ScholarKirwan GW, Clark CR, Dalton M. Rating of physiotherapy student clinical performance: it is possible to gain assessor consistency? BMC Med Educ. 2019;19(1):32. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-019-1459-4 Crossref, Google ScholarThomson D, Patterson D, Chapman H et al.. Exploring the experiences and implementing strategies for physiotherapy students who perceive they have been bullied or harassed on clinical placements: participatory action research. Physiotherapy. 2017;103(1):73–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physio.2015.12.003 Crossref, Google Scholar FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails 2 August 2019Volume 26Issue 8ISSN (online): 1759-779X Metrics History Published online 3 September 2019 Published in print 2 August 2019 Information© MA Healthcare LimitedPDF download

Connecting business with the agricultural landscape: business strategies for sustainable rural development

AbstractAgribusiness enterprises link rural landscapes to global and regional markets. The nature of these business–landscape relationships is vital to the sustainability transition. Decisions by farmers and agriculture policymakers aggregate to changes in the ecology of landscapes, but the influence of food supply system businesses on rural landscape sustainability also requires scrutiny. This article uses four international cases to present a conceptual framework for investigating how different business strategies can support agricultural landscape sustainability. Insights from North America, New Zealand, The Netherlands, and Denmark inform the framework dimensions of horizontal/territorial and vertical/systemic business–landscape relationships. Three types of business model that promote rural sustainability are highlighted: provenance, cogovernance, and placemaking. These models engage strategies such as environmental management systems, certification, ecosystem and landscape services, and spatial planning. Research directions that will improve understanding about how business can engage with rural stakeholders for more sustainable rural landscapes are identified, including the need for cross disciplinary perspectives incorporating social, ecological, and business knowledge.

The Woman Scientist: Brief Reflections on the Visual Representation of Women

From a dropped acknowledgment on a publication to the use of women to popularize specific scientific causes, a deeper exploration of women scientists’ role warrants discussion. Here, the author explores this representation of the woman scientist in visual art, framing the discussion from a multifaceted, cross-disciplinary perspective. Through the perspective of various artist’s reflections, the ArtLab exhibition acts as a launching board enabling continued dialogues surrounding the gender perspectives within the scientific community.

Prospective mixed methods study of online and offline social networks and the development of sexual agency in adolescence: the Social Networks and Agency Project (SNAP) protocol

IntroductionSocial media may play a role in adolescent sexual development. The limited research on social media use and sexual development has found both positive and negative influences. The focus of...

The Classification and Evolution of Bacterial Cross-Feeding

Bacterial feeding has evolved towards specific evolutionary niches and the sources of energy differ between species and strains. Although bacteria fundamentally compete for nutrients, the excreted products from one strain may be the preferred energy source or a source of essential nutrients for another strain. The large variability in feeding preferences between bacterial strains often provides for complex cross-feeding relationships between bacteria, particularly in complex environments such as the human lower gut, which impacts on the host’s digestion and nutrition. Although a large amount of information is available on cross-feeding between bacterial strains, it is important to consider the evolution of cross-feeding. Adaptation to environmental stimuli is a continuous process, thus understanding the evolution of microbial cross-feeding interactions allows us to determine the resilience of microbial populations to changes to this environment, such as changes in nutrient supply, and how new interactions might emerge in the future. In this review, we provide a framework of terminology dividing bacterial cross-feeding into four forms that can be used for the classification and analysis of cross-feeding dynamics. Under the proposed framework, we discuss the evolutionary origins for the four forms of cross-feeding and factors such as spatial structure that influence their emergence and subsequent persistence. This review draws from both the theoretical and experimental evolutionary literature to provide a cross-disciplinary perspective on the evolution of different types of cross-feeding.