Destabilising Effects Research Articles

Hearts and mines. Communication, dissent and counterinsurgency around extractive projects from Canada to Colombia

ABSTRACT Extractivism has contributed to update Reason of State doctrines in Latin America since the mid-2000, translating cold-war categories – like that of the ‘internal enemy’ – into new ones better adapted to ‘reconciliation’ meta discourses. While the securitisation of extractive conflicts in Colombia builds on a well-established counterinsurgency expertise, emerging claims and mobilisations – around environmental issues, Indigenous rights and territorial autonomy – have also forced significant adaptations. This opened opportunities for extractive norm entrepreneurs to disseminate Canadian innovations for the management of the social environment surrounding extractive projects. These innovations can be summarised in two parts: 1. The subordination of law to practices of engagement and communication between companies and local communities through so-called Corporate Social Responsibility mechanisms; and 2. The projection of a moral imperative of transparency on communities and social actors. Beyond the strictly operational level, these normative innovations also articulate a specific kind of politico-legal doctrine aimed at mitigating the destabilising effects of emergent rights claims and neutralising the emancipatory potential of law. In this paper, we provide historical antecedents for the development of these innovations in Canada, analyse how norm entrepreneurs disseminate this doctrine between Canada and Colombia, and look at its implications for democratic uses of law.

On statistical zonostrophic instability and the effect of magnetic fields

Zonal flows are mean flows in the east–west direction, which are ubiquitous on planets, and can be formed through ‘zonostrophic instability’: within turbulence or random waves, a weak large-scale zonal flow can grow exponentially to become prominent. In this paper, we study the statistical behaviour of the zonostrophic instability and the effect of magnetic fields. We use a stochastic white noise forcing to drive random waves, and study the growth of a mean flow in this random system. The dispersion relation for the growth rate of the expectation of the mean flow is derived, and properties of the instability are discussed. In the limits of weak and strong magnetic diffusivity, the dispersion relation reduces to manageable expressions, which provide clear insights into the effect of the magnetic field and scaling laws for the threshold of instability. The magnetic field mainly plays a stabilising role and thus impedes the formation of the zonal flow, but under certain conditions it can also have destabilising effects. Numerical simulation of the stochastic flow is performed to confirm the theory. Results indicate that the magnetic field can significantly increase the randomness of the zonal flow. It is found that the zonal flow of an individual realisation may behave very differently from the expectation. For weak magnetic diffusivity and moderate magnetic field strengths, this leads to considerable variation of the outcome, that is whether zonostrophic instability takes place or not in individual realisations.

The causal effect of economic sanctions on political stability: A two‐stage difference‐in‐differences analysis

AbstractThis study employs the two‐stage difference‐in‐differences (2sDiD) estimator to investigate the causal effect of economic sanctions on political stability. It contributes to existing research by (1) re‐evaluating sanctions' impacts on political stability using newly introduced causal inference methods, and (2) distinguishing the effects of sanctions across various political regimes and economic globalisation levels. The article argues that economic sanctions create economic hardships for the target population, leading to public frustration toward their governments, which stimulates political mobilisation and thereby decreases the country's political stability. However, sanctions hurt democracies more than autocracies because autocratic regimes can suppress public dissent through repression and citizens face higher costs for opposition. Moreover, economic globalisation offers targets alternatives to sanctioned products and services, potentially weakening sanctions thus damaging political stability more in low‐globalised than in high‐globalised countries. Empirical findings from 9230 country‐year observations between 1949 and 2022 largely align with the theoretical predictions, showing that economic sanctions undermine the target's political stability, with these destabilising effects contingent upon its political regime and economic globalisation levels.

Nostalgia, Modernity, and Counter-Acceleration

ABSTRACT While much attention has been paid to the various strains of modernity’s development from its emphasis on instrumental rationality to its construction of the advent-guard, what I want to do here is examine the intersection of modernity, affectation, and acceleration. This essay contends nostalgia ameliorates identity disruption from social acceleration in late modernity. Existential threats evoke nostalgia, reconstituting familiar “homeworlds” and enabling experiential normalcy. Subjects recoup weak role-identification and unstable archetypes – byproducts of pluralisation, entrepreneurialism, and insecuritization – through nostalgia. As compensatory, nostalgia proffers refuge; yet precipitating consumption, it incarnates cultural dialectics. This essay argues that the prevalence of nostalgia in late modern societies is the result of social acceleration, but the nostalgia born of this acceleration is also a spiritual palliative for its destabilising effects.

Conflict between Fulani herders and village landowners in Ghana: capitalism, climate change, and peasant struggles

In discussions of the capitalism–climate change interplay in the agrarian world, the intrusiveness of corporate and state-guided capitalism has been pre-eminent. This ‘hard capital’ focus obscures indirect linkages like how ‘soft capital’, although disoriented from raping nature, unlike the former, exacerbates climate change effects in ways that accelerate the destabilisation of agrarian economies. This indirect connection is evident in agrarian settings in Ghana’s Northern Region, where the resultant peasants’ revolt is directed at neither corporations nor the state but rather local landowning elites (soft capital), who transfer the burden of the twin pressures of climate change and hard capital (state intervention and privatisation of fertiliser supply) to their labourers. Using Marxian social relations of production as a theoretical lens, this paper unpacks how this capitalism–climate change interface plays out in Gushiegu, Northern Ghana. By highlighting that interface and the resultant agrarian struggles, this paper does two things: (1) invites agrarian scholars to transcend the commercialisation of agriculture and carbon capitalism in analysing how the intersection of capitalism and climate change destabilises the agrarian world; (2) encourages scholarship that transcends the more obvious herder–farmer conflicts over land and water in examining the destabilising effects of the aforementioned intersection.

Leveraging the potential of third space faculty developers to foster individual and collective flourishing faculty professional identities in higher education

In the context of higher education, which is a complex environment of shifting landscapes, academic identity is perceived as being eroded, and new identities associated with hybrid roles abound. Flexible support mechanisms are needed to counter the destabilising effects of the recent erosion of tradition-bound structures. This study explores how an understanding of faculty professional identity might be used by faculty developers to inform individual and collective development initiatives and foster flourishing. Using a qualitative methodology, focus group discussions with faculty developers probe the potential utility of a measure of faculty professional identity. Utility is evaluated at three levels of practice: institutional, collective and individual. Findings demonstrate the potential for faculty developers, with their third space positioning, to play a pivotal role in guiding individuals and institutions as they navigate increasingly complex higher education contexts. Recommendations include recognising the strategic potential of faculty developers as institutional gatekeepers of sensitive data and enablers of collective flourishing. A data-informed, adaptive, person-centred approach to individual faculty development that delves into the being as well as the doing to facilitate individual flourishing is proposed.

Computational screening of damaging nsSNPs in human SOD1 genes associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis identifies destabilising effects of G38R and G42D mutations through in silico evaluation.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a complicated neurodegenerative disorder affected by hereditary and environmental variables, is a condition. In this study, the genetic makeup of ALS is investigated, with a focus on the SOD1 gene's single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and their ability to affect disease risk. Eleven high-risk missense variations that may impair the functionality of the SOD1 protein were discovered after a thorough examination of SNPs in the SOD1 gene. These mutations were chosen using a variety of prediction approaches, highlighting their importance in the aetiology of ALS. Notably, it was discovered that the stability of the SOD1 wild-type protein structure was compromised by the G38R and G42D SOD1 variants. Additionally, Edaravone, a possible ALS medication, showed a greater affinity for binding mutant SOD1 structures, pointing to potential personalised treatment possibilities. The high-risk SNPs discovered in this investigation seem to have functional effects, especially on the stability of proteins and their interactions with other molecules. This study clarifies the complex genetics of ALS and offers insights into how these genetic variations may affect the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions, particularly in the context of edaravone. In this study advances our knowledge of the genetic mechanisms causing ALS vulnerability and prospective therapeutic strategies. Future studies are necessary to confirm these results and close the gap between individualised clinical applications and improved ALS care.

Introduction: social movements and radicalisation in Europe

ABSTRACT This Special Issue (SI) provides a nuanced understanding of the root causes of radicalisation among European youth with both nativist and religious affiliations. The contributions challenge the civilisational paradigm and the reductionist interpretations that often conflate it with extremism, terrorism, and violence. Our contributors contend that the rise of populist rhetoric across Europe, alongside the notable strengthening of grassroots resistance, has led to a pronounced polarisation of public opinion. Drawing on the literature in Social Movement Studies, each contributor provides an analysis of various processes of youth radicalisation across different European nations. They illuminate that both nativist and Islamist forms of radicalisation among European youth function as frames for justification and alternative political expressions – almost akin to a form of anti-politics. This serves as a means for them to protect themselves from the destabilising effects of deindustrialisation, discrimination, alienation, humiliation, and stigmatisation. The findings underscore that radicalised youth tend to employ unconventional forms of political expression to articulate their knowledge and garner public attention to their marginalised status. This stems from their lack of trust in political centers, which they perceive as failing to provide remedies for disenfranchised youths experiencing socio-economic, political, spatial, and nostalgic deprivation in the era of globalisation.

Model Reference Adaptive Control of SPS-Based Dual Active Bridge Converter with Constant Power Loading

Abstract This paper presents a new model reference adaptive-based control (MRAC) for a single-phase shift-modulated dual active bridge DC-DC converter (SPS-DAB) with constant power loading (CPL). The non-linear control algorithm, developed based on the reduced order model of the converter, is subjected to a thorough stability and convergence analysis. The efficacy of the proposed control strategy is verified through simulations conducted on MATLAB R2023a and PLECS 4.5.6, demonstrating its capability to counteract the destabilising effects of the CPL, while ensuring precise tracking of the dual active bridge (DAB) output voltage, even amidst parameter variations. Comparative analysis highlights the superior robustness and performance of the proposed approach over the conventional proportional-integral (PI) controllers.

The transnational dimension of organised crime: an investigation into the operational structure of cybercrime in Nigeria

The world of Transnational Organised Crime (TOC) is a complex and multifaceted one. At present, no part of the world is immune from the corrupting influence and destabilising effects of Transnational Organised Crime. Their influence is global, and in certain circumstances, their convergence poses the greatest risk. The purpose of this article is to examine existing literature on TOC and demonstrate that the development of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) and globalisation has led to the expansion and complexity of criminal organisations that take advantage of these changes for financial gain. The study focused on how cybercrime perpetrators in Nigeria learn in practice. Collaboration is found as a pivotal element in the learning process and is commonly characterised by both informal and contractual engagement between young people who are interested in cyber criminality and others who have substantial expertise in the illicit industry. A total of 29 cybercrime perpetrators were recruited on purpose with the semi-structured interview approach to gather qualitative data. A range of themes was identified through the use of NVivo (v.12), a qualitative software, and subsequently analysed using a content qualitative analytical tool. This study employs a qualitative methodology to explore various dimensions of the social learning process,information-sharing practises, group dynamics, and network paradigm of cybercrime perpetrators in Nigeria. Results indicate that the operational framework of cybercrime in Nigeria is complex and heavily reliant on co-offending, criminal apprenticeship, and criminal mentoring. Respondents emphasised that these elements give direct support in the context of criminal activities. The paper concludes that transnational crime cannot be effectively addressed from a national standpoint; rather, a concerted international and regional effort is required to enhance the fragile capacities of states, subregions, and regional organisations

Linear global stability of a flow past a sphere under a streamwise magnetic field

The global linear stability analysis for the magnetohydrodynamic liquid metal flow past an insulated sphere subjected to a constant streamwise magnetic field is investigated in the range of the Reynolds number $Re\leq 400$ and the interaction number $N\leq 40$ coupled with direct numerical simulations, where $N$ stands for strength of the electromagnetic force. The stability of the steady axisymmetric base flow to independent time-azimuthal modes is discussed. Five critical curves associated with various wake transitions are obtained in the $\{Re, N\}$ phase diagram. These critical curves reveal the stabilising effect of a weak magnetic field, the destabilising effect of a strong magnetic field and re-stabilising effect of a much stronger magnetic field. To explore the impact of the magnetic field on flow instability, a sensitivity analysis utilizing an adjoint method is performed for the first regular bifurcation. Sensitivity functions of growth rate to base-flow modifications and Lorentz force are defined to identify the region that has the most significant influence on flow instability, such as the recirculation region responsible for the stabilising effect at a weak magnetic field and the shear layer region responsible for the destabilising effect at a strong magnetic field. Furthermore, a competition between the stabilising and shear destabilising effects of the magnetic field is discussed. This analysis provides valuable insights into the non-monotonic effect of the magnetic field on flow instability.

‘Facilitating the transition to net zero’ and institutional change in the Bank of England: Perceptions of the environmental mandate and its policy implications within the British state

The role of central banks in perpetuating and tackling the economic patterns associated with climate change has increasingly been subject to academic and political attention. The Bank of England is no exception, having received a new mandate to ‘facilitate the transition to net zero’ in March 2021. This follows the Bank’s utilisation of its monetary tools to repeatedly stabilise the economic status quo since 2008, despite its ecological consequences. This article reveals the perceptions within the British state of the new mandate and the forms of institutional change demanded by it, based on a series of elite interviews with Treasury officials and other UK monetary policy experts, as well as a discourse analysis of Bank publications and speeches. We find that Bank actors lobbied for the new mandate to legitimise its development of climate risk assessments and licence internal dialogue on the implications of its monetary policy. But the mandate is perceived to be in immediate conflict with, and subservient to, the Bank’s primary structural objective of maintaining price and financial stability, due to the potentially destabilising effects of private capital realignment during a net zero transition. Institutional change within the Bank is thus limited to extending its pre-existing function of mitigating risks to financial stability rather than facilitating decarbonisation through market-shaping governance of the financial sector.

Exploring the dynamic behaviour of commodity market tail risk connectedness during the negative WTI pricing event

Using a TVP-VAR analytical framework, this study explores the change and persistence of the dynamic connectedness of international energy and carbon credit markets. The overall destabilising effects generated by recent political and epidemiological events, and the subsequent consequences of shocks such as the negative WTI pricing event, have the potential to be disruptive to the continued growth and development of several regional oil markets. Results are presented via a comprehensive analysis of the dynamics of extreme risk spillovers for particular commodity pairs. In particular, WTI and Brent crude oil are found to have transmitted significant tail uncertainty shocks to other energy markets. However, Shanghai crude oil and carbon credit markets typically function as shock absorbers. The remaining energy-related commodities primarily function as tail uncertainty receivers. Further, by incorporating EGARCH-based robustness procedures, tests for significant market connectedness within international energy markets adds further validity to the results. Specifically, results relating to the substantial rebalancing of information to Shanghai crude oil futures and EUA carbon futures merit special consideration, as dynamic interactions strengthen evidence supporting their continued maturation into significant international markets. These findings are particularly interesting to policymakers and market participants who use such products to hedge against and diversify regional oil market fluctuations.

Theorising Belle Époque Rio de Janeiro through Opium: João do Rio’s “Visões d’ópio” as a Postcolonial Framework

In 1905, Brazilian writer João do Rio published the crônica “Visões d’ópio” (Visions of opium), an account of his forays into the Chinese opium dens of Rio de Janeiro. While opium is often emblematic of both Parisian cosmopolitanism and exotic Orientalism in fin-de-siècle literature, I argue that the drug is less a replication of these coordinates in Brazil than a method of geopolitical thinking. Drawing from opium’s extractive history in China and its versatility as a material thing – plant, commodity, drug, alkaloid – I argue that opium as theory and praxis not only reconfigures the writer’s experience of Rio, but also makes stark the strategies behind and costs of Brazil’s colonial formation. While opium sustains a desire for modernity through its exotic and cosmopolitan imaginaries, its destabilising effects on the body disrupt fantasies of colonial amalgamation, exposing histories of extraction and racialised labour implicit in the drug’s circulation. Through an analysis that bridges empirical and new materialisms – and from a Chinese geographical axis that puts Brazil into a transnational dialogue beyond Europe – opium becomes a medium for thinking through Brazil’s colonial roots and its place in the world among other nation-states during a period of transition from empire to republic.

Identifying the Molecular Drivers of Pathogenic Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Missense Mutations in Cancer and Non-Cancer Diseases.

Human aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDHs) comprising 19 isoenzymes play a vital role on both endogenous and exogenous aldehyde metabolism. This NAD(P)-dependent catalytic process relies on the intact structural and functional activity of the cofactor binding, substrate interaction, and the oligomerization of ALDHs. Disruptions on the activity of ALDHs, however, could result in the accumulation of cytotoxic aldehydes, which have been linked with a wide range of diseases, including both cancers as well as neurological and developmental disorders. In our previous works, we have successfully characterised the structure-function relationships of the missense variants of other proteins. We, therefore, applied a similar analysis pipeline to identify potential molecular drivers of pathogenic ALDH missense mutations. Variants data were first carefully curated and labelled as cancer-risk, non-cancer diseases, and benign. We then leveraged various computational biophysical methods to describe the changes caused by missense mutations, informing a bias of detrimental mutations with destabilising effects. Cooperating with these insights, several machine learning approaches were further utilised to investigate the combination of features, revealing the necessity of the conservation of ALDHs. Our work aims to provide important biological perspectives on pathogenic consequences of missense mutations of ALDHs, which could be invaluable resources in the development of cancer treatment.

Spatio-temporal dynamics of a two-layer pressure-driven flow subjected to a wall-normal temperature gradient

The present study investigates the linear spatio-temporal and weakly nonlinear stability of a pressure-driven two-layer channel flow subjected to a wall-normal temperature gradient commonly encountered in industrial applications. The liquid–liquid interface tension is assumed to be a linearly decreasing function of temperature. The study employs both numerical (pseudo-spectral method) and long-wave approaches. The general linear stability analysis (GLSA) predicts shear-flow and thermocapillary modes that arise due to the imposed pressure and temperature gradients, respectively. The previous stability analyses of the same problem predicted a negligible effect of the pressure-driven flow on the linear stability of the system. However, the GLSA reveals stabilising and destabilising effects of the pressure-driven flow depending on the viscosity ratio ( $\mu _r$ ), thermal conductivity ratio ( $\kappa _r$ ), interface position ( $H$ ) and the sign of the imposed temperature gradient ( $\beta _1$ ). The analysis predicts a range of $H$ for given $\mu _r$ and $\kappa _r$ , which can not be stabilised by the thermocapillarity. The numerically predicted long-wave instability is then captured using the long-wave asymptotic approach. The arguments based on the physical mechanism further successfully explain the role of $\mu _r$ , $\kappa _r$ , $H$ , the sign of $\beta _1$ and the interaction between the velocity and temperature perturbations in stabilising/destabilising the flow. The spatio-temporal analysis reveals the dominance of the spanwise mode in causing the absolutely unstable flow. The weakly nonlinear analysis reveals a subcritical pitchfork bifurcation without shear flow. However, with the shear flow, the streamwise mode undergoes a supercritical Hopf bifurcation.

Accounting for earthquake‐induced ground‐motion duration in building‐portfolio loss assessment

AbstractEarthquake‐induced ground‐motion duration can have a non‐negligible impact on the nonlinear seismic performance of structures. However, in current seismic risk assessment practice, hazard and vulnerability analyses generally only consider ground motion's amplitude and frequency‐content features, often relegating duration to implicit considerations. This study introduces a simulation‐based framework to explicitly quantify the impact of ground‐motion duration on building‐portfolio direct economic losses. Case‐study synthetic building portfolios located at different distances from a case‐study seismic source (i.e., fault) are assembled considering – individually and in combination – three building typologies representing distinct vulnerability classes in Southern Italy. Such typologies correspond to non‐ductile moment‐resisting reinforced concrete (RC) infilled frames designed to only sustain gravity loads (i.e.,pre‐codeinfilled frames), and ductile moment‐resisting RC infilled and bare frames designed considering seismic provisions for high‐ductility capacity (i.e.,special‐codeinfilled and bare frames). Event‐based probabilistic seismic hazard analysis is performed explicitly simulating duration jointly with spectral‐shape‐related intensity measures (IMs), accounting for their spatial and cross‐correlation. Sets of ground‐motion records are selected to conduct cloud‐based nonlinear time‐history analyses (NLTHAs) and derive fragility models for each considered building typology through archetype structures, simulating their structural response using computational models that account for stiffness and strength cyclic and in‐cycle deterioration as well as destabilising effects. Fragility models are derived using average pseudo‐spectral acceleration (in a range of periods of interest) as the primary IM and alternatively: (1) the dissipated hysteretic energy as an engineering demand parameter (EDP), implicitly accounting for duration given the cumulative nature of such an EDP and the adopted nonlinear modelling strategy, in a scalar format; (2) the dissipated hysteretic energy as an EDP, as before, explicitly considering duration as an IM together with spectral shape, in a vector‐valued format. Vulnerability models are then derived using the fragility models and appropriate building‐level damage‐to‐loss models. The portfolio loss exceedance curves and expected annual losses computed for each combination of exposure, hazard, and vulnerability models are critically assessed and discussed. Depending on the portfolio's size, exposure composition, location relative to the fault, site conditions and the seismic source model, the impact of duration on the loss estimates can be significant. For the considered settings, relative variations up to 200% between the scalar‐ and vector‐valued‐based portfolios expected annual losses are observed, attaining the highest discrepancies as the fault‐to‐portfolio distance increases.

The Philippine defence-development-disaster security paradigm

ABSTRACT The Philippines suffers from three threats to its national security. Firstly, unlike advanced states, it faces both external and internal assaults on its political and territorial sovereignty. Secondly, self-sustaining economic security remains elusive, with the country failing to emulate the economic successes of its ASEAN neighbours, Singapore and Malaysia. Thirdly, the archipelago must constantly contend with the destabilising effects of natural disasters, including volcanic eruptions, typhoons, and earthquakes. Manila's policy responses to these three disparate, but interlinked threats, have been conditioned by four centuries of Spanish, American, and Japanese occupation. The Philippine government remains a work in progress as diverse efforts to build institutional capacity have produced uneven results. Nevertheless, recent innovative policy approaches are instructive. These are framed around what might be termed a D3 (Defence-Development-Disaster) security paradigm, covering external military security, internal security and non-traditional security, including the Duterte administration's “drug war”

Effects of thermodiffusion on Darcy–Brinkman convection in a rotating binary nanofluid saturating a porous layer

In this study, the onset of convection in a rotating horizontal porous layer saturated by a binary nanofluid was theoretically investigated under the influence of thermodiffusion and nanoparticles. To study the onset of convection, the Darcy–Brinkman model was employed for the porous medium, and the thermal Rayleigh number was derived analytically using linear stability analysis. Water–ammonia-based silver, copper, and alumina, three binary nanofluids, were considered, and the effect of nanoparticles on the stability of the system was analysed using addition factor analysis. The Brinkman model for viscosity and Bruggeman model under the mean field approach for thermal conductivity were used to study the impact of nanoparticles. Heat transport was examined by calculating the heat transfer coefficient. The effects of nondimensional parameters involved in binary nanofluids on the onset of convective instabilities are depicted pictorially. The dependence of the size of the convection cells on nondimensional parameters is also discussed. The Darcy–Taylor number decreases the size of convection cells, whereas the Darcy number increases the size of convection cells. The size of the convection cells is independent of the porosity of the medium, Lewis number, volume fraction of nanoparticles, Soret effect of nanoparticles, and the solute in binary nanofluids. Furthermore, the Darcy–Taylor number and porosity have stabilising effects, whereas the Darcy number, volume fraction of nanoparticles, and Lewis number have destabilising effects on the system. Soret effects of nanoparticles and solutes exhibit dual consequences on stability. They stabilise the binary nanofluid layer if δ4 < –1 and destabilise when δ4 > –1. Their effect is immaterial if δ4 = –1.

Platform power and regulatory politics: Polanyi for the twenty-first century

ABSTRACT Intensifying concerns about online platform firms’ rapid rise, expansion, and growing asymmetric power have attracted political scrutiny and undermined the legitimacy of a minimalist regulatory regime that is giving way to intense debate and increasingly interventionist governmental policies and enforcement actions. First, we view the rise of, and recent political responses to, the often-predatory power and manipulative conduct of platform firm in terms of a ‘Polanyian’ double movement in which the destabilising and destructive effects of unchecked corporate activities and market development eventually generates political and regulatory responses to constrain private power that threaten the social, political, and economic order. Second, incipient legal changes, most notably the EU’s proposed Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act, indicate a shift in regulatory emphasis from competition (and antitrust) policy and law towards more intensive and encompassing forms of socio-economic regulation. Finally, these regulatory changes will likely vary in character and significance across political jurisdictions, and embody distinctive and possibly divergent developmental trajectories. The EU may have a first-mover advantage in regulating platform firms, but we are only at the very beginning of a protracted and conflictual transformational process.