Dual Dimension Research Articles

L’éloge de la démocratie et l’apologie de l’humanité comme modes de discours chez Nelson Mandela

Speech is a fascinating issue that interests the communicator, the linguist, the sociologist, the neurologist, the philosopher, the translator, etc., due to its plural essence and evident complexity. Our objective is twofold: to analyze Nelson Mandela's speeches as a tribute to democracy and a defense for fraternity, and to contribute to the birth of more democratic and peaceful Republics. At the heart of this issue lies the main question: what are the discursive representations of Nelson Mandela that attest to the dual dimension, the praise of democracy and the advocacy of fraternity? The methodology is based on the collection of data from the author's book and other works on the subject. Our study is based on an analytical approach and is presented in two phases: on the one hand, the praise of democracy and on the other hand, the defense of brotherhood in Nelson Mandela.

Voicing (Medical) Complexity in the Theatre of Sarah Kane: 4.48 Psychosis (1999) and its Stage Adaptation by Deafinitely Theatre (2018)

This paper proposes a reading of Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis (1999) from a theoretical perspective combining medical humanities, disability, and performance studies (Henderson and Ostrander; Murray); the aim is to expand upon previous scholarship which sought to analyse Kane’s multifarious ways of aestheticising—and questioning—illness and pain (e.g. Guarracino, “Scene”; Simon; Soncini), by reading medical discourse through the notion of ‘complexity’ (Kuppers, Theatre; Siebers). Firstly, I will focus on how complexity comes to the surface through the dramatic text: as Jolene Armstrong has pointed out, the linguistic renderings of a psychotic mind—staged as a medical spectacle—make 4.48 Psychosis a peculiar case study because it is “less like a play than a prose poem intended for interpretative performance” (Armstrong 177). Secondly, I will look at how Deafinitely Theatre attempted to translate the dramatic text into a bilingual performance (i.e. in spoken English and British Sign Language), set in a mixed-reality environment (e.g. the incorporation of video material into the live performance). Ultimately, this dual dimension will hopefully shed new light on the degree of performability of (medical) complexity in 4.48 Psychosis.

Methodological and epistemological challenges in meme research and meme studies

This article examines some methodological and epistemological challenges facing meme studies and meme research. It delves into the shifts in Anglophone meme culture post-Trump and challenges the assumption that memes are generally anonymous and antagonistic by highlighting the coexistence of collegiality and pseudonymity across diverse meme communities. Moreover, it suggests that such meme cultures can transcend from online to offline realms, requiring methodological adaptations to capture this dual dimension of creativity and sociality. The paper also addresses epistemological challenges in meme studies, starting from memetics’ contentious history and critiquing the dominance of cultural evolutionary theory in contemporary meme research. It brings attention to the academic tendency to follow a “Dawkins to Shifman pipeline” citation trope in meme research and advocates for a more critical approach informed by platform studies. It argues that the future of meme studies lies at the intersection of platform ideology and content economies, urging scholars to engage with historical and political transformations in digital culture for a comprehensive understanding of memes and their societal impact.

The dual dimension of scientific research experience acquisition and its development: a 40-year analysis of Chinese Humanities and Social Sciences Journals

The dual dimension of scientific research experience acquisition and its development: a 40-year analysis of Chinese Humanities and Social Sciences Journals

Where and How Do Phronesis and Emotions Connect?

We aim to map out the points of confluence between phronesis and emotion, as well as the nature of this confluence. We do so based on philosophical and psychological explanations of emotions and phronesis. Making sound decisions, which requires phronesis, is an important matter, but its relationship with emotions has only just begun to be studied. We propose that the interplay between phronesis and emotion is possible (rather than inevitable) because both have a cognitive-behavioural structure and because emotions are hierarchical. In the case of emotion, there are no gaps between the cognitive and behavioural dimensions, while phronetic acts can only manifest if cognitive and behavioural aspects are activated simultaneously. The confluence we identify is bidirectional and involves mutual enrichment in this dual dimension. On the one hand, phronesis enriches emotion because it involves extra subjective knowledge and allows emotion to be directed towards higher goals. On the other hand, emotions enrich phronesis because phronesis makes decisions based on sensitive preferences and because emotions confirm correctness in the context of moral decision making. Methodologically, this study is theoretical and interdisciplinary, as our approach is both philosophical and psychological. Philosophy helps us to improve the conceptual foundation of the construct, while psychology provides an analysis of the emotional process, allowing philosophy to understand how emotional evaluation-assessment and motivation lead to decision making.

Unveiling the Impact of Value Propositions on Value Creation in Chinese Health Service Enterprises: A Customer Participation Perspective

This research investigates the impact of value propositions in Chinese health service enterprises on value creation, with a focus on customer participation as a mediating variable. Employing a dual dimension framework, the study identifies three formal stages in the value creation process: labor production, circulation and exchange, and consumption experience. Through empirical analysis involving 303 valid questionnaire responses, it was found that value propositions exert direct or indirect influence on value creation, mediated by customer participation. Furthermore, customer perceived value was found to positively moderate the relationship between customer participation and value creation. Practical implications suggest the importance of prioritizing use value creation, establishing mechanisms to address contract violations, and reshaping societal expectations towards value. However, limitations include potential oversight of implicit value propositions and challenges in quantitatively measuring usage value. Future research may explore alternative data sources and refine measurement techniques for a deeper understanding of value creation in service industries.

A research on urban disaster resilience assessment system for rainstorm and flood disasters: A case study of Beijing.

Under the background of global climate change, rainstorm and flood disasters have become the most serious cataclysm. Under the circumstances of an increasingly severe risk situation, it is necessary to enhance urban disaster resilience. Based on the disaster resilience process of prevention, absorption, and enhancement, and considering the safety factors such as personnel, facility, environment and management, this paper forms a dual dimension of the urban disaster resilience assessment model covering the key elements of urban disaster response and the core capacity of urban disaster recovery. Furthermore, if taking into account the characteristics of rainstorm and flood disasters, the paper screens the key indicators to build up an assessment index system of an urban rainstorm and flood disaster. The practical application was implemented in Beijing to have an assessment of the ability to recover from rainstorm and flood disasters in all districts of Beijing. And then, some pertinent suggestions for enhancing the resilience of Beijing to rainstorm and flood disasters were proposed.

MoMusic: A Motion-Driven Human-AI Collaborative Music Composition and Performing System

The significant development of artificial neural network architectures has facilitated the increasing adoption of automated music composition models over the past few years. However, most existing systems feature algorithmic generative structures based on hard code and predefined rules, generally excluding interactive or improvised behaviors. We propose a motion based music system, MoMusic, as a AI real time music generation system. MoMusic features a partially randomized harmonic sequencing model based on a probabilistic analysis of tonal chord progressions, mathematically abstracted through musical set theory. This model is presented against a dual dimension grid that produces resulting sounds through a posture recognition mechanism. A camera captures the users' fingers' movement and trajectories, creating coherent, partially improvised harmonic progressions. MoMusic integrates several timbrical registers, from traditional classical instruments such as the piano to a new ''human voice instrument'' created using a voice conversion technique. Our research demonstrates MoMusic's interactiveness, ability to inspire musicians, and ability to generate coherent musical material with various timbrical registers. MoMusic's capabilities could be easily expanded to incorporate different forms of posture controlled timbrical transformation, rhythmic transformation, dynamic transformation, or even digital sound processing techniques.

Global value chain embedding mode and carbon emission efficiency: Evidence from China's manufacturing industry

With the in-depth development of the global value chain (GVC), it is important to find new ways to improve carbon emission efficiency (CEE) from the perspective of the GVC embedding mode. This study describes the current situation of the GVC embedding mode in China's manufacturing industry from the dual dimension system of GVC participation and length. It further investigates the impact of different GVC embedding modes on CEE to provide new ideas for the realization of low-carbon economic development in China. The study found that (1) the GVC backward embedding mode can improve the CEE, while the forward embedding mode has a restraining impact on CEE; (2) There is industry heterogeneity in the effect of the GVC embedding mode on CEE. The backward embedding mode inhibits CEE in low-energy-consumption industries, and the forward embedding mode characterized by the increase in forward production length promotes CEE in high-energy-consumption and non-technology-intensive industries; (3) The impact will show a significant threshold effect depending on different GVC statuses. With the rise in GVC status, the forward embedding mode, characterized by an increase in forward participation, and the backward embedding mode, characterized by an increase in backward participation, have an inverted U-shaped relationship with CEE.

Improving landscape ecological network connectivity in urbanizing areas from dual dimensions of structure and function

By building connectivity between ecological spaces, the landscape ecology network (LEN) can effectively prevent further habitat fragmentation and loss in urbanizing areas. The existing LEN construction method fails to consider the multiple optimization goals of improving network structural and functional connectivity. This paper aimed to provide a novel method to improve connectivity for existing LENs in urbanizing areas. We took an urbanizing area in China as an example and extract existing LEN based on ecological priorities. On this basis, from the dimension of structural connectivity optimization, we used the network link additional technique based on “integral index of probable connection” to identify 50 optimal locations of additional corridors that could significantly improve the network structural connectivity. From the dimension of functional connectivity enhancement, we applied the greedy algorithm based on hierarchical rules with different priorities to search for corridor paths with maximum ecological function and low ecological and construction resistance. The optimized LEN contained 43 ecological sources and 74 ecological corridors. The dual dimension method proposed in this paper can improve the functional and structural connectivity of existing LEN, and greatly save the optimization time and efficiency of the network, to provide targeted ecological space protection schemes for urbanizing areas.

Primal and dual combinatorial dimensions

We give tight bounds on the relation between the primal and dual of various combinatorial dimensions, such as the pseudo-dimension and fat-shattering dimension, for multi-valued function classes. These dimensional notions play an important role in the area of learning theory. We first review some (folklore) results that bound the dual dimension of a function class in terms of its primal, and after that give (almost) matching lower bounds. In particular, we give an appropriate generalization to multi-valued function classes of a well-known bound due to Assouad (1983), that relates the primal and dual VC-dimension of a binary function class.

Enhancing Employer Branding through corporate Innovation and Web communication

The primary purpose of this empirical research is to show how a company's attractiveness can be influenced by its corporate innovative culture, high-quality standards attitude, and web-based communication and interaction with candidates. The research hypotheses were investigated in senior students and young graduates of Greek universities in order to propose an effective pre-recruitment employer branding strategy which causes positive effects in a company's talent pool.
 The Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) software was used on a convenient sample of 737 individuals from Greek universities. Overall, the study's findings point to a company's innovative nature and orientation, which are reflected across the full range of its business activity, as a crucial factor for candidates who are interested in learning more about employment opportunities there. This is accomplished through communication media that are popular among young job seekers, such as the corporate website and social media. In this way, based on web info, candidates are able to obtain not only detailed information, but also signs with a strong symbolic effect, thus shaping positive perceptions of the company as a potential employer. Especially in a university setting, at the initial stage of candidate recruitment our results highlight the importance of the dual dimension of relevant communication, i.e. the information about jobs as presented on the corporate website and social media of the company, and the way these media communicate with job seekers.
 Furthermore, the findings of our study have significant implications of how a company's HR departments should plan and organize their presence in Greek Universities in order to improve corporate positive image and attractiveness among passive and active candidates. 
 Despite methodological and contextual limitations, this paper aims to enrich the pre-recruitment literature by presenting significant theoretical and managerial implications.

Crisis as experience and politics

In the tradition of Koselleck, crisis has often been approached as an idea or as a narrative, but less research has been conducted on how people produce, respond to, and live through crises. Most of the articles of the present issue explore this perspective, with its dual dimension of experience and politics. In line with it, the present article proposes an analysis of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic through the questions of the rupture in time, the state of exception and the uncovering of inequalities.

Bank regulation and risk-taking in sub-Sahara Africa

PurposeIn a bid to enhance the stability of banks, supervisory authorities in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) have also adopted international bank regulatory standards based on the Basel core principles. This paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of these regulations in mitigating Bank risk (instability) in SSA. The focus of empirical analysis is on examining the implications of four regulations (capital, activity restrictions, supervisory power and market discipline) on risk-taking behaviour of banks.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses two dimensions of financial stability in relation to two different sources of bank risk: solvency risk and liquidity risk. This paper uses information from the World Bank Regulatory Survey database to construct regulation indices on activity restrictions and the three regulations pertaining to the three pillars of Basel II, i.e. capital, supervisory power and market discipline. The paper then uses a two-step system generalised method of moments estimator to estimate the impact of each regulation on solvency and liquidity risk.FindingsThe overall results show that: regulations pertaining to capital (Pillar 1) and market discipline (Pillar 3) are effective in reducing solvency risk; and regulations pertaining to supervisory power (Pillar 2) and activity restrictions increase liquidity risk (i.e. reduce bank stability).Research limitations/implicationsGiven some evidence from other studies which show that market power (competition) tends to condition the effect of regulations on bank stability, it would have been more informative to examine whether this is really the case in SSA, given the low levels of competition in some countries. This study is limited in this regard.Practical implicationsThe key policy implications from the study findings are three-fold: bank supervisory agencies in SSA should prioritise the adoption of Pillars 1 and 3 of the Basel II framework as an effective policy response to enhance the stability of the banking system; a universal banking model is more stability enhancing; and there is a trade-off between stronger supervisory power and liquidity stability that needs to be properly managed every time regulatory agencies increase their supervisory mandate.Originality/valueThis paper provides new evidence on which Pillars of the Basel II regulatory framework are more effective in reducing bank risk in SSA. This paper also shows that the way regulations affect solvency risk is different from that of liquidity risk – an approach that allows for case specific policy interventions based on the type of bank risk under consideration. Ignoring this dual dimension of bank stability can thus lead to erroneous policy inferences.

Addressing how small suppliers cope with large customers: using the dual dimension of a product portfolio and customer buying center

PurposeThis paper is about customer relationships from the perspective of small suppliers. More precisely, this paper aims to examine the relational implications through a product portfolio model with the main participants of the buying center (buyer/business manager).Design/methodology/approachThe study first uses an in-depth qualitative data analysis to explore how elements of small suppliers’ relationship with such large customer’s main actors are affected by the nature of the product (categorized between strategic, bottleneck and non-critical items). From the results, an empirical model is drawn of small suppliers’ relational strategies in a product-centered and buyer/business manager relationship typology. To analyze the results of the empirical model, a quantitative analysis is performed, using the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis approach.FindingsThis study contributes to deepen the supplier–customer relationship analysis, from a product-centered and customer dyadic perspective (buyer and customer business manager). The findings highlight three different small suppliers’ relationship strategy with a different level of involvement of the different participants of the buying center.Originality/valueFew studies so far analyze vertical asymmetric relationships from a triadic perspective composed of the small supplier, the buyer and the business manager – hence, this study contributes to unveiling some of the relationship complexity within a triad of actors and how small suppliers can navigate through this complexity according to their product or service positioning.

Living through trauma: to bear the unbearable, to speak the unspeakable

ABSTRACT A traumatic situation can be both cataclysmic and disorganising, while putting the whole existence of the individual to the test. Every trauma causes either minor or major rifts in the psyche, thus putting a strain on the patient’s present, past and future. Specifically, when the traumatic experience remains without adequate mentalization, in an instinctive form, it can severely affect the patient, both psychologically and socially. In this paper, we discuss the dual dimension of the traumatic experience. Firstly, since the psyche cannot elaborate the traumatic event or situation psychologically, only minor symbolic or mental representations are available, and the traumatic content cannot find its place in the patient’s psychic history. Since the trauma cannot be worked through psychologically, it usually comprises a massive experience of deadly anxieties, mixed with somatic and sensorial memories. Secondly, the consequences of the trauma have a social dimension. Individuals may feel disconnected and disengaged from their social existence and identity, alone and unprotected, as trauma can lead to them questioning their social identity. The unearthing of the previous psychic traumas explains why the therapy of traumatised patients demands in-depth, individual therapeutic work. Trauma therefore attacks in a dual manner, setting out to test all the aspects of the individual’s functioning. The therapeutic challenges for working with traumatised children and adolescents are considerable, as the clinical vignettes illustrate.

Emotion concepts for representing the vicissitudes of fate in Markus Zusak’s “Bridge of Clay”

The problem of studying emotionally expressive information contained in a text is of considerable interest since it interprets reality, expressing value or emotionally significant attitudes toward this reality. The analysis of the emotivity and expressiveness of a literary text focuses primarily on its research from the cognitive (separation of emotiogenic knowledge) and semantic (determining the features of its use to indicate the author’s purposes) perspectives. A literary text is considered as a dual dimension: on the one hand, it is related to emotions, and on the other hand, it is specified by them. The aim of the article is to identify and examine the emotional concepts represented in Markus Zusak’s Bridge of Clay for portraying the vicissitudes of fate. The breath-taking story revolves around the Dunbar family of ‘ramshackle tragedy’ and brims with pathos. To analyse the emotion concepts, the following methods have been employed: the methods of interpretation and systematisation; contextual, stylistic, and distributive analysis as also a method of emotional valence, and the hypothetico-deductive method. The Results of the Study show that emotion concepts in Zusak’s Bridge of Clay are realised at the following levels: phonetics, morphology, and semantics, which shows the universality of functioning emotion concepts in fictional discourse. The emotion concept appears as a single entity that consists of attributes of emotivity, which are anthropocentric and character-creating. The lexical units, chosen by Zusak, convey the author’s intentions, explicitly or implicitly indicating the emotional nature of the text. Since characters belong to the category of essential universals of a literary text, the emotional meanings included in its structure have a special informative significance. The character’s emotions are represented as the special psychological reality, and the set of emotions in the text appears as a kind of dynamic plurality that changes as the story develops.

Humility, Personality, and Psychological Functioning.

As part of the shift to a more positive psychology, researchers have demonstrated a relatively new and intense fascination with humility. Following a discussion of this construct and its correlates, we investigate how humility relates to personality dimensions, anxiety and depression, love of life and happiness, and self-efficacy in two samples-college students and adult Mturk workers. In both studies, we used the Dual Dimension Humility Scale, a measure that does not conflate the construct with honesty. Among students (N = 399), aspects humility correlated with dimensions of personality (more conscientiousness and openness, and less agreeableness and neuroticism), less depression, more love of life and happiness, and stronger social self-efficacy. Although fewer associations were found, overall, among adults (N = 509), aspects of humility correlated with dimensions of personality, less anxiety, and some dimensions of psychological well-being. The most unique contributions of this study include linking humility with college students' love of life and self-efficacy, and with adults' well-being. We conclude with a discussion of ideas for future research and potential applications to boost humility.

La religione, le religioni e il progetto politico di J. Rawls

The essay explores the relationship between religion and Rawls from the perspective of some issues that are central to his political project: political autonomy, public reason and the implications of the fact of pluralism for the development of the idea of decent peoples. Religion has a dual dimension in political liberalism, plural and singular. The problem of the liberal political transition is to allow these two dimensions to coexist harmoniously within the liberal political project.

The dual dimension of the European Social Charter and its effects on the rules on protection against unlawful dismissals

The dual dimension of the European Social Charter and its effects on the rules on protection against unlawful dismissals