Explanatory Tool Research Articles

Cosmopolitan nationalism: where is the cosmopolitanism?

ABSTRACT This article examines the concept and role of cosmopolitanism in studies that theorize cosmopolitan nationalism (CN) in educational policy. First, it articulates a spectrum of diverse views that can be held under the labels of cosmopolitan, nationalism, and patriotism. Next, it assesses how cosmopolitanism is invoked in educational policy studies of CN. While the global and the national can intersect in various distinctive ways in educational theory and practice, in typical discussions of CN in educational policy more critical global, or cosmopolitan, positions are ignored or neglected. In response, the article provides recommendations for enhancing the use and impact of CN as an explanatory tool. It advocates for an understanding of cosmopolitanism that diverges from neoliberal globalist approaches to educational policy. In addition, it calls for scholars to assess nationalistic processes and interests in educational policy studies more reflectively, generating more explicitly normative assessments of different actors’ activities and statements, in contrast to apparently neutral descriptions of policies and trends.

Computational Phase Discovery in Block Polymers.

Self-consistent field theory (SCFT), the mean-field theory of polymer thermodynamics, is a powerful tool for understanding ordered state selection in block copolymer melts and blends. However, the nonlinear governing equations pose a significant challenge when SCFT is used for phase discovery because converging an SCFT solution typically requires an initial guess close to the self-consistent solution. This Viewpoint provides a concise overview of recent efforts where machine learning methods (particle swarm optimization, Bayesian optimization, and generative adversarial networks) have been used to make the first strides toward converting SCFT from a primarily explanatory tool into one that can be readily deployed for phase discovery.

Restoring the question of culture: identity, essence and the unknowability of difference

Throughout the 20th century the question of culture was a central pillar of social scientific thought. From Durkheim to Levi-Strauss, from Stuart Hall to Dennis Cosgrove, the question of culture and cultural difference was a touchstone for understanding the structures, norms and expectations that organised society. Yet, today the concept has disappeared from the academic landscape, including geography, where it is absorbed into other debates and terms, or discarded as an antiquated essentialist construct. Despite pressing political debates about culture wars, identity politics, cultural appropriation and nativism, there seems to be little interest in discussing, debating, much less theorising, the concept of culture as a credible explanatory tool. The aim of this lecture is two-fold: first it explores what has been lost by forsaking the question of culture (in geography and elsewhere); and second, it endeavours to reframe the question of culture in terms that emancipate it from the problem of difference. Indeed, at its heart, I argue that while geographers commonly study difference as an obvious empirical fact of life, emerging and receding at various scales, the nature of difference itself is unknowable. Yet rather than seeing this as an obstacle to theorising culture, the lecture uses it as an invitation to think culture differently: culture not as an explanation for difference but as an elucidation of the phenomenon of claiming difference. The lecture will focus on explaining this distinction and how it fundamentally changes the question of culture. The plenary lecture explores and develops arguments examined in my forthcoming monograph, Dreams of Presence: a Geographic Theory of Culture (University of Toronto Press, 2024).

A cross-sectional survey of prehabilitation among surgeons and anesthesiologists

BackgroundPrehabilitation, which includes nutritional and exercise therapies, is recommended for patients before surgery to improve physical and cognitive functions. This study aimed to identify the awareness, understanding, and issues among surgeons and anesthesiologists regarding the implementation of prehabilitation.MethodsWe conducted a survey on prehabilitation targeting surgeons and anesthesiologists working at a university hospital and two private hospitals. The survey collection period was set for 1 month, commencing on February 5, 2024. Descriptive statistics were employed to summarize the characteristics of the participants.ResultsA total of 254 surgeons and 49 anesthesiologists from three hospitals participated, with a response rate of 61.7%. Regarding the understanding of prehabilitation, 16.7% of anesthesiologists and only 2% of surgeons had a good grasp of its content. When enquired about the necessity of prehabilitation, 100% of anesthesiologists indicated it as necessary or somewhat necessary, whereas 98.7% of surgeons responded similarly. Several barriers to the implementation of prehabilitation were identified, with the most common reason being the busy schedule of outpatient services.ConclusionThis study highlights that while both surgeons and anesthesiologists recognize the importance of prehabilitation, significant challenges exist in its practical implementation. This underscores the need for simple explanatory tools for patients, the introduction of remote care options, and simple orders to relevant departments, which are essential and require multidisciplinary collaboration.

Unveiling Patience: The Intersection of the Qur'an and Hadith in Buya Hamka’s Thought

This article examines the concept of patience in the thought of Buya Hamka, focusing on the integration between the Qur’an and hadith in Tafsir Al-Azhar. As a central theme in Islam, patience is not only understood as a passive reaction to adversity but as an active attitude reflecting spiritual strength and depth of faith. This article identifies how Buya Hamka interprets patience through the bi al-ma’thūr method, using hadith as an explanatory tool to deepen the meaning of patience-related verses. With a qualitative analysis that emphasizes textual study, this article presents evidence that Buya Hamka relates patience to social and individual contexts and creates practical guidance for Muslims in facing the challenges of daily life. Through this approach, the author shows how patience can serve as a tool to achieve emotional balance and mental resilience. The contribution of this study lies in the emphasis on the relevance of Hamka’s tafsir in the modern context, as well as the functionalization of hadith in expressing the profound values of patience. By filling an existing academic gap, this research offers new insights into the relationship between historical Islamic texts and contemporary spiritual practices, making Tafsir Al-Azhar an essential resource in guiding Muslims to understand and apply patience in their lives.

Exploring impact of green finance and natural resources on eco-efficiency: case of China

China ranks 160 out of 180 countries in terms of ecological efficiency, with an EPI score of 28.40 and a 10-year average change in score of 11.40. This article examines the impact of green finance and China’s natural resources on regional ecological efficiency using the Tobit regression model. The study uses the average yearly exchange rate to normalize dollar-related values and GDP to 2012 RMB using the price deflator. Variables used as explanatory tools include green financing, the availability of natural resources, and regional eco-efficiency. The results of the study imply that natural resources in eastern region of China are better managed as and have avoided the resource curse as compared to central and western regions. Resources temporarily support area economic and social growth. However, resource agglomeration locks many elements in the resource industry and degrades regional industrial development, generating environmental and social difficulties that may hinder regional economic progress. Given that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) increases regional eco-efficiency after accounting for adjustment. The FDI positively correlated with ecological efficiency in the east zone, while central and western zones have negative correlations. The industrial development of the nation negatively impacts ecological efficiency in the East, Midwest, and West regions. Western results are distinctive, with ecological efficiency and regional economic growth frequently going hand in hand.

Pilot Study of Large Language Models as an Age-Appropriate Explanatory Tool for Chronic Pediatric Conditions.

There exists a gap in existing patient education resources for children with chronic conditions. This pilot study assesses large language models' (LLMs) capacity to deliver developmentally appropriate explanations of chronic conditions to pediatric patients. Two commonly used LLMs generated responses that accurately, appropriately, and effectively communicate complex medical information, making them a potentially valuable tool for enhancing patient understanding and engagement in clinical settings.

Data-driven intelligent modeling of unconfined compressive strength of heavy metal-contaminated soil

This study focuses on empirical modeling of the strength characteristics of urban soils contaminated with heavy metals using machine learning tools and their subsequent stabilization with ordinary Portland cement (OPC). For dataset collection, an extensive experimental program was designed to estimate the unconfined compressive strength (Qu) of heavy metal-contaminated soils collected from a wide range of land use pattern, i.e. residential, industrial and roadside soils. Accordingly, a robust comparison of predictive performances of four data-driven models including extreme learning machines (ELMs), gene expression programming (GEP), random forests (RFs), and multiple linear regression (MLR) has been presented. For completeness, a comprehensive experimental database has been established and partitioned into 80% for training and 20% for testing the developed models. Inputs included varying levels of heavy metals like Cd, Cu, Cr, Pb and Zn, along with OPC. The results revealed that the GEP model outperformed its counterparts: explaining approximately 96% of the variability in both training (R2 = 0.964) and testing phases (R2 = 0.961), and thus achieving the lowest RMSE and MAE values. ELM performed commendably but was slightly less accurate than GEP whereas MLR had the lowest performance metrics. GEP also provided the benefit of traceable mathematical equation, enhancing its applicability not just as a predictive but also as an explanatory tool. Despite its insights, the study is limited by its focus on a specific set of heavy metals and urban soil samples of a particular region, which may affect the generalizability of the findings to different contamination profiles or environmental conditions. The study recommends GEP for predicting Qu in heavy metal-contaminated soils, and suggests further research to adapt these models to different environmental conditions.

Towards a dynamic functional proposition for dynamic discourse meaning

Abstract Theories of utterance meaning in the post-Gricean tradition have typically focused on the main proposition expressed by the speaker that is recovered by the addressee. In this tradition, successful communication rests on the assumption that speakers and addressees come to a shared understanding of these propositions as they are produced in conversation. We now have a wealth of empirical evidence that speakers and addressees need not always converge on the main proposition expressed in order for communication to proceed unhindered: they may share partial understandings of individual utterances, allowing the overarching discourse meaning to unravel as the interaction progresses. In this paper, we propose a novel unit of meaning that accounts for such a dynamic concept that can emerge and develop over several turns at talk. We call it a ‘dynamic functional proposition’. This unit includes not only the linguistic meaning that has been communicated, but also meaning conveyed through non-linguistic sources, as well as aspects of situation captured through what we call ‘filters’, such as interlocutors’ levels of attention, emotions, and other non-representational aspects. These various aspects will have greater or lesser salience for different speakers, hence offering an explanatory tool for how utterance meanings are negotiated, as well as when and why misunderstandings occur. We finish by proposing ways in which such a unit can be formally represented. We do this by motivating different cognitive, social and linguistic parameters that influence it.

Frustration–Aggression Nexus in Framing the Expanding Banditry Economy in Northwest Nigeria: Evidence From Communal-Level Perception in Zamfara State, 2011–2024

Recent studies on armed banditry in Zamfara have commented on climate change, weak security infrastructure, and setbacks in socio-economic developments. The communal-level issues in the threat such as farmland allocation, vigilantism, and local intelligence provision have largely remained understudied. This study exploits the gap to explain armed banditry. A mixed method of data collection and qualitative descriptive method of data analysis were adopted. Using frustration–aggression analysis as explanatory tool, the paper concludes that wholesale farmland transaction, rudimentary communal vigilantism, and bandits’ concealed alliance formation with some traditional leaders for intelligence and benefits sharing are key factors that aided banditry. Tackling these three basic communal-level banditry nuances requires absolute political will to re-assess and implement the extant policies on grazing reserves and pastoralist mobility.

Analyzing Generalization in Policy Networks: A Case Study with the Double-Integrator System

Extensive utilization of deep reinforcement learning (DRL) policy networks in diverse continuous control tasks has raised questions regarding performance degradation in expansive state spaces where the input state norm is larger than that in the training environment. This paper aims to uncover the underlying factors contributing to such performance deterioration when dealing with expanded state spaces, using a novel analysis technique known as state division. In contrast to prior approaches that employ state division merely as a post-hoc explanatory tool, our methodology delves into the intrinsic characteristics of DRL policy networks. Specifically, we demonstrate that the expansion of state space induces the activation function $\tanh$ to exhibit saturability, resulting in the transformation of the state division boundary from nonlinear to linear. Our analysis centers on the paradigm of the double-integrator system, revealing that this gradual shift towards linearity imparts a control behavior reminiscent of bang-bang control. However, the inherent linearity of the division boundary prevents the attainment of an ideal bang-bang control, thereby introducing unavoidable overshooting. Our experimental investigations, employing diverse RL algorithms, establish that this performance phenomenon stems from inherent attributes of the DRL policy network, remaining consistent across various optimization algorithms.

MAKING THE PAST SPEAK: ACCELERATION, RESONANCE, AND PRESENCE1

ABSTRACTThis review essay offers an extended analysis of Hartmut Rosa's Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the World. By proposing a critical theory for our present times, the book dissects modes of being related to the world and how these relations are conditioned by the dynamic of escalation that is inscribed into modern social formations. Rosa argues that the wide‐ranging compulsion to grow, accelerate, and innovate produces a distorted and alienated mode of being in the world, suppressing and limiting possibilities for developing dialogic and responsive relations that are characterized by the concept of resonance. This review essay parses the categorical distinction between alienation and resonance, critically interrogating Rosa's notion that resonant relations form the basis for a good and successful life. While my analysis argues that the structural shortage of resonant relations can make subjects and collectives vulnerable to acting on the promise of resonance—possibly giving rise to problematic and undesired effects—I nonetheless contend that the concept of resonance is an effective explanatory tool that exhibits significant potential for interdisciplinary engagement. To illustrate this potential, I explore the extent to which Rosa's theorizing can illuminate contemporary matters of history and historical temporality. More specifically, I consider the perspective that the framework of resonance provides a comprehensive background for the paradigm of presence and the related surge in interest to theorize bodily and perceptual modes of being connected to the past.

The explanatory function of metaphor scenario in the Serbian pro-vaccine discourse

Metaphor has been established and extensively examined as one of the tools experts deploy to explain, simplify and transform complex scientific discourse into the knowledge suitable for the audience of non-experts. However, relatively little research has been conducted on metaphor scenario (Musolff 2006, 2016a) and its role in this process. Therefore, in this paper we explore how metaphor scenario is used to explain Covid-19 vaccines’ safety and effectiveness to the population in an understandable manner in order to speed up the immunization process in Serbia. By analysing a data set gathered from various Serbian electronic news media sources ( NovaS , N1 , Danas , Vreme , Večernje novosti , Mondo , Politika , Telegraf , Krug ) published from January to December 2021, we aim to explore (1) how the three metaphor scenarios, combat, container and movement, may help simplify complex scientific concepts in the pro-vaccine discourse; and (2) how the conceptual elements of these scenarios and their interconnected relations are used for this purpose. The findings showed that these conventional scenarios manifest their explanatory potential by means of several sub-scenarios, whose conceptual elements establish useful mappings relying on rarely used components of source domains. The results confirm that metaphor scenarios may be used strategically by medical experts as an apt explanatory tool to simplify challengingly complex scientific concepts to the general public. The paper contributes to current research on the role that metaphor and other cognitive instruments play in science popularization.

광역 스펙트럼 혁명(Broad-Spectrum Revolution)과 홀로세 초기의 작물 재배

This study attempts to understand the role of Broad-Spectrum Revolution (hereafter, BSR) in the Neolithic East Asia, especially focusing on the China, Japanese archipelago, and Korean peninsula. This paper also tried to reveal how BSR and the initial beginning of plant domestication are related in those contexts. Initially introduced in 1969 by Kent Flannery, the concept quickly became a powerful explanatory tool for understanding prehistoric human subsistence strategy and emergence of both plant and animal domestication. BSR has been often conjoined with theoretical frameworks such as diet-breath model based on optimal foraging theory and environmental niche construction to explain prehistoric subsistence pattern. In this study, I tried to synthesize recent evidence regarding Neolithic subsistence generated from advanced techniques including organic residue analysis and paleoethnobotany. The results indicated that BSR was clearly found at least in some part of East Asia, and some of them showed evidence of initial plant domestication. With this study, we were able assume affinity between BSR and the beginning of plant domestication in certain area of East Asia.

In-Depth Evaluation of Saliency Maps for Interpreting Convolutional Neural Network Decisions in the Diagnosis of Glaucoma Based on Fundus Imaging.

Glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness, damages the optic nerve, making early diagnosis challenging due to no initial symptoms. Fundus eye images taken with a non-mydriatic retinograph help diagnose glaucoma by revealing structural changes, including the optic disc and cup. This research aims to thoroughly analyze saliency maps in interpreting convolutional neural network decisions for diagnosing glaucoma from fundus images. These maps highlight the most influential image regions guiding the network's decisions. Various network architectures were trained and tested on 739 optic nerve head images, with nine saliency methods used. Some other popular datasets were also used for further validation. The results reveal disparities among saliency maps, with some consensus between the folds corresponding to the same architecture. Concerning the significance of optic disc sectors, there is generally a lack of agreement with standard medical criteria. The background, nasal, and temporal sectors emerge as particularly influential for neural network decisions, showing a likelihood of being the most relevant ranging from 14.55% to 28.16% on average across all evaluated datasets. We can conclude that saliency maps are usually difficult to interpret and even the areas indicated as the most relevant can be very unintuitive. Therefore, its usefulness as an explanatory tool may be compromised, at least in problems such as the one addressed in this study, where the features defining the model prediction are generally not consistently reflected in relevant regions of the saliency maps, and they even cannot always be related to those used as medical standards.

Resilience and the shift of paradigm in ecology: a new name for an old concept or a different explanatory tool?

In the shift from the balance of nature to the flux of nature paradigm, the concept of resilience has gained great traction in ecology. While it has been suggested that the concept of resilience does not imply a genuine departure from the balance of nature paradigm, I shall argue against this stance. To do so, I first show that the balance of nature paradigm and the related conception of a single-state equilibrium relies on what Eliot Sober has named the "Natural State Model (NSM)", suggesting that the NSM has instead been dismissed in the flux of nature paradigm. I then focus on resilience as the main explanatory concept of the flux paradigm. After distinguishing between two main different understandings of "resilience", namely engineering resilience and ecological resilience, I argue that the former is close to the concept of balance or stabilityand still part of the NSM, while the latter is not. Finally, I claim that ecological resilience is inconsistent with the NSM, concluding that this concept-being incompatible with the NSM-is not part of the balance of nature paradigm but rather a genuinely new explanatory tool.

Exploration and Connotation Analysis of Social Capital Theory: Also Talk about Several Misunderstanding of Concept Cognition

In academic research, the understanding and grasp of concept is the premise of concept application. Especially for social capital, an abstract concept that can be used as an analytical and explanatory tool, the accurate grasp of the concept is particularly important. Since the establishment of social capital theory in the 1980s, studies on social capital theory and practical application have emerged one after another at home and abroad. After careful reading, we will find that some of these achievements have fallen into some misunderstandings in the concept understanding and concrete use of social capital. [1] This will not only affect our thinking on the functional mechanism of social capital, but also affect our analysis and judgment on the existence of social capital itself and its practical value. Therefore, we think it is necessary to systematically comb the theoretical basis, concept and connotation of social capital, so as to restore the original appearance of social capital.

Use of Metaphor as an Explanation Tool in Adverse Childhood Experiences Simulation Training.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have profound implications for adult health. Health care practitioners need effective communication tools for trauma-sensitive inquiries with patients. This study aimed to describe characteristics of effective metaphor use by health care trainees when discussing ACEs and health with adult patients, and to provide example metaphors for clinicians to use to sensitively address ACEs. Trainees engaged in a videorecorded simulation as part of a model to teach health care practitioners communication skills related to ACEs. Videos were identified in which the trainee used a metaphor to help explain ACEs during the encounter. Encounter segments that used metaphors were transcribed and metaphor type, duration, and recurrence were coded using a standardized rubric. Each metaphor was scored for effectiveness and basic statistical analysis was conducted. Of the 122 videos reviewed, 24 types of metaphors were used, with the most common being the overloaded backpack (n = 24). Mean metaphor duration was 37 s (SD = 24 s). Metaphors rated as effective were shorter and less variable in duration (31.8 s, SD = 14.7 s) than those rated as ineffective (39 s, SD = 34 s). No one metaphor performed significantly better and most of the metaphors were evaluated as being adequate or effective. Literary devices like metaphors may be efficient and effective explanatory tools to improve clinician communication skills and patient understanding in addressing sensitive topics, such as ACEs. Minimal time investment is required to employ metaphors in ACEs discussions. The authors found no single metaphor that to be clearly superior, indicating that patient-centered metaphor use may improve communication between clinicians and patients who experienced childhood trauma.

The Kano Model Assessment Framework for Soil Environmental Quality under Good Governance Doctrine of Bank Independence and Accountability for Code of Conduct towards Corporate Ethics

Bank trading is basically observed in their traditional agreements of bargaining products and services. However, in terms of meeting and complying with global economic standards set by WTO to promote sustainable development, known as the doctrine of good governance, it is certain that corporate practices will be lacking explanatory tools for achieving corporate ethics as their culmination of bank independence and accountability to civil society. This paper aims to map the importance of bank independence and its accountability using the Kano model assessment in addressing issues of concern in trade-environmental problems under WTO economic standards. Soil environmental quality is a quantitative measurement of the Kano developmental framework using a positivistic paradigm towards legal scholarship defiance of corporate ethics for culmination reflection and plotting the behavior of corporate institutions to eradicate the poverty line and promote the economic prosperity of their territory or jurisdiction by answering issues on environmental problems such as soil quality for advocacy of environmental protection under trade-environment conflicts of WTO as accountability to human society for achieving sustainable development following good governance doctrine. Business law has a dynamic performance of both the behavior of the corporate and its environment through interactions of human society in their competition market. Innovation of products and corporate services must be integrated with good governance principles using the insufficiency of their code of conduct explanatory authority to enforce trade-environment agreements in achieving human rights of sustainable development in international and global economic standards. The realization of civil rights to sustainable development is reflected in the good governance principle. The legal scholarship defiance of doctrinal research using a positivistic paradigm of objective knowledge can be recommended to other corporate practices to advocate financial intelligence through active participation in environmental calls as political agendas as intended to lessen poverty towards integration to economic transparency and ecological protection. The plotting over time can be predicted towards a comparison of constitutional rights of public welfare and safety.

The Kano Model Assessment Framework for Soil Environmental Quality under Good Governance Doctrine of Bank Independence and Accountability for Code of Conduct towards Corporate Ethics

Purpose: Bank trading is basically observed in their traditional agreements of bargaining products and services. However, in terms of meeting and complying with global economic standards set by WTO to promote sustainable development known as doctrine of good governance, it is certain that corporate practices will be lacking explanatory tools for achieving corporate ethics as their culmination of bank independence and accountability to civil society. This paper aims to map the importance of bank independence and its accountability using Kano model assessment in addressing issues of concerns in trade-environmental problems under WTO economic standards.
 Methodology: Soil environmental quality is a quantitative measurement of Kano developmental framework using positivistic paradigm towards legal scholarship defiance of corporate ethics for culmination reflection and plotting the behavior of corporate institutions to eradicate poverty line and promote the economic prosperity of their territory or jurisdiction by answering issues on environmental problems such as soil quality for advocacy of environmental protection under trade-environment conflicts of WTO as accountability to human society for achieving sustainable development following good governance doctrine.
 Findings: Business law has a dynamic performance of both the behavior of the corporate and its environment through interactions of human society in their competition market. Innovation of products and corporate services must be integrated with good governance principles using the insufficiency of their code of conduct explanatory authority to enforce trade-environment agreements in achieving human rights of sustainable development in international and global economic standards. The realization of civil rights to sustainable development is reflected with the good governance principle.
 Recommendations: The legal scholarship defiance of doctrinal research using positivistic paradigm of objective knowledge can be recommended to other corporate practices to advocate financial intelligence through active participation to environmental calls as political agendas as intended to lessen poverty towards integration to economic transparency and ecological protection. The plotting over time can be predicted towards comparison of constitutional rights of public welfare and safety.