Interactionist Perspective Research Articles

Leading innovation in public sector: Exploring the mediating role of motivation to learn and the moderating role of power distance

Innovation is crucial for the performance, success, and long-term survival of organizations. Despite its importance, studies on factors influencing the emergence of innovative work behavior remain inconsistent. This study, grounded in the interactionist perspective of creativity theory, explores the role of motivation to learn as a mediator and Hofstede's national culture dimension of power distance as a moderator in the relationship between transformational leadership and innovative work behavior. The study sampled 210 public sector employees in Indonesia using convenience sampling. Data were collected through an online self-report survey, employing the multifactor leadership questionnaire, the innovative work behavior scale, the motivation to learn scale, and the power distance scale. Analysis conducted using the PROCESS macro for SPSS version 26 revealed that motivation to learn fully mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and innovative work behavior. However, power distance does not moderate this relationship, either directly or through the motivation to learn. This is due to the fact that the desire to learn and innovate remains effective regardless of hierarchical differences. Thus, no matter how authority is structured within the organization, the crucial factor for fostering innovation is the motivation to learn.

The effects of BDNF rs6265 and FGF21 rs11665896 polymorphisms on alcohol use disorder-related impulsivity in Han Chinese adults.

Patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) often experience repeated withdrawal. Impulsivity is the most relevant factor influencing successful withdrawal. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BNDF) and fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) are associated with impulsivity. Previous studies on the differential effects of BDNF or FGF21 on impulsivity have focused on single-gene effects and have inconsistent results. We aim to investigate the effects of BDNF rs6265 and FGF21 rs11665896, individually and together, on impulsivity during alcohol withdrawal in patients with AUD. We recruited 482 adult Han Chinese males with AUD and assessed their impulsivity using the Barratt Impulsivity Scale. Genomic DNA was extracted and genotyped from peripheral blood samples. Statistical analysis was conducted on the data. The T-test and 2 × 2 analysis of variance were used to investigate the effects of the genes on impulsivity. There was a significant BDNF × FGF21 interaction on no-planning impulsiveness (F = 9.15, p = 0.003, η2p = 0.03). Simple main effects analyses and planned comparisons showed that BDNF rs6265 A allele × FGF21 rs11665896 T allele was associated with higher no-planning impulsiveness. Finally, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that only the interaction of BDNF and FGF21 accounted for a significant portion of the variance in no-planning impulsiveness. The combination of BDNF rs6265 A allele and FGF21 rs11665896 T allele may increase impulsivity and discourage alcohol withdrawal. Our study provides a possible genetic explanation for the effects of associated impulsivity in patients with AUD from the perspective of gene-gene interactions.

Socialization as a Political Arena: A Multi-Agent Interactionist Perspective to Understand Political Skill and Newcomer Socialization Rates

Socialization as a Political Arena: A Multi-Agent Interactionist Perspective to Understand Political Skill and Newcomer Socialization Rates

TriConvUNeXt: A Pure CNN-Based Lightweight Symmetrical Network for Biomedical Image Segmentation.

Biomedical image segmentation is essential in clinical practices, offering critical insights for accurate diagnosis and strategic treatment approaches. Nowadays, self-attention-based networks have achieved competitive performance in both natural language processing and computer vision, but the computational cost has reduced their popularity in practical applications. The recent study of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) explores linear functions within modified CNN layer demonstrating pure CNN-based networks can still achieve competitive results against Vision Transformer (ViT) in biomedical image segmentation, with fewer parameters. The modified CNN, i.e., Depthwise CNN, however, leaves the features cleaved off in the channel dimension and prevents the extraction of features in the perspective of channel interaction. To effectively further explore the feature learning power of modified CNN with biomedical image segmentation, we design a lightweight multi-convolutional multi-scale convolutional network block (MSConvNeXt) for U-shape symmetrical network. Specifically, a network block consisting of a depthwise CNN, a deformable CNN, and a dilated CNN is proposed to capture semantic feature information effectively while with low computational cost. Furthermore, channel shuffling operation is proposed to dynamically promote an efficient feature fusion among the feature maps. The network block hereby is properly deployed within U-shape symmetrical encoder-decoder style network, named TriConvUNeXt. The proposed network is validated on a public benchmark dataset with a comprehensive evaluation in both computational cost and segmentation performance against 13 baseline methods. Specifically, TriConvUNeXt achieves 1% higher than UNet and TransUNet in Dice-Coefficient while 81% and 97% lower in computational cost. The implementation of TriConvUNeXt is made publicly accessible via https://github.com/ziyangwang007/TriConvUNeXt .

A Symbolic Interactionist Perspective on EFL Students’ Attitudes Toward Ability Grouping

A Symbolic Interactionist Perspective on EFL Students’ Attitudes Toward Ability Grouping

Dynamic risk assessment of re-construction dust from abandoned industrial buildings: A human-dust interaction perspective

Health risk assessment (HRA) is a well-established and widely used tool for quantitatively assessing the health status and likelihood of future illness and death of an individual or group. The dynamic properties of reconstruction dust from abandoned industrial buildings significantly affect HRA results. In recent years, dynamic health risk assessment (DHRA) has become an emerging research field. However, research on DHRA is still in the preliminary stage, and the research and application of its dynamic factors lack systematic analysis. Examining data transformation pathways through the U.S. Environmental Agency (USEPA) standard HRA framework, this study formalizes two distinct elements of dynamic assessment, namely, dynamic construction procedures and dynamic construction behaviour from a human-dust interaction perspective. Then, a DHRA framework for reconstruction dust of abandoned industrial buildings is proposed so that the aforementioned dynamic evaluation factors can be integrated into the HRA framework. Finally, feasible application solutions and data availability of dynamic factors are discussed, and case studies are carried out to better support DHRA application. The results show that the evaluation results are sensitive to different degrees of dynamic evaluation factors, and DHRA can provide more authentic and reliable evaluation results.

Does the sticky relationships of global value chains help stabilize employment? Evidence from China

Global production beyond borders is becoming an invisible force for stabilizing employment, and the behaviour of firms featuring transnational corporations has become critical to the development of production. In this paper, we construct a systematic quantitative analytical framework of measuring global value chain (GVC) sticky relationships and analyze the steady growth of employment from the perspective of inter-firm interactions firstly, furthermore, provide the latest evidence from China. Our findings show that: multiple interactions between firms for that participate GVC contribute to the development of the GVC sticky relationships and promotion of employment growth, the GVC sticky relationship accounts for approximately 17.32 % of the total employment in China, and domestic GVC sticky relationship activities have become an important force in stabilizing and promoting employment growth in China, it surpasses cross-border GVC employment since 2008. Furthermore, we characterize the shape of GVC sticky relationships and find that the circle-structure relationship effect has greater potential to stabilize employment in China, particularly in the sectors of ICT, wholesale and retailor. Therefore, mitigating the transaction costs of participating in GVC by reducing institutional barriers in the process of firms' interactions is significant for maintaining the employment stability.

Have they arrived at Galilee? The insights of emerging leaders in a long-term spiritual and faith formation programme

This study explored the perceptions of ongoing participants in the Galilee Spiritual and Faith Formation programme on the development of their personal and faith formation. The study used a constructivist paradigm, specifically that of interpretivism and employed a symbolic interactionist perspective to explore participant perceptions. The methodology for the study was an instrumental case study. Data were collected through a focus group interview with six participants and written responses from other two participants unable to attend the focus group. The results firstly indicated that continued involvement with the Galilee Spiritual and Faith Formation programme had made a positive impact on participants’ personal efficacy and confidence in their own spirituality and faith. Secondly, continued involvement in the Galilee programme had enhanced participants’ professional efficacy or confidence to lead others in deepening their spirituality and faith.

Development, Informal Sector and Policy Making: An Assessment of the Role of Policy Formulation in the Operationalization of Informal Groups in Harare Urban

The major thrust of this paper is to understand an interaction between development and its major irreducible determinants; that is public participation and policy formulation. Development is a term that has a multifaceted forms and definitions (Rodney 1982; Saul 2006). It is a process of bringing about desirable change and citizenry participation is critical in such processes that bring positive changes in the socio-economic lives. From an Interactionist perspective, it can be argued that, human relations from a micro-view point are characterized by multidimensional interactions imbedded in various symbiosis. Such explains the interaction between citizens and institutions of power and ideology. Conventionally, disparities in terms of development are due to natural distribution of resources (Weiss 2007; Okupu et al 2018), but this paper conceptualizes it largely as a neglection on the part of institutions, dearth of unity among the citizens and also limited interaction between the development agencies and the people. Development remains a peculiarity within boundaries of the propulsive growth poles while some parts are lagging behind due to lack of positive symbiosis between citizens and institutions. Contemporary researches demonstrate largely that policy formulation and implementation lack correlation and the intended development is jeopardized to the detriment of the welfare of the people. Saliently, there is need for the prioritization of the citizen participation in policy making so that implementation would be feasible and easier. The reciprocity between the infrastructure, (physical enablers and population) and the superstructure (decision makers, intellectuals and researches) must be explored with much consistence and coordination. In Zimbabwe, particularly in the Harare’s informal sector and in deed in many African countries such is missing, thus, making poverty levels cyclical, structural and endemic.

Essential Nutrients and White Matter Hyperintensities: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study.

Stroke and dementia have been linked to the appearance of white matter hyperintensities (WMHs). Meanwhile, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) might capture the microstructural change in white matter early. Specific dietary interventions may help to reduce the risk of WMHs. However, research on the relationship between specific nutrients and white matter changes is still lacking. We aimed to investigate the causal effects of essential nutrients (amino acids, fatty acids, mineral elements, and vitamins) on WMHs and DTI measures, including fraction anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD), by a Mendelian randomization analysis. We selected single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with each nutrient as instrumental variables to assess the causal effects of nutrient-related exposures on WMHs, FA, and MD. The outcome was from a recently published large-scale European Genome Wide Association Studies pooled dataset, including WMHs (N = 18,381), FA (N = 17,663), and MD (N = 17,467) data. We used the inverse variance weighting (IVW) method as the primary method, and sensitivity analyses were conducted using the simple median, weighted median, and MR-Egger methods. Genetically predicted serum calcium level was positively associated with WMHs risk, with an 8.1% increase in WMHs risk per standard deviation unit increase in calcium concentration (OR = 1.081, 95% CI = 1.006-1.161, p = 0.035). The plasma linoleic acid level was negatively associated with FA (OR = 0.776, 95% CI = 0.616-0.978, p = 0.032). Our study demonstrated that genetically predicted calcium was a potential risk factor for WMHs, and linoleic acid may be negatively associated with FA, providing evidence for interventions from the perspective of gene-environment interactions.

Application of ionic liquid extractant in enhanced separation of 2-propanol-n-hexane azeotrope system

2-Propanol and n-hexane are widely used (as) chemical reagents in electronic, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries. An efficient separation of the azeotropic system of 2-propanol-n-hexane is of profound practical significance. By using the conductor-like screening model for real solve (COSMO-RS) predictive model, ionic liquids as extractants for separating the azeotropic system of 2-propanol-n-hexane were evaluated with selectivity coefficients (S) and capacity (C) as the evaluation indexes. Based on the evaluation results, one high-performance extractants named hydroxylamine Cl (C8A19) was selected from 435 kinds of ionic liquids designed by combining 29 kinds of anions and 15 kinds of cations. Moreover, the reliability of the model in predicting the vapor–liquid phase equilibrium behavior of 2-propanol-n-hexane system was verified. Then, the effect of C8A19 on the vapor–liquid phase equilibrium of the 2-propanol-n-hexane system was investigated theoretically and experimentally. The results show that the azeotrope of the system can be broken when the molar fraction of C8A19 is 0.02, denoting that C8A19 can be used for enhanced separation of 2-propanol-n-hexane system. On the basis of the aforementioned study, the selectivity mechanism of the extractant was analyzed from the perspective of microscopic molecular interactions by using the descriptor (σ-profiles) of COSMO-RS. This study provides both theoretical and data support for further designing high-performance ionic liquid extractants and extraction process.

An integrated system theoretic process analysis with multilevel flow modeling for the identification of cyber‐physical hazards in a process industry

AbstractThe deep integration of information technology and process industry production systems makes system failure increasingly multi‐source and multi‐scale. In contrast to conventional hazard methods, system theoretic process analysis (STPA) can analyze the hazards in system control processes from the perspective of interactions among the system components. Theoretically, this method offers advantages that are better suited for modern production systems. However, as of now, the integration between STPA and process industrial production systems is still lacking. To address this issue, this study improved the original STPA method. First, we propose the “5 flows” concept for the process industrial cyber‐physical systems. The systems are described using multilevel flow modeling (MFM). This leads to the development of the MSTPA method, which is specifically designed to analyze the cyber‐physical hazards in process industrial production systems. Subsequently, the cyber‐physical hazards of a fluidized‐bed catalytic cracking unit are analyzed in detail using the MSTPA method as an example. The results show that MSTPA can identify cyber‐physical hazards in multiple dimensions. It is proved that, compared with the original STPA and traditional hazard methods, the MSTPA method can better identify cyber‐physical hazards in process industrial production systems.

The role of soil moisture-temperature coupling for the 2018 Northern European heatwave in a subseasonal forecast

This study investigates the predictability of the 2018 Northern Europe heatwave using the GloSea5 forecast model from the perspective of land-atmosphere interactions. We focus on an inverse relationship wherein soil drying leads to increased temperatures and the model's ability to simulate this hypersensitivity in the soil moisture-temperature coupling on the dry side of a breakpoint defined as the soil moisture threshold below which land feedbacks nonlinearly amplify extreme heat. When evaluating forecast model performance in predicting this heatwave, we compare deterministic forecast scores (Hit Rate (HR) and True Skill Score (TSS)) for whether model Surface Soil Moisture (SSM) falls within the hypersensitive regime. GloSea5 exhibits enhanced prediction skill for the extreme heat event when the modelled soil moisture is within the hypersensitive regime. To understand the skill of the heatwave forecast for hit and missed cases of capturing SSM below the breakpoint, we first evaluate the climatological model performance for the water- and energy-limited processes, and then perform a comparison classified by whether SSM verifies on the dry side of the wilting point. The composite analysis demonstrates that the reproducibility of the breakpoint is tied to an improvement in climatological land coupling processes, mainly for classification in the water-limited coupling regime. Therefore, the results suggest that the process-based connection between soil moisture and temperature is a potential source for improving heatwave forecasts on subseasonal to seasonal (S2S) time scales.

Cognition and health-related quality of life in long-term survivors of high-grade glioma: an interactive perspective from patient and caregiver

BackgroundThe health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and cognition are important indicators for the quality of survival in patients with high-grade glioma (HGG). However, data on long-term survivors and their caregivers are scarce. We aim to investigate the interaction between cognition and HRQoL in long-term survivors, their caregivers’ evaluations, and the effect on caregiver strain and burden.Methods21 long-term HGG (8 WHO grade III and 13 WHO grade IV) survivors (survival ≥ 5 years) and 15 caregivers were included. Cognition (verbal memory, attention, executive functioning, and language), HRQoL, anxiety and depression, caregiver strain, and caregiver burden were assessed with standardized measures. Questionnaires were completed by patients and/or their caregivers.ResultsMean survival was 12 years (grade III) and 8 years (grade IV). Cognition was significantly impaired with a large individual variety. Patients’ general HRQoL was not impaired but all functioning scales were deviant. Patient-proxy agreement was found in most HRQoL subscales. Three patients (14%) showed indications of anxiety or depression. One-third of the caregivers reported a high caregiver strain or a high burden. Test scores for attention, executive functioning, language, and/or verbal memory were correlated with perceived global health status, cognitive functioning, and/or communication deficits. Caregiver burden was not related to cognitive deficits.ConclusionsIn long-term HGG survivors maintained HRQoL seems possible even when cognition is impaired in a large variety at the individual level. A tailored approach is therefore recommended to investigate the cognitive impairments and HRQoL in patients and the need for patient and caregiver support.

Young networked athletes and performance-enhancing substances: who are the actors in their network, and how do the actors shape athletes’ meaning-making?

Ambitious youth athletes continually strive to enhance their performance, and as they age, more people are involved in this process. Athletes are immersed in a network of actors who wield significant influence over their performance-enhancing endeavours, encompassing training, nutrition, and at times, the use of various performance-enhancing substances. Our study predominantly revolves around various permitted substances, primarily in the form of nutritional supplements of various kinds. Also relevant in this regard is anti-doping, as knowledge of and a critical attitude towards supplements are a central part in this preventative educational work. More specifically, in this study, we explore the actors that contribute to young athletes meaning-making of nutritional supplements and anti-doping and examine how the young athletes describe these actors’ contribution. Twenty-four athletes from private elite upper secondary sport schools (PEUSS) in Norway were interviewed, with a semi-structured approach to facilitate the various tales. Our analysis revealed seven actors/actor groups in athletes’ network. The actors/actor groups were diverse and contributed to athletes meaning-making in different ways. We argue that the diversity of actors illustrates the relevance of the networked athlete concept and that the concept should be further developed by interactionist perspectives.

Sense and sensibility: dual routes from ethical leadership to moral voice

PurposeEthical leadership has been recognized as a critical factor in encouraging employees’ moral voices. This study offers a dual-route model to understand this process. The boundary conditions of these two routes are discussed herein.Design/methodology/approachThe data originate from a multiwave, multisource survey study of 212 leader–subordinate dyads in Taiwan drawn from a variety of industry sectors.FindingsThe findings validate both the cognitive (moral efficacy) and affective (affective attachment) pathways from ethical leadership to moral voice, influenced by the organizational factor of political climate. While the moral efficacy pathway is more pronounced in a situation of weak political climate, the affective attachment pathway remains effective regardless of the climate’s strength.Practical implicationsManagers need to identify if their organization prioritizes rational professionalism or interpersonal affection. In the former case, they should focus on the learning effects of ethical leadership. Conversely, in the latter, the emphasis should be on the leader-subordinate relationship. Doing so optimizes the effectiveness of ethical leadership in growing moral voices.Originality/valueConsidering both cognitive and affective routes from ethical leadership to moral voice could integrate social learning theory (SLT) and social exchange theory (SET). Identifying factors influencing these two routes resonates with the leader–situation interaction perspective. This research deepens the understanding of ethical leadership's effects on encouraging and protecting employee moral voice.

An investigation of “有什么好X的” from an interactive communication perspective

An investigation of “有什么好X的” from an interactive communication perspective

Семантико-мировоззренческие аспекты ноосферного взаимодействия в формирующемся многополярном мире в условиях разворота на Восток

The article’s relevance is defined through the necessity, become mature, to rethink the world order functioning on “Western gauges” and to solve a complex of external and internal tasks in mutual connection of blocks of historical and chronological, cultural and educational, and semantic-worldview character. This article touches upon the problem of forming the multi-polar world and defining the Russia’s positions in it in terms of turn to the East. The article’s goal is to substantiate semantic-worldview vision of perspectives of interaction in it. Basic tasks included developing the noosphere approach considered as methodological basis, means semantic-worldview aspects, substantiating on this basis the idea of noosphere interaction and perspectives of its forming. It’s ascertained, that finding by Russia the national identity, allowing to take worthy place in forming multi-polar world, bases on noosphere approach. Necessity to appeal to it is strengthen in critical periods of civilizational development, being the only possible way to solve deep global contradictions. Based on this approach, the Russian authors developed noosphere teaching into paradigm of noosferism (A.I. Subetto), noosphere development (Y.V. Safroshkin), semio-sphere (Y.M. Lotman etc.), “digito-sphere” (O.A. Lavrenova). One else methodological opportunity is semantic-worldview approach (Arabist N.N. Vashkevich), getting especial relevance in the context of Russian-Arabic interaction and of reformatting the world centers of influence. Synthesis of the approaches considered serves as basis for forming the idea of noosphere interaction, which goal is revival of the Russian ethnos and its further development in the interests both of the country and of the forming multi-polar order.

Fictional characterization through repair, membership categorization, and attribute ascription

Abstract Linguistics and discourse studies have recently started treating fictional interactions as data worth analyzing in their own right, rather than incomplete representations of naturally occurring conversations. Aligning with advances in research on the use of language in fiction, this study addresses the functions of characters’ conversational practices in fictional works from an interactional perspective. By applying conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis to a sitcom series, this study explores how characters’ repair operation, membership categorization, and attribute ascription contribute to the construction and revelation of those characters (i.e., fictional characterization). Three patterns are illustrated: (1) a character engages in implicit categorization to account for trouble after operating repair; (2) a character’s changes of turn design in multiple repair operations show the character’s orientation toward an attribute of the other character; and (3) a character gives up repair operation and shows an orientation toward other characters’ attributes through implying negative assessment of them. The findings suggest that conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis are beneficial for research on fictional characterization. This study also discusses the reflexive and mutually constitutive relationship between the interactional participants’ characters and their conversational practices.

Selection of a Topic of a Research Proposal of Emerging Academic Writers in a Blended Linked EAP Course: An Interactional Ethnographic Perspective

AbstractRecent years have witnessed the ethnographic turn in academic writing research and the multimodal turn in classroom discourse studies. Most research proposal genre studies have only provided generic guidelines, and most EAP intervention studies have only provided pre‐ and post‐intervention learning outcomes but have not examined actual in‐depth classroom teaching and after‐class consultative processes of proposal development. This paper fills these gaps by following the view of genre as contextualized social practices and adopting interactional ethnography (IE) logic‐of‐inquiry to analyze video‐recorded linked EAP classroom interactions and WeChat‐mediated individual consultations focusing on postgraduate students' topic selection. IE‐guided reasoning and analysis may make the invisible research topic developmental processes transparent by utilizing IE analytic tools to visualize these dynamic and complex processes, identify cultural patterns of academic literacy practices, and (re)theorize educational phenomena. The IE approach may complement the well‐established three approaches to student writing (i.e., study skills, academic socialization, academic literacies) as the fourth approach for its deep theorizing, micro‐ethnographic discourse‐based analysis, and video‐enabled IE‐guided analytic tools. This study may make a methodological contribution to the EAP field through the IE as an epistemology with analytical tools and propose a tri‐level four‐step IE analytic model for teacher‐researchers' self‐reflexive professional development.