Interconnected Concepts Research Articles

Planning of Facilities and Infrastructure in Islamic Education

This paper describes the management of facilities and infrastructure in Islamic educational institutions. This discourse is important to describe because the education system is an interrelated component such as curriculum, materials, methods, educators, students, facilities, tools, approaches and so on. So far, the understanding of the concept of integration and interconnection between the sub-systems above is still lacking so that the learning process is not optimal. This study uses a library research method with an analytical-descriptive approach. The results of the study indicate that the management of educational facilities and infrastructure is a collaborative process for the effective use of all educational facilities and infrastructure. The purpose of managing school facilities and infrastructure is to provide professional services so that the learning process can take place effectively and efficiently. The management process of Islamic education facilities and infrastructure includes (1) Planning of Islamic education facilities and infrastructure (2) Procurement of Islamic education facilities and infrastructure (3) Inventory of Islamic education facilities and infrastructure (4) Supervision and maintenance of Islamic education facilities and infrastructure (5) Elimination school facilities and infrastructure. The conclusion of this study is that the management of facilities and infrastructure in Islamic educational institutions must be oriented to the principles of being on time, on target and effective.

The shaping of national identity in diverse Nigerian secondary schools

This research looks more closely at national identity in ethnically and religiously diverse Nigerian secondary schools that were specifically designed with the purpose to enhance national unity (Federal Unity Colleges – FUCs). Using survey data from 643 students in eight diverse Nigerian secondary schools (FUCs and state schools), this research makes evident the importance of schools in reshaping one’s relationship to the nation. The survey results demonstrate that as students progress through the system, particularly in unity schools, they shift from a more deterministic national identity belonging to a particular group (ethnic national identity) toward a more interconnected concept of civic national identity. These findings lend valuable insight into educational policy and efforts to reshape student relationship to the nation and peacebuilding efforts particularly as related to diverse schools and in developing contexts.

Postcoloniality in Global and Regional Dimensions

The article reflects the results of research in the North-South Group focused on the development of the polycentric, personalized and mobile Universe, while the ensemble of interconnected influential concepts (postmodernity and postcoloniality) had been analyzed. The current view on globalization as a political and economic cohesion of the modern world, contrasts the view on global restructuring as a consequence of the crisis of institutions of world bureaucracy, collectivist ideo-party totality, others unifying administrative and sociocultural mechanics. Attention is drawn to the trends of individuation and privatization, substitution of subordination by subsidiarity, which reflects the crisis of the national statehood format. The complex reality that arises in the bosom of modern culture, implements its own polycentricity, based not on the etatist symphony, but on a distributed set of diasporas, corporate or personal sovereignty. Postmodernity, denying the former world order, reproduces the semblance of a post-colonial situation, which allows us to turn to the experience of countries that have gained political sovereignty and mastered their new status in its various versions. Coloniality is understood as the result of hegemony, which goes beyond the prevailing interpretation of colonialism, but as a repressive emanation of the hegemonic world, offering subaltern other two modus of behavior: submission or subjugation assimilation, denying the legality of alternative self-realization or resistance. Pathos of post-modern, post-imperial and post-colonial positions declares the right of the individual and the communities to realize their original identity, dissimilation of former loyalties and sovereign search for alternatives. The universal quest is for political, sociocultural and semantic counter-hegemony, which also denies the current world to be an instrument of the modal-assimilation complex knowledge - power. The urgency of this problem was confirmed by the riots that broke out in the United States and other parts of the world in 2020.

A bead sequence-driven deposition pattern evaluation criterion for lowering residual stresses in additive manufacturing

Deposition patterns can significantly influence the distribution and magnitude of residual stress in additively manufactured parts. Time-consuming thermal-mechanical simulations and costly experimental studies are often required to identify the optimal patterns. A simple and generic method to evaluate and optimize the deposition pattern for the purpose of minimizing residual stress is in urgent need. To overcome the shortcomings of the current practice, here we propose a novel pattern evaluation criterion. Starting from the discretization of the deposition pattern by a series of sequence numbers, we introduce two interconnected concepts. The first is called “equivalent bead sequence number” which can be physically interpreted as an index of the localized heat accumulation induced by the deposition process. Based on this point-wise “equivalent bead sequence number”, the second concept called “bead sequence number dispersion index” which can be considered as a representation of the global heat accumulation gradient, is proposed as a criterion for assessing the resulting residual stress. The temperature fields and residual stresses of a square part with six typical deposition patterns predicted by thermo-mechanical finite element simulations are used to develop and verify the proposed criterion. It is found that the “equivalent bead sequence number” of a given pattern is closely correlated to the distribution of the associated temperature and residual stress. More interestingly, both the highest equivalent and highest maximum principal residual stress of a pattern linearly increase with its corresponding value of “bead sequence number dispersion index”. Guided by this relation, two new patterns with lower residual stress are developed and evaluated. Among all the patterns considered, the so-called S pattern shows the lowest value of the “bead sequence number dispersion index” which corresponds to the lowest residual stress. The proposed sequence-driven approach provides a new candidate for real-time evaluation and optimization of the deposition pattern in additive manufacturing.

Optimized front TCO and metal grid electrode for module‐integrated perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells

AbstractTo unlock the full potential of perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells with >30% efficiency at presumably low cost, the transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) and metal grid at the front side need to be adapted compared to classical silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells. By means of optical and electrical modelling, we consider the main aspects to optimize the front electrode for the tandem case, where in contrast to silicon single junction devices, there are (i) different optical properties including a lower refractive index of the perovskite absorber (ii) about half the current, thus quarter the resistive power losses for the same series resistance contribution (iii) lateral transport at the front needs to be provided solely by the front TCO layer and (iv) lower thermal stability of the perovskite, which affects TCO deposition conditions and results in a less efficient sintering of the silver screen printing pastes. This study concludes that compared to silicon heterojunction cells, the thickness of the front TCO should be reduced from 75 nm to around 20 nm, resulting in less parasitic absorption and a potential cost reduction of 1.46 €ct/cell for ITO. We investigate the impact of different front metallization including plating and silver screen printing and showcase that for multi‐wire interconnection concepts, the number of wires can be reduced from 18 wires to 9 or even less depending on the front metallization. Finally, we give an outlook on the silver consumption and levelized cost of electricity.

A Network Theory Approach to Curriculum Design

In this paper we hypothesize that education, especially at the scale of curriculum, should be treated as a complex system composed of different ideas and concepts which are inherently connected. Therefore, the task of a good teacher lies in elucidating these connections and helping students make their own connections. Such a pedagogy allows students to personalize learning and strive to be ‘creative’ and make meaning out of old ideas. The novel contribution of this work lies in the mathematical approach we undertake to verify our hypothesis. We take the example of a precalculus course curriculum to make our case. We treat textbooks as exemplars of a specific pedagogy and map several texts into networks of isolated (nodes) and interconnected concepts (edges) thereby permitting computations of metrics which have much relevance to the education theorists, teachers and all others involved in the field of education. We contend that network metrics such as average path length, clustering coefficient and degree distribution provide valuable insights to teachers and students about the kind of pedagogy which encourages good teaching and learning.

Teacher Educators’ Professional Identity in English-Medium Instruction at a Finnish University

Although different forms of English-medium instruction (EMI) are being recognised, the different ways in which EMI can impact the pedagogical activities and expertise of higher education educators have received less attention. Using face-to-face and written interviews with nine teacher educators at a Finnish university, this study examines the most important aspects teacher educators perceive in their work through EMI and how these aspects connect to the understanding of their professional identity. The study is theoretically premised on the interconnected concepts of pedagogical doing, pedagogical being, pedagogical relating, and pedagogical language awareness. The thematically analysed data highlighted the ways in which pedagogical being, doing, and relating revolve around the presence and role of the foreign language in EMI, as well as the concurrent disjunctures and opportunities EMI creates. Pedagogical being informed EMI teacher educators’ orientation to their work and the different ways language impinges on the sense of self as the teacher educators share how they try to understand and respond to the disjunctures of EMI. In terms of pedagogical doing, EMI impinges on how teacher educators enact their practice and the relationships developed with students. However, the focus of pedagogical relating addresses the relationship between the EMI teacher educators and their workplace. The findings from this study will hopefully contribute to the development of EMI teacher preparation and support critical discussions on the ‘Englishisation’ of higher education.

372Social Isolation, Social Support and Loneliness as independent interconnected concepts

Abstract Background Social isolation, lack of social support and loneliness have historically been assessed as overlapping or even interchangeable terms. We aimed to assess whether these three social constructs are independently associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Methods This analysis included 10,517 women aged 70-75 years from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH). Social isolation (Duke Social Support Index: DSSI), social support (DSSI), and loneliness (one-item) were investigated for their association with HRQoL (physical [PCS] and mental [MCS] component scores of the SF-36® questionnaire). Multivariable analyses adjusted for age, demographics, socio-economic position and medical conditions. Results Social isolation, social support and loneliness were not strongly correlated with one another. However, all were independently associated with HRQoL (PCS: isolation -0.97, low support -2.24, loneliness -2.70; MCS: isolation -1.96, low support -4.78, loneliness -10.31; p-value<0.001 for each). Compared to those with low social isolation, high social support and lack of loneliness, women highly isolated, with low social support and lonely reported the lowest HRQoL (MCS: -18 to -17; PCS: -8 to -6). Other combinations of isolation, support and loneliness varied in their associations with HRQoL. Conclusions Social isolation, social support and loneliness are distinct, yet interconnected concepts that may coexist and are each adversely associated with HRQoL. Key messages Ageing populations present the challenge of supporting older people to maintain a longer, healthy, meaningful and community-dwelling lives. Social isolation, low social support and loneliness have adverse associations with HRQoL.

Precarious employment - a theoretical framework for research in occupational health

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The objective was to 1) review previous research on precarious employment (PE) and occupational health; 2) develop a theoretical framework that characterizes PE in relation to interconnected concepts and important contextual factors; and 3) identify gaps in current research on precarious employment and health. METHODS: The authors met online on several occasions leading up to a two-day face-to-face conference in Stockholm in March 2019, after which a position paper was published in SJWEH 2019 (doi:10.5271/sjweh.3860). RESULTS:There was a consensus that the lack of a common theoretical framework of PE prevents it from becoming a recognized part of occupational and public health research. While there are unresolved issues regarding the operationalization of PE in surveys and registers, we propose that conceptualization and measurement of PE must focus at the level of the employment relationship. We specifically embed the PE construct within other relevant levels of analysis—including antecedents to (e.g., globalization) and consequences of (e.g., experiences of job insecurity) PE—while also noting the important role of social and policy contexts in modifying the PE-health relationship. CONCLUSIONS:A generally accepted definition of PE based on a multidimensional construct is of highest priority within occupational and public health research. Future studies should aim to develop operationalizations of PE based on the character of employment relations. Further, we call for studies that employ a multilevel perspective, especially testing possible mechanisms and modifying contexts, in order to understand the complexity of pathways between PE and health and to inform health-protective policy. KEYWORDS: Precarious Employment, Employment Arrangements, Occupational Health

The construction of lyric-self and nihilism. Baroque notions and Kierkegaard’s philosophy in Nostalgia de la muerte by Villaurrutia.

The present work is an interpretation of Nostalgia de la Muerte by Xavier Villaurrutia based on some interconnected philosophical concepts from the Baroque, Idealism and Nihilism, notions that conceive the subject (lyrical ego) as locked in itself, without the possibility or the need of coming into contact with the outside. These notions threaten the integrity of the subject and support its reconstruction regardless of the outside world. The work of the mexican poet is influenced by the concepts of horror vacui (Pascal) and the monad (Leibniz); it shows affinity with the idea of the subject as an absolute and as nothing (Hegel), and with the dialectical constitution of the subject in times of nihilism (Kierkegaard).

Law, Justice and Globalisation

Law and justice are inter-related and interconnected concepts. More often, the concept of justice is perceived from the lens of the administration of justice, where the state institutions are responsible for guaranteeing justice. Justice is an important virtue of all social institutions and significant part of law and justice system. Indeed, securing justice is the ultimate aim and purpose of the law. Justice as an individual virtue guides legal and moral theory and acts as the framework for ethical behaviour. The conception of justice is widely based on what is morally acceptable behaviour that conforms to the socially acceptable principles. Justice is an evolving idea that has the potential to produce harmony between different groups and communities in the society. Today, globalisation has transcended the world and integrated human beings and societies. It is in this context, it is pertinent to explore the relationship between law, justice and globalisation and analyse the role of law as a means to secure justice with the advent of globalisation.In this article, I will briefly explore four ideas centred on law, justice and globalisation. The first part will discuss the notion of justice and its interrelationship with law. The second part will analyse the different dimensions of justice. The theories of justice are explained in third part introducing John Rawls, Robert Nozick and Amartya Sen and preliminary reflections on globalisation by Santos, William Twining and Upendra Baxi. The last part will look at the ameliorative aspect of justice which is access to justice.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS RELATED TO ACTIVE OPTICAL SENSORS IN THE BODY OF KNOWLEDGE FOR EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION (EO4GEO BOK)

Abstract. The field of Earth Observation (EO) and Geoinformation (GI) is gaining more and more importance due to the increasing number of data and data processing algorithms to respond even more accurately to a variety of challenges in many application areas. In order to follow recent activities and align the exponential evolution of datasets and recent processing trends with market and academic training requirements, the EO*GI sector needs an updated and new definition of knowledge and skills. To this goal, a specific body of knowledge for Earth Observation and Geoinformation (EO4GEO BoK) is currently being implemented with the aim of providing interconnected concepts and job-oriented skills. One novelty of the BoK is to include topics related to Earth Observation, in particular to introduce the different sensors used in this field. Active optical sensors are at the crossroad between Earth Observation and close-range photogrammetry and have not been described in any other existing BoK. This paper introduces therefore the part of the EO4GEO BoK that is dedicated to active optical sensors. Such systems are used in various job-oriented applications such as archeology, mobile mapping, indoor or outdoor, or for surveying purposes, just to name a few. The structure of this part of the BoK is explained and specific descriptions and relationships between the identified concepts are given. Finally, the skills acquired by completing these BoK concepts are presented and discussed in terms of how they can be used in a professional context or in the definition of job-oriented learning paths.

Електронний підручник як сучасний засіб навчання

One of the factors in the modernization of the education system is the creation and use of computer-based learning tool that combines the achievements of modern pedagogical science with the capabilities of information and computer technology. Achieving this goal involves the creation and use of electronic textbooks in the educational process. The legal basis for their use is the Laws of Ukraine «On Education», the Decree of the President of Ukraine «On measures to develop the national component of the global information network Internet and ensure wide access to this network in Ukraine», Orders of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine «On conducting an experiment at the national level on the topic» «Electronic textbook for general secondary education (Е-book for secondary education (EBSE)), August 2018–August 2021», «On approval of the Regulations on the electronic textbook». The article actualized the issue of the introduction of electronic textbooks in the educational process of general secondary education institutions. The essence of interconnected concepts is revealed: «information and communication technologies»; «electronic educational environment»; «electronic educational resource»; «electronic textbook». Based on the analysis of scientific and pedagogical literature of domestic and foreign scientists, the main approaches to the classification of electronic textbooks are presented. Factors and criteria for evaluating the quality of electronic textbooks are described. The analysis of the current legislation on the introduction of electronic textbooks in the educational process of modern school is conducted. Based on the results of research and experimental work on the introduction of electronic textbooks in the educational process of general secondary education, the advantages, disadvantages of their implementation are clarified and the prospects for use are described

Електронний підручник як сучасний засіб навчання

One of the factors in the modernization of the education system is the creation and use of computer-based learning tool that combines the achievements of modern pedagogical science with the capabilities of information and computer technology. Achieving this goal involves the creation and use of electronic textbooks in the educational process. The legal basis for their use is the Laws of Ukraine «On Education», the Decree of the President of Ukraine «On measures to develop the national component of the global information network Internet and ensure wide access to this network in Ukraine», Orders of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine «On conducting an experiment at the national level on the topic» «Electronic textbook for general secondary education (Е-book for secondary education (EBSE)), August 2018–August 2021», «On approval of the Regulations on the electronic textbook». The article actualized the issue of the introduction of electronic textbooks in the educational process of general secondary education institutions. The essence of interconnected concepts is revealed: «information and communication technologies»; «electronic educational environment»; «electronic educational resource»; «electronic textbook». Based on the analysis of scientific and pedagogical literature of domestic and foreign scientists, the main approaches to the classification of electronic textbooks are presented. Factors and criteria for evaluating the quality of electronic textbooks are described. The analysis of the current legislation on the introduction of electronic textbooks in the educational process of modern school is conducted. Based on the results of research and experimental work on the introduction of electronic textbooks in the educational process of general secondary education, the advantages, disadvantages of their implementation are clarified and the prospects for use are described.

Social isolation, social support and loneliness as independent concepts, and their relationship with health-related quality of life among older women

Objectives: To assess whether social isolation, social support, and loneliness are independently associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Method: Retrospective analysis including 10,517 women aged 70–75 years from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH). Social isolation, social support (Duke Social Support Index), and loneliness (single item) were investigated for their association with standardised HRQoL (physical [PCS] and mental [MCS] components of the SF-36® questionnaire). Analyses were adjusted for sociodemographic variables and number of medical conditions. Results: Only 3% reported being socially isolated, having low social support and being lonely, and 34% reported being not socially isolated, high social support and not being lonely. Each construct was independently associated with HRQoL, with loneliness having the strongest inverse association (PCS: isolation −0.98, low support −2.01, loneliness −2.03; MCS: isolation −1.97, low support −4.79, loneliness −10.20; p-value < 0.001 for each). Women who were not isolated or lonely and with high social support had the greatest HRQoL (compared to isolated, low social support and lonely; MCS: 17 to 18 points higher, PCS: 5 to 8 points higher). Other combinations of social isolation, social support and loneliness varied in their associations with HRQoL. Conclusion: Ageing populations face the challenge of supporting older people to maintain longer, healthy, meaningful and community-dwelling lives. Among older women, social isolation, low social support and loneliness are distinct, partially overlapping yet interconnected concepts that coexist and are each adversely associated with HRQoL. Findings should be replicated in other cohorts to ensure generalisability across other age groups and men.

Livestream Experiments: The Role of COVID-19, Agency, Presence, and Social Context in Facilitating Social Connectedness.

Musical life became disrupted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many musicians and venues turned to online alternatives, such as livestreaming. In this study, three livestreamed concerts were organized to examine separate, yet interconnected concepts—agency, presence, and social context—to ascertain which components of livestreamed concerts facilitate social connectedness. Hierarchical Bayesian modeling was conducted on 83 complete responses to examine the effects of the manipulations on feelings of social connectedness with the artist and the audience. Results showed that in concert 1, where half of the participants were allowed to vote for the final song to be played, this option did not result in the experience of more agency. Instead, if their preferred song was played (regardless of voting ability) participants experienced greater connectedness to the artist. In concert 2, participants who attended the concert with virtual reality headsets experienced greater feelings of physical presence, as well as greater feelings of connectedness with the artist, than those that viewed a normal YouTube livestream. In concert 3, attendance through Zoom led to greater experience of social presence, but predicted less connectedness with the artist, compared to a normal YouTube livestream. Crucially, a greater negative impact of COVID-19 (e.g., loneliness) predicted feelings of connectedness with the artist, possibly because participants fulfilled their social needs with this parasocial interaction. Examining data from all concerts suggested that physical presence was a predictor of connectedness with both the artist and the audience, while social presence only predicted connectedness with the audience. Correlational analyses revealed that reductions in loneliness and isolation were associated with feelings of shared agency, physical and social presence, and connectedness to the audience. Overall, the findings suggest that in order to reduce feelings of loneliness and increase connectedness, concert organizers and musicians could tune elements of their livestreams to facilitate feelings of physical and social presence.

Association of health literacy and medication adherence with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with ischemic heart disease

BackgroundMedication Adherence (MA) and Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) are two inter-connected concepts, co-influenced by Health Literacy (HL), with significant impact on patient management and care. Thus, we aimed to estimate the association of HL and MA with HRQoL in IHD patients.MethodsCross-sectional study of 251 IHD patients recruited from Lahore over 6 months period. HL, MA and HRQoL was assessed using validated questionnaires; 16-items of HL, Morisky Green Levine Scale (MGLS) and SF-12, respectively. Chi-square for significance, logistic-regression for association and linear regression for predictions were used.ResultsIHD patients; males (p = 0.0001), having secondary—higher education (p = 0.0001), middle/upper class (p = 0.0001) and employed (p = 0.005) had adequate HL, and were more likely to be adherent (OR; 4.3, p = 0.014). Both physical (PCS-12) and mental (MCS-12) component scores of HRQoL for age, gender, education, area of residence, employment and MA were significantly higher in patients with adequate HL. In multinomial regression, improved PCS-12 scores tend to be higher in subjects having secondary—higher education (OR; 3.5, p = 0.067), employed (OR; 6.1, p = 0.002) and adherent (OR; 2.95, p = 0.218), while MCS-12 scores tend to be higher in patients < 65 years (OR; 2.2, p = 0.032), employed (OR; 3, p = 0.002) and adherent (OR; 4, p = 0.004). In adjusted model, HL (β;0.383, p = 0.0001) and MA (β; − 0.133, p = 0.018) were significantly associated with PCS-12, and MCS-12 with MA (β; − 0.161, p = 0.009) only.ConclusionData suggested that adequate HL was significantly associated with adherence and both physical and mental dimensions of HRQoL were higher in IHD patients with adequate HL. Besides, HL and MA are independent predictors of HRQoL in IHD patients.

The gender-affirmative life span approach: A developmental model for clinical work with transgender and gender-diverse children, adolescents, and adults.

The gender-affirmative life span approach (GALA) is an innovative therapeutic framework for promoting the mental health of transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) clients of all ages. Based in interdisciplinary philosophical foundations, GALA proposes that TGD clients can be supported in psychotherapy through (a) developing gender literacy, (b) building resiliency, (c) moving beyond the binary, (d) exploring pleasure-oriented sexuality, and (e) making connections to medical interventions. Psychotherapy incorporating these 5 core components is developmentally tailored for children, adolescents, young adults, or older adults. Developing gender literacy is the process of understanding how sex assigned at birth, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation are distinct but interconnected concepts, as well as learning to identify oppressive practices in TGD people's lives. Building resiliency involves learning how to overcome adversity and effectively cope with challenging situations in life. Resiliency-building also involves having social support networks to share these difficulties and gain support. Gender and sexual binaries pathologize nonconformity and limit the full range of healthy gender and sexual expression. Moving beyond the binary to a spectrum approach allows for the inclusion and affirmation of all gender identities and expressions. Unfortunately, research and practice have largely focused on negative sexual outcomes for TGD people. Thus, age-appropriate psychotherapy aimed at developing sex-positive pleasure and satisfaction is critical. Lastly, gender-competent mental health practitioners need to have knowledge about, and skills to refer for, medical interventions, when appropriate. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Linking History to Contemporary State-Sanctioned Slow Violence through Cultural and Structural Racism.

Environmental scientists started documenting the racial inequities of environmental exposures (e.g., proximity to waste facilities or to industrial pollution) in the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, research has documented inequities in exposures to nearly every studied environmental hazard, showing that American society delivers racial violence toward non-White families. Through cultural racism, a resilient social hierarchy is set where the lives of some groups of people are considered more valuable than others; then, through structural racism, institutions unequally mete and dole environmental benefits and burdens to these groups. We argue that the "slow violence" of environmental racism is linked to other forms of racial violence that have been enacted throughout history. We discuss the meaning of cultural racism as it pertains to the hierarchy of groups of people whose lives are valued unequally and its link to structural racism. To remedy this environmental racial violence, we propose shifts in the empirical research on environmental inequities that are built upon, either implicitly or explicitly, the interconnected concepts of cultural and structural racism that link historical to contemporary forms of racial violence.

Дискуссия о коллективных благах в контексте современных вопросов глобального управления

This article is dedicated to three interconnected concepts – “collective goods”, “free rider” and “hegemony” in the context of modern politics. We analyze three theoretical approaches to the problem of provision of collective goods by hegemonic states. These approaches are: neoliberal, (neo) realist and World-System Theory. Basing on these theoretical premises, we analyze the debate about free-ridng in the Western political discourse (especially among US allies) and we point out that particular interests of US can be disguised as “collective goods”. Basing on this, we analyze discussions about free-riding both in the Western world (among NATO and EU members) and among US allies in the Pacific region (Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand). We point out that in fact US can use the concept of collective goods to push their own agenda. Than we move to popular in western political science idea that China is a global free rider – for instance in the sphere of sea lane security and global energy security. Basing on A. Kennedy works, we demonstrate that China in fact does not wish to make western powers pay the costs of collective goods. China is rather afraid that western powers will exploit his resources. This idea is supported with the evidence, gathered during in-depth interview with Chinese diplomats and foreign policy experts. Having said that, paper points out that mentioned cases mark the importance of the concept of trust. Trust is well-studied in the field of behavioral economics, but IR theory doesn`t usually takes the concept of trust into account. Also this paper raises a question about including historical and cultural topics in the theory of international relations. Basing on analysis of different ways to incorporate economic arguments in IR theory, authors point out that modern IR theory lacks economic argumentation. Paper concludes with the idea that IR theory should capitalize on behavioral economics. Acknowledgements. This paper is a part of MGIMO University research program no. 1921-01-02.