Interdisciplinary Perspective Research Articles

Entanglements of Improvisation, Conviviality, and Conflict in Everyday Encounters in Public Space

The everyday life of public space is characterised by many kinds of convivial, conflictual, and improvisational encounters between people of diverse backgrounds and experiences. Because public spaces are, in principle at least, freely accessible to all, they are of central importance to everyday life and intrinsically interesting to social scientists. This thematic issue brings together a range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives on everyday encounters in public space. In the introduction to this thematic issue, we appeal to urban scholars of all backgrounds to take the social life of public space seriously; as essential social infrastructure, public space is key to the collective well-being of city-dwellers, and it provides a crucial bridge between urban planning and the social sciences. Here, we briefly survey research on everyday encounters and introduce each of the contributions to the issue. While the articles in this issue are organised around the three core themes of conviviality, conflict, and improvisation, we argue for the entanglements of each within the everyday life of public spaces.

Integration of STEM Education to Humanities: Examining Interdisciplinary Links in Basic Chemistry Course According to Student Views

Science standards for the next generation, as well as other educational reforms, encourage the creation of solid ties between STEM disciplines. Education societies regard integrated STEM as the best practice in various fields. Besides, the integration of disciplines other than STEM has yet to be adequately studied, and the integration of artistic disciplines is limited. Humanist STEM combines the STEM studies in terms of culture, human relationships, level of well-being, and values. This study investigates whether incorporating humanities in an electronic chemistry lecture affects student communication between course themes and interdisciplinary viewpoints. Students were explicitly asked to link STEM subjects between the scientific and the non-scientific, between the scientific and the physical reality from a broader scientific view. This study was conducted with 85 first-year student-teacher candidates studying at the Faculty of Education, Department of Mathematics and Science Education of a Western Black Sea region university in the 2019-2020 academic year. In the study, homework was designed to make evaluations throughout the course. In addition, cross-sectional study analysis was used in the study. A 5-point Likert-type scale was used. All data were analyzed with StatDisk 13 using the required 2 (chi-square) tests. In the data obtained from the research, most students agree that education creates a strong relationship and understanding between science and other undergraduate courses and STEM fields, humanities, and the environment in which they live. This has been observed in traditional (practical) and interdisciplinary (post-implementation) approaches. The findings from this study contribute to the idea of positively altering interdisciplinary perspectives as part of an introductory chemistry course. Today, it is seen that multidisciplinary science is widespread in the fields, and our academic courses need to be shaped according to the specific discipline approaches desired.

11.E. Workshop: Healthy Buildings: interdisciplinary perspectives

Abstract The Workshop titled “Healthy Buildings: interdisciplinary perspectives” - proposed and developed by the three EUPHA Section: Urban Public Health (URB), Public Mental Health (MEN) and Environmental Health (ENV) - is aimed to foster the dialogue between designers (architects and urban planners), Public Health experts (operators, professionals and epidemiologists), policy/decision makers and buildings’ users, to establish a multidisciplinary approach for understanding together how to create and manage healthy living indoor environments (both housing and complex constructions/public buildings). The Workshops mainly address both the “Climate emergency / Environment and health / Urban health” and the “Mental health” EPH23 conference topics. The Workshops purpose is to explore the relationship between housing conditions, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Mental Health implications on human well-being. In fact, time spent at home and in the indoor environment increased due to the recent COVID-19 lockdown period, and social-sanitary emergencies are expected to grow due to the urbanization phenomenon. Thus, the role of the physical environment in which we live, study, and work, has become of crucial importance, as the literature has recently highlighted. The Workshops program include inputs which they argue current experiences, emerging practices and scientific outcomes related to the Urban Health discipline. From Sustainable Development Goals framework, in “Urban environment, unhealthy buildings as a root of inequalities and importance of SDGs”, to Indoor Environmental Quality implications, in “Can housing conditions and features affect well-being? A review through Indoor Environmental Quality aspects and Mental Health implications”. From experience-based works related to specific functions, in “Can the built environment impact on the health and well-being of people with dementia? Evidence from Literature and Stakeholders Involvement”, to Indoor Air Quality emerging issue, in “Buildings, air quality and mental health conditions: a review of intervention studies”. Key messages • Explore the relationship between housing conditions, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Mental Health implications on users well-being. • Establish a multidisciplinary approach for understanding together how to create and manage healthy living indoor environments (both housing and complex constructions/public buildings).

Sustaining health and well-being in the built environment

Abstract Public health is strongly interconnected with the physical, social, and economic environment, and with people's needs, preferences, and behaviours. Physical factors affect human health and well-being (e.g., temperature, light, sound, air), as much as spatial qualities (e.g., physical activity, active communities), and feelings of safety and security (e.g., mental health, restoration). The design, operation and maintenance of the built environment can reduce health threats to inhabitants, allowing them to flourish and thrive. Yet, although human factors are starting to be implemented in building criteria and rating tools (e.g., Flourish Wheel, WELL Building Standard, etc.), comprehensive frameworks are needed to combine metrics and methods, and systematically evaluate health and well-being in buildings. This can allow to recommend guidelines and interventions that policy-makers can adopt to improve standards in the building stock, including housing that is today a crucial public health priority. This research critically consolidates existing metrics and methods to benchmark health and well-being in built spaces and proposes, through a wide interdisciplinary perspective, a robust and practical set of tools to support human experience and outcomes within the built environment. The study first elaborates on the common definitions of health and well-being in buildings. Through a systematic review, using the PRISMA and PICOC approaches, health and well-being metrics and methods are then identified. A framework and post-occupancy evaluation protocol are then developed, to be implemented within an interactive tool. The protocol can be used as a toolkit to, holistically, measure and benchmark health and well-being in buildings in use. The tool brings the evaluation toolkit together and provides recommendations. This study wishes to offer a valuable contribution towards securing public health, improving the qualities of the habitats that sustain a large part of our daily life. Key messages • Physical environment affect human health and well-being through physical factors, spatial qualities, and feelings of safety and security. • Measuring and benchmarking health and well-being in buildings and providing recommendations contribute to securing public health of the inhabitants, and improving the qualities of the habitats.

Factors Influencing Learner Attitudes Towards ChatGPT-Assisted Language Learning in Higher Education

Concerns regarding the potential risks associated with learners’ misusing ChatGPT necessitate an extensive investigation into learner attitudes towards ChatGPT-assisted language learning. This study adopts a mixed-method approach, combining structural equation modeling techniques and interviews. It aims to examine the influencing factors of learner attitudes regarding ChatGPT-assisted language learning under the extended three-tier technology use model from an interdisciplinary perspective, including the technology acceptance model, etc. The study finds that information system quality and hedonic motivation are more significant in contributing to performance expectancy and perceived satisfaction compared to self-regulation in ChatGPT-assisted language learning. Behavioral intention is a better predictor of learning effectiveness in ChatGPT-assisted language learning than perceived satisfaction and performance expectancy. This research also examines the partial or full mediating effects of behavioral intention and performance expectancy between other variables. Although this study is limited by some aspects (e.g., the outdated version of ChatGPT-3 or ChatGPT-3.5), it holds substantial implications for future practice and research. It appeals to more attention from future developers on hedonic motivation and information services of ChatGPT and from future researchers on a more comprehensive insight into influencing factors of learner attitudes towards ChatGPT-assisted language learning.

From Organ Trafficking to the Kosovo Specialist Chambers

Abstract The paper discusses how strategic narratives determine our understanding of politics and justice, and how such narratives can be deliberately constructed to achieve political ends through judicial means and by instrumentalizing international criminal law and courts. The article discusses the concept of strategic narratives from an inter-disciplinary perspective and explores the impact of strategic narratives on international criminal justice. For this purpose, it analyzes as a case study the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Report on “Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo” of 2011, which led to the establishment of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and the Kosovo Specialist Prosecutor’s Office.

Contesting collectors and conventions. An interdisciplinary approach to analyzing narrative identity in collectors’ museums

ABSTRACT For years, critical museology has called for museums to question and revise their narratives and praxes. Current societal discourses on representation and inclusion in cultural heritage has made this even more important. The paper argues that such revisions involve specific challenges for collectors’ museums where narratives of foundation and the founder are pivotal for institutional self-perception. Despite the relevance of critical museology’s institutional critique, the paper argues that the critique overlooks one important aspect: that change of praxis requires an understanding of how and why certain narratives become embedded in museums’ self-perception. Integrating organizational theory, psychology, and sociology with critical museology, the paper offers a new interdisciplinary perspective on the organizational mechanisms that undergird institutional conventions, canons, and embedded narratives in collectors’ museums. Finally, the paper advances the concept of resonance as a path to working constructively with tensions between museums’ historical narratives and contemporary societal issues and worldviews.

Understanding Collective Human Behavior in Social Media Networks Via the Dynamical Hypothesis: Applications to Radicalization and Conspiratorial Beliefs.

The dynamical hypothesis has served to explore the ways in which cognitive agents can be understood dynamically and considered dynamical systems. Originally used to explain simple physical systems as a metaphor for cognition (i.e., the Watt governor) and eventually more complex animal systems (e.g., bird flocks), we argue that the dynamical hypothesis is among the most viable approaches to understanding pressing modern-day issues that arise from collective human behavior in online social networks. First, we discuss how the dynamical hypothesis is positioned to describe, predict, and explain the time-evolving nature of complex systems. Next, we adopt an interdisciplinary perspective to describe how online social networks are appropriately understood as dynamical systems. We introduce a dynamical modeling approach to reveal information about emergent properties in social media, where radicalized conspiratorial beliefs arise via coordination between user-level and community-level comments. Lastly, we contrast how the dynamical hypothesis differs from alternatives in explaining collective human behavior in social networks.

From greenwashing to green B2B marketing: A systematic literature review

This paper addresses the emergence of greenwashing and examines its implications for the development of green marketing strategies. It starts from the premise that companies face vigilant environmental activism when developing B2B marketing strategies, focusing on identifying discrepancies between intended marketing messages and actual practices, as well as an increasingly tightening regulatory environment. The core of the paper is a systematic review of interdisciplinary research on greenwashing in the B2B context with a focus on B2B marketing implications. In particular, this study contributes to a modern understanding of greenwashing by providing a new framework for the typology, drivers, and consequences of greenwashing. It also contrasts theories that help explain the greenwashing phenomenon through an interdisciplinary perspective. Finally, this study points out the gaps in existing research on this phenomenon and offers rich future research directions.

Proces digitalizacji partii politycznych — w kierunku interdyscyplinarności badań

The aim of the article is to address the issue of digitalization of political parties. The transformations in the nature of political parties related to the development of digital technologies require a reconstruction of the way scholars used to study party organizations based on well-established party models. The author points to several research areas and challenges related to the digitalization of parties and proposes to go beyond the narrow single-discipline perspective towards an interdisciplinary perspective.

Government Social Media Engagement and Health Perceptions During the COVID-19 Crisis: A Cross-Sectional Study

ABSTRACT Government social media (GSM) accounts were increasingly used by governments worldwide to support strategic crisis communication efforts during the global COVID-19 pandemic, particularly to influence people’s perceptions and behaviors. However, little is known about the potential connections between users’ engagement on GSM platforms and their own health perceptions regarding COVID-19 and related preventive behaviors. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective and drawing on the Health Belief Model (HBM), the present study employed a survey research method to collect data from 2,163 Facebook followers of the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) in Lebanon. The collected data was subsequently analyzed using descriptive statistics and bivariate Pearson’s correlation tests. The findings reveal a significant association between active information-seeking on the MoPH Facebook page and all HBM constructs (perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, and barriers), while passive exposure was associated with three of these constructs. GSM participation, including liking, commenting, and sharing, was significantly associated with perceived severity and benefits. These novel insights represent an initial step towards a deeper understanding of the purposeful and influential use of GSM during health crises. Theoretical contributions and policy implications are discussed in detail.

Inclusion: how far have we come and how far can we go?

ABSTRACT The question of whether inclusion has gone too far is being raised by a growing number of people. In Sweden, this has been formalised in a governmental declaration that also recommends that children with special needs should have access to specialist segregated provision. In this paper, the question of how far we have come towards inclusive education is considered and the barriers to progress, that come from the system, attitudes and outcomes, are identified. In reflecting on how far we can go, the case will be made for recognising the diversity and creativity among two key groups: teachers and school leaders and researchers. Teachers’ and school leaders’ capabilities in finding inclusive possibilities for their students, particularly during the pandemic, will be illustrated with the findings of an international research project, DIGITAL (Diversifying Inclusion and Growth: Inclusive Technologies for Accessible Learning) in the time of Coronavirus. The capacities of researchers at a Swedish University, seeking to examine inclusion from cross-cultural, intersectional and interdisciplinary perspectives and to model inclusive practice, will also be highlighted. The hope is to provoke discussion of how to ensure teachers and researchers can fully contribute to inclusion and to consider how far we can go.

The Challenges and Opportunities of Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Nonprofit Management Education

The complex nature of social issues makes interdisciplinary perspectives an important aspect of current research and education. Nonprofit management education posits itself as a ground for interdisciplinary perspectives as they train future nonprofit leaders who would be at the center of the solution for some of these social issues. While nonprofit management education can gain many benefits from interdisciplinary perspectives, the challenges must be considered and recognized. This paper covers some of the opportunities and challenges of interdisciplinary perspectives in nonprofit management education. The paper concludes with some implications and questions about the practicality of interdisciplinary education.

Framing, classification, and conceptual linkages: What can interdisciplinary practice in small secondary schools contribute to the curriculum conversation?

AbstractThis article reports on the design of interdisciplinary units in five International Baccalaureate schools in Norway and Denmark, each with fewer than 100 students in their Middle Years Programme. The mixed methods study describes subject combinations and time frames of 37 enacted units and 111 hypothetical interdisciplinary units, and the qualitative perspectives of nine teachers, representative of the curriculum frameworks' eight subject groups, on the contribution of these school‐based units to student learning. In the special context of schools with logistically simple staffing structures, interdisciplinary units were consistently conceived and enacted as substantial units, typically implemented over 8 weeks. Subjects were usually paired using a common Key Concept and differentiated by Related Concepts. Although framing and classification were considerations in interdisciplinary planning, the quantitative data found nearly every pairing of the subject groups was feasible. Interdisciplinary units were consistently valued by teachers for helping students connect disciplinary knowledge and developing metacognitive skills that supported their future learning, and for enriching teachers' own pedagogical practice. As a pragmatic, sustainable approach that resolves the tensions posed by assessment of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, the strategies reported in this study suggest a ‘middle way’ for countering the disciplinary fragmentation associated with junior secondary education.

Critical physical geographies of air, atmosphere, and climate

The material condition of the earth's atmosphere exerts a significant influence on how humans live and die. Therefore, understanding how and why atmospheric processes unevenly impact communities, because of the changing material condition of air, provides an opportunity to address current and future climate risks through interdisciplinary perspectives. Using critical physical geography as a framework, this review provides perspective on how physical geographers may interact more closely with human geographers in addressing social-environmental issues related to the state of the earth's atmosphere and climate, and related processes in other earth systems. Climatic and atmospheric variability and change disproportionately impact populations already disadvantaged within this capitalist social formation. Using labor policy, flooding, wildfires, and incarceration as materially grounded examples where atmospheric inequities are experienced by everyday people, we demonstrate how taking a critical physical geography approach to the earth's air might highlight disciplinary synergies and build stronger cross-geography relationships. These examples demonstrate the interconnectedness of the atmosphere with other earth systems, both environmental and social, and how these connections co-produce atmospheric inequities experienced by human populations.

A qualitative evaluation of a multi-modal cancer prehabilitation programme for colorectal, head and neck and lung cancers patients.

Growing evidence indicates patients' survivorship outcomes can be enhanced through active engagement in a multi-modal cancer prehabilitation programme (MCPP), although this intervention is not uniformly embedded as a standard of care. MCPP aims to optimise patients physiologically and psychologically for cancer treatments, shorten recovery time, reduce complications, promote healthier lifestyles and improve quality of life. South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust (SET) developed and evaluated a system-wide collaborative approach to MMCP across three tumour groups (colorectal, lung, head and neck cancer). Addressing the lack of qualitative evaluation of MCPPs, this novel paper explores mechanisms promoting feasibility and acceptability of MCPP from patients' and interdisciplinary professionals' perspectives. Semi-structured virtual one-to-one interviews were conducted with 24 interdisciplinary professionals and nine patients. Transcripts were recorded, transcribed verbatim and themes developed using Framework Analysis. Analysis of findings identified three themes providing an in-depth understanding of key elements required to develop and promote system-wide delivery of a MCPP: 1) Equipping the team: Capability and capacity, 2) Timing of intervention and delivery timeframe and 3) Systems and processes. The system-wide collaborative approach to developing a MCPP was deemed both feasible and acceptable. Success was attributed to visionary leadership, alongside a diverse group of interdisciplinary professionals being engaged, motivated and committed to intervention delivery in an effort to improve patient outcomes. Iterative, responsive troubleshooting during initial delivery is required to facilitate successful implementation. Further training is required for greater adherence to provision of prescriptive high intensity exercise within the programme, which may further promote enhanced patient outcomes. To enable sustainability of MCPP, ongoing training for professionals and funding is required.

Portuguese and Brazilian Family Business: in Between Urgency and Delay Perceptions in the Succession Process

Abstract Family business has been the focus of several studies over the last two decades and its relevance has been supported by the interdisciplinary perspectives in the fields of management, entrepreneurship, economics, psychology, and sociology. Despite that, there is still insufficient knowledge about the key role of family influences in the business, namely the intergenerational management succession, its planning and effectiveness. According to a recent research focused on the entrepreneurial succession in Portugal (AEP, 2011), 50% of family businesses are not passed on to the second generation and only 20% reach the third generation. In fact, business succession planning has been identified as one of the most challenging steps in the life of the family firm, both in maintaining the competiveness of the business, and in overcoming intra/inter family conflicts. Nonetheless, resistance to succession, relationship founder/successor, planning of succession, and type of organisational culture, among others, explain how executive succession is one of the most important and hardest tasks in organisational life (Zahra, 2005). This paper will be supported mainly by qualitative data, taking into account the main results from the project “Roadmap for Portuguese Family Businesses” (NORTE2020/FEDER) developed in Portugal (Marques, 2018) and in Brazil (Silva, 2018), which analyses in-depth interviews conducted to Portuguese (N 23) and Brazilian (N 11) founders/managers/owners. In the present article we wish to discuss the main management challenges of a family business, particularly the importance of succession preparation and the role of the family in the socialisation of the second (third or subsequent) generation.

Perspektywy muzycznej semiotyki metalu ‒ w stronę interpretacji muzematycznej

The article is an overview of the most important concepts in the field of musical semiotics, and at the same time an indication of which of them have potential in relation to the study of metal music. Particular attention was paid to the method of musematic analysis, consistently used and developed for almost half a century by Philip Tagg, but also appreciated and practiced by other researchers. The starting point for the author is the state of research in the field of “metal musicology” and theory of music ‒ there is still no adequate, new methodology, and at the same time a common space and a thread of understanding between disciplines and methodologies. Such an interdisciplinary perspective can be semiotics, especially musical, which is a valuable alternative and supplement to sociological, literary and cultural studies, etc. It has potential both where music is a (subordinate) medium of the message and a “amplifier” of the text, and where, through its structure and dramaturgy expresses “itself” in a way, constituting an abstract play of sounds and timbres.

Book review: Jeemol Unni, Vanita Yadav, Ravikiran Naik and Swati Dutta, Women Entrepreneurship in the Indian Middle Class: Interdisciplinary Perspective

Jeemol Unni, Vanita Yadav, Ravikiran Naik and Swati Dutta, Women Entrepreneurship in the Indian Middle Class: Interdisciplinary Perspective. Orient BlackSwan, 2021, 271 pages, ₹1,075 (Paperback), ISBN: 978-93- 5442-145-7.

The Climatology, Vulnerability, and Public Perceptions Associated with Overlapping Tornado and Flash Flood Warnings in a Portion of the Southeast United States

Abstract Simultaneous and overlapping tornadoes and flash floods are a meteorological hazard with complex societal implications as, when issued at the same time, tornado and flash flood warnings provide conflicting public safety advice. This work assessed potential tornado and flash flood (TORFF) events in a portion of the Southeast from an interdisciplinary perspective with a focus on the climatology, vulnerability, and public perceptions surrounding these hazards. Our results suggest that, in addition to the conflicting warning advice, TORFFs present a challenge to the public because they can occur at night or in cool seasons when they are least expected, though they are most common in spring. Also, the storms causing TORFFs are often not clearly organized, causing a forecast and communication challenge. The public responding to the tornado and flash flood warnings in our study area is more vulnerable to TORFFs than those in other areas and may lack vehicles and structures to respond safely to one or both hazard threats. Administered survey results suggest that many believe they know what protective actions to take in a TORFF, though they may not believe they are likely in their area. Those that believe they are likely are also more likely to feel prepared to respond. Many climatology and vulnerability characteristics vary between, and at times within, NWS county warning areas, highlighting the different communication and preparation needs across the region. Approximately a quarter of flash flood and tornado warnings overlap in the region for an average of 31 min. The frequency of TORFFs and their associated public safety challenges warrant continued investigation. Significance Statement The purpose of this work is to increase our understanding of overlapping tornado and flash flood events by studying them from a multidisciplinary perspective. We found that residents in the southeastern United States are especially vulnerable to overlapping tornado and flash floods. This vulnerability is heightened by the climatology of overlapping tornado and flash floods because they can occur when they are unexpected, for example, at night or in the winter, and the public perceptions of overlapping tornado and flash floods, which is that they may not be likely in their area. These findings are important because much of the Southeast includes a population vulnerable to overlapping tornado and flash floods who may be underestimating their risk, and therefore may be unprepared for an event that requires critical decision-making.