Major Paradigms Research Articles

Person-centered and qualitative approaches to network analysis in physics education research

Network analysis has become a well-recognized methodology in physics education research (PER), with study topics including student performance and persistence, faculty change, and the structure of conceptual networks. The social network analysis side of this work has focused on quantitative analysis of whole-network cases, such as the structure of networks in single classrooms. Egocentric or personal network approaches are largely unexplored, and qualitative methods are underdeveloped. In this paper, we outline theoretical and practical differences between two major network paradigms—whole-network and egocentric—and introduce theoretical frameworks and methodological considerations for egocentric studies. We also describe qualitative and mixed-methods approaches that are currently missing from the PER literature. We identify areas where these additional network methods may be of particular interest to physics education researchers and end by discussing example cases and implications for new PER studies. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Demystifying The Object-Oriented Features Of Popular Object-Oriented Programming Languages.

Background: Indeed, Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) has emerged as one of the major fundamental paradigms in today’s world of software development as it contains principles that enhance modularity, reusability, and maintainability of software. This article explores deeper into some of the facets of OOP aspects as exhibited in some of the most frequently used programming languages ranging from Java, Python, C++, and C# with an intent of offering substantive information to aspects like encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism, and abstraction. The article synthesizes the ones focusing on the relevance and conceptualization of OOP and problems related to it in the context of learners and practitioners. It also describes strengths and weaknesses of using C++, Python, and Java in relation to OOP while stressing peculiarity of these languages. Some of the core principles of OOP are highlighted such as encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism, and abstraction and how they are complicated and significant in today’s software engineering. Materials and Methods: There was a presentation of a survey on which the research is based to determine the problems that programmers encounter when applying OOP features using a sample of 80 programmers in the computer science fields in some Nigerian Universities. Results: Findings reveal the significance of understanding OOP concepts in popular languages and suggest ways of increasing developers’ efficiency, minimizing errors, and improving the quality of developed software. Conclusion: Suggestions include a necessity for training and education to enhance software developers' understanding of OOP features. The findings can guide the creation of training materials and courses centered on OOP concepts, aiming to improve software development practices and elevate the quality of software products.

Discerning the Distinctive Characteristics of Key Research Paradigms and their Constituents

Background: Research paradigms are the underlying philosophical and theoretical frameworks that guide research studies. This article identifies and discusses key research paradigms: positivism, postpositivism, pragmatism, constructivism, interpretivism, and advocacy. Additionally, it explores their prominent constituents: ontology, epistemology, axiology, and methodology. Methodology: The article has been prepared through a thorough review of key texts regarding research paradigms in books and journal articles. This literature review method ensures a detailed and accurate portrayal of the paradigms and their constituents. Findings: Positivism emphasizes empirical evidence. Postpositivism recognizes the role of values and subjectivity. Pragmatism evaluates theories based on practical usefulness. Constructivism views knowledge as constructed by individuals through experiences. Interpretivism emphasizes understanding and interpreting the meanings people attach to their experiences. Advocacy or participatory research stresses the active involvement of community members and stakeholders in the research process. Ontology studies the nature of existence. Epistemology involves discerning the characteristics and limits of knowledge. Axiology examines values and what is considered good and valuable. Methodology systematically analyzes methods in a field of study. Conclusion: Understanding research paradigms has practical implications for researchers. It aids in pursuing the research process, selecting appropriate methodologies, and enhancing the credibility of their studies. This understanding ensures that research is methodologically sound, ethically robust, and socially impactful. Novelty: This article provides a synthesized overview of the major research paradigms and their key components, offering a valuable resource for researchers to understand and navigate the complexities of research methodologies and philosophical frameworks.

The Role of Philosophical Tools in Nursing Research.

The objective of this article is to illustrate the importance of the role philosophy and its tools play in the designing and undertaking of nursing research and its importance to be understood by the practicing researcher to ensure the selected methodology and the tools used provide the framework for obtaining reliable and valid answers to their research questions. The article discusses the three major paradigms (Positivism, Interpretivism, and Pragmatism) which have characterized much of health-related research together with a set of essential and practical tools with no metaphysical assumptions that will hopefully provide an explicit framework and a nomenclature which can be applied as we proceed through the research process.

Conceptual Evolution and Paradigm Reconstruction: An Integrated Framework for International Communication

The tracing of historical origins and disciplinary trajectories enables us to reveal that international communication, as a specific manifestation of global information flow and media evolution, is primarily influenced by the interplay of three societal factors: the roots of political conflicts, the catalytic role of economic and technological developments, and the reshaping of values into distinct blocs. These factors intertwine with the awareness of external exploration across different historical periods. Traditional knowledge production in international communication has evolved along two main lines: political economy and cultural studies. These paths have given rise to three major paradigms—propaganda, global communication, and intercultural communication—each stemming from differing core units of analysis. Together, they have constructed a multifaceted interpretive framework for understanding self-identity and the relationship between self and the external world in the information age since the beginning of the 20th century. This paper argues that on the new journey in the new era, efforts should be made to weaken the attributes of hierarchical control and power conflict derived from the practices of Western industrial societies and the Cold War. In the context of an era marked by the fusion of “new subjects, new networks, new media, and new values,” there is a need to return to the original purpose of communication: the sharing of information and the collective responsibility it entails. This will enable the construction of a new paradigm driven by Chinese modernization for the exchange and mutual learning of civilizations. Such a paradigm aims to unify humanity around shared values, foster the building of a human community with a shared future, and create new forms of human advancement.

Testing metabolic cold adaptation and the climatic variability hypothesis in two latitudinally distant populations of a supratidal water beetle

Temperature significantly impacts ectotherm physiology, with thermal tolerance and metabolic traits typically varying with latitude across species ranges. The drivers of this variation remain unclear, however, despite obvious consequences for population persistence and conservation in the face of ongoing global change. This study explored local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity of metabolic rates and thermal limits in the supratidal rockpool beetle Ochthebius lejolisii. Using populations from localities at different ends of the species range that experience contrasting thermal variability, we simultaneously tested two of the major paradigms of spatial physiological ecology: metabolic cold adaptation (MCA) and the climatic variability hypothesis (CVH). Reciprocal acclimation was conducted under spring temperature regimes of both localities, incorporating local diurnal variation. Metabolic rates were measured by closed respirometry, and thermal tolerance limits estimated through thermography. In line with MCA, the higher-latitude population (colder climate) showed higher metabolic rates and temperature coefficients (Q10s) at lower temperatures than the lower-latitude population. As predicted by the CVH, the lower-latitude population (more variable climate) showed higher upper thermal tolerance but only the higher-latitude population was able to acclimate upper thermal limits. This result suggests trade-offs between physiological thermal limits and thermal plasticity in this species. A limited acclimation capacity could make populations on Mediterranean coasts especially vulnerable in the face of projected increases in extreme temperatures under ongoing climate change.

Cultural–Cognitive Study of Selected Death-Oriented Personal Names in Igbo

Working chiefly within the tenets of Cultural Linguistics (CL), this study examines the cultural and cognitive motivations that underlie selected death-oriented personal names among the Igbo of South-eastern Nigeria. Based on the cultural linguistic perspective, the analytical tool for the study is shaped by insights from cultural schemas, cultural categories and cultural metaphors as signifiers of ideation and social meaning. The cultural frames enable the language user to have a better understanding of the cultural and cognitive motivations that underlie the conceptualization of names and naming among the Igbo. Much has been done on the structure and sociological forms of Igbo personal names and their meanings, but only a few studies have been undertaken on the names that express the notions of death and dying in Igbo. More importantly, no previous study has used insights from Cultural Linguistics (CL) or the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) to explain the motivations for the preponderance of death-oriented names among the Igbo people. Thus, this study specifically aims to address the lacuna. The study reveals that the Igbo, like most African and other human societies, recognize and accept the inevitability of death. Consequently, they use language in diverse forms and contexts to express their perceptions of the horrors and pains associated with the inevitability of death. Songs, proverbs and ritual practices are some of the verbal and social semiotic forms through which the Igbo express their knowledge of and attitude toward death and dying. However, names and naming are the most vivid cultural cognitive patterns by which the Igbo show their understanding of the nature of death and dying and their psychological effects on the living. Constrained by space and scope, this study identified and classified six major death-oriented names among the Igbo, as follows: names that depict the overwhelming power of death; names that make an appeal to death; names that depict death as wicked/evil/terror; names that depict death as no respecter of wealth/social class; names that challenge/mock the assumed power of death; and names that depict death as an insensitive entity. Thus, the above frames constitute the major paradigms by which the Igbo express their knowledge of and attitudes toward death and dying.

Computational Language Modeling and the Promise of In Silico Experimentation.

Language neuroscience currently relies on two major experimental paradigms: controlled experiments using carefully hand-designed stimuli, and natural stimulus experiments. These approaches have complementary advantages which allow them to address distinct aspects of the neurobiology of language, but each approach also comes with drawbacks. Here we discuss a third paradigm-in silico experimentation using deep learning-based encoding models-that has been enabled by recent advances in cognitive computational neuroscience. This paradigm promises to combine the interpretability of controlled experiments with the generalizability and broad scope of natural stimulus experiments. We show four examples of simulating language neuroscience experiments in silico and then discuss both the advantages and caveats of this approach.

The misruling elites: the state, local elites, and the social geography of the Chinese Revolution

The existing scholarship has developed six main explanations to account for the success of the Chinese Revolution, which has been anomalous for major paradigms derived from cross-national comparisons. Methodologically, we use a social geographical approach to test these existing explanations systematically by constructing and analyzing a unique dataset of Communist growth in 93 counties in the three most contested provinces during its most pivotal period of ascendence. Theoretically, we advance and test an alternative perspective, based on the groundwork of Tocqueville and Fei Xiaotong, that integrates the state-centric theory, elite theory, and cultural analysis. Our perspective emphasizes the interplay between state centralization and local elite structure, which leads to intensified state extraction and local elite fracturing, thus creating favorable conditions for revolution. The quantitative analysis strongly supports the importance of the Japanese invasion but provides limited support for many other conventional explanations. The analysis largely confirms the Tocqueville-Fei perspective on state centralization, elite fracturing, cultural change, and revolution. The findings are buttressed by a detailed case study of Lianshui County. The study unveils a common structural challenge that a modernizing state faces in an agrarian status society, to recreate its political legitimacy while disrupting local elite structure. It also sheds historical light on the evolution of state-society relationship through the Chinese Revolution.

A Scalable Formal Framework for the Verification and Vulnerability Analysis of Redundancy-Based Error-Resilient Null Convention Logic Asynchronous Circuits

The increasing demand for high-speed, energy-efficient, and miniaturized electronics has led to significant challenges and compromises in the domain of conventional clock-based digital designs, most notably reduced circuit reliability, particularly in mission-critical hardware. At scaled technology nodes, devices are vulnerable to transient or soft errors, such as Single Event Upset (SEU) and Single Event Latch-up (SEL). External radiation, internal electromagnetic interference (EMI), or noise are the primary sources of these errors, which can compromise the circuit functionality. In response to these challenges, the Quasi-Delay-Insensitive (QDI) Null Convention Logic (NCL) asynchronous design paradigm has emerged as a promising alternative, offering advantages such as ultra-low power performance, reduced noise and EMI, and resilience to process, voltage, and temperature variations. Moreover, its unique architecture and insensitivity to timing variations offers a degree of resistance against transient errors; however, it is not entirely resilient. Several resiliency schemes are available to detect and mitigate soft errors in QDI circuits, with approaches based on redundancy proving to be the most effective in ensuring complete resilience across all major QDI implementation paradigms, including NCL, Pre-charge/Weak-charge Half Buffers (PCHB/WCHB), and Sleep Convention Logic (SCL). This research focuses on one such redundancy-based resiliency scheme for QDI NCL circuits, known as the dual-modular redundancy-based NCL (DMR-NCL) architecture, and addresses the absence of formal methods for the verification and analysis of such circuits. A novel methodology has been proposed for formally verifying the correctness of DMR-NCL circuits synthesized from their synchronous counterparts, covering both safety (functional correctness) and liveness (the absence of deadlock). In addition, this research introduces a formal framework for the vulnerability analysis of DMR-NCL circuits against SEU/SEL. To demonstrate the framework’s efficacy and scalability, a prototype computer-aided support tool has been developed, which verifies and analyzes multiple DMR-NCL benchmark circuits of varying sizes and complexities.

Fish assemblage structure related to habitat heterogeneity in rocky reefs in the Mexican Pacific coast

Abstract One of the major paradigms in ecology is the understanding of processes and patterns related to the structure of biological communities. Reef ecosystems, with their high productivity, habitat heterogeneity, and fish diversity provide a model for studying these processes. We sampled four sites three times during the season associated with the California Current and two times associated with the North Equatorial Current using video-transects on the coast of Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico to determine the relationship between the habitat characteristics and the structure of the fish assemblage. We recorded a total of 26 families and 54 species and estimated fish richness and abundance. In addition to measuring local water variables such as temperature (°C), salinity (PPT), pH and dissolved oxygen (O2%), we determined habitat heterogeneity by processing photographs of the substrate and calculated rugosity using the tape chain. Oxygen and temperature were the variables associated to sea water conditions that differentiated the sampled sites. The fish community structure presented high correlations with temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen, followed by the heterogeneity components such as rugosity and substrate diversity. Our results showed that seasonal changes in water conditions and physical components in the coast of Zihuatanejo promotes changes in the fish community.

A Battle of the Big Three?—Competing Conceptualizations of Personal Data Shaping Transnational Data Flows

Abstract In the unfolding digital era, personal data has increasingly been conceptualized in a hybrid way, primarily drawing on notions of economics, privacy, and national security. Such a sui generis nature makes personal data something of its own category, opening the door to different conceptualizations by different actors. This article identifies three primary conceptualizations of personal data adopted by three major powers (the US, the EU, and China) with respect to cross-border data transfers—namely, a factor of production, an embodiment of fundamental rights, and an element of national security. Highlighting different attributes of personal data, these conceptualizations differ in what they understand personal data to be, how they address the relationship between individuals, their data, and the governments, as well as what they frame as the most important normative goals for regulatory interventions. Moreover, these conceptualizations are embedded in different philosophies and ideologies, ranging from neo-liberalism to human rights and to sovereignty. These irreducible normative elements render the contestations among such conceptualizations unable to be easily resolved. Further, divergent conceptualizations of personal data mandate and justify different legal paradigms to institutionalize their basic logics and policy choices. Built on different primary conceptualizations of personal data, three major legal paradigms compete to regulate cross-border personal data flows: a trade paradigm, a privacy paradigm, and a security paradigm. Aligned with its major conceptual framing of personal data, a great power often embraces a particular paradigm as its dominant approach to regulate cross-border transfers of personal data. These paradigms strive to provide legal and regulatory solutions (including legal prescriptions, regulatory institutions, and enforcement tools) to address the salient problems identified and framed by different conceptualizations of personal data.

Simulation Modeling in Supply Chain Management Research of Ethanol: A Review

Ethanol, a common renewable energy resource, can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to resolve the problem of global warming worldwide. Various feedstocks such as corn, sugarcane, maize stover, and wheat straw can be utilized for ethanol production. They determine production operations and relevant costs. Although there are monetary incentives and government policies in different countries to increase ethanal use, it is still challenging to make its sales price competitive due to the inefficient supply chain of ethanol. Unlike fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas using a well-designed supply chain in the long history of mankind, additional efforts are needed to organize and stabilize the supply chain of ethanol efficiently. The goal of this study is to investigate how simulation modeling techniques can be applied to various supply chain management issues of ethanol. Particularly, application cases of three major simulation paradigms such as discrete-event simulation, system dynamics, and agent-based simulation are investigated by conducting a scientific literature review. The findings of this study will contribute to the expansion of simulation use in the field of biofuel supply chain management.

Planungskonflikte in der pluralistischen Demokratie

This paper deals with planning conflicts in the pluralistic democracy, based on an international literature review. The aim is to trace the state of research on how spatial planning deals with conflicts. Moreover, we reflect upon the development of major planning paradigms with regard to this topic. To this end, some basics on conflict and conflict resolution in spatial planning are presented. The collaborative planning paradigm, which appears hegemonic in planning theory and practice until today, is then critically discussed with regard to its handling of conflicts. Subsequently, agonistic planning theory is introduced with reference to the work of political scientist Chantal Mouffe. This concept claims to deal specifically with conflict, which renders it particularly relevant for this topic. In conclusion, the paper reflects on the extent to which agonistic planning can have practical relevance for the regulation of conflicts and how this can be achieved in contemporary planning practice.

Challenging the Hegemony of the Grand Paradigm of Social Movement Studies: A Review of Paradigmatic Weaknesses

The study of social movements today is dominated by three grand paradigms (grand theory) in the 1980s, and even in Indonesia since the 70s. The three major paradigms of study are the "structural tension paradigm", the "resource mobilization paradigm", and the "identity-oriented paradigm", all of which have become the main sources of reference in various studies that have been developed. Through the literature review method, the critical analysis in this article aims to map, classify and categorize the grand theory and its influence on various social movement studies in Indonesia. The findings of this article show that the "structural tension" paradigm fails to consider how individuals experience dispossession as embedded in broader social structures. The "resource mobilization" paradigm places too much emphasis on collective action, which tends to be squeezed into market theory and consumerism. Placing the target achieved is only a political target, oriented towards the "economic man" (socios economiculus), which merely calculates a deterministic hedonistic calculus. While the "identity-oriented" paradigm fails when positioning the identity of new collective actors is recognized, then by themselves their expressive actions can be transformed into instrumental actions whose names can be seen clearly as a case of institutionalizing collective mobility. In conclusion, in many cases today's theorists have synthesized the insights of earlier older schools while adding dimensions that they overlooked. The overall trend, which one would like to focus on, is the clustering of large structures in favor of a concern with the micro-foundations of social and political action.

Workplace Sexual Harassment in China: A Comparative Inquiry into the Personality-Based Paradigm

Abstract Western researchers have produced significant insight into sexual harassment in Western contexts, but sexual harassment in Chinese society remains largely unexplored. To address this comparative inquiry, this article explores the development of an understanding of workplace sexual harassment and the legal regulation thereof in China—a State with a socialist legal system that has characteristics specific to its context. Through a thorough review of the historical foundations, legislative change over time, and judicial practice, I explore two questions: (i) how do Chinese laws define sexual harassment and (ii) how do Chinese lawmakers perceive the wrong done by sexual harassment? This article reveals that, over two decades of legislation, a sexual harassment legal system has gradually taken shape in China. This system is based on a paradigm distinct from the two major paradigms in the Western world: the American-style discrimination approach and the Continental employee dignity approach. Notwithstanding some attempts to use the American approach, the Chinese legal authorities are developing an alternative personality paradigm where sexual harassment is framed as a tortious infringement on an individual’s right to personality. I argue that the personality paradigm, though strategic and advantageous in terms of expanding the scope of protection to victims, is inadequate in addressing workplace sexual harassment as well as protecting women as the most vulnerable class of victims, which calls for further legal reform to rectify the deviation. In light of this, I offer concrete proposals for China’s sexual harassment legal reform in the future.

The Functions of Safety in Psychotherapy: An Integrative Theoretical Perspective Across Therapeutic Schools.

There is a certain consensus in the psychotherapeutic literature that safety plays a central role in human development and psychotherapy and that lack of safety undermines mental health. However, the role of safety in psychotherapy has not yet been thoroughly examined. In this article, we identify and integrate the diferent functions of safety in psychotherapy on a theoretical basis. We made a panoramic overview of the concept of safety across some of the main psychotherapeutic schools that represent major paradigms in contemporary psychotherapy (psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic). We then analyzed, compared, and synthetized the findings to identify the common functions that safety plays both in ontogenesis and in clinical practice across different therapeutic orientations. Our analysis showed that safety is indeed rightly prioritized across psychotherapy schools because of its developmental value in promoting change and adaptation both in ontogenesis and clinical settings. The findings suggest that the main functions of safety are to secure survival, facilitate restoration, promote exploration, sustain risk-taking, and enable integration, with these functions being complementary and dependent on the context. However, safety seems to be in a dialectical and paradoxical relationship to psychotherapy and human development. Adequate ontogenetic development and treatment progress do not appear to require continuous maintenance of maximum possible safety. Rather, they seem to require enough safety, adequately and timely modulated according to developmental needs and treatment phases. Although safety provides the necessary basis that enables restoration, fuels exploration, and facilitates treatment progress, safety's misdosage (e.g., lack, excess), misconstruction (e.g., misattunement, misinterpretation), or misuse (exploitation, idealization) may hinder the healthy development of attachment, identity, autonomy, self/co-regulation as well as the ability to tolerate and cope with dangers, risks, insecurities, or frustrations. Future research is suggested to further explore the role of safety in psychotherapy.

Designing and validating a quantum management model for educational organizations using mixed-methods

In the vein of other areas of human knowledge, the theories and models developed for management and leadership are being settled by some scientific paradigms. In this respect, two major paradigms, namely, the Newtonian and quantum, have extensively influenced all organizational theories and models. Implementing such models accordingly calls for new management styles, here termed quantum management (QM). For this purpose, 16 experts of educational management, selected by purposive sampling, were interviewed until theoretical saturation was reached. The study findings demonstrated that the causal conditions with a weak coefficient of determination (R², 28%) were the moderate predictors of QM in educational organizations. As well, the underlying and intervening conditions along with QM with a medium R2 (51%) could strongly predict the strategies/enablers, and then the strategies/enablers with a medium R2 (55%) were the strong predictors of the QM consequences.

SNUX2.0: A Social Network Model for Cohort Behavior Analysis as Support for Purchasing Tourism Products and Services

One of the major communication paradigms for corporations and organizations consists of understanding which is the best format in which to communicate, and the effect that each type of content has on the different generations that coexist in the digital ecosystem. Tourism is one of the industry’s most sensitive to this ecosystem, as, nowadays, all stages of the travel decision process are mainly processed digitally. Products are researched, disseminated, and often acquired on digital platforms. This paper uses social media to analyze the online behavior of potential tourists from different generations when searching for commercial and detailed information concerning tourism products. A survey was prepared based on the experience economy theory and disseminated online through social networks. A Social Networks User Experience model, SNUX 2.0, was proposed to analyze the experiences of users from different generations, associated with the use of social networks as a medium through which to find information about tourism products and services. Structural equation modeling using SmartPLS 3.0 was used to analyze the proposed model. The study concluded that social networks can contribute to influencing the purchasing intent of the different generations, mainly when commercial information has an educational nature for all generations, accompanied by different dimensions depending on the consumer’s generation.

Plague, Climate and Faith in Early Medieval Western Britain: Investigating Narratives of Change

RECENTLY COMPILED DATASETS for hillforts and corn-drying kilns in the west of Britain, when subject to chronological analysis using Kernel Density Estimation (KDE), show a sharp and lasting fall-off in activity in the later 6th and 7th centuries. This paper investigates this through the regional and broader evidence for three major paradigms of change at this time: the Justinianic Plague, climate change, and the growth of Christianity, the last manifested in transfers of land to churches and in an ascetism which affected assembly practices. The resultant analysis provides archaeologically derived insights into social changes of this period, and raises questions about the applicability of dominant narratives framed in other regions.