Official Response Research Articles

How are Learning Developers engaging with artificial intelligence?

In recent years, Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) has become the topic of debate within higher education generally, within institutions (their official response and approach), within subject areas (how to utilise within subject teaching) and within the professional sphere of Learning Development. In the summer of 2023, an Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE) Community of Practice was established, and now, it has over 200 members from the UK, Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. This group meets monthly to discuss all aspects of Gen AI, and this mini keynote will share how Learning Developers are engaging (or not) with Gen AI. The session will be open and friendly. Designed to enable colleagues to discuss their challenges, avoidance or how they embrace AI within their practice. Prompt Questions 1) Are you engaging with Artificial Intelligence (AI)? If so, how? If not, why not? 2) Should Learning Developers be engaging with AI? If so, how? 3) What could ALDinHE do to support your (potential) engagement with AI?

Turn-Taking in Political Interviews and Its Impact on Building Government Credibility

Television political inquiry is conducted through question-and-answer exchanges with host and government officials on prominent livelihood issues, which helps to improve the efficiency of government governance. Interview participants’ identity, communicative intention, power, and contextual factors have a significant impact on the discourse choices of both parties. This research clarifies the mechanism by which communicators mobilize appropriate discourse strategies to promote the solution of social problems. It adopts qualitative research method and conversation analysis to interpret interview participants’ talk-in-interaction and discourse strategies in “Ask Government Affairs of Shandong”. Research finds that adjacency pairs in political interview perform social behaviors such as greetings, requests, suggestions, apologies, acknowledgement. Interview participants’ turn-taking is divided into claiming for the turn, holding the turn, and giving up the turn. Discourse strategies such as insertion, interruption, and repetition are adopted to claim for the turn. Discourse markers and conversation repair are applied in communicators’ turn-holding stage. Communicators adopt explicit nominations, vague job designations, and silence strategies to give up the turn. Clear, accurate, and highly relevant official responses are conducive to projecting a responsible government image and improving government credibility. The phenomenon of avoidance, hesitation, and pause in official response is likely to cause the masses to question government officials’ work capability, which is not conducive to establishing a positive and trustworthy government image. Suggestions for optimizing the process setting of political interview and official responses are provided to enhance the effect of political enquiry.

Pandemic Palliatives and COVID-19 Coping: Toward the Development of a “Coping with Crisis Communications” (COCCO) Scale

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the critical role of coping strategies during global crises and demonstrated how official communications shape public responses. This study evaluates the psychometric validity of a novel pentadic “Coping with Crisis Communication” (COCCO) Scale, which categorizes coping behaviors into five behavioral responses: moving-with, moving-against, moving-outward, moving-away, and moving-inward. A national representative survey of 742 Swiss residents, conducted in February 2022, measured these coping responses to official COVID-19 communications from the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) and traditional Swiss news media (TNM). Items were developed to assess how participants engaged with, opposed, reached outward for support, distanced from, or internalized the messages. Confirmatory factor analyses tested multiple models (5-, 6-, 7-, and 8-factor structures) based on both the initial pentadic theory and data-driven refinements. While the original 5-factor model showed insufficient fit, a 7-factor model (moving-with, moving-toward, moving-against, moving-outward, moving-away, negative-moving-inward, positive-moving-inward) provided a satisfactory factor solution. This model exhibited measurement invariance across the three language versions of the scale (French, Italian, German) and across the two communication contexts (FOPH, TNM). The COCCO scale offers an effective, movement-based assessment of coping strategies in response to crisis communications, serving as a valuable tool for understanding public behavior during global crises.

Understanding the involvement/exclusion paradox in disaster volunteering from a field-theoretical perspective

In disasters, volunteers who have not been affiliated to official disaster response organisations are likely to enter the scene. Although such unofficial responders (UR) are increasingly recognised as a valuable resource in both research and practice, their full utilisation, integration, and cooperation with the official response (OR) is rare. Although researchers have increasingly examined the barriers and drivers of UR involvement, this “involvement/exclusion paradox”, coined by Harris et al. (2017), remains puzzling. Applying a field-theoretical perspective, this paper argues that disasters are critical moments in which the field itself is put under pressure at multiple focal points. For instance, UR who enter the scene and try to become involved jeopardize the field: they increase the number of involved agents, increase the competition over symbolic profit, and question the definition of proper disaster response. Taking a case-study of a mudslide disaster in the Austrian Alps, this paper examines the strategies by which OR tame pressure associated with UR. Three strategies were revealed: boundary definition, boundary defence, and boundary opening, which aim at establishing and upholding boundaries by increasing both their robustness and elasticity. The findings contribute to a theoretically underpinned understanding of UR involvement and encourage critical reflection on the relations between UR and OR by revealing tensions and latent conflicts.

Examining the Realization of Residential Satisfaction in the State’s New Housing Projects, with Reference to Cairo, Egypt

Abstract Egypt is currently witnessing unprecedented development in the sector of low-income housing. Up to this point, little research has been conducted to determine how such projects contribute to genuine residents’ satisfaction. Residential satisfaction refers to the sense of contentment that one experiences when their housing needs are met. Residential satisfaction was intended to reveal not just what the existing living conditions were like but also which aspects the government should focus on improving for future low-income housing schemes. The concept of residency encompasses physical, psychological, and social aspects, making it a multifaceted and intricate idea. This paper will address residential satisfaction in relation to the three domains: housing unit, neighborhood, and social environment, as well as the socio-economic characteristics of the occupants, which have also received relatively little investigation. The objective of this study is to identify the factors that contribute to the residential satisfaction of low-income housing in Al-Asmarat. The study adopts a quantitative analysis of a purpose-designed questionnaire survey that investigates residential satisfaction in one of the state’s new low-income housing projects. Data was collected from 120 respondents living in the Al-Asmarat project to evaluate their residential satisfaction. The results showed that residents expressed high levels of satisfaction with many aspects of their new housing project and dissatisfaction with other aspects, for example: 1-Plumbing 2-Internet connection in Housing unit and 1-Living Costs 2-Job opportunities in Neighborhood. Additionally, residents prioritized the following parameters in housing units: level of quietness, residents’ sense of attachment to the unit, and proximity of services. Regarding the neighborhood, they prioritized: residents’ sense of attachment to the neighborhood; the level of street cleanliness; the presence of a youth center; positive official response to residents’ complaints; and aesthetic standards of the streets. Concerning the social environment, they prioritized: the strength of relations between neighbors and the degree of safety in Al-Asmarat city. In summary, it is suggested that the findings of this study may help developers and policymakers improve future low-income housing projects in Egypt towards the development of a better built environment.

Clicktivism on Government E-petition: A legitimate emotional outlet?

Clicktivism, an emerging form of activism in the digital era, is a concept that can be applied to government-hosted e-petitions. However, an integrative approach combining these two has been scarce. Addressing this gap, this study aims to investigate the dynamics that occur in the process of clicktivism on government-hosted e-petitions, focusing on their themes and intentions. To address our research question, we collected data from South Korea's 'National Petition of the Blue House' and applied multinomial logistic and simple linear regression models to e-petitions that met the criteria for eliciting an official government response. The findings indicate that among the e-petitions meeting the official criteria, those related to political or minority issues received a higher number of supports compared to others. Furthermore, citizens were more inclined to endorse e-petitions seeking punitive actions against specific individuals or organizations, rather than those proposing specific policy or legislative changes. These results suggest that participation through clicktivism is often driven by emotional appeals in petitions. This provides a preliminary framework for understanding citizen engagement behaviors with government-hosted e-petitions and the dynamics that occur in the policy process.

COVID-19 and the New Pains of Imprisonment

Abstract As the COVID-19 pandemic upended life worldwide, prisons gained attention as epicentres for the virus. The focus was primarily on infections and death rates, often omitting the impact on incarcerated people. This study draws on semi-structured interviews (n = 58) with men imprisoned throughout the pandemic. Using and extending classic and contemporary theorizations of ‘the pains of imprisonment’, we find that official pandemic responses meant that (1) new, pandemic-related pains developed, (2) established pains changed in severity and took new manifestations, and (3) pains were experienced simultaneously and interactively. Thus, the pandemic amplified, diversified and compounded the pains of imprisonment. While most visible in the context of a large-scale crisis, these concepts provide an expanded, broadly applicable framing for future carceral scholarship.

Segregation and plague: King William's Town and the plague outbreaks of 1900-1907

Studies in the history of bubonic plague in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth revealed the close connection between the Victorian obsession with sanitation and the development of urban segregation in South Africa. The response of the medical officials and local authorities in the cities was mirrored in King William's Town, where racial prejudges were compounded by the Town Council's incompetence and reluctance to incur any expenditure from its own coffers.

Death at Dreamworld: Ten pathways to disaster and failure to learn

AbstractDeaths in workplace incidents – of both workers and members of the public – normally spark a number of official responses, including coronial inquests. In many instances, however, these investigations have examined the incident in isolation from the wider context of hazards in that industry and are rarely informed by the extensive research literature on health and safety, and death and disaster, at work. In this examination of a tragic theme park disaster in 2016, we demonstrate that applying a wider lens and drawing on the ‘ten pathways model’ not only provides a more compelling explanation of how and why safety measures failed but may also inform more fatality and injury prevention measures. Drawing on James Reasonʼs concept of latent failures, the ten pathways model identifies latent failures that are repeatedly associated with death and disaster in workplaces across different industries. Using the Dreamworld coronial inquest findings and other related source material, this paper finds that at least nine and possibly all ten pattern failures were present in the Thunder River Rapids ride disaster at the Dreamworld theme park and contributed to the deaths of four visitors. In particular, it highlights the corroding effects of poor maintenance, inadequate management systems, and regulatory failure. The paper also raises questions about why theme parks as high-hazard workplaces marked by injuries, deaths, and ‘near misses’ were not subject to more rigorous oversight prior to the event and how regulatory failures might best be addressed.

FRAMING, COUNTERFRAMING, AND DISCURSIVE FIELDS IN THE MOBILIZATIONS AGAINST CRIMINAL VIOLENCE IN MEXICO

In social movements literature, frame analyses have focused mainly on the strategic discourse of mobilized groups, a smaller proportion has discussed official frames, a minimal share has studied the dynamics of framing and counterframing, and barely a few studies have analyzed the development of discursive fields. This article broadens and deepens our understanding of discursive fields through a longitudinal analysis of four episodes of mobilization against criminal violence in Mexico. My main argument is that the discursive field of these movements has developed and transformed in a relational way from the framing and counterframing disputes between mobilized groups and governments, with observable changes in four dimensions: the central issue of the discussion, its participants, the diagnoses and proposed solutions, and the official responses to the protest. The article contributes to the literature by proposing an operationalization of the transformations in a discursive field that is useful for studying other social problems.

Testing influences of openness, conscientiousness, nationalism, media diversity, social class, and informational echo chambers on support for official responses to COVID-19 in Wuhan in November, 2020.

As the COVID-19 pandemic raged, controversies about governmental responses to the epidemic also emerged in China. Previous studies mainly described the phenomenon of individual differences on support for governmental responses to COVID-19 with less attention to the underlying causal mechanisms. Thus, this study tries to verify the factors influencing public support for official behaviors in COVID-19. A questionnaire survey was drew on in Wuhan city during the COVID-19 outbreak. The quota sampling method was adopted according to the gender and age structure of the population in Wuhan as well as the educational structure of the urban population in China. Through structural equation analysis, this study confirms that personal factors (namely conscientiousness and nationalistic ideology), behavioral factors (namely media diversity and echo chamber acts) exert significantly positive impacts on support for governmental responses. The echo chamber acts play important mediating roles in the relationship between each independent variable and support for governmental responses. The originality of this study is that it constructs a comprehensive model of influencing factors of support for governmental responses with the personal, behavioral, and environmental factors. While contributing insight to political attitude in China, the research results also have significance for promoting public trust and constructing healthy public opinion in China.

Women and Reproductive Health Challenges in Igboland: A Historical Study

The objective of the work is women and reproductive health challenges in south east, Nigeria. The research also treats the nature of reproductive health challenges in Igboland before and after 1970, and the official reaction to reproductive health challenges in contemporary Igboland. The research method employed was the qualitative analytical method which involved content analysis of relevant documentary data on the subject. The approach adopted was also thematic. The research findings indicate that reproductive health challenges in Igboland before and after 1970 can be classified into five, namely: genetic reproductive health challenge, witchcraft and curses, labor and accident, harmful socio-cultural practices, as well as infectious and communicable disease. The government response to reproductive health challenges includes the different frameworks for the protection of the reproductive health rights of women. These include the domestic instruments as well as the international instruments ratified by the government. The study observed that a number of factors inhibit the provision and availability of reproductive health rights in south east Nigeria, and it includes the social and economic factors as well as cultural and religious factors. It also argues that in spite of these challenges, some successes have been recorded as a result of the official responses to reproductive health challenges in Igboland. These include the elimination of child marriages, reduction in the violence against women and reduction of the harmful cultural practices, such as female genital mutilation (known as women circumcision) and polygamy.

Убийство В.В. Воровского и процесс Конради–Полунина 1923 года в восприятии российской социалистической эмиграции

The article dwells on the assassination of V.V. Vorovsky, head of the Soviet delegation at the international conference in Lausanne, on May 10, 1923 and on the trial of M. Conradi and A.P. Polunin as viewed by Russian socialist émigrés, i.e. members of the Socialist Revolutionary Party and social democrats (Mensheviks). This paper aimed to study the attitude of the socialist community of Russian émigrés towards individual political terror during the 1920s. The methodology is based on the principles of intellectual history, which allow us to shed some light on the perception of the 1923 Lausanne trial by analysing the confrontation and ideological struggle of certain political figures and civic groups for attention. The paper provides a brief description of the main works of Russian and foreign historians who studied the assassination of Vorovsky and the trial of his murderers. The context of the trial, the reaction of different émigré camps and the organization of Conradi and Polunin’s defence are analysed. The official response of the Foreign Delegation of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, reflected in the Revolutionary Russia journal, is noted. Particular attention is given to the unpublished article “Both Are Worse” (1923) by leader of the Russian Socialist-Revolutionary Party V.M. Chernov on the results of the trial in Lausanne. Chernov’s argumentation and his views on the fundamental differences between the pre-revolutionary Socialist Revolutionary terror and the assassination of Vorovsky are analysed. Chernov points out that Socialist Revolutionary and Narodnaya Volya’s terror stayed within a strict moral and ethical framework that forbade political assassinations on the territory of free democratic countries. Socialist Revolutionary terrorists had never followed the path of least resistance, proclaiming the idea of selfsacrifice. Chernov emphasizes that only those not involved in the White Terror can hold others accountable for the Red Terror. The paper considers the response of Russian social democrats abroad, in particular, leader of the émigré Mensheviks F.I. Dan’s article dedicated to the Lausanne trial. His thesis about the exclusive right of socialist parties to fight the Bolshevik dictatorship, without involving the White movement, is emphasized. A conclusion is drawn that Russian socialists abroad held a fundamentally unified position on resisting political terror.

Political Philosophy of Shaykhīsm: Conservative Nationalism in the Time of Crisis

AbstractMuḥammad Karīm Khān Kirmānī (d. 1871) wrote Khātamayah nāṣirīyyah (Naṣīrean Epilogue), a concise treatise of a few pages, in 1865 (eighteenth of Rajab of 1273 hijri); thirteen years after the emergence of the Bābī movement and seven years after the execution of Sayyid ʿAlī Muḥammad Shīrāzī (d. 1850) in Tabriz. In this treatise, he expresses his loyalty to both the fourth Qajar monarch, Nāṣir al‐Dīn Shah (d. 1896) and Twelver Shīʿīsm. Furthermore, he expounds on the political inclination of Kirmānī Shaykhīsm as well as the suspicious affiliation of his school with the Bābīs, which was a matter of speculation for the court. Khātamayah nāṣirīyyah, which took its name from the Shah, should be treated as Kirmānī's political manifesto, reflecting his uncomfortable attitude toward the presence of foreigners in a Muslim country, which was resented by the monarch as well. Kirmānī not only takes sides with him, but also warns him of the harm of becoming too close to infidels, which may even result in the dominance of kuffār on Muslim territories.Kirmānī's outlook toward politics was largely shaped by the Bābī movement. As no hint of having any political philosophy is traceable in his writings prior to 1260 H/1852, and since Khātamayah nāṣirīyyah was written shortly after the suppression of the movement, one can come to the conclusion that the socio‐religious anxiety and the radical tone of Bābīsm made him adopt such a conservative approach, which seemed to be the only tenable way of representing his patriotism. Moreover, Khātamayah nāṣirīyyah, should be treated as the official response of the Shaykhī school to the messianic radicalism of Shīrāzī and his followers. Khātamayah nāṣirīyyah has a sister text, Nāṣirīyyah dar jihād (Naṣīrean in Jihād), which was finished in the same year, although it is lengthier and discusses Jihād, inter alia, in a more nuanced way. In some copies, Nāṣirīyyah is published with Khātamah as its epilogue.In this paper, I will read and analyze both Khātamayah nāṣirīyyah and Nāṣirīyyah dar jihād to investigate Kirmānī's stance on politics, religion and nationalism. Relevant to this are his arguments against any probable affiliation with Bābīsm. As a product of its time, Khātamayah nāṣirīyyah reflects the concerns of a jurist‐theologian who was able to foresee how the religious messianism and social radicalism of Bābīsm and similar movements, can bring considerable changes to state, society and faith.

The reduction of effective feedback reception due to negative emotions in appeals

Citizens’ daily appeals are generally accompanied by negative sentiment, yet little is known about the impact of negative emotions on official response behaviors in a closed online environment. This study analyzed over 2.6 million environmental appeals and their handling records from China’s closed complaint platform to explore how individual negative emotions affect department response behaviors. The results showed that negative emotions could cause departments to respond more rapidly and decrease the likelihood of the citizens receiving department assistance. Whether the appeal can be handled efficiently also depends on the oversight of the department and the respondent’s implementation. Negative emotion towards the department is more likely to lead to a failed handling of the appeal. In addition, when citizens face serious hazards, such as health risks, negative emotions are understandable. Negative emotional appeals concerning health risks receive more time and effective intervention by departments. This paper sheds light on the role of negative emotions in shaping feedback and provides suggestions for improving individual appeal expression and departmental response behavior.

Whose disaster? Disaster response as a conflicted field between cooperation and competition

Disasters reveal solidarity as well as contestation in many different aspects. This article deals with the increasing significance of spontaneous volunteers (here non-official responders to disasters) and the resulting impacts on the established population protection system in Germany. Considering respective changes and differences, it explores subliminal and manifested conflicts among official and non-official responders. Based on a survey among disaster officials (n = 1957), qualitative interviews (n = 12) and workshop outcomes, the findings reveal competing opportunities to participate in disaster response, clashes of logics of disaster response practice, challenges in task distribution, and points of friction due to shared public recognition. This article uses a Bourdieusian lens to analyze these obstacles to cooperation against the background of habitus-related role expectations, shifting dispositions, newly emerging demands for official disaster response, and altered volunteering reward patterns and attractiveness. It concludes with a discussion on underlying hurdles for cooperation among different disaster responders, changing social norms as the significance of non-official volunteers increases, cascading effects of different conflict lines, and effects of societal dynamics on disaster response systems.

Revisiting packer’s models: Examining Nigeria's criminal justice system in the COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 era

This review study examines the administration of criminal justice process during and after COVID-19 era in Nigeria against the backdrop of two competing criminal justice process models: Crime control and Due Process. The outbreak of COVID-19 has pushed many countries, including Nigeria, to either reinforced or altered their criminal justice practices to reflect the reality of COVID-19. Arrest, detention and prosecution of offenders became clearly predicated only on the degree of seriousness and the overall interest of the society as against the previous practice that was predicated on ‘trump up charges’ and at the will and caprices of the operators of criminal justice system. The main question we ask here is: to what extent has COVID-19 mediated and impacted on the administration of criminal justice in Nigeria during and after the pandemic? Qualitative descriptive-narrative approach was adopted to synthesise the various data and sources (review of literature, reports from the media, reflective data and eye witness accounts) to account for what happened both during COVID-19 and post COVID-19 in the practice of criminal justice in Nigeria. Two dominant traditional ideologies/models (Crime Control and Due Process), and the less favoured one (punitive and nonpunitive victims' right models), interfaced at one point or the other and thus defined the character of criminal justice system in Nigeria 19 with crime control model however showing greater effects than others. The implication of our analysis is that during crisis, state and official's response to one of her crucial mandate oscillates and takes a paradigm shift form either mild to critical or severe as the case may be. The three models manifested in pre and COVID-19 criminal justice process eras though, crime control model remains a continuum and the dominant ideology which guides the operation of criminal justice system and process. Further implication is the imperative to improve the system by taking steps towards the direction of the non-punitive model of victims' rights which stresses crime prevention and restorative justice as the future value (ideology) for Nigerian criminal justice system.

Remembering the Recession: Marketplace and Status Quo Journalism

Ten years after the 2008 Great Recession, US media recalled the experiences and lessons learned from its aftermath. Among these was Marketplace's Divided Decade project, which spanned calendar year 2018 and included 66 discrete stories covering the impact on individuals and different sectors. The project cut across both Marketplace Morning and its evening broadcast Marketplace, both syndicated by American Public Media (APM). Marketplace appeals to a public radio audience of elite, educated listeners who are located away from financial power centers but still wield influence. This audience is larger than any other U.S. broadcast business program. Using theories of affect, this paper will demonstrate how Marketplace's recollection of a critical event continued to shape attitudes about the economy. By using critical discourse analysis (CDA), I unearth how power is reified through financial news reporting practices. Marketplace's focus on individual narratives decoupled the crisis from its structural context, while its reliance on economic policy leaders emphasized their affective memories and justified official responses. Divided Decade upheld the status quo by separating the impact of the crisis from the lives that were affected, while foreclosing alternative approaches to the problems the 2008 crisis laid bare.

Peasant Food Provision Strategies and Scientific Proposals for Famine Foods in Eighteenth-Century Sweden

The peasant diet during the Little Ice Age in Sweden was mainly grain-based (bread, gruel, and porridge), and the country was heavily dependent on grain imports to meet the population’s needs for food. During the eighteenth century in particular, when famines were frequent following failed harvests, Swedish peasants utilized a range of locally available resources to survive. Bark bread made of cambium (phloem) from Pinus sylvestris was, for example, commonly used as famine food. Scientists of the Enlightenment period and the state authorities tried to alleviate hunger and poverty through the introduction of new food resources and cooking techniques, including wild or agricultural plants such as lichens or potato, and the use of protein sources different from the traditional ones, such as horse meat. However, many of these proposals encountered strong resistance from the peasantry, and only at the end of the 1800s famines ceased to cause suffering in Sweden. Scientific studies have so far focused mainly on mortality, malnutrition, demography, and official responses to famines; yet the question of what the starving peasants gathered, prepared, and consumed is important for the understanding of the historical situation. Also, the difference between the scientific proposals and peasants’ decisions and choices must be clearly distinguished. This historical study using an ethnobiological approach discusses peasant subsistence strategies in Sweden in the eighteenth century using contemporary sources, which provide an opportunity to study how the population obtained foodstuffs, adapted their diet to available ingredients, and the interaction and conflicting views of peasants and scientists about new, science-based nutrition proposals.

Towards "All-round Cadres": Policy Priorities and Issue Diversity of Local Bureaucrats in China, 2005–19

Abstract: How do Chinese local political elites prioritise their attention in the one-party system? This study examines the issue diversity among China's local cadres by analysing the agendas of 707 local Party secretaries during their daily official activities from 2005 to 2019. Findings reveal that political and economic issues significantly dominate the secretaries' attention, overshadowing other niche topics. Yet after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012, there has been an increase in the secretaries' focus on Party affairs while there has been a decline in their focus on economic issues, leading to fragmented attention and disproportionate changes. These findings not only highlight the tension between the broader Party reforms and the actual responses of local officials, but also suggest the CPC's efforts to reshape the bureaucratic system by transforming local cadres into "all-rounders" capable of addressing diverse challenges while maintaining strong political leadership and loyalty.