Complex Relationship Research Articles

Working the Paradox with Dorothy Smith

In this reflective account, I revisit my geopolitical location, earlier life and career, and academic journey using the ideas of feminist theorist Dorothy Smith as an interpretive frame. Her theorizing and methodology have been transformative, particularly in relation to gaining insight into a paradox. In order to undertake community-engaged research, poorly recognized by traditional academic expectations of scholarship, I had to find a way to survive within the very institution that devalued this approach. Smith’s conceptual contributions, particularly her regard for women as subjects (not objects) and experts of their lives, encouraged me to undertake this reflection. And her theorizing of how women’s local everyday experiences are connected to complex relations of ruling have brought me new insights. While I had no direct connection with Smith, I experience her passions and ideas as a form of feminist solidarity.

Analyzing racial disparities in the United States homeownership: A socio-demographic study using machine learning

While increasing homeownership has been a focal point for policymakers in the United States, the distribution of access to homeownership opportunities across all families within the country has not been equitable. The complex relation between social factors and economic conditions has significantly shaped the journey toward homeownership. Of particular concern is the persistent disparity in homeownership rates among Black households in the United States. Effectively addressing these disparities within urban communities necessitates comprehensive policy interventions and social initiatives. However, the success of such endeavors hinges upon a comprehensive grasp of the underlying causes of these inequalities. Drawing upon machine learning techniques, our analysis of national American Housing Survey data reveals clear evidence for the multifaceted and socio-demographic nature of racial disparities in homeownership within the United States. Our findings provide evidence for two previously obscured patterns. First, we observe that race-related risk factors, separate from household characteristics, are heterogeneous, not uniformly affecting all households. Specifically, our analysis highlights: (1) there is a geographical variations in how race-related risk factors contribute to racial inequality, and (2) households with lower educational attainment are potentially at increased risk of discrimination. Second, our findings underscore the potential of policies and social programs aimed at enhancing educational attainment to bridge the racial gap through two mechanisms: (i) mitigating vulnerability by alleviating race-related risk factors, and (ii) suppressing the compounding effects of racial disparities.

‘Making-remote’ as an Alternative to Realism in Late Palaeolithic Cave Art: Representations of the Human at the Threshold of Appearance

Abstract I initiate the concept of ‘making-remote’ to capture various strategies for representing the human in late Palaeolithic cave art. Drawing out the role of remoteness within phenomenological accounts of perception (Husserl and Merleau-Ponty), as well as offering an analysis of a wide range of archaeological evidence, I argue that realism does not capture the specificity of these human representations. In contrast to naturalistic animal representations, humans are consistently represented with a high degree of abstraction e.g. schematisation and abbreviation. I also argue for a site-specific distinction between deep caves and rock-shelters. Following Bourdier (2010) and Pinçon (2012), art at sites such as Roc-aux-Sorciers is best understood as stylised ‘public art’. Meanwhile, the highly expressive and realist art of La Marche is domestic in contrast to the exclusively symbolic art of deep caves. In conclusion I argue that ‘making-remote’ in cave art’s human representations exhibits complex relations to self and others.

SOME ASPECTS OF THE FORMATION OF A NEW BEHAVIORAL MODEL OF YOUTH IN AN ERA OF GROWING INTERNATIONAL CONTRADICTIONS

The article examines some aspects of the complex and controversial development process of the world, which increasingly affect the interests of the younger generation and determine the prospects for its future in the system of new emerging social relations. Transformations serve as an indicator of a change in society and forming a system of social relations. The author made attempts to analyze the impact of socio-political transformations, complex and contradictory international relations on the state of the youth environment and the formation of new elements of the behavioral model in it. These trends reflect the objective need to consider the special role of the identity of a new type of person and the components of behavior inherent in such a subject in the system of emerging social relations. Is the new generation able to create a stable and safe environment of human existence, adequate to complex challenges and crisis phenomena? In this regard, it is proposed to expand the scope of this very relevant topic in modern discourse.

University education, conflicts, borders and cooperation: interdisciplinary perspectives between Brazil and Ukraine

The dossier "University education, conflicts, borders and cooperation: interdisciplinary perspectives between Brazil and Ukraine" brings together national and international articles that problematize the complex relations of higher education in conditions of crisis, cross-border cooperation between cultures and fields of knowledge. With interdisciplinarity as a horizon, the manuscripts discuss how universities can build bridges across disciplinary boundaries in order to promote peaceful coexistence in regions marked by conflict and division. The texts address the potential of internationalization and university cooperation. Overall, this issue provides a thought-provoking and timely contribution to debates on the role of higher education in building more just and peaceful societies.

Public real estate returns and inflation shocks: The central role of inflation nonneutrality

AbstractWe study the comovement of public real estate returns and inflation shocks over 1981–2022, using both survey‐based expected inflation and the Consumer Price Index (CPI). We find a complex relation that is: strongly negative during weaker‐economic (WE) times over the 1980s and 1990s, when stagflation was more a concern; strongly positive during WE times over roughly 2000–2022, when low growth with low inflation tended to be more a concern; and marginally negative otherwise. Linking inflation to both macroeconomic fundamentals and real estate operational data, we show that inflation shocks comove with changing beliefs about the underlying economic‐growth state and/or the risk premium. Thus, we argue that inflation nonneutrality has a central role in understanding our findings.

Mapper–Type Algorithms for Complex Data and Relations

Mapper and Ball Mapper are Topological Data Analysis tools used for exploring high dimensional point clouds and visualizing scalar–valued functions on those point clouds. Inspired by open questions in knot theory, new features are added to Ball Mapper that enable encoding of the structure, internal relations and symmetries of the point cloud. Moreover, the strengths of Mapper and Ball Mapper constructions are combined to create a tool for comparing high dimensional data descriptors of a single dataset. This new hybrid algorithm, Mapper on Ball Mapper, is applicable to high dimensional lens functions. As a proof of concept we include applications to knot and game theory.

Tripe Soup at the Service Area: Thoughts on an Infrastructure of Meaningful Sociality

Abstract In this paper, I draw on ethnographic fieldwork (participant observation) carried out at a Bulgarian service area to argue that such spaces create a ‘meaningful sociality’ building on imagination and sensual experience, as well as on experiences of intersectional oppression or dominance. I draw on the history and adaptations of shkembeto (tripe soup) and my observations of its preparation and serving at one such service area. This soup, which is famous in Turkey and Bulgaria, offers some people disorienting sensory experiences that are associated with complex power relations, which makes the service area a site for reflection on discrimination and gender roles. The paper closes with reflections on the sociality of such places, which is ephemeral but meaningful both there and at home.

Knowledge-embedded constrained multiobjective evolutionary algorithm based on structural network control principles for personalized drug targets recognition in cancer

The structural network control principle for identifying personalized drug targets (SNCPDTs) is a kind of constrained multiobjective optimization (CMO) problem with NP-hard features, which makes traditional mathematical methods difficult to adopt. Therefore, this study designs a knowledge-embedded multitasking constrained multiobjective evolutionary algorithm (KMCEA) to solve the SNCPDTs by mining relevant knowledge. Specifically, the relationships between two optimization objectives (minimizing the number of driver nodes and maximizing prior-known drug-target information) and constraints (guaranteeing network control) are analyzed from the perspective of CMO. We find that two objectives are difficult to optimize; thus two single-objective auxiliary tasks are created to optimize two objectives respectively, so as to maintain diversity along the Pareto front. Furthermore, we find that two optimization objectives have a complex reverse relation and a simple positive relation with constraints, respectively; thus, a population initialization method and a local auxiliary task are designed for two single-objective auxiliary tasks, respectively, so as to improve the performance of the algorithm on two objective functions. Finally, KMCEA is used to solve two kinds of models with three kinds of datasets. Compared with various methods, KMCEA can not only effectively discover clinical combinatorial drugs but also better solve the SNCPDTs regarding convergence and diversity.

Complex Relation Embedding for Scene Graph Generation.

Given an input image, scene graph generation (SGG) aims to generate comprehensive visual relationships between objects in the form of graphs. Recently, more attention to the design of complex networks and complicated strategies has been paid to the long tail issue caused by the imbalanced class distribution. However, most existing methods adopt the concatenated features of two objects in real space as the final relation representation for a given triplet. We mainly argue that such a simple concatenation may neglect the importance of complex interactions between objects, which results in the diversity of visual relations. In addition, the representation learning in real space is also inadequate to express this property. To alleviate these issues, we seamlessly incorporate Hermitian inner product into existing models to facilitate the generation of scene graphs by learning Relation Embedding in Complex space (CoRE). More specifically, we first introduce the concept of complex-valued representations for entities and then formulate the relation triplets with Hermitian inner product in complex space. Finally, we investigate the effect of utilizing only real component or both of Hermitian inner product on inferring more reasonable interaction between objects for scene graphs. Comprehensive experiments on two widely used benchmark datasets, Visual Genome (VG) and Open Image, demonstrate our effectiveness, superiority, and generalization on various metrics for biased or unbiased inference.

THE IMPACT OF FLEXIBLE WORK ARRANGEMENTS ON SOCIAL SECURITY MANAGEMENT: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

The increasing prevalence of Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs), such as gig work, part-time work, and remote work, has raised concerns about the sustainability and adaptability of social security systems worldwide. This systematic review aims to examine the impact of these arrangements on social security programs. The problem statement emphasizes the importance of understanding the implications for social security, including changes in contributions, demographics, and the need for policy adaptation. Through a systematic approach, the review analyzes academic literature from Scopus and Econbiz databases, focusing on studies providing empirical insights into the effects of FWAs on social security systems. The findings of the review are synthesized from seven primary studies (n=7), revealing critical dimensions of the issue. Key among these is the challenges posed to social security programs, including reduced contributions due to irregular income patterns and demographic changes as the workforce ages. Additionally, the findings highlight the necessity for legal and policy adjustments to accommodate the nuances of FWAs. The review identifies several gaps in current research, particularly the need for more longitudinal studies to assess the long-term effects of FWAs on social security systems. Looking forward, this review suggests avenues for future research, emphasizing the importance of exploring the intersection of FWAs with technology and globalization. It also calls for more comprehensive studies on the efficacy of new policy adaptations in various socio-economic contexts. By offering a comprehensive understanding of how FWAs are reshaping global social security management, this review provides valuable insights for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners dealing with the dynamics of complex work and social welfare relations.

Long-term monitoring of large-scale magnetic fields across optical and near-infrared domains with ESPaDOnS, Narval, and SPIRou

Context. Dynamo models describing the generation of stellar magnetic fields for partly and fully convective stars are guided by observational constraints. Zeeman-Doppler imaging has revealed a variety of magnetic field geometries and, for fully convective stars in particular, a dichotomy: either strong, mostly axisymmetric, and dipole-dominated or weak, non-axisymmetric, and multipole-dominated. This dichotomy is explained either by dynamo bistability (i.e., two coexisting and stable dynamo branches) or by long-term magnetic cycles with polarity reversals, but there is no definite conclusion on the matter. Aims. Our aim is to monitor the evolution of the large-scale field for a sample of nearby M dwarfs with masses between 0.1 and 0.6 M⊙, which is of prime interest to inform distinct dynamo theories and explain the variety of magnetic field geometries studied in previous works. This also has the potential to put long-term cyclic variations of the Sun’s magnetic field into a broader context. Methods. We analysed optical spectropolarimetric data sets collected with ESPaDOnS and Narval between 2005 and 2016, and near-infrared SPIRou data obtained between 2019 and 2022 for three well-studied, active M dwarfs: EV Lac, DS Leo, and CN Leo. We looked for secular changes in time series of longitudinal magnetic field, width of unpolarised mean-line profiles, and large-scale field topology as retrieved with principal component analysis and Zeeman-Doppler imaging. Results. We retrieved pulsating (EV Lac), stable (DS Leo), and sine-like (CN Leo) long-term trends in longitudinal field. The width of near-infrared mean-line profiles exhibits rotational modulation only for DS Leo, whereas in the optical it is evident for both EV Lac and DS Leo. The line width variations are not necessarily correlated to those of the longitudinal field, suggesting complex relations between small- and large-scale field. We also recorded topological changes in the form of a reduced axisymmetry for EV Lac and transition from a toroidal-dominated to poloidal-dominated regime for DS Leo. For CN Leo, the topology remained predominantly poloidal, dipolar, and axisymmetric, with only an oscillation in field strength. Conclusions. Our results show a peculiar evolution of the magnetic field for each M dwarf individually, with DS Leo and EV Lac manifesting more evident variations than CN Leo. These findings confirm that M dwarfs with distinct masses and rotation periods can undergo magnetic long-term variations and suggest an underlying variety of cyclic behaviours of their magnetic fields.

Construct representation and predictive validity of integrated writing tasks: A study on the writing component of the Duolingo English Test

This study examined whether two integrated reading-to-write tasks could broaden the construct representation of the writing component of Duolingo English Test (DET). It also verified whether they could enhance DET’s predictive power of English academic writing in universities. The tasks were (1) writing a summary based on two source texts and (2) writing a reading-to-write essay based on five texts. Both were given to a sample (N = 204) of undergraduates from Hong Kong. Each participant also submitted an academic assignment written for the assessment of a disciplinary course. Three professional raters double-marked all writing samples against detailed analytical rubrics. Raw scores were first processed using Multi-Faceted Rasch Measurement to estimate inter- and intra-rater consistency and generate adjusted (fair) measures. Based on these measures, descriptive analyses, sequential multiple regression, and Structural Equation Modeling were conducted (in that order). The analyses verified the writing tasks’ underlying component constructs and assessed their relative contributions to the overall integrated writing scores. Both tasks were found to contribute to DET’s construct representation and add moderate predictive power to the domain performance. The findings, along with their practical implications, are discussed, especially regarding the complex relations between construct representation and predictive validity.

Disentangling the mechanism of student engagement in online language classrooms from the perspective of Community of Inquiry

Previous studies have revealed that students' participation is a complex matter affected by pedagogical, environmental, and individual factors. However, there is still insufficient empirical evidence regarding how those factors work in shaping classroom participation in the online context. In the field of language education, moreover, it still remains unclear as to how social interactions among students and teachers may affect students' cognitive engagement. To further understand the complex relations between language students' online engagement and the influencing factors, the current study conducted in-depth interviews with 24 university students enrolled in three online English courses in an International university in China. Analyses and interpretation of the qualitative data were informed by the Community of Inquiry framework. The findings suggest that students' engagement in online classrooms is a situated process affected by 1) pedagogical practices and support from teachers, which determines students' cognitive presence and perceived teaching presence directly, and 2) students' perceived social presence, which was shaped by both group dynamics and the online environment. Notably, the physically isolated online environment seemed to have played an impeding role in some students' cognitive engagement, but a facilitating a role in some others’, as mediated by their preference for social presence or absence. Overall, our study highlights the importance of providing students with a constructive, supportive and interactive environment for online language teaching and learning.

Performance evaluation of conductive materials in conductive mortar based on machine learning

Conductive mortar auxiliary anode (CMAA) is one of the main materials to realize stable operation of cathodic protection system. However, the conductive material in CMAA is complex and diverse, and its basic physical properties have a complex functional relation with the type and content of conductive material. At present, there is no uniform evaluation criterion, which can realize the evaluation of the action properties of different conductive substances. To address this issue, machine learning was proposed to establish predictive models between input and output factors. The SHAP-value was used to analyze the model's global and local features, and the partial dependency of prediction results. The results show that: on the basis of 241*3 groups of databases, the predictive performance analysis of RFR, GB, XGBoost and LGBM models shows that LGBM is the optimal model, and the determination coefficients of its training set and test set are 0.98 and 0.97, respectively. The LGBM model, combined with SHAP-Value analysis and PDP analysis, reveals the importance ranking of the input features that affect the compressive strength, and can also provide a quantitative evaluation of the effect of the input factors against the compressive strength, providing a new analysis method for material design and performance optimization.

Intersections of organizational citizenship behaviors and counterproductive work behaviors: Empirical evidence of moral licensing and cleansing theories

BACKGROUND: Our research offers an empirically supported contribution regarding the co-occurrence of Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs) and Counterproductive Work Behaviors (CWBs). Traditionally, OCBs and CWBs are considered to be mutually exclusive types of organizational behaviors. However, the same employee may engage in both behaviors, as explained by the moral licensing and cleaning theories. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the paper is to validate that the moral licensing theory (which posits that one may feel authorized to behave badly due to previous positive behaviors) and the moral cleansing theory (which posits feelings of guilt for previous negative behaviors) stand behind the paradox of an individual member of an organization engaging in both OCBs and CWBs. METHODS: The analysis is based on the findings from a questionnaire survey conducted on a sample of employees of local government units in Poland (N = 736). RESULTS: Our results show the positive relations between moral licensing and CWBs (the Abuse and Withdrawal dimensions) and between moral cleansing and OCBs (the Altruistic dimension), thus providing empirical evidence of both theories in an organizational context. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest complex relationships between positive and negative behaviors depending on whether employees feel authorized or not to compensate for positive behaviors or feel a moral obligation to repair for negative ones.

Problematic aspects of the implementation of legal guarantees of human and citizen rights in Ukraine

The article describes the basic rights and freedoms of a person and a citizen, which are inalienable rights and freedoms enjoyed by a person from birth. They form the basis of the legal status enshrined in the state constitution and enjoy the highest legal protection. The most important and complex relations between people and the relations between the state and the person in legal form are regulated by formulating the rights, freedoms and obligations underlying the legal status of a person, which is one of the most important not only legal, but also juridical. also political categories. The most important features of the rights and freedoms of a person and a citizen are: naturalness, continuity, equality, social justification, respect for international standards, state guarantee. The problem of guaranteeing the rights and freedoms of a person by giving them a real character is not only of a practical nature. In the modern context of the development of the rule of law and civil society, it is important to develop a holistic scientific concept of human rights and freedoms, which covers a wide range of theoretical provisions regarding the essence and content of rights and freedoms, their structure and mechanism. Local self-government bodies play an important role in ensuring constitutional rights and freedoms. A real environment for the existence of human rights is possible in the conditions of a democratic state governed by the rule of law. Democracy, rule of law and human rights are inseparable. The rule of law is a guarantee of the reality of human rights in terms of protection from violations by the authorities, and human rights are the main condition and characteristic of democracy, the humanistic and human dimension of the rule of law. The article concludes that the basis of democracy in the state is the guarantee of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen by the Constitution of the state, not only formally, but also in practice. Therefore, taking into account the individual shortcomings of state bodies in regulating the system of human and citizen rights, the number of human rights organizations is growing day by day, both at the national and international levels. At the same time, the article concludes that it is impossible to build a legal state in a society with developed legal nihilism. And respect for the rights of society can be caused only by concern for the same rights of people and citizens.

Temporal Scene Montage for Self-Supervised Video Scene Boundary Detection

Once a video sequence is organized as basic shot units, it is of great interest to temporally link shots into semantic-compact scene segments to facilitate long video understanding. However, it still challenges existing video scene boundary detection methods to handle various visual semantics and complex shot relations in video scenes. We proposed a novel self-supervised learning method, Video Scene Montage for Boundary Detection (VSMBD), to extract rich shot semantics and learn shot relations using unlabeled videos. More specifically, we present Video Scene Montage (VSM) to synthesize reliable pseudo scene boundaries, which learns task-related semantic relations between shots in a self-supervised manner. To lay a solid foundation for modeling semantic relations between shots, we decouple visual semantics of shots into foreground and background. Instead of costly learning from scratch as in most previous self-supervised learning methods, we build our model upon large-scale pre-trained visual encoders to extract the foreground and background features. Experimental results demonstrate VSMBD trains a model with strong capability in capturing shot relations, surpassing previous methods by significant margins. The code is available at https://github.com/mini-mind/VSMBD.

On the critical parameters for feasibility and advantage of air-breathing electric propulsion systems

In recent years, air-breathing electric propulsion emerged as a potential enabling technology for long-duration space missions in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO). In this work, we show how the complex relation between mission environment, spacecraft configuration, and propulsive performance can be associated to a single requirement for full air-breathing drag compensation, which becomes less stringent for higher VLEO orbits. The impact of the spacecraft shape and size on the performed analysis is then evaluated and the results compared with conventional electric propulsion solutions with stored propellant, showing how the adoption of air-breathing propulsion becomes more advantageous, from a volume and mass fraction perspective, when the spacecraft scale is reduced.

Participatory presence – social connectedness through collaborative art practices

ABSTRACT In a post-Covid context, the term presence has become the subject of renewed academic focus, amplified by mass phenomena such as Zoom fatigue and online classroom teaching. The prism of new materialism allows for a new reading of relationships between technology and human sensing, physical and virtual presence and copresence, with possible design implications: Current research in public health and social-environment discourse is interested in the effect of presence on well-being. As a theoretical framework, new materialism provides a lens that foregrounds complex relations between affect and technology, enabling us, through interventions like the KIMA: Colour participatory artwork, to interrogate the broad discourse on mediated presence and social connectivity. This paper provides an overview of the AHRC-funded research project, 'p_ART_icipate!', which is a collaborative investigation led by the University of Greenwich, CNWL NHS Foundation Trust, and Brunel University. This paper describes one of the case studies within the project, ‘KIMA Colour’, a collaboration with the art collective Analema Group, the National Gallery and the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB). The case study explores the effect of collective cultural experiences and participatory art on a sense of social connectivity and copresence. In collaboration with RNIB and a group of visually impaired individuals, the team asked how we can design meaningful and accessible online interfaces that actively contribute to a sense of ‘participatory presence’. Findings suggest a possible link between the experience, presence and social connectedness. This research aims to contribute to our understanding of participatory art and to provide recommendations for accessibility and facilitation designc for participatory online interfaces.