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Corpus linguistics and climate communication
No full textIn this article, I examine corpus-based climate communication as a key area of contemporary discourse studies. First, through an exploration of corpus linguistics, I outline how its constituent techniques can play a role in investigating climate-related discourses and meaning-making. I then review the development of corpus-based climate discourse research and present a focused case study of public-oriented climate research communication. This case study shows how corpus and discourse approaches can be used flexibly to analyse the construction and framing of climate knowledge for non-specialist audiences. In closing, I argue for the need to enhance our understanding the discursive construction of climate communication issues, and call for further multilingual and interdisciplinary research on climate communication, particularly in the domain of public-oriented research communication
Digital Real-Time Simulation Advancing Education and Training on Power and Energy Systems
Get PDFTackling the challenges of the energy transition requires a skilled workforce and advanced educational and training tools. During the previous years, a relatively large number of institutions have acquired Real-Time Simulators, in both academia and industry. However, this is mainly used for practical studies and research, while the use of real-time Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) simulation for education and training is rather limited at the moment. In this framework, this work investigates the potential of using HIL simulation for education and training purposes on power and energy topics in both academia and industry. Selected reference experiences of the Task Force members are presented along with learners' feedback to substantiate the effectiveness of the approaches. Particular attention is given to training and education at industrial level, which has not been adequately addressed in the literature, so far. The use of remote laboratories and safety concerns are also addressed
Empowering people and communities? The power of stories in asset-based approaches to health inequalities
Get PDFIn response to the global impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, many national governments have implemented ‘fiscal consolidation’ measures, invoking long-standing neoliberal discourses which advocate reduction in public services and state welfare support. Meanwhile, assets-based approaches to health, including voluntary welfare provision, have gained traction internationally, proposed as a means to reduce health inequalities by ‘empowering’ people and communities. Presenting evidence from an ethnographic psycho-social study of volunteer experiences within two voluntary organisations, working within disadvantaged communities in northern England, this paper interrogates the notion of community empowerment, examining how power dynamics emerge in everyday practices and discourses. We identify two different narratives within these settings: redemption stories and collective victimhood. While these may offer some psychological refuge from dominant discourses which blame and shame people experiencing poverty, they also serve to reinforce perceptions of individual responsibility, failure, and powerlessness.
We conclude that assets-based approaches can only fulfil their potential if they are resourced and delivered in ways that are sensitive and responsive to the reproduction of power relations within the organisational setting and in the wider contexts of people's lives. This requires critical attention to the underlying values and paradigms underpinning such interventions
The Role of Transformative Learning in Mediating the Entrepreneurial Orientation-International Performance Relationship: A Three-Country Study
No full textDrawing on the organizational learning theory, the focus of this study is to investigate how transformative learning (TL) mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and international performance (IP). We use a quantitative approach based on 261 internationalized small- and medium-sized enterprises located in the US, UK, and UAE. The results support the mediating role of TL and suggest that EO does not directly influence IP, but TL mediates the relationship. Subsequently, EO influences TL, which affects IP. The relationship between EO and IP is arguably the most critical question of entrepreneurial research and has been studied extensively by past scholars. This study proposes that the conflicting results may originate from the presence of a mediating variable that influences this important relationship. The discovery of a full mediation fills the existing literature gaps and provides practical implications for SME managers seeking to enhance their international performance through strategic learning initiatives
Bridging the experience gap: cognitive biases and heuristics in the internationalization of small firms
Get PDFPurpose – Research on early internationalization in smaller firms has primarily focused on initial market entry, often neglecting responses to adverse post-entry events. This paper addresses the gap between entrepreneurial internationalization and small business survival by examining both initial and post-entry stages through decision-maker cognition. Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual paper develops a cognition-based decision framework that explains how cognitive biases influence pre- and initial entry decisions, and evolve in response to post-entry negative events. It introduces the “experience gap paradox”- a misalignment between personal experience and required international market experience – as a key driver of biased judgment. The framework links non-contextualized pre-entry experience with post-entry decision-making, offering testable propositions on the dynamic interplay between biases, heuristics, and internationalization decisions. Findings – This model supports the argument that heuristic decision-making is contingent upon context-specific prior experience, which leaders of small firms typically lack pre-entry, causing them to develop and rely on decision biases. Originality/value – This article contributes by exploring how cognitive heuristics and biases evolve in decision-making across the pre-entry and post-entry stages of internationalization, with a focus on smaller firms-particularly International New Ventures (INVs). It provides a comprehensive understanding of the “experience gap paradox” and its influence on entrepreneurial internationalization, offering insights relevant to small firms' adaptive decision-making and survival
Rethinking U-Net architecture in medical imaging: Advancing the efficient and interpretable UKAN-CBAM framework for colorectal polyp segmentation
Get PDFPrompt detection of colorectal polyps is essential for preventing colorectal cancer, a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. However, manual detection through medical imaging faces significant challenges, including high costs, reliance on skilled endoscopists, and susceptibility to errors, which can result in missed diagnoses and adverse health outcomes. This study proposes UKAN-CBAM, an advanced semantic segmentation framework that combines Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (KANs) with Convolutional Block Attention Modules (CBAM) within a U-Net architecture. This two-phase encoder-decoder design integrates convolutional and tokenized KAN blocks to leverage the efficiency of KANs and the feature refinement capabilities of CBAM, achieving superior segmentation performance with enhanced interpretability and compactness. The framework was trained on the Kvasir-SEG dataset and validated across external datasets, including CVC-ClinicDB, CVC-ColonDB, EndoScene, PolypGen, ETIS-LaribPolypDB, and Piccolo. In addition, 10-fold cross-validation was performed to ensure robustness and generalization. UKAN-CBAM outperformed state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods, achieving an mDice of 93.80%, an mIoU of 89.18%, a precision of 95.65%, a recall of 92.02%, and an accuracy of 96.21%. It also demonstrated computational efficiency, requiring only 55.99 MB of memory and 5.214 GFLOPs, and achieved inference speeds of 122.272 ms per prediction. The feature maps, heatmaps, and Grad-CAM showed that the model focuses on key regions, whereas the ablations highlight the importance of configuration for robustness. Paired t-tests with P values, confidence intervals, and standard deviations, along with 10-fold cross-validation, further confirmed that the reported improvements were statistically significant and not due to chance. Strong generalization across diverse image and video datasets and real-time capabilities provide an effective and reliable tool for clinical applications. This integration of attention mechanisms and interpretability represents a significant step forward in medical diagnostics. Code availability: https://github.com/Faysal425/UKAN_CBAM_Segmentatio
Re-framing Fashion Education: How can Higher Education Support the Digitalisation of the Fashion Industry
Get PDFFashion stands at a critical juncture, facing urgent sustainability challenges while undergoing rapid digital transformation across the entire value chain and education systems. This research explores the intersection of digitalization and sustainability within UK fashion higher education, assessing, exploring and understanding the need to modernize curricula and equip graduates with the digital skills necessary to drive industry-wide change. Despite the potential of digital tools such as 3D prototyping, AI-driven supply chains, and virtual fashion design to reduce waste and carbon footprints, fashion education remains largely entrenched in outdated, and unsustainable practices.
Drawing from an extensive career spanning fashion design, sustainability, and academia, this study offers a unique, practice-led perspective on the barriers and opportunities of integrating digital technologies into fashion education. Using a qualitative research approach of constructivist grounded theory and institutional ethnography, the study captures the experiences of academics, technicians, and graduates navigating this transition. Through semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and field notes, it reveals the institutional, cultural, and technical challenges that make up the context of the digitalisation of fashion higher education.
This research highlights a significant gap in the literature on the digitalization of fashion curricula and its role in enabling sustainable practices. While some leading institutions have begun embedding digital tools, many UK fashion programs remain rooted in traditional methodologies, failing to prepare students for an industry increasingly shaped by technology and environmental responsibility. The findings offer critical insights into how higher education can drive systemic change, fostering a new generation of fashion professionals equipped to balance creativity, sustainability, and digital innovation.
By bridging this knowledge gap, this study provides insights on the future of fashion education, where digitalization is not just an enhancement but a necessity for sustainability
Connecting Meaningful Work with Diversity, Equality and Inclusion: Introducing the ‘Inequalities in Meaningful Work’ Framework
No full textWhilst meaningful work literature has acknowledged the topic of diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI), it has yet to properly theoretically and practically connect with it. There is an opportunity to contribute more significantly to the grand challenge of reducing social and economic inequalities by refocusing and expanding meaningful work debates from a DEI perspective. In this chapter, I do so by introducing the ‘Inequalities in Meaningful Work’ framework which integrates a range of relevant theoretical perspectives from different disciplines to elucidate how meaningful work may be involved in a wider ecosystem of inequality that increases the vulnerabilities for minoritized groups of workers. I outline four key propositions underpinning this framework and suggest significant areas to focus on that will enable an inclusive approach to meaningful work. These opportunities align managerial practice and the dimensions of meaningful work that could ‘break the cycle’ of inequality and enable all people to experience meaningful work. I hope the framework inspires other researchers to examine the interplay between inequality, workplace DEI, and minoritized identities in relation to meaningful work
The Self-Preservation Perspective of the MNE Applied in an Emerging Transnational Social Space: A New Theoretical Lens For Analyzing Anti-Societal Firm Behavior
Get PDFThis article unveils a new way of theorizing the multinational enterprise (MNE) to explain why it may
engage in ‘anti-societal’ behavior – i.e. behavior that may systematically lead to negative societal
outcomes, such as environmental degradation, poor working conditions, or antitrust violations. Our
new ‘self-preservation perspective’ of the MNE holds that MNEs exert their relative political power to
protect their market position, assets, and strategic advantages from political and economic threats. In
doing so, negative societal outcomes can result, not as anomalies but rather a structural phenomenon
rooted in the firm’s intrinsic drive for survival. Drawing on insights from institutional economics and
international relations theory, we argue that self-preservation behavior is more fundamental than
profit-maximization behavior, which has long been assumed to be the primary motive of MNEs. We
shed new light on why MNEs engage with transnational social spaces through an illustrative case of
Tesla's anti-union activities in Sweden. We observe how self-preservation has influenced
Tesla’s resistance to signing collective bargaining agreements in Sweden and has led to the emergence
of a self-interested transnational regulatory community that deteriorates labor rights. Thus, we posit
that the self-preservation perspective offers a powerful complement to existing international business
theory by providing a critical analytical lens on the societal role of MNEs in the context of the ‘grand
challenges’. This alternative perspective challenges conventional narratives of MNE behavior as
primarily cost-efficient, value-creating or innovative, and demonstrates that MNE anti-societal
behavior is structural rather than isolated to a few individual cases
Intersecting Perspectives: Reading Food and Trauma in Diana Abu-Jaber’s Narratives
Get PDFThis thesis examines the intersection of food and trauma in Diana Abu-Jaber’s fiction and nonfiction works: Crescent, The Language of Baklava: A Memoir with Recipes, Birds of Paradise, and Life Without a Recipe: A Memoir. It locates trauma and food as the common threads running through the four works within the scope of Arab-American and multicultural diasporic experiences. Trauma is addressed through the optics of personal conflicts, wars, displacement, illness, and death while food as a trope and a theme assumes diverse forms of representation and meanings that illuminate the body as a critical site of experience. This study deploys an interdisciplinary theoretical and critical approach that synthesises perspectives on trauma, food, and diaspora in each chapter. Trauma is treated within the non-Western context, victim, and perpetrator experiences while communicating its psychic, physical, and textual dimensions. Food is complexly discussed vis-à-vis acts of preparation, consumption, refusal, hunger, and the intergenerational transmission of gastronomic knowledge. The thesis demonstrates how the concepts of migration, transnationalism, exile, home, identity, and memory intertwine with the portrayal of food and trauma to complicate the discussion of the various aspects of the characters’ experiences in each account. The aim behind this research is to understand how Abu-Jaber weaves narratives of the wound around food metaphors to uncover the multiple layers of meaning while pushing the limits of reading and analysing her writings. The significance of my work lays in blurring the dividing lines between diverse disciplines, theoretical and critical frameworks, and different writing genres to explore new areas of knowledge. I argue that the intersection of food and trauma provides a fresh angle to contemplate complex diasporic experiences while problematising the representation of both terms and giving rise to new meanings and interpretative engagements