Redundancy and reducibility in the formats of spatial representations

Mental representations are the essence of cognition. Yet, to understand how the mind works, we must understand not just the content of mental representations (i.e., what information is stored), but also the format of those representations (i.e., how that information is stored). But what does it mean for representations to be formatted? How many formats are there? Is it possible that the mind represents some pieces of information in multiple formats at once? To address these questions, I discuss a ‘case study’ of representational format: the representation of spatial location. I review work (a) across species and across development, (b) across spatial scales, and (c) across levels of analysis (e.g., high-level cognitive format vs. low-level neural format). Along the way, I discuss the possibility that the same information may be organized in multiple formats simultaneously (e.g., that locations may be represented in both Cartesian and polar coordinates). Ultimately, I argue that seemingly ‘redundant’ formats may support the flexible spatial behavior observed in humans, and that we should approach the study of all mental representations with this possibility in mind.

Drawing as a method of researching social representations

This paper explores the possibilities of drawing as a method of researching social representations. The theory of social representations focuses on studying the forms, contents, and functions of socially shared common knowledge. In this paper, we (1) present the central premises of social representations theory, (2) elaborate drawing as a visual research method, and (3) synthesize how the drawing method may promote and diversify our understanding of social representations. We suggest that the drawing method is especially fruitful in the analysis of objectification process (how something abstract is made tangible); cognitive polyphasia (the idea of the simultaneous existence of diverse and contradicting social representations); and the different levels of analysis in which social representations become observable: ontogenesis (individual level), microgenesis (social interaction level), and sociogenesis (societal level). Through these insights, this paper advances the current understanding of the drawing method in qualitative social representations research.

Recalibrating Our Levels of Analysis: Working towards Islamic Democracy from the Ground-Up

This review article aims to challenge Andrew March’s pessimism regarding the possibility of Islamic democracy in the modern world. It will argue that instead of conceptualizing the possibilities for Islamic democracy in a top-down manner, rooted in the language and imaginary of sovereignty, discussions about Islamic democracy ought to first focus on more empirically measurable and less theologically controversial things such as economic development, educational achievement, institutional functionality, and good governance. Such an approach removes the need for future Islamic political theorizing to be post-sovereigntist and/or post-statist as March contends. Instead, the future of Islamic political theorizing needs to actually be ‘political,’ addressing the same policy and administrative issues that any other form of contemporary democratic political thought aims to address.

Challenges of impact assessment in Social Innovation: A qualitative study from two European rural regions

Over recent years, various approaches to assessing the impacts of social innovation (SI) have developed without a uniform method having arisen. There are some issues around how impacts can be assessed, connected with the questions on the nature of impacts, the levels of analysis and effects of a purely positivist approach to impact assessment. While attempting to assess such impacts, various SI initiatives face the diversity of challenges. To this end, the aim of the article is to investigate the experience of said initiatives promoting social innovation related to impact assessment of social innovation. The paper is based on an empirical study conducted with the local development associations and local action groups involved in social innovation projects in two rural regions of Austria and Portugal. The results indicate that, despite recognising the importance of impact assessment regarding social innovation activities and the opportunities it provides, local organisations in question face many challenges in assessing the impacts of social innovation, including conceptual and practical difficulties.

Behind the Cancellation of Green Refinery Cooperation Between Pertamina and Eni

Pertamina and Eni faced double strike problems. The Italian government did not grant the license for building Indonesian crude palm oil (CPO) based green finery to Eni-Pertamina as most Indonesian CPO producers do not possess RSPO certificates and the EU restricts the use of CPO. The policies resulted in opportunities loss for Pertamina and Eni in 2019. This qualitative paper examined the logical reasons behind the Italian government decision by two levels of analysis, domestic and regional locus. The finding shows that domestically, political circumstances among parties and figures, other than CPO commodities farmers, played a significant role in the cancellation. The historical instability in Italy domestic political situation also brought it closer to revocation. On another level, the ups and downs of Italy-the EU relations before and during Conte I and Conte II government were a regional reason behind it.

Il quotidiano alla prova della geografia sociale: riflessioni liminari

Geography is certainly a discipline little loved by the public, even though the spatial dimension of societies is an element of fundamental importance in people’s life. This contribution aims to show how this spatial dimension is omnipresent in the daily life of people, societies and territories and tries to illustrate the specific approach of social geography in analyzing these phenomena. We will focus primarily on the manifestations of daily life that can be read with the gaze of social geography. We will then refer to the perspective of this discipline and we will go through its different levels of analysis, to finally arrive at outlining the most used methodologies and tools for conducting studies and research.

Interdisciplinary, International Exploration to Strengthen Creativity, Giftedness and Leadership

Creativity, giftedness, and leadership are complex, important phenomena, especially in the threatening turbulence of 21st-century conditions; consequently, there is an increasing need to understand how to strengthen them. We can learn much about these phenomena from within the borders of specialized disciplines; however, they are too complex and multifaceted to fit within the walls of disciplinary silos. Interdisciplinary explorations can reveal theories and research findings that expand our knowledge bases about creativity, giftedness, and leadership. This analysis includes the rationale for engaging in interdisciplinary investigations for these purposes. It includes examples of the ways in which interdisciplinary thinking invigorates creativity and cognitive diversity; illuminates the benefits of visual–spatial gifts that strengthen the development of important talents in gifted students who can go on to become creative leaders; and shows how human rights can be strengthened by constraining economic and political corruption. It also describes the benefits of using interdisciplinary navigation through different levels of analysis, each of which includes a number of academic disciplines.

Social Learning for Energy Transition—A Literature Review

With increasing concerns regarding environmental sustainability, energy transition has emerged as a vital subtopic in transition studies. Such socio-technical transition requires social learning, which, however, is poorly conceptualized and explained in transition research. This paper overviews transition research on social learning. It attempts to portray how social learning has been studied in the context of energy transition and how research could be advanced. Due to the underdevelopment of the field, this paper employs a narrative review method. The review indicates two clusters of studies, which portray both direct and indirect links concerning the phenomena. The overview reveals that social learning is a force in energy transition and may occur at different levels of analysis, i.e., micro, meso, and macro, as well as different orders of learning. The author proposes to develop the academic research on the topic through quantitative and mixed-methods research as well as contributions and insights from disciplines other than sociology and political science. Some relevant topics for further inquiry can be clustered around: orders of social learning and their antecedents in energy transition; boundary-spanning roles in social learning in the context of energy transition; social learning triggered by stories about energy transition; and other theoretical underpinnings of energy transition research on social learning.

La lingua nella riflessione di Vittore Pisani

The paper focusses on Vittore Pisani’s considerations about the nature of language and speech. A renowned scholar in historical linguistics, Pisani made nospecific contribution to theoretical topics. Nevertheless, in a series of passages from some of his papers the creative role of speakers and hearers is emphasized, and the observation is made that the products of their linguistic activity can be the models for new speech acts. For Pisani speech acts within a given social aggregate can be investigated to describe what they have in common at the various levels of analysis, and the results of this investigation can be organized into a “system of isoglosses”, which represent what is called a language. So, language is not an ideal entity with an autonomous existence and is organized regardless of the individual speech acts, but it is the result of a reconstruction that can vary according to the data on which it is based. Such a conception is in line with contemporary sociolinguistic and pragmatic research.

Integrative Analysis of Molecular and Physiological Data to Quantify Biological Aging

Development of reliable and valid measurements to quantify biological aging is a critical frontier geroscience. Originating in accumulations of molecular changes, biological aging undermines resilience within cellular networks and organ systems, driving disease, disability, and mortality. Measurements of biological aging have been proposed at several molecular and physiological levels of analysis. But agreement between measures implemented at different levels of analysis is low. The timing at which aging processes manifest at different levels of biological organization may vary, with the result that signs of aging manifest in one level of analysis are not yet observable in another. And different aging processes may be most apparent in different molecular levels of analysis. In midlife humans, aging-related changes are manifest at multiple molecular and physiological levels, making this population ideal for development of measurements that integrate information across levels of analysis to more precisely quantify the state and pace of biological aging.