Higher Education Students’ Reflective Journal Writing and Lifelong Learning Skills: Insights From an Exploratory Sequential Study

Reflective journal (RJ) writing has been recognized as an effective pedagogical tool for nurturing students’ lifelong learning skills. With the paucity of empirical work on the dimensionality of reflective writing, this research sought to qualitatively analyze students’ RJ writing and design a generic reflection scheme for identifying dimensions of reflective thinking. Drawing on the theoretical scheme, another aim was to design and validate a questionnaire to measure students’ perceptions of their reflective writing experiences. The last aim was to quantitatively measure the link between perceived reflective writing and students’ tendency to use RJs in their future careers and personal lives. This exploratory sequential research included the following steps: First, experts’ review and analysis of 1312 RJ entries were attained. This step led to the design of a theoretical scheme of reflective writing and a 31-item questionnaire, used to gather data from 171 students (second-year pre-service teachers and third-year health managers). Partial Least Squares analysis corroborated the structure suggested by the theoretical scheme: two timelines–reflections regarding the current course assignments and those related to the student’s future development. Students’ tendency to use reflective skills in their future professional lives was highly connected to their long-term reflections, including learning experiences linked to academic, professional, personal, and multicultural development. The current study’s suggested validated generic scheme can be adapted and integrated into different curricula, thereby possibly increasing the potential of infusing RJ instructional strategies into higher education curricula, improving the quality of reflection in student journals, and promoting lifelong learning skills.

Lobster Distribution and Biodiversity on the Continental Shelf of Brazil: A Review

The continental shelf of Brazil is home to a wide range of lobster species, with varying body size, color, habitat preference, and geographic and bathymetric distribution. Spiny lobsters (Panulirus) and slipper lobsters (Scyllaridae) are exploited for export and for the domestic market. Deep sea lobsters (Nephropidae and Polychelidae) have no commercial potential, and little is known about their biology. In this review, we identified 24 lobster species from benthic ecosystems off Brazil (Palinuridae 25%, Scyllaridae 29%, Nephropidae 25%, Polychelidae 17%, Enoplometopidae 4%). We designed a simplified theoretical scheme to understand the role of lobsters in the ecosystem, based on available evidence of distribution, biodiversity, life cycle, connectivity, and abundance. Finally, we propose a theoretical scheme of trophic top-down control, with interactions between a large decapod (spiny lobster), a demersal predator (red snapper), an apex predator (small tuna), benthic invertebrates and fishing exploitation.

Introduction on time flow patterns, retrocausality, and meta-reality

This short argument paper elaborates the argument of retrocausality in human cultural-civilizational continuum based on the concept of bidirectional time flow. The first chapter presents the bidirectional time flow idea and explains it. The second chapter presents and explains the theoretical scheme of retrocausality, demonstrating the total singularity - the noosphere - as the final perceived stage in cultural-civilizational human development as the super-set to current linear time based human existence, which could transparently perceive and manipulate both directions of temporal flows of our lived continuum. The conclusion is made that retrocausality is possible due perception model allowing to grasp the past and the future as open sequences within given temporal and spatial boundaries.

Drivers to implement the circular economy in born-sustainable business models: a case study in the fashion industry

PurposeThis study aims to identify the drivers for adopting the circular economy (CE) in a born-sustainable business of the fashion sector.Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory case study was carried out with a unique and relevant case: the only Brazilian company implementing circularity practices defined through a sectoral commitment, the 2020 Circular Fashion System Commitment.FindingsFrom an analysis of the literature, a theoretical scheme composed of internal and external drivers is proposed. In the case studied, there is a prevalence of internal drivers that led the company to implement the CE. Most of the internal drivers described by the literature were identified in this research, except for two: profitability and available technology. Regarding the external drivers, of the 12 listed, only laws and regulations were identified. Thus, the results suggest that internal drivers are more numerous and may be more prominent than external ones for CE adoption in the born-sustainable business.Research limitations/implicationsDue to its exploratory design and unique case study, the research does not allow generalizations, suggesting replication with a larger number of companies and carrying out quantitative research with born-sustainable companies and incumbent companies, for comparison. Considering that there is a difference between companies that decide for sustainable practices and companies that were already born sustainable, it can be questioned if the drivers for implementing CE for both companies are also different.Originality/valueThis study proposes a theoretical scheme that indicates the main internal and external drivers for companies' CE implementation. Developed from a literature review and applied in an empirical case, this scheme is comprehensive and can be adopted to analyze companies of different sizes and industries. Hence, this paper generates new perspectives for CE literature.

Psychological theory as administrative politics: Boris Lomov’s systems approach in the context of the Soviet science establishment

The article is a study into the advent of the ‘systems approach’ in Soviet psychology in the 1970s. This arose mainly through the theoretical publications of B. F. Lomov, written after he had been appointed director of the newly established Institute of Psychology. These publications are examined as reflections of those interests related to the sociopolitical role of the director of this leading psychology institution, which was officially charged with building a common theoretical and methodological framework for all Soviet psychology. The main goal of these texts, predetermined by the role of their author, was to advance a theoretical scheme that made possible a formal unification of the schools of psychology, and which at the same time promoted an image of psychology as a research field that was both capable of achieving practically applicable results and compatible with the new ‘big science’ trend.

On the relationship between gas emission from undermined coal-bearing stratum and the intensity of coal seam mining

A theoretical scheme of gas release from the coalbed under production by treatment workings has been developed. The sizes of zones of different intensity of gas release from the working thickness are set according to the characteristic points of muld shift of the earth's surface. Total amount of releasing gas is determined by the area of the developed space, over which there is an intensive movement of the mined coal. The formation of this area is associated with the development of cleaning operations within the boundaries of the excavation site and the speed of movement of the treatment face. During the development of the theoretical scheme, several assumptions were made, the validity of which was verified on the basis of experimental data obtained in the conditions of four mines at fifteen excavation sites. Coal seams with coals of grades G and A were worked out by them at a depth of 300-1195 m, the capacity of coal seams was 0.90-2.20 m, cleaning works were carried out at a depth of 300-1195 m, the length of the lavas was in the range of 74÷270 m. The monthly movement of the treatment faces and the amount of gas released during this period were taken into account for each excavation site. It is established that the relative gas release per unit area of the developed space remains a fairly constant value for some mining and geological conditions, if the total amount of gas is attributed to the area that determines the active movement of rocks over a moving treatment face. This allows you to use the previously obtained results of determining the categorical danger of mines by relative gas release per ton of coal production in terms of improving the forecast of gas release from the coalbed under production more efficiently.

Colloquium 3 Questioning Aristotle’s Radical Account of Σωφροσύνη

This paper investigates Aristotle’s canonical analysis of σωφροσύνη in Nicomachean Ethics 3.10–12 against the background of earlier and subsequent uses, and analyses of the virtue term. It argues that Aristotle’s is an outlier, brilliant but factitious, created to fit a theoretical scheme rather than reflect Greek understanding. Aristotle obscures the creativity of his account, presenting it as an ordinary language conceptual clarification that it is not. Many contemporary readers accept Aristotle’s narrow theory—that σωφροσύνη is moderation with respect to those pleasures of touch related to nutrition and reproduction—as true, which may indicate that they are insufficiently familiar with fifth- and fourth-century literary, intellectual, and philosophical uses of the term. An important problem with this acceptance is that it prevents readers from recognizing the equal plausibility of non-Aristotelian accounts of σωφροσύνη, for example those found in Plato’s Charmides and other dialogues.

Introduction

The Introduction follows a spiral movement beginning with the author’s motivation for choosing this area of study and moving into locating the themes of the study within the context of related literature. It narrows down the theoretical area from the broader field of new religious movements to Pentecostal–Charismatic Christianity and to more specifically the neo-Pentecostal movement. Thus the basic premises that gird this study and the reasons for choosing the theoretical and geographical fields of the study are highlighted. Thereafter, the physical area is explored by locating the fieldwork. The narration of the author’s field experiences takes one deeper into the personal space of the identity of the author both as a native anthropologist and an outsider. The chapter ends with the theoretical scheme of the book by outlining the chapters.