Conceptual framework

This chapter introduces the concepts of the interdisciplinary work of the BERAS study - food system, sustainability, localisation, recycling, interdisciplinarity and case study approach - and shows how they relate to one another

Conceptual Framework of Decentralization Policy : a Case of Local Government in Thailand

: This paper has three purposes. First, it aims to critically review the conceptual framework of decentralization policy of local government in Thailand. According to the scholars' perspective, the term “local government” is viewed as a self-governance. Thus, this paper presents a brief concept of Thai local government context consisting of general form –PAO, Municipality, SAO and special form-BMA and City of Pattaya. Second, this paper discusses decentralization policy in Thailand. In doing so, five major taxonomies of authority have been portrayed on governance and thought, infrastructure, economic, commerce and finance, society and quality of life, and natural resources and environment. Moreover, Two case studies are reviewed to illustrate decentralization policy in Thai local government. Finally, this paper gives the suggestion for future direction of decentralization policy in Thailand

Political Marketing: A Conceptual framework

The article presents a broad overview of the concept of political marketing and its significance in the contemporary era of information revolution and democratic resurgence. The article provides meaning, definition and various dimensions of political marketing as a concept and method and differentiates it from mainstream marketing practices. The article also attempts to analyze the origin and development of the concept in different political and social contexts and its usage as a powerful instrument in election campaigning and policy making. The article explains the eight main functions of political marketing including product function, distribution function, cost function, communication function, new management function, fund raising function, parallel campaign management function and internal cohesion management function. The article also explains how the functions of political marketing are effectively applied on the electoral market and government markets. The article finally examines the success and failure of political marketing in creating public opinion in favor of the party. Here examples are taken from different countries including both democratic and non-democratic countries.Political marketing;political;election;campaign;political communication

Conceptual Spaces in Object-Oriented Framework

The aim of this paper is to show that the middle level of mental representations in a conceptual spaces framework is consistent with the OOP paradigm. We argue that conceptual spaces framework together with vague prototype theory of categorization appears to be the most suitable solution for modeling the cognitive apparatus of humans, and that the OOP paradigm can be easily and intuitively reconciled with this framework. First, we show that the prototypebased OOP approach is consistent with Gärdenfors’ model in terms of structural coherence. Second, we argue that the product of cloning process in a prototype-based model is in line with the structure of categories in Gärdenfors’ proposal. Finally, in order to make the fuzzy object-oriented model consistent with conceptual space, we demonstrate how to define membership function in a more cognitive manner, i.e. in terms of similarity to prototype

A conceptual framework for circular design

Design has been recognised in the literature as a catalyst to move away from the traditional model of take-make-dispose to achieve a more restorative, regenerative and circular economy. As such, for a circular economy to thrive, products need to be designed for closed loops, as well as be adapted to generate revenues. This should not only be at the point of purchase, but also during use, and be supported by low-cost return chains and reprocessing structures, as well as effective policy and regulation. To date, most academic and grey literature on the circular economy has focused primarily on the development of new business models, with some of the latter studies addressing design strategies for a circular economy, specifically in the area of resource cycles and design for product life extension. However, these studies primarily consider a limited spectrum of the technical and biological cycles where materials are recovered and restored and nutrients (e.g., materials, energy, water) are regenerated. This provides little guidance or clarity for designers wishing to design for new circular business models in practice. As such, this paper aims to address this gap by systematically analysing previous literature on Design for Sustainability (DfX) (e.g., design for resource conservation, design for slowing resource loops and whole systems design) and links these approaches to the current literature on circular business models. A conceptual framework is developed for circular economy design strategies. From this conceptual framework, recommendations are made to enable designers to fully consider the holistic implications for design within a circular economy

A Conceptual Framework for Adapation

This paper presents a white-box conceptual framework for adaptation that promotes a neat separation of the adaptation logic from the application logic through a clear identification of control data and their role in the adaptation logic. The framework provides an original perspective from which we survey archetypal approaches to (self-)adaptation ranging from programming languages and paradigms, to computational models, to engineering solutions

Global Diversity Management: Towards a Conceptual Framework

[Excerpt] Compared to research on cross-national differences in diversity management, more research has been conducted within the second key area of global diversity management – that on the effective management of culturally diverse teams and organizations, and on the development of global competence among employees. Indeed, research on multicultural teams (e.g. Earley and Gibson, 2002), global competence (e.g. Chang and Tharenou, 2004; Earley and Peterson, 2004), and conflict management in multicultural groups (e.g. Barkema et al., 2003) has been emerging in the last decade; it simply has not been labelled a part of global diversity management per se. However, to date, there are no unifying frameworks for studying global diversity, with the exception of one by Mor Barak (2000), which focuses on the connection between subsidiaries and the larger communities in which they are embedded. While we agree that this is an important issue, many leaders of global firms first want to know how to manage global diversity within the confines of their organization. Thus, one of our goals in introducing this special issue on global diversity is to propose one such framework, to serve two primary aims: (a) to provide a framework within which to situate the papers that appear in this special issue; and (b) to stimulate future research in the area. In what follows, we briefly describe this framework, and then we introduce the papers for the special issue