Central Dimensions Research Articles

Efficiency Improvement of Urban Spatial Economic Interaction and Regional Economic Development in the Context of Industrial Circulation

Abstract With the deepening of economic globalization, interregional connectivity is increasing, making regional economic linkages a hot topic in economics. This study draws on the principles of operations research to classify the urban spatial financial interaction structure into four primary forms: isolated scatter, line, circle, column and network. Through the social network analysis method, the economic structure of urban space is analyzed from the three dimensions of network density, network centrality and cohesive subgroups. At the same time, the distribution of the potential hierarchy of intercity economic links is explored in detail using the gravity model. The empirical Analysis of the 26 city clusters in the Yangtze River Delta reveals that the spatial correlation of the industrial circulation level among these cities is 0.331, and the mean value of the empirical distribution reaches 0.4338, which significantly indicates that the industrial circulation level is positively correlated with the regional economic development. This study provides a valuable reference for the formulation of regional development strategies and shows a unique innovation in enriching the content of economic linkage theory.

Cloud Accounting: A Theoretical Overview

The literature on the topic of the Use and Integration of Accounting Software is quite extensive, but less broad in the context of challenges faced by SMEs, and even more and narrow when we look at the limited literature on the numerous challenges faced in a geographically dispersed location such as Oman. This literature review analyzes and investigates existing research on the challenges faced by SMEs in using and integrating accounting software, to find out the most significant and relevant variables previously identified through previous studies. The aim being to apply a select few of those variables and apply them to the context of Oman to identify the specific obstacles that Omani SMEs face. The literature review involved a methodical exploration of diverse academic databases, employing specific search terms such as “SMEs,” “accounting software,” “challenges,” “adoption,” “integration,” and “small business.” The selection criteria focused on peer-reviewed articles and subsequently, a comprehensive evaluation of abstracts and full-texts led to the identification of about 20 pertinent studies for in-depth analysis. The research looked upon coordinate with the central and fundamental themes and dimensions of the topic, and mainly consists of secondary data including peer reviewed journals on the importance of accounting software and the benefits for SMEs in comparison with traditional or manual accounting. Moreover, the main obstacles faced by SMEs in the adoption of accounting software is reviewed as well. The review of the selected literature has revealed that although there are numerous factors or challenges that influence the proper use and integration of accounting software, the studies all found certain key variables that stand out in relation to others. Furthermore, the most significant challenges faced seem to be affected by other variables such as the level of development of the economy or country or special circumstances such as the Covid-19 Pandemic. This means that this research which is carried out in less developed economy, and in a post-pandemic environment is necessary to reflect the actual circumstances of Omani SMEs implementing accounting software.

Thought and mood/arousal disturbances as central broad dimensions in youth psychopathology: A network analysis

Thought and mood/arousal disturbances as central broad dimensions in youth psychopathology: A network analysis

The Correlation Between Maxillary Central Incisor Dimensions and Different Points on the Face in a Syrian Population.

Statement of the Problem: When replacing the maxillary central incisor (MCI) or adjusting its dimensions, Syrian dentists may have difficulties in selecting the appropriate size due to the lack of a dental anthropometric database for Syrian society. Purpose: The purpose of this observational study was to investigate the correlation between MCI dimensions and face length and width in Syrian females and males. Materials and Methods: The study included 180 Syrian participants (90 females and 90 males) without facial or dental defects and aged between 20 and 25 years. A digital photograph of each individual's face was taken to measure face length and width. Maxillary stone casts were made for each individual to assess the MCI width and height using a digital caliper. The correlation between facial and dental variables was investigated with the Pearson correlation coefficient. Moreover, intersex variations were tested using an independent-sample t-test (p < 0.05 considered significant). Results: The mean MCI width was 8.58 mm, the mean MCI cervical width was 7.96 mm, the mean MCI height was 9.69 mm, the average MCI width-to-height ratio was 89%, and the average MCI cervical width-to-height ratio was 82%. The intersex variations in dental values were not statistically significant. None of the studied facial dimensions showed any significant correlation with any of the MCI measurements. Conclusion: The faces of Syrian men were larger than those of Syrian women, but their MCIs had similar proportions and sizes. Facial height and width were not the appropriate parameters for determining MCI size for Syrians.

Teacher Stereotypes and Teacher Expectations at the Intersection of Student Gender and Socioeconomic Status

Abstract: Gender and family socioeconomic status (SES) are central dimensions of educational inequality and may interact in shaping inequality. This study addresses teacher expectations and stereotypes that possibly contribute to intersectional inequality. The study relies on two samples of teachers and students in German primary schools (sample 1: NTeachers=69, 94 % female, NStudents= 1,049 (German language)/1,027 (mathematics), 48 % female; sample 2: NTeachers= 698 (German language)/614 (mathematics), 94 % female; NStudents= 4,732 (German language)/4,117 (mathematics), 51 % female). Two-level regression analyses revealed additive gender and socioeconomic bias in teacher expectations in German language and mathematics but no intersectional bias (i. e., constant gender bias along family SES and similar socioeconomic bias for girls and boys). Further, teachers with more traditional gender stereotypes showed stronger gender bias, while SES-related stereotypes were unrelated to teacher expectations. We discuss how additive teacher expectation biases relate to the broader concept of intersectionality, potentially shaping unique educational experiences at the intersection of gender and SES.

Dizajniranje organizacione strukture kao pretpostavka ostvarenja poslovne izvrsnosti u proizvodnim preduzećima

In the contemporary business environment characterized by risk and uncertainty, manufacturing companies need to focus on improving quality in every single aspect of their business model, with a focus on reaching the level of business excellence. As the central dimension of organizational design, organizational structure has the status of important support for achieving business excellence in the following areas: the success of the quality management system, process management, orientation towards employees (their satisfaction and motivation), the development of partnership relations with suppliers and customers, supply chain management, innovation, and social responsibility. The goal of the research is to identify the parameters of the organizational structure which have the highest influence on the success of manufacturing companies in terms of achieving business excellence. The results of the research conducted on a sample of 94 manufacturing companies in the territory of the Republic of Serbia showed the statistically significant influence of the organizational structure on each of the business excellence determinants, whereby the following parameters have the most important role: specialization, coordination (based on a combination of mechanisms) and formalization (based on compliance with QMS requirements - Quality Management System and the ISO 9001 standards).

Decolonising the Humanities: Reimagining Black Intellectual Life and Personhood in Southern African Contexts

This review article explores possibilities for transdisciplinary entanglements between the disciplines of critical psychology and literary criticism through a reading of the volume, ʻFoundational African Writers’, edited by Bhekizizwe Peterson, Khwezi Mkhize and Makhosazana Xaba. In this article, ‘Foundational African Writers’ is approached as a distillation of Peterson’s investment in excavating the world-making activities, writing lives and activities of ordinary people as a central dimension of the project to decolonise the Humanities. As this edited volume attests, Peterson’s creative and critical oeuvre continues to provoke thinking about the ways in which the reading of the African literary archive can assist in the wider project of decolonising and re-imagining intellectual and creative history in the Global South while also providing opportunities for new modes of thinking about personhood and psychic life in contexts of precarity, intergenerational trauma and economic exclusion.

The logic of choice and the logic of care: conceptualising ethics within everyday food consumption practices

The choosing consumer has been a prominent figure within consumption research, alternatively celebrated as enabling the expression of lifestyles and tastes or criticised for overlooking consumers as embedded in interconnected mundane practices. While sociologically oriented consumption research has explored the multiplicity of consumer roles beyond ‘chooser’, the figure of the choosing consumer persists in many research streams and in our shared cultural imagination. This article joins previous research on the ethics of consumption that has explored tensions between choosing and relational consumers. It does so by introducing the logic of choice and the logic of care to consumption research. Developed by Annemarie Mol (2008), these logics can be seen as ideal types representing contrasting styles of navigating decision-making, ethics, and questions of the good life. The logic of care emphasises attentive doings that aim to improve conditions in specific situations, seeking moderation rather than control, whereas the logic of choice starts out from sovereign individuals making clear-cut decisions. Using examples from a research project on everyday meat consumption practices, we develop a conceptualisation of the central dimensions of these logics within food consumption. The logics of choice and care enact particular worlds and ways of being in them, bringing forth the ontological politics of consumption. Consequently, we advocate for cultivating care in the world of consumption currently dominated by choice, since it enacts a more merciful framing of ethical consumption, emphasising our shared responsibility for ‘as well as possible’ relations without tipping over into guilt.

Facilitating Preservice Biology Teacher Development through Material-Based Lesson Planning

Lesson planning is a core task for preservice teachers and simultaneously a major challenge due to the complexity of the planning process. This complexity can be reduced by using preselected teaching materials (material-based planning). To explore its potential, think-aloud protocols of material-based planning on the topics of photosynthesis and digestion by 13 preservice biology teachers at a German university serve as the main data source. The data were coded using qualitative content analysis, whereby a superordinate distinction was made between core and secondary dimensions of lesson planning. The results reveal a focus on core dimensions such as instructional strategies (visible structures) and student understanding (deep structures), while secondary dimensions like reflecting task authenticity are comparatively rare. This shows the potential of material-based planning, which enables preservice teachers to concentrate on central planning dimensions due to a reduced workload. Further analysis of the code frequencies shows an imbalance between visible and deep structures, which is more commonly observed in the planning of photosynthesis and is interpreted as an indicator of students’ overload due to the complexity of the topic. Successful planning by preservice teachers is therefore dependent on both planning task and topic selection. Corresponding implications for teacher education are discussed.

Research on urban economic centrality in the perspectives of knowledge stocks and flows

In light of the profound advancements in information and communication technologies ushering in the knowledge economy, the urban space is undergoing a transformation from the traditional “space of places” to the emerging “space of flows.” This shift poses questions about the influence of knowledge flows on urban economic centrality. This paper seeks to address this knowledge gap by introducing a theoretical framework that elucidates how knowledge contributes to urban economic centrality. Our analysis focuses on both intra-city knowledge stocks and inter-city knowledge flows. Empirical findings in China highlight that knowledge stocks based on R&D and education levels, along with knowledge flows, significantly and positively influence all four dimensions of centrality. In contrast, knowledge spatial agglomeration within the knowledge stocks exhibits a significant positive correlation solely with power centrality. Additionally, although the knowledge stock structures don't yield significant results in the diffusion centrality model, for agglomeration and power centralities, a combination of specialized knowledge and telecommunications enhances urban economic centrality, while face-to-face communication strengthens the positive impact of diverse knowledge on urban economic centrality. The results suggest implementing knowledge-based policies tailored to different nodes in the city network is expected to promote sustainable competitiveness in the urban system.

Global social challenges for development studies in the Crisis in the Anthropocene

This panel discussion session explores some of the central dimensions of the Crisis in the Anthropocene that constitute global social challenges in the context of development studies. The conference theme highlighted the profound human impact on our blue-green-brown planet, that is already breaching planetary boundaries and pushing us beyond the roughly 1.5°C tipping point. This threatens liveability and sustainability in many localities and regions and may well rapidly be ‘off the scale’ of imaginability and survivability. Inevitably, as mounting empirical evidence and increasingly clear projections by the IPCC and other authoritative bodies show, these impacts are unevenly spread, both socially and spatially, both now and over the coming decades. The urgency of appropriate action is undeniable and we already know many dimensions of the required adaptations and transformations. Yet progress mostly remains too slow. These challenges are vital to the development studies community – heterogenous as it is – with our concerns for tackling poverty, inequality, deprivation and environmental degradation globally and locally. Hence this symposium asks what the crisis means for development theory, policy and practice and what development studies can and should be contributing to – and, indeed, whether it is capable of – addressing some key dimensions that warrant greater attention.

Child Abuse and Neglect Among Parents and Guardians in Kaduna State: A Descriptive Community Survey

Background: A central dimension of the State’s responsibility in a liberal democracy is the protection of individuals’ central rights and freedoms, especially that of children who cannot protect themselves from genuine harm. However, it is documented that children are maltreated, abused, and neglected within their communities yearly by those who are supposed to protect them. Thus, knowledge and perpetration of Child Abuse and Neglect (CAN) among parents and guardians in a community setting of Zikpak, Kafanchan, Nigeria, was assessed. Methods: The descriptive survey was used for the study. Multi-stage sampling was adopted in selecting 128 married parents and guardians out of 189. A semi-structured, three-sector questionnaire was used to collect data from parents and guardians. For knowledge and perpetration of CAN, items were scored in the following categories: A score &lt;50% was categorized as inadequate/ nonexistent, while a score ≥50% was considered adequate/ existent. Results: Most of the parents were biological parents (92.8%), employed (59.4%), and have a child monitor time of less than 8hrs/day (74.8%). Respondents demonstrated adequate knowledge (Mean score of 63%) of CAN, which translated to overall non-perpetration (mean score of 29.9%). However, in the physical abuse sub-domain, respondents reported hitting a child with hard objects as a means of punishment (85.6%). Emotional/psychological abuse (64.9%) and emotional neglect (54.7%) were recorded among the respondents as they reported saying hurtful things to their children whenever they offend them, calling them hurtful names as means of scolding just as they would equally drive them away when watching favorite TV channel and insult them publicly. Conclusion: Respondents were adequately knowledgeable about CAN, which translated to overall non-perpetration of the same on their children. However, elements of physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect were recorded in the study setting. Thus, a detailed understanding of these findings is important to informing policymakers, stakeholders, program planners, and community health nursing service providers in developing appropriate policies and strategies to mitigate pockets of CAN being recorded in the community. Such actions are necessary to safeguard child growth and development.

Manager Control Over Outcomes? Nature and Nurture Over Time

Recent scholarship on organizational change has de-emphasized environment, core competencies at founding, and structural inertia in favor of the study of strategic management. We encourage renewed consideration of forces over which managers have less control. In a reconsideration and conceptual extension of Hager and Brudney’s nature and nurture influences on nonprofit efforts to recruit volunteers, we introduce central dimensions of organizational ecology theory. We assert that more attention to the tenets of organizational ecology will sensitize the field to the influence of environments in which organizations operate. Consistent with Hager and Brudney, our longitudinal assessment of nonprofits not only records the value of purposeful adjustments of programs but also highlights how the evolution of structural conditions plays an essential role in core organizational outcomes in volunteer management. Beyond the usual validation of strategic management, we emphasize that the influence of environment and structure is an essential determinant of the fates of organizations over time.

Hidden Critical Points in the Two-Dimensional O(n>2) Model: Exact Numerical Study of a Complex Conformal Field Theory.

The presence of nearby conformal field theories (CFTs) hidden in the complex plane of the tuning parameter was recently proposed as an elegant explanation for the ubiquity of "weakly first-order" transitions in condensed matter and high-energy systems. In this work, we perform an exact microscopic study of such a complex CFT (CCFT) in the two-dimensional O(n) loop model. The well-known absence of symmetry-breaking of the O(n>2) model is understood as arising from the displacement of the nontrivial fixed points into the complex temperature plane. Thanks to a numerical finite-size study of the transfer matrix, we confirm the presence of a CCFT in the complex plane and extract the real and imaginary parts of the central charge and scaling dimensions. By comparing those with the analytic continuation of predictions from Coulomb gas techniques, we determine the range of validity of the analytic continuation to extend up to n_{g}≈12.34, beyond which the CCFT gives way to a gapped state. Finally, we propose a beta function which reproduces the main features of the phase diagram and which suggests an interpretation of the CCFT as a liquid-gas critical point at the end of a first-order transition line.

Patriation Paradigms: Sovereignty, Power, and Rights

In this article, I begin by exploring how nation-state sovereignty has been disrupted and challenged both externally and internally — bringing into question the idea that patriation ushered in an era of full-fledged Canadian sovereignty. I then turn to contested conceptions of rights — underscoring the importance of reimagining rights as sources of political empowerment and sovereignty. Such a reconceptualization means that rights become sources of enhanced jurisdictional authority, power-sharing, and self-governance. Thus, I seek to contribute to a rethinking of the two central dimensions of the patriation paradigm towards an approach that celebrates multiple and divided sovereignties and reframes rights as integral to empowerment.

Semiparametric recovery of central dimension reduction space with nonignorable nonresponse

Sufficient dimension reduction (SDR) methods are effective tools for handling high dimensional data. Classical SDR methods are developed under the assumption that the data are completely observed. When the data are incomplete due to missing values, SDR has only been considered when the data are randomly missing, but not when they are nonignorably missing, which is arguably more difficult to handle due to the missing values' dependence on the reasons they are missing. The purpose of this paper is to fill this void. We propose an intuitive, easy‐to‐implement SDR estimator based on a semiparametric propensity score function for response data with non‐ignorable missing values. We refer to it as the dimension reduction‐based imputed estimator. We establish the theoretical properties of this estimator and examine its empirical performance via an extensive numerical study on real and simulated data. As well, we compare the performance of our proposed dimension reduction‐based imputed estimator with two competing estimators, including the fusion refined estimator and cumulative slicing estimator. A distinguishing feature of our method is that it requires no validation sample. The SDR theory developed in this paper is a non‐trivial extension of the existing literature, due to the technical challenges posed by nonignorable missingness. All the technical proofs of the theorems are given in the Appendix .

Hospital nurses’ communication overload and obstacles to risk and safety communication: The role of mandating

Hospital nurses encounter a demanding workplace. Advancements in technology and continued staffing shortages increase and complicate the communication and organizational expectations and restrictions placed upon hospital nurses, although the organizational resources and support nurses are offered can remain unchanged, or worse, diminish. This study explores nurses’ experiences of workplace communication overload (CO), and their interpretations of how CO occurs alongside obstacles to risk and safety communication —a vital form of communication in hospital work. Using a combination of semi-structured, narrative interviews (N = 12) and focus groups (N = 8, 26 participants), and driven by a theoretical conceptualization of CO, this study reveals that the most fundamental obstacle to nurses’ risk and safety communication at work is the practice of mandating. When nurses are mandated, they are forced towork overtime, exceeding the number of hours agreed upon in their contracts, due to (continued) staffing shortages. Nurses explain that mandating, as a routine organizational practice, creates general states of feeling overwhelmed in everyday work life, which is a central theoretical dimension of CO. This state of feeling overwhelmed strips nurses of their patience and cognitive capacity to adequately process and respond to incoming risk and safety messages, and/or grasp their level of importance. Study implications are offered.

Can Business Models Facilitate Strategic Transformation in Construction Firms? A Systematic Review and Research Agenda

A business model represents an organisation’s value logic with a value proposition as the central dimension. The construction industry has been categorised as fragmented, slow to move and destructively competitive, idealising only cost-based perceptions of performance; however, recent trends indicate a paradigm shift in the sector emphasising value-based perspectives such as early engagement, design for manufacture and assembly, and a lifecycle approach by promoting a conscious discourse on business model innovation. This paper presents a systematic review and integration of research on business models in the construction industry. The findings illuminate the potential of business models as creative tools for strategy formulation, the importance of strategic partnerships in novel business models, and the bridging role that business models play between technology integration and strategy formulation. Based on the findings, the paper proposes future research directions, including understanding how managers can steer conflicts towards cooperative competition (coopetition), exploring various pathways (leaping and drifting) for business model innovation and project-based business model innovation. The paper establishes that using a business model approach to facilitate strategic transformation can help construction firms resolve some of the most pressing challenges, such as customer dissatisfaction, fragmentation, and slow technology uptake.

Closures of certain matrix varieties and applications

We prove some results about closures of certain matrix varieties consisting of elements with the same centralizer dimension. This generalizes a result of Dixmier and has applications to topological generation of simple algebraic groups.

THE AUTONOMY PROJECT OF C. CASTORIADIS IN THE CONTEXT OF NEW COSMOPOLITANISM

The author addresses the prospects of the new cosmopolitan- ism project, which appears as a choice focused on individuality and its survival as an integrity in diversity. This reveals the relevance of Castoriadis’s autonomy project. The author believes that Castoriadis’s language of describing social reality can be used quite organically to characterise the latest trends in the development of cosmopolitan practices. The substantiation of the formulated assumptions is the purpose of this article. The article shows that new cosmopolitanism is an attempt to find an inclusive solution to the problem of universalism, which classical modernity and old cosmopolitanism failed to solve. The development of the discourse and practices of autonomy can become one of the effective means of such a solution. The main idea of the paper is that the projects of autonomy and new cosmopolitanism have similar goals and a direction, and they are a means of implementing cosmopolitan attitudes, or the process of cosmopolitanization. New cosmopolitan theories speak primarily of others, of otherness and autonomy. Autonomous societies can develop and implement cosmopolitan programs. If there is no adequate reflexivity in a heteronomous society, then autonomous societies are reflexive by their very nature. The new cosmopolitanism revives the project of autonomy, takes it from a purely theoretical dimension to a practical one, and allows to discuss its practical implementation. To clarify this parallel, it is important to consider Castoriadis’s interpretation of the political dimension of social life. In this case, we are talking about developing cosmopolitan citizenship, which represents the highest level of individual autonomy. The article shows the most important role of creative imagination in its interpretation by Castoriadis in solving the identified problems and establishing various institutions of society. The article concludes that paideia is the central dimension of any policy of autonomy, which gives form to social chaos. Thus, we stop to divide the human world between ‘us’ and ‘them’ — us: the only real human beings; the others: savages, barbarians, heathens, we stop considering our representation of the world as the only meaningful one. This is the essence of cosmopolitanism as it is interpreted by the new cosmopolitanism.