Broad Perception Research Articles

Towards Building a Holistic Perception of Waqf Culture Among the Hausa in North West Zone, Nigeria

Embracing a broad perception of the philosophy behind waqf institution and learning from the socio economic contribution of waqf history is essential for Muslim Hausas in North West Zone, Nigeria, to imbibe a holistic waqf culture. The preponderance of “religious-oriented” waqf does not assist in addressing social problems such as poverty in the area. As an emerging field of study in the Zone, waqf scholars need to undertake empirical investigations of waqf donor’s endowing behaviour. Such a step could reveal underlying factors that may be used to draw intervention strategies to change donor’s behaviour towards donating waqf which provide comprehensive facilities that meet basic social and community needs capable of lifting the region out of poverty.

Cultural adaptation and validation of the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ): robust nine-dimension Danish language confirmatory factor model

Health literacy is an important construct in population health and healthcare requiring rigorous measurement. The Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ), with nine scales, measures a broad perception of health literacy. This study aimed to adapt the HLQ to the Danish setting, and to examine the factor structure, homogeneity, reliability and discriminant validity. The HLQ was adapted using forward–backward translation, consensus conference and cognitive interviews (n = 15). Psychometric properties were examined based on data collected by face-to-face interview (n = 481). Tests included difficulty level, composite scale reliability and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Cognitive testing revealed that only minor re-wording was required. The easiest scale to respond to positively was ‘Social support for health’, and the hardest were ‘Navigating the healthcare system’ and ‘Appraisal of health information’. CFA of the individual scales showed acceptably high loadings (range 0.49–0.93). CFA fit statistics after including correlated residuals were good for seven scales, acceptable for one. Composite reliability and Cronbach’s α were >0.8 for all but one scale. A nine-factor CFA model was fitted to items with no cross-loadings or correlated residuals allowed. Given this restricted model, the fit was satisfactory. The HLQ appears robust for its intended application of assessing health literacy in a range of settings. Further work is required to demonstrate sensitivity to measure changes.

Towards a broad understanding of innovation and its importance for innovation policy

This paper considers the changes in the concept of innovation during recent decades and the degree to which such changes have been of significance to innovation policy. We observe that: (1) the notion of innovation in research, statistics, and policy is becoming increasingly broad; (2) while this broader notion is conceptually more adequate for understanding the complexity of innovation activity, it also makes it increasingly difficult to gain a clear, unambiguous picture of innovation activity; (3) policy concepts built upon this extended understanding of innovation are becoming more complex in terms of governance capacities, coordination capabilities, and evidence-based policy formulation. The broad perception of innovation will, in fact, require substantial innovations in political and administrative systems to apply.

Stakeholder perceptions on critical success factors for public-private partnership projects in Nigeria

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and assess the perceptions of stakeholders on critical success factors (CSFs) for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach – A comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify the CSFs for PPP projects, which were employed to design a questionnaire survey. In order to capture a broad perception of stakeholders, the questionnaires were administered to five different stakeholder organisations involved in different PPP projects implementation in Nigeria. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics, mean score, Kruskal-Wallis test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and factor analysis. Findings – The study revealed the result of mean score ranking, which indicated that all the stakeholders considered the identified 26 CSFs important and crucial for the successful implementation of PPP projects in Nigeria. Thus, the results of Kruskal-Wallis test and ANOVA indicated that except for six (out of 26) identified CSFs, there is no statistically significant difference in the perceptions of the stakeholders on CSFs for PPP projects in Nigeria. The study, through factor analysis, grouped the 26 identified CSFs into six principal factors. Practical implications – This research would be of benefit to stakeholders in PPPs to be aware of CSFs that demand utmost consideration. Also the identified CSFs are expected to enhance the success rate of PPP projects. Originality/value – The findings would be useful for PPP stakeholders in making decisions and in implementing PPP projects towards achieving value for money. This research will also be of interest to other academic researchers intending to investigate CSFs for PPP projects in other locations.

Towards a 'patient-centred' operationalisation of the new dynamic concept of health: a mixed methods study.

ObjectiveTo evaluate among stakeholders the support for the new, dynamic concept of health, as published in 2011: ‘Health as the ability to adapt and to self-manage’, and to elaborate perceived indicators of health in order to make the concept measurable.DesignA mixed methods study: a qualitative first step with interviews and focus groups, followed by a quantitative survey.ParticipantsRepresentatives of seven healthcare stakeholder domains, for example, healthcare providers, patients with a chronic condition and policymakers. The qualitative study involved 140 stakeholders; the survey 1938 participants.ResultsThe new concept was appreciated, as it addresses people as more than their illness and focuses on strengths rather than weaknesses. Caution is needed as the concept requires substantial personal input of which not everyone is capable. The qualitative study identified 556 health indicators, categorised into six dimensions: bodily functions, mental functions and perception, spiritual/existential dimension, quality of life, social and societal participation, and daily functioning, with 32 underlying aspects. The quantitative study showed all stakeholder groups considering bodily functions to represent health, whereas for other dimensions there were significant differences between groups. Patients considered all six dimensions almost equally important, thus preferring a broad concept of health, whereas physicians assessed health more narrowly and biomedically. In the qualitative study, 78% of respondents considered their health indicators to represent the concept.ConclusionsTo prevent confusion with health as ‘absence of disease’, we propose the use of the term ‘positive health’ for the broad perception of health with six dimensions, as preferred by patients. This broad perception deserves attention by healthcare providers as it may support shared decision-making in medical practice. For policymakers, the broad perception of ‘positive health’ is valuable as it bridges the gap between healthcare and the social domain, and by that it may demedicalise societal problems.

Institutional Formalization of Economic Freedom

Review. Economic freedom in a market economy is a fundamental prerequisite for fair distribution of wealth and the citizens' confidence in public institutions. The sequence of formation of steady, transparent and secure mechanisms ensuring implementation of rights and freedoms of business activity creates an "economic freedom" public good that acts as an imperative of optimizing the balance of interests. Benefits and costs arising in the process of economic freedom specification form the institutional environment of interactions between economic agents. The aim of the research is to apply an interdisciplinary approach to the institutionalization of economic environment for the period 2000-2014 in terms of theoretical, econometric, statistical and legal interpretation. The accepted economic theory that traditionally extends epistemological and axiological aspects focuses on essentially homogeneous normative judgements. However, provided such an approach is necessary, it is associated with a rather broad intuitive perception of the category of economic freedom. Thus, to clarify the category subordinate characteristics and principles of a free market are added. In the absence of a generally accepted universal definition the difficulties of measuring economic freedom escalate. While the content of the category, definition and concept are being discussed, scientific and research centers offer applying empirical mathematical modeling procedures of indicators. Formal differences between measurement techniques are limited to the number of parameters being monitored, grouping indicators, integral index components, dimension of the measurement scale and differentiation of countries in accordance with the quality of their institutional conditions. The author gives a forecast of the dynamics of the index of economic freedom for the economy of the Russian Federation until 2020. In the course of the analysis the author concludes that economic freedom status, even though it creates favorable environment for business, it is not a sufficient condition for the growth of the national economy. An assumption with regard to the dependence of per capita GDP upon the size of "market" taxes and the level of economic freedom has been statistically confirmed in 2006, 2007 and 2014. The paper examines the standards that can be attributed to the support of freedom of economic relations and legally enshrined in the new Russian legislation governing the freedom of entrepreneurship and development of competition. The author considers in detail legal rules and norms that guarantee the right to property as a relatively new standard in legislation and "weak" point in the structure of economic freedom components. The author's unique analytical approach that provides for structuring institutional aspects of economic freedom gives reason to identify theoretically important findings and to evaluate barriers to the development of the market.

Analysis of financial close delay in PPP infrastructure projects in developing countries

PurposeThe presence of previous awarded public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects that significantly delays reaching financial close constrain the likely success of new PPP projects. However, effort at investigating financial close delays of PPP projects through empirical studies by the research community received scant attention. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to identify and assess the factors causing delays in PPP projects from reaching financial close in developing countries.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted literature review and questionnaire survey. In order to capture a broad perception, a questionnaire survey was adopted, which was administered to three different primary stakeholder categories comprised public sector authorities (i.e. ministries, department, and agencies), concessionaires, and lenders/banks already involved in PPP infrastructure projects implementation in Nigeria. The data obtained were analysed using mean score, Kruskal-Wallis test, and factor analysis.FindingsThe study revealed the mean score ranking of 39 identified causes of financial close delays in PPP projects, and the mean score values for all the identified 39 causes of financial close delays are very high. The study, through factor analysis, categorised the 39 identified causes of financial close delays into eight principal factors. The factors are: decreased bankability of PPP projects; unstable economic policy; weak financial, technical, and managerial capabilities of the concessionaires; weak public institutions; lack of creditworthiness of both the project sponsors and active partner; unfavourable economy of the host country; weak legal and unfavourable environment; and high contingent liabilities, respectively.Practical implicationsThe identification and evaluation of the factors delaying PPP projects development from reaching financial close in a reasonable time manner would be useful for PPP primary stakeholders to develop strategies to safeguard the present and future PPP projects implementation in developing countries.Originality/valueThe study findings would be useful for both policymakers considering PPP projects and private investors seeking to finance PPP projects in developing countries. This study is crucial as not many empirical studies have been conducted in developing countries.

Asilomar moments: formative framings in recombinant DNA and solar climate engineering research.

We examine the claim that in governance for solar climate engineering research, and especially field tests, there is no need for external governance beyond existing mechanisms such as peer review and environmental impact assessments that aim to assess technically defined risks to the physical environment. By drawing on the historical debate on recombinant DNA research, we show that defining risks is not a technical question but a complex process of narrative formation. Governance emerges from within, and as a response to, narratives of what is at stake in a debate. In applying this finding to the case of climate engineering, we find that the emerging narrative differs starkly from the narrative that gave meaning to rDNA technology during its formative period, with important implications for governance. While the narrative of rDNA technology was closed down to narrowly focus on technical risks, that of climate engineering continues to open up and includes social, political and ethical issues. This suggests that, in order to be legitimate, governance must take into account this broad perception of what constitutes the relevant issues and risks of climate engineering, requiring governance that goes beyond existing mechanisms that focus on technical risks. Even small-scale field tests with negligible impacts on the physical environment warrant additional governance as they raise broader concerns that go beyond the immediate impacts of individual experiments.

Aspectos de vida, trabalho e saúde de trabalhadores do setor de rochas ornamentais

The process of health and disease is socially determined, whereby work is a factor that strongly influences the morbidity/mortality profile. The scope of this article is to study the relationship between work and health conditions reported by the workers of the ornamental stone industry and residents from the district of Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, State of Espírito Santo. It is an epidemiological cross-sectional study with data collection through a questionnaire applied to 187 workers at their homes using statistical, descriptive and analytical methods. A considerable percentage of workers stated self-reported acute morbidity (45.5%) and chronic morbidity (44.9%), as being related to work (56.5% and 51.2% respectively). Despite the broad perception by the workers of the risks of the environmentally insalubrious work conditions, those who cited morbidity related the ergonomic aspects of work to musculoskeletal disorders in the main group of disorders presented. The high percentage of morbidity is the result of these individuals being subject to a work-related process where the conditions and the work organization cause physical and mental strain, being determined by the way work is socially divided in that sector.

Framing the flood: a media analysis of themes of resilience in the 2011 Brisbane flood

In the wake of the flood that affected Brisbane, Australia, in January 2011, public attention turned to the causes of the event and lessons for minimizing the impacts of future floods. The news media was an important vehicle for understanding and internalizing the 2011 Brisbane flood. Examining how the flood was framed in the media is, therefore, useful to understand broad public perception of floods. We undertook a systematic newspaper analysis during a one-year period to explore media framings of the flood, focused on learning as an aspect of resilience in relation to two themes: (1) perceived links between the flood and climate change and (2) perceived roles of government in managing the flood. We show that media coverage of the flood reinforces aspects of resilience by acknowledging community spirit, self-reliance and the importance of sharing experiences for learning; articulating the risk of extreme events in a changing climate; and highlighting regional management trade-offs. Much of the discourse is likely to inhibit resilience, however, by casting the flood in terms of blame and political opportunity and paying inadequate attention to longer-term aspects of regional resilience. The limited learning observed to date may highlight a need for other mechanisms and actors to lead learning processes. As policy related to the 2011 Brisbane flood, and extreme events more generally, is influenced by the public discourse, it is important to understand the nuances of communication around these events and the media’s role in reinforcing or changing perceptions.

Стимулирование инновационной деятельности российских производственных компаний: новые возможности и ограничения

Иванов Денис Сергеевич - научный сотрудник, Межведомственный аналитический центр (МАЦ). E-mail: ivanov@iacenter.ruКузык Михаил Георгиевич - руководитель направления, МАЦ. E-mail: kuzyk@iacenter.ruСимачев Юрий Вячеславович - заместитель генерального директора, МАЦ. E-mail: simachev@iacenter.ruАдрес: 121069, а/я 35, г. Москва, ул. Поварская, 31/29, стр. 2.Российская инновационная политика в последние годы заметно активизировалась - повышается восприимчивость лиц, принимающих решения, к инновациям, обсуждаются пути их поддержки, развивается инструментальное, институциональное и ресурсное обеспечение. Тем не менее, пока не найдено эффективных рычагов влияния на бизнес, в котором новаторская активность проявляется локально, что не создает предпосылки для изменения общей макроэкономической ситуации. Опираясь на результаты анкетного опроса руководителей 602 российских промышленных предприятий, проведенного осенью 2011 г.,авторыанализируют влияние стимулирующих механизмов на инновационную деятельность бизнеса, оценивают его «запрос» на содержание государственной политики. Выявлен ряд сдерживающих факторов, препятствующих развитию инноваций в российских компаниях, прежде всего - нестабильный деловой климат и внутренняя бюрократизация бизнес-процессов. Для повышения мотивированности значительным потенциалом обладают усиление конкуренции, совершенствование системы госзакупок, ужесточение технических стандартов.Позитивную роль господдержки отметили руководители более половины предприятий-новаторов. Она в большей степени ориентирована на успешных игроков, нежели на аутсайдеров. Максимальным «охватом» характеризуются налоговые льготы. Применяемые инструменты способствуют преимущественно расширению инновационной деятельности, а не ее «старту». Их результативность в значительной степени ограничивается качеством администрирования.Среди важнейших задач - обеспечение стабильности регулирования, создание инвестиционно привлекательной среды, что позволит расширить круг предприятий-новаторов. Эти меры целесообразно сочетать с поддержкой инновационных проектов, ориентированных на демонстрационные эффекты, и относительно молодых фирм, нуждающихся в распределении рисков.Логичен выбор большинства компаний в пользу политики импортозамещения, так как они еще не обладают достаточным потенциалом для экспорта высокотехнологичной продукции. Подобные механизмы не должны ограничивать конкуренцию с зарубежными игроками: в противном случае резко снижается мотивация отечественных производителей к инновациям и ухудшаются условия для технологических заимствований и адаптаций.

A participação do cirurgião-dentista em equipe de saúde multidisciplinar na atenção à saúde da criança no contexto hospitalar

This is research of a qualitative nature that sought to analyze the perceptions of both the health team and users of the Pediatric Unit of the University Hospital of Santa Catarina Federal University with respect to the participation of dental surgeons in the healthcare of hospitalized children. Data were collected through interviews based on a form with semi-structured questions and analyzed by the content analysis technique and the analysis-reflection-synthesis process. Eight professionals from the health team, as well as seven caregivers and five hospitalized children took part in the interviews. The dental care provided to these children was given by students of the Undergraduate and Graduate Program in Dentistry, via an extension project of a preventive educational nature. Results revealed broad acceptance and perception of the importance of the participation of dentists in the context of the Unit as team members implementing the concept of comprehensive healthcare, and as support professionals for the health team in the care, streamlining and optimization of interdisciplinary work. Participants perceive the effective participation of dentists in the healthcare of hospitalized children as being very important and even essential.

An anthropologic study on strategies for addressing health problems among the elderly in Bambuí, Minas Gerais State, Brazil

This paper explores the contribution of anthropological perspectives for clarifying the mechanisms through which socioeconomic circumstances influence the strategies developed by elderly for addressing their health problems in a small Brazilian city. Interviews with 20 key-informants explored the community's broad perception of the health situation of the elderly. Life histories collected from 30 elderly women examined their own perception of their health status and their health strategies. Narratives converge in emphasising the important role played by financial factors in accessing health services and medication. Life histories also describe some damaging strategies resorted to by the elderly to deal with their lack of resources. Elderly women emphasize the crucial support they receive from their family and/or neighbours to overcome health problems. Thus, the issue of poverty is not only a matter of socioeconomic circumstances, but also the poverty of broader social networks.

Multicriteria Analysis under Uncertainty with IANUS—Method and Empirical Results

Integrated assessment of decisions under uncertainty for sustainable development (IANUS) is a method for aiding public decisionmaking that supports efforts towards sustainable development and has a wide range of applications. We introduce the main features of IANUS and illustrate the method by using the results of a case study in the Torgau region (eastern Germany) with conflicts over economic development and groundwater protection in the Elbe River basin. IANUS structures the decision process into four steps: scenario derivation, criteria selection, modelling, and evaluation. Its overall aim is to support the finding of policy solutions in a participatory setting and to extract the information needed for a sound, responsible decision in a clear, transparent manner. The method is designed for use in conflict situations where environmental and socioeconomic effects need to be considered and so an interdisciplinary approach is required. Special emphasis is placed on a broad perception and consideration of uncertainty. Three types of uncertainty are explicitly taken into account by IANUS: development uncertainty (uncertainty about the social, economic and other developments that affect the consequences of decision), model uncertainty (uncertainty associated with the prediction of the effects of decisions), and weight uncertainty (uncertainty about the appropriate weighting of the criteria). The backbone of IANUS is a multicriteria method with the ability to process uncertain information. In the case study the multicriteria method PROMETHEE is used. As PROMETHEE in its basic versions is not able to process uncertain information an extension of this method is developed here and described in detail. One methodological lesson to be learned from the experience of the case study reads that the design of the participation process must be planned and executed carefully to prevent important stakeholders backing out of the participatory evaluation process—as happened with the decisionmakers in the Torgau case study.

Reflections on Publication Criteria for Genetic Association Studies

In a recent editorial, the editors outlined stringent new criteria for prioritizing studies for publication ([1][1]). This initiative was prompted by the broad perception that the literature is rife with associations of genetic variants with cancer, most of which are not reproduced, and thus

Late Antique Knossos. Understanding the city: evidence of mosaics and religious architecture

Interpretation of the historical and epigraphical data can only provide a bare outline of the political and social environment of Knossos between the 5th and 7th centuries AD. Consequently, our understanding of late Antique Knossos comes primarily from the excavated remains of two of the Christian basilicas in the Valley; the Sanatorium Basilica and the KMF Basilica. Although excavations of the former have been published in full, concerning the KMF Basilica, only a brief summary of its architecture has been published. As a result, a detailed analysis of the excavations of the basilica itself will be made available here, including particulars of its architecture, mosaics, and summaries of the associated elements of the entire basilica complex (a detailed discussion of the whole Late Antique KMF excavations is forthcoming). As such, not only is a new and full interpretation of the KMF Basilica provided, but also for the first time the material culture of Late Antique Knossos is collated and subsequently analysed to provide a clear understanding of the nature of the city during this period. Despite a dearth of domestic evidence, a contextual study of the surviving architecture (principally religious) in conjunction with the mortuary remains, allows a broad perception of society and a clear comprehension of the development of the city. Thus the aim here is to examine the compelling evidence that, contrary to common belief, during the Late Antique period Knossos continued to be a vibrant and influential city as it had been in the Roman period.

Is the medical justice system broken?

The current lawsuit culture is creating a crisis in US health care. The broad perception that anyone can sue for almost anything has fundamentally altered the practice of medicine, eroding the quality and availability of health care. Current reform proposals to "cap" one category of damages are not nearly ambitious enough. Providing relief to doctors squeezed by insurance premiums is important but will not heal the deep distrust that skews daily decisions, nor will it provide incentives to overhaul outdated practices. The United States needs an entirely new system of medical justice. Its first goal is to be reliable: reliable in protecting patients against bad practices, reliable in protecting physicians who act reasonably, and reliable in interpreting standards of care.

The correlation of g with attentional and perceptual-motor ability tests

The correlation between tests of psychometric g and tests of attentional and perceptual-motor abilities was studied. These tests are generally seen as representing three different taxonomies. Test scores of 584 applicants for jobs at Dutch Railways and bus companies were used. The correlation between the g score of the cognitive test and the various parts of the attention-psychomotor battery ranged from 0.14 to 0.56 with 0.39 as an average. Structural-equations modeling using EQS resulted in a general cognitive factor and four second-order factors: Fluid/Crystallized Intelligence, Broad Visual Perception, general Attentional Speed and general Perceptual-Motor Ability, accounting for, respectively, 54, 15, 11, 4, and 16% of the variance. This study has shown that there is substantial overlap between these three taxonomies. The great majority of the attentional and perceptual-motor tests show substantial overlap with psychometric g. However, there is still enough unique variance connected to these tests to result in a weak Attentional Speed and a strong Perceptual-Motor Ability factor. It is most probable that inclusion of the factor scores of broad lower-order factors into a prediction formula using g results in small incremental criterion-related validity for General Attentional Speed and larger gains for General Perceptual-Motor Ability.

Clinical outcomes research from the occupational therapist's perspective.

With increasing costs and scarcity of resources, occupational therapists need to embrace outcomes research to demonstrate the effectiveness of its clinical interventions. To explore clinicians' perspectives on clinical outcomes research a qualitative study was undertaken involving three in-depth group interviews with 15 occupational therapists from the South Western Sydney Area Health Service. Five broad themes permeated participants' perception: (a) defining the process, (b) factors that impact on participation in clinical outcomes research, (c) organizational influences, (d) the value of clinical outcomes research, and (e) potential partnerships with academics. Three conceptual categories are identified: knowledge and understanding about clinical outcomes research, clinicians' experience conducting or participating in clinical outcomes research and the relevance of clinical outcomes research to occupational therapy clinical practice. Similarity to findings in the international literature on occupational therapists' engagement in clinical research suggests that the findings from this small sample of Australian therapists are robust. The implications of the findings for continuing professional education programmes and clinical supervision are presented.

Intraoperative evaluation of signal transduction of prototypes of implantable hearing aid transducers in the human

During routine middle ear surgery prototypes of implantable piezoelectric hearing aid transducers were coupled to the ossicular chain of 28 patients. Pure tone thresholds in a broad frequency range (250 Hz-8 kHz) and perception of music were the basis of psychoacoustic evaluation of the transfer properties of the prototypes in this human study. The piezoelectric transducer reached an equivalent transducer sound-pressure level of up to 145 dB SPL and frequencies of 10 kHz. The dynamics for music reached 32 dB, which was identical with the results of the preoperative investigations using hi-fi headsets (33 dB). The low nonlinear distortions of around 0.1% and the frequency range up to 10 kHz are reflected in the positive evaluation of sound quality by 84% of the patients involved. The study is the basis for realizing a piezoelectric transducer designed for routine clinical implantations. The transducer is thought to be part of a totally implantable future hearing aid for rehabilitation of moderate and severe sensory neural hearing loss predominantly in the middle and high frequency range.