Cardinal Concepts Research Articles

Reviewing agricultural insights of Kṛṣiparāśara for sustainable farming and conservation

Farming and conservation of natural resources are inevitable subjects and these are the cardinal concepts in the development of a nation.The current state of affairs is quite dire, and it is against this backdrop that we must consider the immense and exceptional wealth of the Vedas, whose teachings offer perceptive and insightful judgments on every field of study. Krisiparasara, one of the agricultural books, highlights the potential and adaptability of ancient Indian farming practices.

Profit, Tradition, and African Wildlife: Examining Animal Commodification Through Eco-Bio-Communitarianism

In Southern Africa, there exists a large-scale commodification of fauna, extending to the utilisation of animals in traditional medicine. In South Africa alone, 1,175 documented cases of rhinoceros poaching transpired in a single annum, and analogously, an estimated 100,000 pangolins are smuggled from there to Asia annually. These and myriad other species, whether intact, in part, or processed into medicaments, are vented either in their country of origin for application in traditional medicine or exported illicitly across the globe for similar purposes. In this paper, I posit that this large-scale commodification conflicts with a relational African environmental ethic. To substantiate this claim, I consider two cardinal concepts in African ecological ethics, which will illuminate how animals should be utilised and considered morally. Firstly, the Shona concept of Ukama employs Felix Murove’s exegesis. Secondly, I explore eco-bio- communitarianism, precisely the Nso worldview of Godfrey Tangwa. Upon applying these concepts to the utilisation of fauna in traditional medicine by traditional healers and to the current largescale commercial exploitation of animals in conventional medicine, this thesis concludes that only the profit-driven use opposes an African environmental ethic.

Dispute intensity, parent-child relationships and child functioning: Analysis of social workers' reports on families with high-intensity parental disputes

BackgroundHigh Intensity Parental Dispute (HIPD) is a universal phenomenon that has grave ramifications on the dyadic and familial cells, which are receiving considerable attention in the research, public and professional discourses. However, a significant gap exists between the intensive involvement of systems in this phenomenon, and their ability to characterize and measure cardinal concepts defining it. ObjectiveThe goal of the present study is to examine how indicators that are recognized in literature on HIPD are manifested in the practice of social workers involved in this sphere. More specifically, three dimensions included in evaluations on families involved in HIPD will be examined: dispute intensity, parent-child relationships, and child functioning. MethodThe sample included 199 written reports by social workers on families deemed by the court to be involved in HIPD. First, encoding systems for each dimension were developed using deductive content analysis. Second, the frequency of the indicators was examined and qualitatively different subgroups within each dimension were identified using Latent Class Analysis (LCA) or Latent Profile Analysis (LPA). ResultsThe findings uncovered two significantly different groups for couples involved in HIPD and revealed the common profiles for parent-child relationships and for child functioning. ConclusionsThe findings illustrate that there is no single characterization that can accurately describe different dimensions in the lives of families with HIPD, rather that subgroups with different behaviors should be expected to emerge. Thus, the findings emphasize the importance of using systematic measurements for identification and evaluation that could assist in fine tuning interventions and optimized resource allocation.

Development and early qualitative evidence of two novel patient-reported outcome instruments to assess daily functioning in people with early-stage Parkinson’s

BackgroundPrevious research on concepts that are important to people living with early-stage Parkinson’s indicated that ‘functional’ slowness, fine motor skills, and subtle gait abnormalities are cardinal concepts that are not comprehensively captured by existing patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments that are used in clinical practice and research to assess symptoms and daily functioning within this patient population. We sought to develop novel PRO instruments to address this unmet need.MethodsPRO instrument development was led by a multidisciplinary research group, including people living with Parkinson’s (termed ‘patient experts’), as well as patient engagement and involvement, regulatory science, clinical, and outcome measurement experts. A first set of PRO instruments, termed Early Parkinson’s Function Slowness (42 items) and Early Parkinson’s Mobility (26 items), were drafted to capture ‘functional’ slowness, fine motor skills, and subtle gait abnormalities. These PRO instruments were used in cognitive debriefing interviews with people living with early-stage Parkinson’s (who were not involved with the multidisciplinary research group) to identify issues with relevance, clarity, ease of completion, conceptual overlap, or missing concepts.ResultsSixty people living with early-stage Parkinson’s were interviewed, which led to refining the items to 45 for the Early Parkinson’s Functional Slowness and 23 for the Early Parkinson’s Mobility PRO instruments. Refinement included rewording items to address clarity issues, merging or splitting items to address overlap issues, and adding new items to address missing concepts. The Early Parkinson’s Function Slowness PRO instrument resulted in a multidimensional instrument covering upper limb, complex/whole body, general activity, and cognitive functional slowness. The Early Parkinson’s Mobility PRO instrument resulted in comprehensive coverage of everyday mobility tasks, with a focus on gait concepts, plus complex/whole body, balance, and lower limb mobility.ConclusionsThe Early Parkinson’s Function Slowness and Early Parkinson’s Mobility PRO instruments aim to address gaps in existing PRO instruments to measure meaningful symptoms and daily functioning in people living with early-stage Parkinson’s. Utilizing a meticulous study design led by a multidisciplinary research group that included patient experts helped to ensure that the PRO instruments were patient-centric, content valid, and meaningful from a clinical and measurement perspective.

λ-method of C-rating models for combat readiness assessment

This paper reports on a new development of great importance to readiness managers and decision-makers. As the issues concerning the status of a Combat Unit via sub resources, considerations the λ-method is a multi-dimensional approach to readiness problems and it represents an extension of the C-rating technique as developed by (Frank et al., 1968). We present a conceptual framework for this new direction and provide a mathematical justification for the concept. We establish a non-commitment relationship between the Φ-state and the λ-factor of sub resources which are the cardinal concepts of this new approach.

The Concept of Randomness in Chilean Primary School Textbooks

Background: Randomness is a fundamental concept in the formation of citizens because it intervenes in various daily life situations. In addition, it is present in the school curriculum of various countries, such as Chile. Objective : To analyse the teaching of the concept of randomness in primary education mathematics textbooks in Chile. Design: The research uses a qualitative methodology and uses the content-analysis method. Setting and participants : 42 textbooks were analysed, including student texts and activity logs. Data collection and analysis : Through content analysis, the sections and segments of the textbooks in which the concept of randomness intervenes are studied, relating them to definitions, problem situations, cognitive levels that should be developed, and the use of technological tools. Results : The concept of randomness is introduced through random games and concepts associated with random experiment, chance, random, and sample space, without delving into the definition of some cardinal concepts such as chance and randomness. Conclusions : The textbooks partially conform to the Chilean curricular guidelines. In addition, activities related to the concept of randomness generally refer to the use of physical devices and, on a small scale, to the use of technological tools. Finally, the textbooks present a small number of problem situations with an adequate cognitive level that favours the development of skills necessary for primary education students’ acquisition of probabilistic thinking.

A hierarchical example of the method of c-rating for combat readiness assessment technique

In this paper we present a follow up to an earlier method of c-rating models for combat readiness assessment in which we reported on a new development of immense importance to readiness managers and decision markers. The method is a multi-dimensional approach for resolving readiness problem via subresources in which the state and factor are the cardinal concepts with a concomitant relationship. We demonstrate the applicability of the method by using a hypothetical yet typical example within a naval environment. A step-by-step process is followed to determine unreadiness and consequently the readiness of the fleet as shown on the c-scale.

Health and environment from adaptation to adaptivity: a situated relational account

The definitions and conceptualizations of health, and the management of healthcare have been challenged by the current global scenarios (e.g., new diseases, new geographical distribution of diseases, effects of climate change on health, etc.) and by the ongoing scholarship in humanities and science. In this paper we question the mainstream definition of health adopted by the WHO—‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ (WHO in Preamble to the constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the international health conference, The World Health Organization, 1948)—and its role in providing tools to understand what health is in the contemporary context. More specifically, we argue that this context requires to take into account the role of the environment both in medical theory and in the healthcare practice. To do so, we analyse WHO documents dated 1984 and 1986 which define health as ‘coping with the environment’. We develop the idea of ‘coping with the environment’, by focusing on two cardinal concepts: adaptation in public health and adaptivity in philosophy of biology. We argue that the notions of adaptation and adaptivity can be of major benefit for the characterization of health, and have practical implications. We explore some of these implications by discussing two recent case studies of adaptivity in public health, which can be valuable to further develop adaptive strategies in the current pandemic scenario: community-centred care and microbiologically healthier buildings.

Patient Experience in Early-Stage Parkinson's Disease: Using a Mixed Methods Analysis to Identify Which Concepts Are Cardinal for Clinical Trial Outcome Assessment.

IntroductionQualitative research on patient experiences in early-stage Parkinson’s disease (PD) is limited. It is increasingly acknowledged that clinical outcome assessments used in trials do not fully capture the range of symptoms/impacts that are meaningful to people with early-stage PD. We aimed to conceptualize the patient experience in early-stage PD and identify, from the patient perspective, those cardinal symptoms/impacts which might be more useful to measure in clinical trials.MethodsIn a mixed-methods analysis, 50 people with early-stage PD and nine relatives were interviewed. Study design and results interpretation were led by a multidisciplinary group of patient, clinical, regulatory, and outcome measurements experts, and patient organization representatives. Identification of the cardinal concepts was informed by the relative frequency of reported concepts combined with insights from patient experts and movement disorder specialists.ResultsA conceptual model of the patient experience of early-stage PD was developed. Concept elicitation generated 145 unique concepts mapped across motor and non-motor symptoms, function, and impacts. Bradykinesia/slowness (notably in the form of “functional slowness”), tremor, rigidity/stiffness, mobility (particularly fine motor dexterity and subtle gait abnormalities), fatigue, depression, sleep/dreams, and pain were identified as cardinal in early-stage PD. “Functional slowness” (related to discrete tasks involving the upper limbs, complex mobility tasks, and general activities) was deemed to be more relevant than “difficulty” to patients with early-stage PD, who report being slower at completing tasks rather than encountering significant impairment with task completion.ConclusionPatient experiences in early-stage PD are complex and wide-ranging, and the currently available patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments do not evaluate many early-stage PD concepts such as functional slowness, fine motor skills, and subtle gait abnormalities. The development of a new PRO instrument, created in conjunction with people with PD, that fully assesses symptoms and the experience of living with early-stage PD, is required.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40120-022-00375-3.

The content of the concept of «spiritual and moral values» in the humanitarian knowledge of Germany

Introduction. Spiritual and moral values play an essential role in the formation of the younger person's personality. Therefore, their scientific development occupies an important place in the theory of pedagogy and implies the need for special research in the field of philosophy, axiology and a number of other sciences. The purpose of the article is to generalize the views of leading German scientists of the XIX-XX centuries who dealt with the problem of axiology, including in relation to pedagogy. Materials and methods. The leading research methods are the analysis of scientific literature, mainly in German, comparative and historical methods, and the axiological approach, which allowed us to identify valuable content in the theoretical works of German authors. Results. German axiology occupies a special place in the development of the doctrine of social and pedagogical values. It was German scientists who first developed the main approaches to the doctrine of values, which were then developed by axiologists of a number of other countries. The views of the leading philosophers-axiologists of Germany of the XIX-XX centuries are presented. Immanuel Kant was the first to turn to the study of the concept of "value". Rudolf-Hermann Lotze introduced the concept of "value" into science as an aesthetic and ethical category. The founders of the Baden School of Philosophy Wilhelm Windelband and Heinrich Rickert gave the first scientifically grounded interpretation of such cardinal concepts of axiology as evaluation, value, classification and hierarchy of values. Engelbert Gutwanger singled out such a feature in the concept of value as its orientation for the good or, conversely, against man and society. Fritz-Joachim von Rintelen divided values into personal and non-personal, and the personal sphere, in his opinion, rose above the non-personal; in other words, the interests of the individual were higher than the interests of society. Theodor Steinbuchel believed that moral values obliged and bound a person, and were perceived by him as a duty to society. The doctrine of values was further developed in the pedagogy of culture, represented by the names of Edward Spranger, Theodor Litt and Georg Michael Kershensteiner, who considered values in inseparable connection with education and culture. Conclusions. The scientific novelty of the study consists in a meaningful analysis of the views of a number of German scientists and philosophers. Currently, these views are actively used by the Russian theory of pedagogy as one of the methodological foundations. We put the following meaning into the concept of spiritual and moral values: these are socially approved and transmitted from generation to generation samples of culture and moral norms, personally significant, and regulating the behavior of a person, imprinted in the moral appearance of a person, in cultural patterns of life and intergenerational interaction, in educational relations, in pedagogical theories and methods of pedagogical activity and behavior. The main conclusion is that in order for the value orientations to be viable, and to be accepted by educators and students, it′s necessary that they correspond to the current life values of the younger generation and the progressive development of society as a whole.

Visions of the World and Representations of Time

From the viewpoint of intellectual history, the displacement and transformation of the cardinal concepts which made orientation in time possible and also expressed a new vision of the world should be central topics. Although at first glance the same concepts seem in use, they nevertheless changed first their content and then their application. In this article five historical examples are examined in order to understand how changes in representations of time have accompanied and structured transformations in worldviews. The first of these comes from the beginnings of Christianity, which established a radically new time hemmed in between two limits: the Incarnation and the Last Judgment (with the Second Coming of Christ). This new time, which shattered the times of paganism, bore within itself a vision of the world with its history conceived as the history of Salvation. The second example comes from the humanists, whose project for constructing a new world by reviving antiquity involved a break with the time before, which was designated and also denigrated as the Middle Ages. The third involves the concept of reform and the Reformation, which ushered in a real bifurcation in time: it signified first a return to an initial state before it turned into the concept of progress that characterizes the European modern era. The fourth example: by attributing judgment to History, the European thinkers of the modern era secularized it and made History the ultimate judge. Revolution provides the final example. Is it the inception of a new time (like the Incarnation) or of a radically different time (like the Apocalypse)? Or perhaps the concept of crisis is sufficient to make sense of it?

Prolegomena to a Semiotics of Experience. Memory, contexts and dialectic of sense

En la presente investigacion nos proponemos esbozar algunos de los temas que estimamos fundamentales en un programa para la constitucion de una Semiotica de la Experiencia. Para ello discutimos algunas propuestas de la Filosofia y la Antropologia y algunos conceptos cardinales de la Semiotica, con miras a darles una vision mas amplia, de modo que la experiencia, entendida como objeto fundamental de la investigacion semiotica, se articule a una teoria de los contextos, sin los cuales las semiosis textuales no existen o, simplemente, se ven limitadas y reducidas en su riqueza significativa.

Configuring the Baroque: Warburg and Benjamin

ABSTRACTThis essay compares Aby Warburg's and Walter Benjamin's exemplary versions of the Baroque. It examines Warburg's ambivalent, episodic, but demonstrably crucial attempts to make sense of the Baroque style in light of his cardinal concepts of the pathos formula and the ‘prudence’ that he prizes in the artist and ‘cultural scientist’. It thus also considers the agency and ‘anachronism’ of the Baroque artwork. Then the essay turns to how Benjamin's Origin of the German Tragic Drama appropriates Warburg's and the Warburg Circle's writings to help construct an allegorical, but similarly recursive Baroque. Warburg and Benjamin, it contends, are both keen to redeem the Baroque; but Benjamin does so by plumbing the very daemonic depths that Warburg prudently eschews.

Freud's Burden of Debt to Nietzsche and Schopenhauer

This paper addresses the questions raised by the evidence presented that many cardinal psycho-analytic notions bear a strong resemblance to the ideas of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. In the process, the author considers not only that the 19th century Zeitgeist, given its preoccupation with the unconscious, created a fertile ground for the birth of psychoanalysis, but the influence on the Weltanschauung of Freud, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche of their common German cultural heritage, their shared admiration for Shakespeare and love of Hellenic culture, and the meteoric rise of science. Although influence may not be sharply separated from confluence, the parallels between Freud's concepts and those of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche are too specific to be coincidental. And yet, Freud vehemently denied ever having read these philosophers’ works until “very late in life”. It is suggested that an unconscious sense of guilt may have induced that denial.This study adopts a cross-sectional approach that juxtaposes Freud's cardinal concepts with the ideas of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. Its tripartite structure has the advantage of observing similarities and differences not only between Freud and the two philosophers, but also between Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. The focal concepts include: the unconscious; ego, id and superego; libido; drives; repression; sublimation; dreams; catharsis; free association; primary and secondary process thinking; Oedipus complex; repetition compulsion; the pleasure principle; mourning and melancholia; a criminal from a sense of guilt; and the death instinct.

Reflections on Religious Identity and Diversity in the Economy of Islamic Spirituality

This essay proposes a reflection on the questions of identity vs otherness and unity vs diversity in the context of Islam with a focus on Sufi metaphysics and spirituality. Taking as starting points the notions of islām, tawhīd, and shirk it sketches the ways in which four major Sufi figures—namely Hallāj, Ibn ‘Arabī, Rūmī and Shabistarī, have extracted from these cardinal concepts the principles of a universalist outlook that may allow one to address contemporary issues of pluralism and religious conflicts from the point of view of the very foundations of the tradition itself.

Catherine Malabou’s Hegel: One or several plasticities?

Through an original and extraordinarily fruitful reading of the Hegelian conception of negativity, Catherine Malabou developed the concept of plasticity which she keeps working on as one of her cardinal concepts even to this day. Engaging in the problematic of unity in Hegel, the paper takes on the task of trying to answer the question whether plasticity is one or are there several plasticities. The author argues that one must be careful not to reduce the inherent multiple of plasticity to a single plasticity which becomes plasticity par excellence: the plasticity of plastic explosion, of an abrupt and absolute break, to be distinguished from a creative or productive plasticity of habit. Malabou claimed that Hegel was - contrary to what Deleuz read in him - a philosopher of conceptual multitude as a multitude which cannot be reduced to only one image, the image of unity. If this is true, then the concept of plasticity itself with which she grasped the essence of Hegel?s dialectics, should be understood at least as a ?unity in conflict?, if not as an inorganic, inhomogeneous, composed unity - and perhaps even as a unity of the pack.

Complexity: a potential paradigm for a health promotion discipline

Health promotion underpins a distancing from narrow, simplifying health approaches associated with the biomedical model. However, it has not yet succeeded in formally establishing its theoretical, epistemological and methodological foundations on a single paradigm. The complexity paradigm, which it has yet to broach head-on, might provide it with a disciplinary matrix in line with its implicit stances and basic values. This article seeks to establish complexity's relevance as a paradigm that can contribute to the development of a health promotion discipline. The relevance of complexity is justified primarily by its matching with several implicit epistemological and methodological/theoretical stances found in the cardinal concepts and principles of health promotion. The transcendence of ontological realism and determinism as well as receptiveness in respect of the reflexivity that complexity encompasses are congruent with the values of social justice, participation, empowerment and the concept of positive health that the field promotes. Moreover, from a methodological and theoretical standpoint, complexity assumes a holistic, contextual and transdisciplinary approach, toward which health promotion is tending through its emphasis on ecology and interdisciplinary action. In a quest to illustrate our position, developmental evaluation is presented as an example of practice stemming from a complexity paradigm that can be useful in the evaluation of health promotion initiatives. In short, we argue that it would be advantageous for health promotion to integrate this paradigm, which would provide it with a formal framework appropriate to its purposes and concerns.

Psicoterapia di coppia - Psicoterapia di gruppo Una dialettica possibile?

- Through the exploration of the "bond" concept (as expressed by Kaës) - which is the specific unconscious reality that emerges from the encounter of two or more subjects - work with couples is analyzed through the evolution of what the authors see as the most fruitful paradigms for clinical work. Our understanding of individual and group psychoanalytic psychotherapy is examined, and basic clinical theoretical tenets are identified during the meeting with the couple. We determine the cardinal concepts by which we explore the evergrowing complexity of emotional dynamics. The therapist needs to observe and investigate both inner and outer personal aspects, as well as reciprocal emotional dynamics in order to define not only the self but also the meaning of us. The authors examine different phases in the couple's life, and, more specifically, what happens within the couple when a newborn arrives. Particular attention is given to the construction of the couple's common setting. Referring to transference and counter-transference dynamics, analogies and differences between group psychotherapy and couple psychotherapy are outlined in order to establish a possible dialogue between the two approaches.Key words: bond, couple, group, transference, counter-transference, unconscious group organizers.

Probing Quantum Commutation Rules by Addition and Subtraction of Single Photons to/from a Light Field

The possibility of arbitrarily "adding" and "subtracting" single photons to and from a light field may give access to a complete engineering of quantum states and to fundamental quantum phenomena. We experimentally implemented simple alternated sequences of photon creation and annihilation on a thermal field and used quantum tomography to verify the peculiar character of the resulting light states. In particular, as the final states depend on the order in which the two actions are performed, we directly observed the noncommutativity of the creation and annihilation operators, one of the cardinal concepts of quantum mechanics, at the basis of the quantum behavior of light. These results represent a step toward the full quantum control of a field and may provide new resources for quantum information protocols.

Analyzing Fugue: A Schenkerian Approach

The analytical techniques that Heinrich Schenker developed have become increasingly dominant in the analysis of tonal music, and have provided a rich and powerful means of understanding the complexities of great masterworks of the Western tradition. Schenker's method is based on two cardinal concepts - a hierarchy of tones grouped into structural levels, and a recognition of the importance of strict voice-leading at all structural levels. In Analyzing Fugue - A Schenkerian Approach, author William Renwick utilises Schenkerian techniques to explore the relationship between imitative counterpoint and voice-leading in fugue. He shows that the art of fugal composition as practiced by masters such as Bach and Handel involves a remarkable degree of systematic structural patterning that is not evident on the surface of the music.