Category Scheme Research Articles

Институционализм(ы): объяснительные модели и причинность

The explanation is assumed as an essential feature of political studies as a special genre of political discourse. Two explanatory models, which have been developed in institutional political studies, are discussed in the article. Rational choice institutionalism and sociological institutionalism differ fundamentally in the understanding of social reality and the nature of social institutions. Deductive-nomological model inherent in rational choice institutionalism meets the requirements of logical positivism to a greater extent. Studied phenomenon is explained by applying general laws to it, i.e. by showing what happens in accordance with these laws in certain conditions. At the same time, such an explanatory model reveals some limitations. Firstly, “universalist claims”, which are inherent in rational choice institutionalism, fall under suspicion. Another serious problem is the inability to explain the phenomenon of rationality as such. Finally, the phenomenon of rationality requires taking into account the social context, since the explanation based on rationality is not just a logical abstraction suitable for any empirical material. On the contrary, it is suitable for the specific social context in which people act rationally. Sociological institutionalism uses such explanatory models as categorial schemes that are muchmore flexible in comparison with deductive-nomological logic. They allow us to specify the concepts used, split them, if necessary, into several components as well as to enter new concepts that fix those phenomena of empirical reality that previously were not perceived as significant ones.

How to identify e-learning trends in academic teaching

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to introduce methodology and findings of a trend study in the field of e-learning. The overall interest of the study was the analysis of scientific e-learning discourses. What comes next in the field of academic e-learning? Which e-learning trends dominate the discourse at universities? Answering such questions is the basis for the adaptation of service strategies and IT-infrastructures within institutions of higher education.Design/methodology/approach– Which e-learning formats dominate the current scientific discourse? To answer this question, a trend study based on a content analysis was performed. The abstracts of 427 scientific articles of leading German-speaking e-learning conferences Gesellschaft für Medien in der Wissenschaft and E-Learning-Fachtagungen der Gesellschaft für Informatik e. V. (GMW and DeLFI) – published from 2007 to 2013 – were examined. A category scheme was derived from the Horizon Report. The category scheme then was gradually expanded and adapted to the data material during the investigation.Findings– This paper found that the detailed analysis of the frequency distribution over the seven years reflects the intensity of scientific discussion towards e-learning trends within the investigation period, and conclusions about the didactical or technical potentials of innovations can be drawn because both conferences are different in terms of their objective. The authors also classified the life stages of selected innovations based on the Gartner hype cycles, and the striking findings of the study will be formulated in the form of assumptions, which reflect the development potential of learning management, mobile learning, virtual worlds, e-portfolio, social media and Massive Open Online Courses in German Higher Education.Research limitations/implications– Only abstracts of the selected contributions were investigated. Errors in the category allocation due to unclear terminology cannot be excluded. Organisers of the investigated conferences often define the (main) topics. This influenced the spectrum of represented topics overall, as well as the focus of individual contributions. The above-presented study was conducted at German-speaking conferences and, therefore, reflects the situation in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. No conclusions about actors or institutional relationships can be made, in contrast to the original assumptions of discourse analysis. The categorial classification of contributions does not allow any conclusions about the quality of the discourse.Originality/value– The study shows how proceedings of scientific conferences can be used for trend studies. It became clear that discourse analytical studies can be used complementary to other methods of future studies. The advantage of this methodology lies mainly in the easy access to the text material, as conference proceedings are mostly available online. In addition, the analysis of large amounts of data (or texts) can be greatly facilitated by use of digital technologies (e.g. by automatic analysis of keyword). This paper makes an important contribution to the diffusion of digital media in higher education.

Gaining perspective: How men describe incidents damaging the therapeutic alliance.

This study investigated the incidents that male clients found to be most detrimental to the formation or strengthening of the therapeutic alliance with their mental health professionals, using an abbreviated version of the qualitative critical incident technique, which focused on hindering incidents only. The Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory was administered as a measure of participants' adherence to traditional masculine gender norms to better describe the sample. Participants were 86 adult males, almost all of whom were receiving individual counseling or psychotherapy at the time of the study. After redundant statements had been eliminated, a total of 56 unique critical incident statements were obtained. The statements were initially sorted into self-defined, conceptually homogenous categories by 3 returning participants, and a consensus classification structure (based on the participants' categorization of the incidents) was then created by the researchers. The consensus structure was modified based on feedback and reliability data gathered from a subset of participants. The final category scheme contained 7 categories describing what clients in this study perceived as detrimental to the formation or strengthening of the alliance. The categories were as follows: Not the Right Fit/Approach, Counselor/Psychotherapist Pressuring the Client, Client Uncertain or Untrusting, Counselor/Psychotherapist Acting on Assumptions About the Client, Client Unsure of What to Expect in Session, Client Not Putting in Enough Effort, and Time/Timing Problems. These categories can aid practitioners in providing gender-sensitive care by helping them become alert to the ways in which problems may manifest in alliances with male clients.

What are the reasons for patient dropout in nursing home residents in an intervention study. An analysis of unit nonresponders in 12 German nursing homes

Non-response bias is a major problem for the validity of survey answers. Analyses of reasons for non-response in surveys with nursing home residents (NHR) are scarce. The aim of this study was to develop reliable and valid categories which represent reasons for non-response in nursing homes using the "Prozessmodell induktiver Kategorienbildung" following Mayring (2010). Furthermore, characteristics of unit non-responder and responder were compared. Forming of categories of reasons for non-response was conducted with 522 NHR, longitudinally. Four major categories were identified (general refusal, health reasons, accessibility, excessive demand) and further 17 subcategories. Unit-non-responder and responder did not differ in age and sex; however follow-up non-responder showed differences in marital status, training qualification, and cognitive status. The presented scheme of categories can be used to assess reasons for non-response in nursing homes. Standardised assessment of reasons for non-response may contribute to higher response rates in this setting.

Damage quantification of built stone on Dark Gate (Belgrade, Serbia): sample of damage index application for decay rate evaluation

The Dark Gate is the monument of culture, part of the cultural and historical complex of the Belgrade Fortress. It is constructed of limestone blocks that after 270 years of exposure to environmental conditions and different anthropogenic influences show wide ranges of decay forms. During 2007, detail registration of all built limestone microfacies and weathering forms was done using tools of monument mapping. A correlation scheme “intensity– damage category” was made according to the type, intensity, and distribution of damage forms. For quantification of decay rate of the Dark Gate, damage indices were calculated on the bases of mapping results. Calculated values of damage indices (>3) reflected differences between separate zones of the gate (south–north facades, east–west oriented parts of the gate). This approach allowed assessment and comparison of weathering rates according to the gate’s position and the exposure of the stone to environmental influences. The linear damage index showed that the moderate damage is the dominant category on the entire monument, while the progressive damage index implies to the need of urgent intervention. After 7 years, re-evaluation of these parameters was done. New data of weathering mapping and recalculated values of damage indices reflected significant acceleration in decay rate. By comparing weathering maps and values of damage indices from 2007 and 2014, the eastern part of the gate was separated as the zone of the monument that had suffered the heaviest damage. Differences among the values of damage indices showed that the position of the gate is one of the main causes of the present state of stone blocks built in the Dark Gate. They also showed that a carefully made damage category scheme is a key diagnostic tool in each restoration project.

Threat evaluation for biodiversity conservation of forest ecosystems using geospatial techniques: A case study of Odisha, India

Up-scaling the evaluation of threat status of biodiversity from species to ecosystem level has remained for long a research challenge in global conservation science. To meet this challenge, the present study makes an attempt toward actionable conservation prescription and assigning a threat category scheme for forest ecosystems. The scheme sets the quantitative criteria for evaluation of cumulative anthropogenic threats in grid cells, such as deforestation, degradation, fragmentation, forest fires and biological invasions. Adopting the convention of IUCN, five conservation status categories (i.e. Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Near Threatened, Least Concern) have been similarly adopted for the forest ecosystems facing these threats. The operational success of this scheme of threat categories at ecosystem level has been strengthened by remote sensing and field data generated for the forest ecosystems of Odisha, India. The threat category status of the forest ecosystems were identified by creating grids (5km×5km) in GIS and assigned the degree of the threats for each grid. The database on deforestation was generated using topographical maps of 1935 and remote sensing data of 1975 and 2010. The degradation in forest ecosystems have been assessed based on the change in forest canopy closure, fragmentation pattern, forest fire distribution and impact of biological invasions. The analysis for conservation priority hotspots complements an assessment of the threatened ecosystems undergoing remarkable level of multiple threats. Areas under the danger of cumulative anthropogenic threats would have a higher priority. 5.8% grids of existing forest had included under the category of conservation priority hotspot-I, followed by 12.4% in conservation priority hotspot-II, and 12.5% in conservation priority hotspot-III. An integrated approach involving the cumulative anthropogenic threat indicators have been found to be the most appropriate tool to empirically evaluate the threat status of the forest ecosystems. Finally, identification of ecosystems especially those facing increasing extinction risks, as attempted in the present study, can help in devising an appropriate policy and management agenda for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Motives for Active Participation in Political Blogs

Blogs play an important role in political communication and in forming the opinions of political actors and politically interested users. Their ability to facilitate active interaction, present opinions, mobilize voters, and thereby, influence public opinion and eventually election outcomes makes political blogs an interesting research subject. Thus, this article draws upon a qualitative content analysis to reveal the readers’ motivations and main themes to post comments and get involved in the discussions on political blogs. We analyze 12 blog discussions (500 pages) in eight left-leaning German political blogs and use qualitative content analysis to develop a category scheme comprising of 3,868 codings. We find that social interaction with other blog users is the main motive for blogging on German political blogs together with the desire for the exchange of further information and analysis, and the expression of the own opinion concerning the subject. Moreover, we classify 191 users by their motivations for blogging using cluster analysis and identify the bloggers’ different communication roles. By providing insight into the users’ political discussions, motives for participation, and communication roles, we clarify the role that political blogs play in the process of forming political opinion and derive implications for politics.

Effects of Category Learning on Neural Sensitivity to Non-native Phonetic Categories

Categorical perception, an increased sensitivity to between- compared with within-category contrasts, is a stable property of native speech perception that emerges as language matures. Although recent research suggests that categorical responses to speech sounds can be found in left prefrontal as well as temporo-parietal areas, it is unclear how the neural system develops heightened sensitivity to between-category contrasts. In the current study, two groups of adult participants were trained to categorize speech sounds taken from a dental/retroflex/velar continuum according to two different boundary locations. Behavioral results suggest that for successful learners, categorization training led to increased discrimination accuracy for between-category contrasts with no concomitant increase for within-category contrasts. Neural responses to the learned category schemes were measured using a short-interval habituation design during fMRI scanning. Whereas both inferior frontal and temporal regions showed sensitivity to phonetic contrasts sampled from the continuum, only the bilateral middle frontal gyri exhibited a pattern consistent with encoding of the learned category scheme. Taken together, these results support a view in which top-down information about category membership may reshape perceptual sensitivities via attention or executive mechanisms in the frontal lobes.

Concretes, countries, and processes in Julius O. Kaiser's Theory of Systematic Indexing: A case study in the definition of general categories

Although general categories are an important feature of many KOSs, they are difficult to define. If we are to understand the factors that render category definition difficult, we should consider how designers of past KOSs have defined the categories in their systems. This paper presents, as a case study, an analysis of the formulation of categories in J. Kaiser’s theory of systematic indexing, which was designed for the indexing of commercial literature. Kaiser’s theory posited three categories: concretes, countries, and processes. Close examination of his writings reveals semantic tensions in the definition of each category. Concretes were defined both in general terms as things-in-the-world and in domain specific terms as commodities; Countries were defined as political units but included geographical regions that were not politically unified; and Processes were defined alternately as conditions of concretes or actions associated with them. Tensions also appear in the categorial scheme comprising these categories, of which there were dyadic (Concrete-Process) and triadic (Concrete-Country-Process), the former of which was grounded on a theoretical model and the latter, on pragmatic, domain-specific considerations. Kaiser’s attempts to harmonize these models by deriving countries from concretes faltered because of his narrow construal of concretes. The tensions in Kaiser’s definition of categories are due to semantic overdetermination, while those associated with his categorial scheme are ascribable to the general tension between theory and practice.

Tourist scams: exploring the dimensions of an international tourism phenomenon

Tourist scams exist in many countries and are a subset of the long standing research area concerned with crimes against tourists. In this paper it is suggested that a defining feature of the tourist scam is the initial involvement of the tourist in the activity either through their gullibility or personal desire for an unusual or easy gain. This paper locates tourist scams in the literature on crimes against tourists and reviews work on scams in order to develop a category scheme portraying these encounters. Data collected in Thailand provide examples of scams to underpin the construction of a scheme which identifies tourist service scams, general retail scams and social interaction scams. The attribution of responsibility literature is used to interpret how scam victims are seen. A role for international comparative studies is suggested to better explain and potentially limit scam practices.

Contrasted Views on Environmental Change and Migration: the Case of Tuvaluan Migration to New Zealand

AbstractAs one of the smallest and most remote low‐lying atoll countries on earth, Tuvalu seems to exemplify a typical case of forced migration induced by environmental change. Tuvalu has been essentially perceived through the lens of environmental displacement and vulnerability to climate change – a perception that has been consistently reinforced and sustained by the discourse of its government and media interests. For Pacific Islanders, migration is often seen as a significant pattern of lifestyle, and even a social routine at times. This study employed a qualitative research approach, involving questionnaires and interviews with Tuvaluans, in both the migration origin of Tuvalu and migration destination of New Zealand. We show that the majority of Tuvaluans who migrated to New Zealand did not necessarily do so for climate change reasons. However, the issue of climate change remains a common theme in the minds of Tuvaluan migrants interviewed. This research shows the importance of climate change as a migration driver, in a context of increasing number of Tuvaluan migrants relocating to New Zealand through various immigration schemes, such as the Pacific Access Category scheme. We review and assess the motives underpinning the migration decision of those who have resettled in New Zealand. Contemporary Tuvaluan migration to New Zealand is uniquely related to and defined by complex relationships between people and environment. The migration drivers include environmental change, employment, education and for the betterment of future generations. Whether by design or not, these socio‐economic and environmental developments are all responsible for the creation of environmental change in which some Tuvaluans have sought to respond through emigration to New Zealand.

The flexible use of inductive and geometric spatial categories

The present study examined the flexibility with which people can adopt different category schemes in the spatial domain. In a location memory task, participants viewed and estimated the locations of four kinds of objects that were spatially grouped by object identity. This identity-based arrangement was either congruent or incongruent with the perceptually based, geometric categories that have been reported in previous research. Four experiments examined the conditions under which these different category schemes are used to inform estimates of locations. The results showed that use of identity information depended on the number of objects to be remembered during a trial: When one or two objects were remembered at a time, only geometric categories affected estimates, but when four objects were to be remembered, both geometric categories and identity groupings affected estimates. As memory load increases, participants rely on additional sources to inform their estimates of location.

Prefrontal Cortex Activity during Flexible Categorization

Items are categorized differently depending on the behavioral context. For instance, a lion can be categorized as an African animal or a type of cat. We recorded lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) neural activity while monkeys switched between categorizing the same image set along two different category schemes with orthogonal boundaries. We found that each category scheme was largely represented by independent PFC neuronal populations and that activity reflecting a category distinction was weaker, but not absent, when that category was irrelevant. We suggest that the PFC represents competing category representations independently to reduce interference between them.

The ACGT Master Ontology and its applications – Towards an ontology-driven cancer research and management system

Objective: This paper introduces the objectives, methods and results of ontology development in the EU co-funded project Advancing Clinico-genomic Trials on Cancer – Open Grid Services for Improving Medical Knowledge Discovery (ACGT). While the available data in the life sciences has recently grown both in amount and quality, the full exploitation of it is being hindered by the use of different underlying technologies, coding systems, category schemes and reporting methods on the part of different research groups. The goal of the ACGT project is to contribute to the resolution of these problems by developing an ontology-driven, semantic grid services infrastructure that will enable efficient execution of discovery-driven scientific workflows in the context of multi-centric, post-genomic clinical trials. The focus of the present paper is the ACGT Master Ontology (MO). Methods: ACGT project researchers undertook a systematic review of existing domain and upper-level ontologies, as well as of existing ontology design software, implementation methods, and end-user interfaces. This included the careful study of best practices, design principles and evaluation methods for ontology design, maintenance, implementation, and versioning, as well as for use on the part of domain experts and clinicians. Results: To date, the results of the ACGT project include (i) the development of a master ontology (the ACGT-MO) based on clearly defined principles of ontology development and evaluation; (ii) the development of a technical infrastructure (the ACGT Platform) that implements the ACGT-MO utilizing independent tools, components and resources that have been developed based on open architectural standards, and which includes an application updating and evolving the ontology efficiently in response to end-user needs; and (iii) the development of an Ontology-based Trial Management Application (ObTiMA) that integrates the ACGT-MO into the design process of clinical trials in order to guarantee automatic semantic integration without the need to perform a separate mapping process.

Change of contractor’s status in the system of national accounts

It is assumed that methodological foundation of national accounting is based on the principles of political economy, accounting and statistics. However, the author of the present paper believes that market turnover reproduction processes, as well as interaction of the given processes, were not sufficiently covered in periodicals dedicated to the SNA problems. Thus, the timeliness of the paper is associated with an attempt to show that the substance of the fundamental law of self-preservation in the context of unbalanced estimates regarding modern reproduction and real market turnover appears either as conservatism trends, or development trends in the market economy. The aim of the present paper is to determine specifics of dual substance of counterparties in the national economy, which establishes their status as producers and consumers. Problem analysis referred to reproduction regularity formalization, an effect of such regularities on market turnover, as well as building a logical scheme and subordination of reproduction categories, make it possible to achieve the goal and identify a study algorithm regarding counterparty status change. The author of the paper applies methods of “pure economy†– mathematical methods, in particular, as well as methods of political economy, including a dialectics method. The results obtained in terms of new knowledge on interaction of reproduction processes and market turnover make it possible to determine current trends in the economic system. Moreover, description of a generic term, material basis, form of function and system-defined quality helps estimating a degree of dominant feature combination, determine counterparties’ ability to develop or preserve various production activities, and, finally, stimulate ability to change status of counterparties. The main conclusion of the present paper is that the SNA can be treated as an “ex-ante†analysis within the suggested approach, rather than an “ex-post†analysis suggested by traditional “Economics†. And such treatment meets the requirements of the new economy, i.e. economy of knowledge, based on predictive modeling of economic processes.

Categorias: questões acerca do esquema aristotélico frente a discussões modernas e contemporâneas

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>O presente trabalho ocupa-se da questão das categorias em Aristóteles como os gêneros supremos em que se classificam as coisas. Há uma conexão entre este esquema de categorias e certas formas da linguagem. A discussão se desenvolve em torno da categoria de Substância na medida em que tem prioridade sobre todas as outras categorias. As noções de universal e individual, cruzadas às noções de substância e acidente, fornecem o panorama de uma realidade sob o ponto de vista da organização de seus elementos dentre os gêneros supremos. Teorias modernas e contemporâneas são abordadas de modo a visualizar diferentes possibilidades de interpretação do esquema aristotélico de categorias e a construção de novos esquemas.</span></p><p><span><br /></span></p><div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><strong>Categories: questions about the Aristotelian scheme compared to modern and contemporary discussions</strong></p></div></div><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><strong>Abstract </strong></p><div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="section"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>The present work deals with the question of the categories in Aristotle as the supreme genera </span>in which things are classified. There is a connection between this scheme of categories and forms of language. The discussion is developed considering that the category of substance has priority over all other categories. The notions of universal and individual, linked to the concepts of substance and accident, provide a picture of reality from the point of view of organization of its elements among the supreme genera. Modern and contemporary theories are addressed in order to visualize different possibilities of interpretation of the Aristotelian scheme of categories and the construction of new schemes.</p><div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span><strong>Keywords:</strong> Categories; supreme genera; substance. </span></p></div></div></div><p> </p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>

A Qualitative Research Study on School Absenteeism Among College Students

School absenteeism is an alarming problem for administrators, teachers, parents, and the society, in general, as well as for the students, in particular. It may indicate low performance of teachers, students' dissatisfaction of the school's services, or lack of or poor academic and non-academic structures or policies that address the problems or factors influencing or reinforcing this behavior. Parents are financially burdened for having their children to stay longer in the school, having to re-enroll them in subjects where they fail due to excessive absences. The present study aimed to explore the process by which the phenomenon of school absenteeism evolves or is experienced by the college students. In-depth interviews of ten absentee students and the use of editing style analysis and a method described by Colaizzi (1978) yielded three category schemes of experience of school absenteeism: (a) disempowering circumstances - feeling of helplessness; (b) misguided value system - mixed up priorities; and (c) pedagogical dilemmas – unappealing academic environments. Based on the findings, the pedagogical, psychological and socio-cultural implications are discussed.

The tight coupling between category and causal learning

The main goal of the present research was to demonstrate the interaction between category and causal induction in causal model learning. We used a two-phase learning procedure in which learners were presented with learning input referring to two interconnected causal relations forming a causal chain (Experiment 1) or a common-cause model (Experiments 2a, b). One of the three events (i.e., the intermediate event of the chain, or the common cause) was presented as a set of uncategorized exemplars. Although participants were not provided with any feedback about category labels, they tended to induce categories in the first phase that maximized the predictability of their causes or effects. In the second causal learning phase, participants had the choice between transferring the newly learned categories from the first phase at the cost of suboptimal predictions, or they could induce a new set of optimally predictive categories for the second causal relation, but at the cost of proliferating different category schemes for the same set of events. It turned out that in all three experiments learners tended to transfer the categories entailed by the first causal relation to the second causal relation.

The Logic of the Ontological Square

The Ontological Square is a categorial scheme that combines two metaphysical distinctions: that between types (or universals) and tokens (or particulars) on the one hand, and that between characters (or features) and their substrates (or bearers) on the other hand. The resulting four-fold classification of things comprises particular substrates, called substances, universal substrates, called kinds, particular characters, called modes or moments, and universal characters, called attributes. Things are joined together in facts by primitive ontological ties or nexus. This article describes a logic that is meant to capture the basic intuitions behind the Ontological Square. Given a minimal correspondence between atomic logical form and ontological structure, the commitment to nexus as a distinct ontological category entails a rehabilitation of copulae as ties of predication. Thus, the Logic of the Ontological Square is a copula calculus rather than a predicate calculus; its soundness and completeness can be established with respect to a model akin to a so-called first-order semantics for standard second-order logic.

Current Trends in Library and Information Studies Curricula

The present study presents an analysis of curricula offered at library and information studies departments in different parts of the world. Data was collected from the websites of 30 departments in 21 countries and coded based on the typology proposed by Wilson in 2001. This typology proposes five major subject fields that can be combined to better represent the complexities present in the curricula. The analysis of curricula in the sample revealed that the five subject fields proposed by Wilson's typology are present in the sample. The category scheme presents a long list of categories that represent different combinations between the five subject fields, revealing a sample of curricula centered on information and technology subjects that emphasize users' needs. Findings show that the largest percentage of the courses examined relates to information content in general and to content provided to specific groups of users. Technology courses are the second major category present in the curricula examined. The examination also revealed an additional and important category, not found in Wilson's original typology, which encompasses supporting non-library related courses. This category is the third largest category in the sample and it reflects an interdisciplinary trend in the curricula examined that aims at providing students with knowledge in subject areas not related to information and librarianship.