Central Concept Research Articles

Comparison of direct and indirect admission to a cardiac arrest centre for intubated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients in the Northwest England: an audit

Abstract Background Despite concerted global efforts to enhance cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and post-resuscitation care, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) remains a significant cause of mortality. Current guidelines promote the concept of Cardiac Arrest Center (CAC), offering advanced post-resuscitation management with the aim of improving survival rates. However, it remains uncertain whether directly transporting OHCA patients from the scene to these centers would enhance their prognosis. Purpose This study aimed to assess whether direct transport of intubated OHCA patients to a higher-level cardiac arrest center in the Northwest of England yielded better outcomes compared to initial resuscitation in smaller local emergency departments followed by transfer. Methods Conducted as a retrospective analysis, the audit examined OHCA patients presenting at a single cardiac arrest center between October 2018 and April 2022. Only intubated patients were included. The study compared two groups based on the route of admission: direct admission to the cardiac arrest center from the field by emergency medical service providers versus indirect admission via inter-hospital transfer to the center. The primary outcomes assessed were inpatient survival and 30-day survival. Statistical analysis employed Student's T-test and Chi-square test for clinical significance. Results The audit included 214 patients, with 112 (52.34%) in the direct group and 102 (47.66%) in the indirect group. Baseline characteristics between the groups were similar, including age, gender, downtime, bystander CPR, haemodynamic status, initial presenting rhythm (VT/VF), post-arrest ECG (STEMI), comorbidities, and procedural outcomes (Table 1). However, the direct group exhibited significantly shorter average arrival times at the cardiac arrest center (72 minutes vs. 190 minutes, p=0.017), along with improved in-hospital survival (52.68% vs. 41.18%, p=0.009) and 30-day survival rates (52.68% vs. 37.25%, p=0.002). Conclusion The direct admission of intubated OHCA patients to a cardiac arrest center, as observed in this audit, was associated with improved outcomes attributed to expedited admission times. The study’s design limitations, including its non-randomized nature and single-center approach, underscore the need for further research.

The multi-dimensionality of citizen satisfaction: A conjoint experimental approach

Current research demonstrated that many factors affect public satisfaction of government services. One central challenge for scholars is that citizen satisfaction is a multi-dimensional concept, yet most empirical tests focus on a small number of factors, and do not account for the simultaneous effects of the many factors. In this study, we present a comprehensive approach that accounts for this multi-dimensionality, and views satisfaction as dependent on two categories of factors: service-specific attributes, and performance comparisons. We assess the multi-dimensional nature of citizen satisfaction with a conjoint experiment, a methodological tool that allows us to test the causal effect of multiple factors operating at the same time. We use the conjoint design to investigate citizen satisfaction from every-day government services. The findings suggest that citizen satisfaction is driven by both groups of variables. Also, we find evidence for a negativity bias in public evaluations when service-specific attributes are involved: individuals' reported satisfaction is more sensitive to negative information like higher costs or unprofessional behavior by service providers compared to positive description of these factors. At the same time, we find that factors in the performance comparisons category create more balanced effects on satisfaction with respect to the information valence. The analysis reveals the drivers of public satisfaction of government services and the importance of key factors. The use of a conjoint design provides a more appropriate tool to tackle the multi-dimensional nature of a central public administration concept of citizen satisfaction.

Latent tubercolosis infection in the migrant population: an Italian surveillance experience

Abstract Background The Special Reception Center (“Centro Accoglienza Straordinario” or CAS in Italian) concept was born in Italy in 2014 to receive the large number of migrants arriving in Italy. There are around 3100 centres are in Italy, of which 200+ in Tuscany. Each Center’s objective is to support migrants’ social integration through Italian language and job orientation courses. On arrival at a facility, migrants undergo diagnostic and lab tests to highlight potentially infectious diseases; among these, tuberculosis is one of the most frequently encountered. Therefore, the objective of the study is to estimate the prevalence of Latent Tuberculosis Infections (LTBIs) among migrants hosted in CAS centers. Methods From May-December 2023, Amiata Senese, Val d’Orcia and Valdichiana Senese Public Health Unit staff, according to national and departmental guidelines, implemented a number of health surveillance protocols, with close attention to latent tuberculosis infection. This protocol includes the Mantoux TB skin test at the CAS: in case of positivity, subjects are directed to further exams (chest X-ray, TB-IGRA blood test, infectious disease specialist consultation) in order to implement a therapy. Results From May-December 2023, 259 migrants (241 males and 18 females) received the TB skin tests. Average subject age was 26. Pakistan was the most represented nation of origin with 130 migrants (50%), followed by Bangladesh (9.7%) and Ivory Coast (7.3%). 77 migrants showed a positive TB skin test result (29.7%): of these 56 (i.e. 21.6% of the migrants screened) were also positive to the TB-IGRA blood test and treated for LTBI. Conclusions The high prevalence of LTBIs found in the referenced CAS indicates the need to continue/extend these surveillance protocols. Implementing successfully this procedure requires the involvement of a range of professionals from the socio-health sector within a process necessarily coordinated by the Disease Prevention Department. Key messages • Screening and surveillance of infectious diseases among migrant population represent a major public health issue for European health systems. • Detection and treatment of Latent Tubercolosis Infections require a multiprofessional and integrated approach, coordinated by the Disease Prevention Department.

Global perspectives on platforms and cultural production

Research on platforms and cultural production is dominated by studies that take the Anglo-American world and Northwestern Europe as their main points of reference. Central concepts in the field, consequently, bear the imprint of Western institutions, cultural practices, and ideals. Critically responding to this state of affairs, this opening essay of the special issue on Global Perspectives on Platforms and Cultural Production, consisting of 20 articles, aims to: 1) challenge universalism, 2) provincialize the US, and 3) multiply our frames of reference. Pursuing these objectives, we bring together ideas from postcolonial and decolonial theory and platform studies in a systematic research program. This global perspectives program allows us to: denaturalize and rethink dominant concepts and ideas through research from around the globe; explicitly thematize and examine the global power relations that structure platform economies; and critically interrogate the knowledge production about these economies.

Centro e centralidades em foco: um olhar acerca do Gávea Centro e suas centralidades no Setor Sul de Uberlândia-MG

The general objective of this article is to explore the urban dynamics and the different conceptions of center and centrality; The specific objectives are to address the emergence of new centralities and their dialectic in the continuous movement of space production in the city and to highlight centrality as a possibility for improving the quality of urban life. Given its character as a reflexive effort, it is methodologically supported by a bibliography review and a brief approach to the empirical reality of Uberlândia-MG. It does not have the purpose of exhausting the theoretical framework on the subject, but is more of a brief interpellation, an invitation to debate. The text is divided into three parts, in addition to the introduction. Initially, it addresses the conceptualization of city and urban, in order to highlight the constant change in the structure of cities, well understood in the following topic, which addresses the concepts of center and centrality. In the following part, possibilities inherent to centralities are suggested. The last topic, in turn, is discussed based on the theories presented the conjuncture of the Southern Sector of the city of Uberlândia-MG, where will be constituted the Gávea Center with its centralities: Villa Gávea, Park Gávea and Gávea Garden.

The machine system as a factor of scientific and technological progress in agro-industrial complex

The article proposes a principle for forming a machine system using the object-process approach to modeling technical systems as a methodology of systems engineering. It has been shown that the central concept of a machine system is scientific and technological progress (STP): a machine system should simultaneously promote progress in the agro-industrial complex (AIC) and reflect it. The article presents a definition of a machine system, its functions, main goal, architecture, stakeholders, and external environment. A machine system is positioned as a mixed system that combines conceptual, substantive, and physical components. The conceptual part is an information product – the machine system itself, presented in the form of a computer program, website, standards, databases, on paper, etc. The physical component is a group of experts in developing a machine system. It has been shown that in a market economy, a machine system should be built not on the basis of specific brands and models of technical means, but on the basis of their types. A definition of the type was proposed based on the division of technical means characteristics into functional and non-functional. To substantiate the machine types, an approximate list of types of non-functional characteristics of agricultural machinery was formed. Diagrams of the architecture of the machine system and the development of types of agricultural machines were constructed. The architecture of the machine system is a combination of the structure of the machine system and the activities of experts in the development of the machine system, which ensures the performance of the machine system of its functions, the main ones being the systematization of agricultural machines and technologies and the formation of ideas among interested parties about the state and directions of scientific and technological progress in the agro-industrial complex.

Valuing What You Risk and Risking What You Value: Advancing a research agenda for risk studies

Risk studies have rapidly expanded in the last few decades. Yet this growth is characterized by fragmentation in the literature despite it being a central concept for a vast array of organizations, where their success or failure to manage risk is considered central to thriving, surviving or collapsing. We take this opportunity provided by the Perspectives format to engage with a selection of six diverse papers published in Organization Studies over four decades. Drawing from these papers, we trace the evolution of risk research in relation to its epistemic bases in either metrics or values and the strategic focus on risk as either harm or opportunity. Inspired by the tensions between each of these bases, our review of the selected articles illustrates the dynamic entanglement of these ostensibly distinct and polarized strategic and epistemic bases of risk studies. We then develop a conceptual framework to map the field of risk research and propose avenues for future research. Our framework enables us to propose a stronger focus on risk taking for opportunity, warn against becoming overly focused on the metrics for controlling harm especially in the face of enticing visualizations of harmful risk, and strongly assert values as an important epistemic basis for risk studies. As these values may be hidden or visible, we emphasize the importance of understanding whose values are foregrounded in proposing a research agenda for reclaiming societal benefit. This latter focus is a neglected area of risk studies yet is vitally important in addressing the big societal issues of our time.

Translating agile management practices into a traditional industry context

AbstractThis study explores the translation of agile management practices (agile) into a traditional industry context. Using a case study of agile adoption in a development project in a large traditional company of the aerospace and defense industry, this research investigates how the translation process unfolds by studying how both idea and context are adapted to create shared meaning. This research makes two main contributions. First, this research introduces translation theory to the innovation management literature and details its applicability in explaining variations in outcomes of applying management practices in new organizational contexts. Our research suggests that this constitutes a complementary theoretical lens to diffusion theory, enabling the explanation of the process to create shared meaning when idea and recipient context have a low level of compatibility. Second, this research shows the process of translating agile into a traditional context through a non‐linear joint creation of meaning. The process was shaped largely by the experience and resolution of project‐external (i.e., with the surrounding organization) and project‐internal conflicts, which in turn motivated the idea or context to adapt. The study identifies two central concepts, namely isolation, and shielding, which determine how the translation process unfolds and how meaning is created. Managerial implications based on these contributions are presented and discussed.

Geometry, Topology and p-Adic Numbers in Geospatial Data Modelling, Management and Processing: Review and Future Approaches

Abstract. Geometry and topology are both central concepts in geospatial data modelling and management. While geometry is the central concept for computational geometry applications, e.g. to intersect surfaces and solids in 3D space, topology is helpful for many application classes starting from city modelling to subsurface modelling and indoor navigation. Furthermore, p-adic numbers are useful for describing hierarchical processes on topological models. In this paper we first shortly review geometry- and topology-based approaches used for geospatial applications. We then describe our approach on turning geometry “upside down” focusing on topology during the whole process of distributed geospatial computing, data modelling, data management, and simulation. Furthermore, the way to use p-adic numbers for the description of hierarchical processes on topological models is shown for the example of simulation and the idea of p-adic analysis in distributed simulations is presented in the context of topological city and building models. The approach opens new insights such as topological relationships, components, and efficiently studying of the approximate behaviour of processes in the built environment using distributed computational systems. Finally, exemplary applications are presented to underline the importance of this new approach.

Assessment of the Adaptive Behavior of Young Children with Visual Impairments in an Early Intervention Service: A Pilot Study.

Adaptive behavior, defined as a critical set of skills learned and performed throughout daily life to cope with society's age-appropriate expectations, is a central concept for people with disabilities in both clinical and research contexts. As AB is an essential component of daily functioning, assessment is necessary both for the diagnostic process and for intervention, as it enables scores to be compared with the developmental norm, identifies strengths and weaknesses of the persons and monitors the progress of interventions. AB assessment is common in children with developmental delays but less common in children with visual impairment (VI). The aim of this study was to evaluate the AB of young children with VI through a pilot study and descriptive data. The participants were recruited through an early childhood special needs education service specialized in VI in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Overall, 10 families gave their consent for their child to be assessed using the Vineland Adaptative Behavior Scale-II (VABS-II) completed by their early childhood educator. Globally, the results showed that participants were rated between the Adapted to Moderately High levels. The highest domains were in the areas of communication, daily living skills and socialization. The results showed a trend that is superior to previous studies assessing the AB of a similar population. As a result, one obvious perspective would be to adapt the scale to ensure that the items assessed are more consistent with the specificities of their development and the intervention priorities, enabling them to achieve adaptive behavior and independence in carrying out activities of daily living.

The travelling and embedding of discourses on quality in early childhood education and care

ABSTRACT The present article is a meta-ethnographic analysis of 15 first-order ethnographic studies with a focus on quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC). The aim of the study is to investigate how neoliberal policy discourses on quality in early childhood education and care travel between global and local contexts and how they become embedded in local preschool practices. Central concepts in the analysis are institutional strategic responses, social reproduction and change in relation to how neoliberal discourses on quality become embedded in local preschool practices. The findings show how neoliberal policy discourses on quality are transformed and embedded in local preschool practices with different results and responses. The analysis uncovers five strategic, institutional responses: Acquiescence, Avoidance, Manipulation, Compromise, and Defiance. Acquiescence and Avoidance show patterns of social reproduction and Manipulation, Compromise, and Defiance reveals a potential opportunity for social change.

Pengaruh Kualitas Layanan terhadap Loyalitas dengan Kepuasan Nasabah sebagai Variabel Mediasi

Customer satisfaction has become a central concept in marketing theory and practice, and is one of the essential goals for business activities. Basically, customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction with a product or service will affect subsequent customer behavior. Customers who are satisfied will show a high probability of customers returning to use the same product or service. According to Syah (2021), satisfied customers also tend to provide good references to the product or service to others. Meanwhile, dissatisfied customers can cause negative attitudes towards the brand or manufacturer or service provider, even distributors, reduced likelihood of repeat purchases, brand switching, and various types of complaint behavior.

Probing the effects of broken symmetries in machine learning

Abstract Symmetry is one of the most central concepts in physics, and it is no surprise that it has also been widely adopted as an inductive bias for machine-learning models applied to the physical sciences. 
This is especially true for models targeting the properties of matter at the atomic scale. Both established and state-of-the-art approaches, with almost no exceptions, are built to be exactly equivariant to translations, permutations, and rotations of the atoms.
Incorporating symmetries -- rotations in particular -- constrains the model design space and implies more complicated architectures that are often also computationally demanding. There are indications that unconstrained models can easily learn symmetries from data, and that doing so can even be beneficial for the accuracy of the model.
We demonstrate that an unconstrained architecture can be trained to achieve a high degree of rotational invariance, testing the impacts of the small symmetry breaking in realistic scenarios involving simulations of gas-phase, liquid, and solid water. 
We focus specifically on physical observables that are likely to be affected -- directly or indirectly -- by non-invariant behavior under rotations, finding negligible consequences when the model is used in an interpolative, bulk, regime. Even for extrapolative gas-phase predictions, the model remains very stable, even though symmetry artifacts are noticeable. 
We also discuss strategies that can be used to systematically reduce the magnitude of symmetry breaking when it occurs, and assess their impact on the convergence of observables.

Facilitating psychiatric nurses’ advocacy for mental healthcare users’ human rights in a primary healthcare setting: a conceptual framework

BackgroundEven though human rights advocacy is a part of mental health care, psychiatric nurses in South Africa’s primary healthcare (PHC) setting face substantial challenges when advocating for the rights of mental health care users (MHCUs). The study aimed to develop a conceptual framework to facilitate psychiatric nurses’ advocacy for mental healthcare users’ human rights in a PHC setting.MethodsA qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, and contextual design was used to investigate the psychiatric nurses’ experiences advocating for MHCUs’ human rights in a PHC setting. Three phases were followed: the empirical phase, the classification of concepts, and a development phase. Following the empirical phase, a conceptual framework was developed to facilitate psychiatric nurses’ advocacy for MHCUs human rights in a PHC setting.ResultsThree themes were derived from focus group interviews with psychiatric nurses in the empirical phase. These themes yielded the central concept as ‘the facilitation of empowerment’ of psychiatric nurses in advocating for MHCUs’ human rights. The central concepts were also classified. A conceptual framework was developed that included the relationship, working and termination phases.ConclusionThe study described the development of a conceptual framework to facilitate psychiatric nurses’ advocacy for mental healthcare users’ human rights in a PHC setting. Psychiatric nurses play a key role in advocating for the human rights of MHCUs. This task is important and should be implemented from the government to the societal level, including all stakeholders.

О возможности признания публично-правовых образований и лиц, выступающих по их специальному поручению, контролирующими должника и привлечении их к субсидиарной ответственности

One of the central legal concepts of insolvency (bankruptcy) as a complex branch of legislation in Russia is the so-called “controlling debtor”, which appears in disputes on bringing to subsidiary liability in bankruptcy proceedings. Traditionally, legal science and judicial practice consider as such individuals and legal entities that may determine the debtor’s behavior by virtue of legal or actual affiliation with the debtor. However, public-law entities and persons acting on their special instructions in the debtor’s management bodies escape from the field of view of doctrine and practice. In this connection, the authors in this article analyze the possibility of bringing public-law entities and persons acting on their special instructions to subsidiary liability within the framework of the Federal Law “On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)”. In the course of the study, the authors come to the conclusion that it is necessary to distinguish between subsidiary liability of public legal entities and persons acting on special instructions in the debtor’s management bodies. on special assignment in the debtor’s management bodies. In addition, the authors give a negative assessment of the possibility of bringing to subsidiary liability persons acting in the management bodies of the debtor by special order and on behalf of publiclaw entities, since there is no guilt - one of the mandatory elements of the offense. The relevance of the article consists in revealing the peculiarities of bringing to subsidiary liability of persons acting on special assignment on behalf of public-law entities.

Correlates of spatial structure variability in Bushehr port-city: A comprehensive analysis using fuzzy cognitive mapping methodology

It is critical for urban and regional planners to examine spatial relationships and interactions between a port and its surrounding urban areas within a region’s spatial structure. This paper seeks to develop a targeted framework of causal relationships influencing the spatial structure changes in the Bushehr port-city. Hence, the study utilizes Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs), a computational technique adept at analyzing complex decision-making processes. FCMs are employed to identify concepts that act as drivers or barriers in the spatial structure changes of Bushehr port-city, thereby elucidating the causal relationships within this context. Additionally, the study evaluates these concepts’ relative significance and interrelationships. Data was collected through interviews with ten experts from diverse backgrounds, including specialists, academics, policymakers, and urban managers. The insights from these experts were analyzed using FCMapper and Pajek software to construct a collective FCM, which depicts the influential and affected concepts within the system. The resulting collective FCM consists of 16 concepts, representing the varied perspectives and expertise of the participants. Among these, the concepts of management and planning reform, economic growth of the city-port, and port development emerged as the three most central concepts. Moreover, the effects of all influential concepts on the spatial structure change in Bushehr port-city were evaluated through simulations conducted across four different scenarios. The analysis demonstrated that the system experiences the most significant impact under the fourth scenario, where the most substantial changes are observed in commercial and industrial growth and the planning of port-city separation policies.

Extensive culture: expressions of endlessness in the metaverse and the limits of data accumulation

ABSTRACT Developing the central concept of extensive culture this article seeks to situate notions of the metaverse within wider and longer term cultural shifts. It places such notions within established moves toward a seeming limitlessness or endlessness in culture. It takes inspiration from Georg Simmel's (1917) piece on ‘The Crisis of Culture’, in which Simmel claimed that modernity was simultaneously becoming both more extensive and more intensive. Through its focus on extensive culture the article explores how we might approach expressions of seeming endlessness. The article deals centrally with the metaverse as an instance of such an expression. It argues that these expressions are an integral part of how culture is imagined and how transformations are envisioned, especially with regard to the expansions of data structures. The article shows how the development of a heightened extensive culture takes shape and form within the visions of seeming endlessness and apparent formlessness that accompany and define these expressions. As these expressions of extensive culture find form in concepts like the metaverse these visions of endlessness reshape the limits and frontiers of data structures. The article concludes by reflecting on how particular expressions of extensive culture can illustrate the intricate and interreliant relations between extensive modes of culture and data accumulation.

Ontology of active and passive environmental exposure

Exposure is a central concept of the health and behavioural sciences needed to study the influence of the environment on the health and behaviour of people within a spatial context. While an increasing number of studies measure different forms of exposure, including the influence of air quality, noise, and crime, the influence of land cover on physical activity, or of the urban environment on food intake, we lack a common conceptual model of environmental exposure that captures its main structure across all this variety. Against the background of such a model, it becomes possible not only to systematically compare different methodological approaches but also to better link and align the content of the vast amount of scientific publications on this topic in a systematic way. For example, an important methodical distinction is between studies that model exposure as an exclusive outcome of some activity versus ones where the environment acts as a direct independent cause (active vs. passive exposure). Here, we propose an information ontology design pattern that can be used to define exposure and to model its variants. It is built around causal relations between concepts including persons, activities, concentrations, exposures, environments and health risks. We formally define environmental stressors and variants of exposure using Description Logic (DL), which allows automatic inference from the RDF-encoded content of a paper. Furthermore, concepts can be linked with data models and modelling methods used in a study. To test the pattern, we translated competency questions into SPARQL queries and ran them over RDF-encoded content. Results show how study characteristics can be classified and summarized in a manner that reflects important methodical differences.

Parmenides-Plato: (Musical) Ontology

Aurel Stroe is one of the few Romanian composers after Enescu who was privileged to extract the essence of his sonorous universe from extended cultural areas, which in fact feed the highest quality ethos. Parmenides was considered by some researchers as the first great idealist, being the first to distinguish between the material and the immaterial, specifying the fact that reality cannot be known only through the senses: this leads to the central concept of BEING, seen as immutable, eternal, unique, homogeneous and indivisible reality. Aurel Stroe insisted in his lectures and courses on the ontological identity of the work of art, being one of the few composers who discuss its being.

Космополис эпохи премодерна на границе западной и восточной культур: многоязычие и пределы переводимости (на материалах Каффы XIII–XV веков)

Objective: To investigate the problem of the terminological precision of the most relevant qualities possessed by cosmopolis in the pre-modern world where the representatives of Western and Eastern faith acted equals in various written and spoken languages. Research materials: The “Codex Cumanicus” composed in Caffa at the turn of the 13th–14th centuries; the lexis of medieval urbanism in three languages (Latin, Persian, and Comanian) selected from it; “Libellus de notitia orbis” of Iohannes de Galonifontibus with a description of multilingual Caffa from the early 15th century. Results and novelty of the research: From the “Codex Cumanicus” was first isolated the lexis of medieval urbanism, dispersed throughout four semantic fields: representation of cosmopolis in the physicality, legally, the sociocultural data, and the ethical community. The representation of cosmopolis in the physicality found untranslatability to eastern languages such Latin terms as “murus”, and “vacuum”, calling attention to essential attributes of urban physis – stone walls, and public places. The representation of cosmopolis in the legally data proved the failure to communicate such thing as a “libertas”, the key characte­ristic of a free city; the Latin term “civitas”, a community of citizens, was adapted in Coman language only through Sogdian analogy of “känd”. The concept “lex”, law, was perceived only through the Jewish approach of “ˈtorə”. The representation of cosmopolis in the sociocultural data did reflect the richness of terms which represented the merchants, traders, bankers, artisans, warriors, and those in the service, education, and entertainment industries; most of them entered the language as a borrowings from Persian and Arabic. The representation of cosmopolis as ethical community explained the rethinking any archaic thought forms of the earlier polytheistic mind moving toward the monotheistic idea; the central concept of Western culture “Deus”, God, was reinterpreted in the most distant Eas­tern cultures as “Tengri” like the designation used earlier for the supreme sky deity of all Asian nomads; the universal theories for both West and East about the four elements and four bodily fluids reflected the relation between the world and man, as macrocosm and microcosm, really integrated citizens of different faiths and languages into the ethical community. This research uses the cognitive science and mental mapping methods. The first allows one to inquire on the terms, ideas, linguistic units, verbal codes in which was treated the cosmopolis in the pre-modern world. The second makes it possible to visualize a distribution of lexical triads according to the degree of positivity / negativity, nearness / distance in transmitting meanings from Latin in Eastern.