Major Concepts Research Articles

An Assessment of the Broadcast Media Campaign against Drugs Abuse in Nigeria

The use of drugs to cure and heal the body system has been of irreplaceable value to humanity. In other words, it is practically impossible, if not impossible, to dispose of drugs. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), drug means any substance or product that is used or intended to be used to modify the physiological system or pathological state for the benefit of the recipient or user. Different scholarly studies have shown that drugs are useful to boost the immune and metabolic systems of a living being. However, the misuse and abuse of drugs have been problematic issues for the wellbeing of society. As a matter of fact, the abuse of drugs has been on the rise among youths in Nigeria. On a daily basis, many youths in Nigeria consume and abuse different drugs and substances such as heroin, cocaine, marijuana, codeine, amphetamines, narcotics, and the like that produce high dependence. This undoubtedly exposed many Nigerian youths to different harmful health conditions, such as deterioration and weak physical appearance, and irresponsible attitudes like stealing and fighting, among others. Hence, the aim of this paper is to critically examine the use and impacts of drug abuse or addiction among youths in Nigeria and the effectiveness of broadcast media campaigns against drug abuse in Nigeria. The paper will employ different research methods, such as conceptual analysis, to delineate the meaning of major concepts like drugs, drug abuse, and media; the method of critical assessment will also be used to critically evaluate and assess the impacts of media in the campaign against drug abuse among youths in Nigeria. The paper concludes with an affirmation that the intake of illegal drugs among youths in Nigeria is alarming and, as such, dangerous and harmful to their health. Hence, the paper recommends that the government and Non-government organizations should engage more in media campaigns against drug abuse and also be firm and unbiased in enforcing the laws against lawbreakers, especially youths engaging in the consumption of illegal drugs.

Collaborative Optimization Method for Multi-Train Energy-Saving Control with Urban Rail Transit Based on DRLDA Algorithm

With the traffic congestion problem deteriorating, people increasingly choose urban rail transit (URT) to travel. Although URT alleviates traffic congestion, the long-term operation of a large number of trains leads to huge energy consumption. In order to adapt the major social development concept of “Low carbon”, a multi-train energy-saving control collaborative optimization method is proposed in this paper. First, the composition of single train operating conditions is determined by the conversion of operating conditions between stations and the force changes under the premise of ensuring safe and on-time train operation. A single-train energy consumption calculation combinatorial optimization model with the dual control objectives of reducing passengers’ average waiting time as well as train traction energy consumption is established. The energy saving control strategy of a single train is investigated by ARMA-Radial Basis Function Neural Network (ARMA-RBFNN) and Genetic Algorithm (GA). Next, the queuing theory is introduced to analyze the variation in passenger waiting time for multiple trains at different arrival intervals. A Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) algorithm is designed to obtain the correlation among passenger waiting time, arrival interval and train stopping time. The optimization objective is to minimize the multi-train traction energy consumption and the average passenger waiting time while considering conditions such as train operating safety interval, speed limit, multiple operating state and single train energy-saving models, etc. Then, a multi-train cooperative energy-saving control model is proposed based on the Dragonfly Algorithm (DA). Finally, a case study of Beijing Metro Line 4 is conducted to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results demonstrate that the total traction energy consumption and passenger waiting time are reduced by 3.1% and 5 s, respectively, compared with the method of independently optimizing the single-train control strategy. The findings can aid in the development of energy-saving strategies and also provide a basis for energy-saving operation control of multiple trains.

Nanointerfaces: Concepts and Strategies for Optical and X-ray Spectroscopic Characterization.

Interfaces at the nanoscale, also called nanointerfaces, play a fundamental role in physics and chemistry. Probing the chemical and electronic environment at nanointerfaces is essential in order to elucidate chemical processes relevant for applications in a variety of fields. Many spectroscopic techniques have been applied for this purpose, although some approaches are more appropriate than others depending on the type of the nanointerface and the physical properties of the different phases. In this Perspective, we introduce the major concepts to be considered when characterizing nanointerfaces. In particular, the interplay between the characteristic length of the nanointerfaces, and the probing and information depths of different spectroscopy techniques is discussed. Differences between nano- and bulk interfaces are explained and illustrated with chosen examples from optical and X-ray spectroscopies, focusing on solid-liquid nanointerfaces. We hope that this Perspective will help to prepare spectroscopic characterization of nanointerfaces and stimulate interest in the development of new spectroscopic techniques adapted to the nanointerfaces.

Oaks to arteries: the Physiology Core Concept of flow down gradients supports transfer of student reasoning.

The Physiology Core Concept of flow down gradients is a major concept in physiology, as pressure gradients are the key driving force for the bulk flow of fluids in biology. However, students struggle to understand that this principle is foundational to the mechanisms governing bulk flow across diverse physiological systems (e.g., blood flow, phloem sap flow). Our objective was to investigate whether bulk flow items that differ in scenario context (i.e., taxa, amount of scientific terminology, living or nonliving system) or in which aspect of the pressure gradient is kept constant (i.e., starting pressure or pressure gradient) influence undergraduate students' reasoning. Item scenario context did not impact the type of reasoning students used. However, students were more likely to use the Physiology Core Concept of "flow down [pressure] gradients" when the pressure gradient was kept constant and less likely to use this concept when the starting pressure was kept constant. We also investigated whether item scenario context or which aspect of the pressure gradient is kept constant impacted how consistent students were in the type of reasoning they used across two bulk flow items on the same homework. Most students were consistent across item scenario contexts (76%) and aspects of the pressure gradient kept constant (70%). Students who reasoned using "flow down gradients" on the first item were the most consistent (86, 89%), whereas students using "pressures indicate (but don't cause) flow" were the least consistent (43, 34%). Students who are less consistent know that pressure is somehow involved or indicates fluid flow but do not have a firm grasp of the concept of a pressure gradient as the driving force for fluid flow. These findings are the first empirical evidence to support the claim that using Physiology Core Concept reasoning supports transfer of knowledge across different physiological systems.NEW & NOTEWORTHY These findings are the first empirical evidence to support the claim that using Physiology Core Concept reasoning supports transfer of knowledge across different physiological systems.

Teaching Evolution Using Semester-Long Student Investigations of Adaptation by Natural Selection

Case studies are valuable tools for instruction but are often limited to a single topic and a single class period. Courses such as evolution that synthesize multiple concepts around a common theme, however, can use a single case study type project that extends over the entire semester to develop and link core concepts. A central theme in evolutionary biology is determining if complex biological traits represent adaptations that arose by natural selection. The instructional model presented here engages students in a step-by-step process to answer this question of adaptation for a trait of their choosing. In this process, the instructor first introduces the major concepts required to address adaptation. As each major concept is developed in class, students apply this concept to their particular trait, using information gathered from published studies. Students then report their research back to the class. At the end of the semester, each group synthesizes their evidence into a paper developing an argument as to whether or not their trait fits the criteria of being an adaptation. This project provides students with ownership of course material, gets students to act as practicing scientists, and helps them integrate and apply theoretical material to real questions.

Newton–Simpson-type inequalities via majorization

In this article, the main objective is construction of fractional Newton–Simpson-type inequalities with the concept of majorization. We established a new identity on estimates of definite integrals utilizing majorization and this identity will lead us to develop new generalized forms of prior estimates. Some basic inequalities such as Hölder’s, power-mean, and Young’s along with the Niezgoda–Jensen–Mercer inequality have been used to obtain new bounds and it has been determined that the main findings are generalizations of many results that exist in the literature. Applications to the quadrature rule are given as well. We make links between our findings and a number of well-known discoveries in the literature.

대학생을 위한 진로교육에서 진로 카오스 이론의 적용 방안 탐색

The purpose of this study is to introduce the Chaos Theory of Career(CTC) and to explore specific ways to apply it to career education in domestic universities. For this purpose, the characteristics and major concepts of the CTC were introduced based on CTC-related studies and books through literature research methods. In addition, the study analyzed the studies that verified the effectiveness of CTC career education and explored ways to apply CTC-based programs to domestic universities. As a result, a plan to utilize various CTC-based programs within the framework of the four- step career education model (self- understanding, understanding of the job world, career planning, and career preparation) operated in career education of most Korean universities was suggested. This CTC-based education is expected to help students understand themselves from a more contextual point of view than the existing matching model-based education, and to improve career adaptability in the rapid change of the job world. In addition, it will contribute to promoting the possibility that planned things and unplanned happenstance can coexist rather than separate, and to positively view the uncertain situation as it is now.

Marine animal evolutionary developmental biology-Advances through technology development.

Evolutionary developmental biology, the interdisciplinary effort of illuminating the conserved similarities and differences during animal development across all phylogenetic clades, has gained renewed interest in the past decades. As technology (immunohistochemistry, next-generation sequencing, advanced imaging, and computational resources) has advanced, so has our ability of resolving fundamental hypotheses and overcoming the genotype-phenotype gap. This rapid progress, however, has also exposed gaps in the collective knowledge around the choice and representation of model organisms. It has become clear that evo-devo requires a comparative, large-scale approach including marine invertebrates to resolve some of the most urgent questions about the phylogenetic positioning and character traits of the last common ancestors. Many invertebrates at the base of the tree of life inhabit marine environments and have been used for some years due to their accessibility, husbandry, and morphology. Here, we briefly review the major concepts of evolutionary developmental biology and discuss the suitability of established model organisms to address current research questions, before focussing on the importance, application, and state-of-the-art of marine evo-devo. We highlight novel technical advances that progress evo-devo as a whole.

Shortcut to synchronization in classical and quantum systems

Synchronization is a major concept in nonlinear physics. In a large number of systems, it is observed at long times for a sinusoidal excitation. In this paper, we design a transiently non-sinusoidal driving to reach the synchronization regime more quickly. We exemplify an inverse engineering method to solve this issue on the classical Van der Pol oscillator. This approach cannot be directly transposed to the quantum case as the system is no longer point-like in phase space. We explain how to adapt our method by an iterative procedure to account for the finite-size quantum distribution in phase space. We show that the resulting driving yields a density matrix close to the synchronized one according to the trace distance. Our method provides an example of fast control of a nonlinear quantum system, and raises the question of the quantum speed limit concept in the presence of nonlinearities.

Construction Work and Utilities in Historic Centers: Strategies for a Transition towards Fuel-Free Construction Sites

In historic centers, construction works consist of complex activities that must balance the operative requirements and lower the impacts on a delicate and sensible environment. In this urban system, especially regarding relevant reconstruction processes such as post-natural disaster scenarios, construction operations are performed through the traditional construction processes, using fuel-based generators and vehicles with limited efficiency and with relevant impacts in terms of the consumed energy, noise and vibrations. In the global transition of the construction sectors towards a zero-emission and fuel-free future, construction sites in historic centers represent a particular opportunity where the application of fuel-free strategies is particularly feasible and can provide additional value in terms of the environmental impact, productivity and health and safety. This work addresses the need for a framework to provide the basis for the application of fuel-free principles in construction within historic city centers dealing with two major concepts: the adaptive construction site as a way to reduce the energy demand and the potential adoption of fuel-free machines. The former is derived from the analysis of a real project in the historic city of L’Aquila, while the latter is defined through the identification and categorization of the applicable electric machines, equipment and vehicles and the discussion of the limits, opportunities and added value of the fuel-free strategies.

Limiting Misleading ideas about the History of Grounded Theory Methodology

Since its inception in the sociological field more than fifty years, Grounded Theory Methodology (GTM) has been extended to a range of research areas but there still be confusions and misconceptions about its history and methodological principles. This paper attempts to provide a full theoretical overview of the history of GTM and allows limiting misconceptions about the methodology itself. Drawing upon social sciences perspectives, the paper begins by briefly shedding the light on two major related concepts: Grounded Theory (GT) and Grounded Theory Methodology (GTM). It continues by defining what GTM really means and outlines the reasons behind The Discovery of grounded theory and further focuses on the big split that gave birth to three schools of Grounded Theory Methodology: Glaserian, Straussian and Constructivist GTM.

Analysis of post-secondary instructors’ pedagogical content knowledge of organic acid–base chemistry using content representations

Acid–base chemistry is a foundational concept for organic chemistry, and the complexities in teaching and learning acid–base chemistry are well documented. This study aimed to investigate post-secondary instructors' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for teaching acid–base chemistry in an organic chemistry context. Two groups of three graduate teaching assistants and one group of three faculty instructors constructed content representations (CoRes). The three CoRes generated by these groups were qualitatively analyzed and organized into a summary compiled CoRe. Analysis of the compiled CoRe revealed eight major concepts of organic acid–base chemistry as defined by these instructors. Three major concepts were identified as foundational definitions, and five were identified as concepts that build upon these definitions. We arranged all eight concepts into a progression. Analysis of the compiled CoRe also revealed that instructors primarily leverage students’ prior knowledge when teaching acid–base chemistry. Our results serve as a reference for organic chemistry instructors and may inform further research on the instruction of organic chemistry.

Większość arytmetyczna czy konkurencyjna?Konstytucja Stanów Zjednoczonych w myśli politycznej Johna Caldwella Calhouna

John Caldwell Calhoun was an American statesman and political theorist from South Carolina who defended the interest of the Union southern states. Calhoun was one of staunch spokesmen of slavery, but in this article the author presents his constitutional and political thought. After the introduction of the Tariff of Abominations Calhoun became one of the most important actors in the nullification crisis and a defender of states’ rights, limited federal government and the right to nullify. Referring to the ideas of the Founding Fathers, Calhoun considered the Union as a union of sovereign states and he opposed the strengthening of the federal government. He rejected numerical democracy and advocated the introduction of a constitutional reform protecting minority from the tyranny of majority. He proposed the concept of a concurent majority, which took into account various interests and, consequently, defended the agricultural South from the industrial domination of the North. His reflections and warnings heavily influenced the South’s secession and the outbreak of the Civil War.

Suprotstavljene materijalističke koncepcije o nastanku države - o jazu između Morgana i Engelsa

This paper will present a comparative analysis of two major materialist conceptions of the origin of the state, namely, those of Lewis Morgan and Friedrich Engels. The first part of the paper will offer a brief overview of the 17th century origins of this theory: the philosophical attempts to establish how the state came to be. Thereafter, we will look at how Morgan's innovative approach enabled tremendous progress on this issue, offering, if not the answer to the question of the state's origin, then at least the means of reaching it. The central part of the paper will present Engels' attempt to create a theory of his own, featuring aspects of both Marx's and Morgan's thought: in this regard, we will focus on the fundamental elements that are shared between Morgan's and Engels' theories. Finally, the subject of the last part of the paper will be the divergence between the two authors: here, we will examine the theoretical limitations of Engels' attempt to surpass Morgan's work and point to a number of errors that proceeded therefrom.

A shiny app for modeling the lifetime in primary breast cancer patients through phase-type distributions.

Phase-type distributions (PHDs), which are defined as the distribution of the lifetime up to the absorption in an absorbent Markov chain, are an appropriate candidate to model the lifetime of any system, since any non-negative probability distribution can be approximated by a PHD with sufficient precision. Despite PHD potential, friendly statistical programs do not have a module implemented in their interfaces to handle PHD. Thus, researchers must consider others statistical software such as R, Matlab or Python that work with the compilation of code chunks and functions. This fact might be an important handicap for those researchers who do not have sufficient knowledge in programming environments. In this paper, a new interactive web application developed with shiny is introduced in order to adjust PHD to an experimental dataset. This open access app does not require any kind of knowledge about programming or major mathematical concepts. Users can easily compare the graphic fit of several PHDs while estimating their parameters and assess the goodness of fit with just several clicks. All these functionalities are exhibited by means of a numerical simulation and modeling the time to live since the diagnostic in primary breast cancer patients.

Comparison of the peaceful end of life theory with theory of human caring in clinical problem

This paper discusses two nursing theories, the "Peaceful End of Life Theory" and the "Theory of Human Caring," and their application in clinical practice. The "Peaceful End of Life Theory" focuses on improving the quality of life for terminally ill patients and achieving a peaceful end of life. Its major concepts include pain management, comfort, dignity, respect, being at peace, and closeness to significant others. The "Theory of Human Caring," emphasizes the importance of caring for both the patient and the nurse. It aims to improve nursing practice, education, management, and research. The theories are applied in clinical practice through interventions such as pain management, involving the family in decision-making, and ensuring a peaceful environment for the patient's final hours.

Revised-Verbal Protocols : A Valuable Technique for Verbalizing the Students’ Thoughts in Teaching-Learning Process

This article presents the utilization of the ‘verbal protocols’ as a source of information about students’ cognitive learning processes. This method calls upon students to talk their thoughts out aloud, during engagement in some learning activity. Although many researchers have used verbal protocols in their studies in many discipline, however, the nature of verbal protocols and its implementation in the real classroom setting have not been known well by many teachers. The major concept of verbal protocols, the two perspectives, a brief theory of expertise, and the limitations regarding the verbal protocols will be main concerns in this paper. An explicit exemplar of revised-verbal protocols model in the learning of Doppler Effect is exposed at the last section of this paper

Tax Compliance in the Wild: Critical Review of Nudging and Proposition of an Integrative Framework

Context: There is an inflation of behavioral frameworks applied to social problems, such as tax dodging. There has been also a surge in the creation of the so-called nudge units throughout the world, following the success of the pioneer units in USA and UK. Meanwhile, there has been criticism directed at aspects such as ‘psychologism,’ paternalism, and short-termism associated with nudge approaches. Moreover, by ignoring systems thinking, complexity science and other broader approaches, nudging may lead to interventions that can be ineffective or counterproductive in the long term. Goal: To overcome such limitations, the paper proposes an integrative framework, the Nested Circles Model, which put the intended behaviors in a perspective ranging from microworlds to broader upstream influences. Method: The paper employs a qualitative approach to critically review the literature on nudging and map its shortcomings. Results and contributions: The proposed model integrates major concepts from popular behavioral frameworks and incorporates elements that influence the repertoire of behaviors adopted by individuals, including intangible stocks (trust and fairness) and complexity markers. The paper concludes by exemplifying the application of the Nested Circles Model to three problems in the context of taxation in Brazil.

'안전과 질 향상' 간호교육을 위한 교육과정개발

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to suggest a case of ‘safety and quality improvement’(PO5) education curriculum development through a systematic and scientific procedure. Methods : This study consisted of two phases. The first phase was a preliminary survey to draw the ground for the development of the PO5 curriculum. In the second phase, the content validity of the constituent factors and major concepts of PO5 was verified. Finally, learning objectives for ‘safety and quality improvement’ nursing education were derived and a curriculum was developed. Results : 17 major concepts were established in 6 factors for PO5 competency development, 51 learning objectives related to major concepts were established. The PO5 curriculum was composed of subjects and extracurricular activities according to the level of implementation. Conclusion : Using the results of this study, it is possible to systematically compose educational contents and learning activities to achieve PO5 according to the characteristics of nursing education institutions, to compose not only educational courses but also non-educational courses, and even to build an evaluation system. Therefore, this study suggested a basic direction for ‘safety and quality improvement’ education for nursing students and is expected to contribute to the first step in improving future health care by ultimately ensuring the safety and quality of patients and health providers.

The major link in global politics

This paper will explore major political concepts such as equality, power, diplomacy, trade, etc. in a range of contexts and at a variety of levels. It widens the horizon of students in understanding of the local, international and global dimensions of political activity, as well as giving them the opportunity to explore political issues affect6ing their lives. The concept of global politics encompasses a lot of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, it also help in the understanding the abstract political concepts as it ground us in real world Examples and case studies to ensure a transnational perspective. Generating international mindedness and an awareness of multiple perspectives is at the heart of this paper. It encourages round-table discussion and dialogue, nurturing the capacity to interpret competing and contestable claims. There are some core units in global politics which includes power sovereignty and international relation, human rights, development, peace and conflict, but these may not be necessary for now. This paper merely focus on the links in global politics, to this end the paper will only look at diplomacy, trade, justice and international organization alone. These will form the basis of this paper.