Early Concepts Research Articles

Study on Analysis of Variance in Statistics

Variance is a key statistical measure that quantifies the spread of values within a dataset, offering insights into data variability. It evaluates the average squared deviation of data points from the mean and serves as the foundation for statistical methods such as ANOVA and regression analysis. Introduced by Ronald Fisher in 1918, variance builds upon earlier concepts by Gauss and is calculated differently for populations and samples, using Bessel’s correction for unbiased estimation in samples. Unlike range, variance incorporates all data points, ensuring comparability across datasets of varying sizes. Its properties, including invariance to additive constants and scalability by squared factors, make it a robust metric for analyzing data spread. Variance is especially critical in experimental designs to distinguish between systematic (between-groups) and unsystematic (within-groups) variance, enabling researchers to assess and interpret variability in diverse contexts

José Ortega y Gasset on Philosophy and Historical Thinking

ABSTRACT The Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset not only emphasized the importance of the Greek tradition as it applies to modern philosophy; he also insisted on demonstrating how it inspired his own philosophical project. He believed the pre-Socratic philosophers, Parmenides and Heraclitus, were the first to develop a rational basis for the thinking process and attempted to show a dynamic continuum of this tradition up to the present. His concern was to protect this heritage from the challenges of scientific positivism and postmodernism. This article will examine five key works by Ortega that deal with the Spanish philosopher’s early concept of la razón vital (vital reason), the development of la razón histórica (historical reason), historical methodology, dialectical thinking, and his understanding of the emergence of philosophy in ancient Greece.

Multi-scale concurrent design of a 100 kW wave energy converter

Wave energy converters (WEC) are complex systems comprising multiple subsystems including wave capture structure and station keeping, power takeoff (PTO), and control. Designing the whole WEC system requires an effective design approach that considers mutual couplings among them throughout the entire design process. Moreover, the traditional serial design approach, transitioning from small-scale to full-scale designs incrementally, often overlooks issues related to scaling factors. This can lead to unexpected challenges and delays towards real ocean deployment. To address system-level considerations and scaling challenges in WEC design, this study introduces a novel multi-scale concurrent design approach. It facilitates full-scale WEC design from the early concept to ocean test planning. This approach ensures a holistic and effective design process that considers interactions among subsystems at each design stage and incorporates control co-design starting with early concept development. To demonstrate the presented approach, we introduce a case study focused on the design of a 100 kW floating oscillating surge wave energy converter (FOSWEC) for PacWave South ocean test site. This includes the design of wave capture structure and station keeping, PTO, control, ocean test planning, and techno-economic analysis. The case study showcases the effectiveness of the proposed approach, offering invaluable guidance and insights for future WEC development and support efficient, cost-effective collaboration in WEC design and testing.

연구사적 관점에서의 발생적 문식성 개념 검토: Marie M. Clay의 이론을 중심으로

Objectives This study aims to examine the concepts and issues related to the stage before early literacy, referred to as emergent literacy. Methods To this end, the concept of emergent literacy was analyzed from a historical perspective, with a focus on the theories of Marie M. Clay. Results The emergent literacy of learners from birth through nursery and kindergarten is of great scholarly interest, because it underpins the development of reading and writing skills and shapes attitudes toward these skills as children progress into elementary school. Conclusions An in-depth understanding of emergent literacy, along with early literacy concepts, is essential as it provides a theoretical foundation for sophisticated diagnoses in primary reading and writing classrooms and research. Moreover, it is closely linked to educational practice and raises numerous research questions that require further exploration. This concept can help inform effective, targeted interventions and policies for schools and communities.

Enhancing cyclist safety in cyclist-vehicle interactions through early hazard notifications: a comparison of bi-modal cues at head level

Cyclists frequently face numerous hazards on the road. Often those hazards are posed by motorised vehicles. Advanced support systems that alert cyclists to potential dangers could enhance their safety. However, research in this area, particularly regarding hazard notifications for cyclists, remains sparse. This work assesses bi-modal early hazard notification concepts (combining visual cues with either auditory or tactile feedback) provided at head level (smart glasses with speakers, tactile headband). They are detailing the nature of the hazard, its direction relative to the cyclist, and the timing of exposure. This work investigates cyclists' preference and perception of the proposed concepts for two hazardous situations originating from interactions with vehicles: ‘dooring’, the hazard of a potential collision with an opening door of a parked vehicle (evaluated through a test track study, N = 32) and ‘being overtaken’ which poses the hazard of being cut off or hit by the overtaking vehicle (assessed in a bicycle simulator study, N = 21). The study involved comparisons of supported and unsupported rides, focusing on their impact on usability, intuitiveness, workload, and perceived safety. Our findings reveal varied preferences for the supporting feedback modality, with 56% favouring visual-auditory and 31% visual-tactile. The participants rated user experience, intuitiveness and perceived safety for the use of both concepts quite high. Further, the workload for assisted rides was rated as equally low as for unassisted rides.

Processing and Comparison of GBoost, XGBoost, and Random Forest in Titanic Survival Prediction

Abstract. Contemporarily, the machine learning has evolved from its early concepts to a sophisticated field consisting of advanced algorithms and diverse applications. Tree-based classification models have become powerful tools for complex predictive challenges. In this study, the effectiveness of tree-based classification models, such as Random Forest, XGBoost, and Gradient Boosting, is examined on the Titanic survival prediction challenge, which originates from the 1912 Titanic disaster. Passengers survival and death were influenced by various factors in this disaster. By using features such as gender, age, and class, and the survival outcome as the target variable, a binary classification model is developed to predict each passenger's survival status. The study includes data preprocessing, feature selection based on a foundational model, and model training. After the construction, hyper-parameters tuning, and cross-validation of three classifiers, this research compares and analyzes the performance scores to evaluate the characteristics of these tree-based learning methods, aiming to provide a reference for the similar applications.

A Web-Based Intervention to Support a Growth Mindset and Well-Being in Unemployed Young Adults: Development Study.

Engaging young adults in the labor market is vital for economic growth and well-being. However, the path to employment often presents setbacks that impact motivation and psychological functioning. Research suggests exploring positive psychology interventions in job-seeking and scaling the delivery of these using technology. However, dropout rates are high for self-administered psychological interventions on digital platforms. This challenge needs to be addressed for such platforms to be effective conveyors of psychological interventions. This study addresses this challenge by exploring user-oriented methods and proposes persuasive features for the design and development of a new web-based intervention targeting young unemployed adults. This study aims to provide an overview of a new positive psychology wise intervention, including its theoretical underpinnings and human-centered design methodology, targeting young, unemployed adults. Researchers collaborated with designers, developers, and stakeholders to design a web-based positive psychology intervention that leverages evidence-based wise interventions. Key improvements and adaptations were explored through formative usability testing with 13 unemployed young adults aged between 18 and 25 years (the target population). Qualitative usability testing data were collected, analyzed, and integrated into the ongoing design process as iterative improvements. The result of this study is a modular intervention web application named RØST, designed to align with the user needs and the preferences of the specific end-user group of unemployed young adults. During the project, this application evolved from early concept sketches and prototypes into a developed solution ready for further testing and use. Insights from both end-user feedback and rich user observation gained in the study were used to refine the content and the design. To increase targeted end users' motivation, persuasive design features including praise, rewards, and reminders were added. The web application was designed primarily to be used on mobile phones using text messaging for reminders. The development process included technical and data protection considerations. This study offers valuable insights into developing psychological or behavioral interventions to support unemployed young adults by documenting the design process and the adaptation and combination of diverse theoretical and empirical foundations. Involving stakeholders and end users in the development enabled relatable content development and resolved potential usability problems. An essential implication is the finding that end-user feedback and insights are crucial in shaping interventions. However, we experienced tensions between the evidence-based interventions and the human-centered design approaches. These tensions were not resolved and highlighted a need for ongoing user motivation support through monetary rewards, which were incorporated into the final web app design.

An Excellent Scribe and Servant of the Great Goddess

Summary CT 533, one of the divine scribe spells among the Coffin Texts, is an important early example of the interaction of Thoth and Hathor. The spell’s text, textual history, and theology are extensively discussed in order to expose the early form of the Myth of Distant Goddess as well as early concepts of Thoth’s role in her pacification. The spell’s earliest versions primarily dealt with Thoth as advocate for the deceased, in its later manifestations the spell uses Hathoric material related to the Myth of the Distant Goddess to reinforce these themes. This development is connected to the cult-center at Cusae.

ALTERNATIVE PROFIT-SHARING SYSTEM IN THE MUDHARABA SCHEME IN SHARIA BANKING PERSPECTIVE M. BAQIR AL-SADR

The profit-sharing system with a mudharaba scheme is an early concept of Islamic banking. However, mudharaba is starting to be abandoned by customers and sharia banks because it carries high risks. This research will discuss Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr's thoughts on the profit-sharing system in the mudharaba scheme. The method used is descriptive qualitative by taking primary data sources in the form of a book written directly by al-Sadr entitled: Al-Bank al-Laribawi fi al-Islam. This research found several results, namely: (1) the profit-sharing system in al-Sadr's version of the mudharaba scheme is different from the mudharaba concept in general. This research further shows al-Sadr's prominence in the field of sharia economics, because al-Sadr also has an original concept about Islamic banking. (2) This research found that al-Sadr's thoughts have significance for efforts to develop sharia banking in the future, especially regarding strengthening moral values in the relationship between sharia banks and customers. (3) This research further shows al-Sadr's prominence in the field of sharia economics, because al-Sadr also has an original concept about Islamic banking.

Sustainability of Digital Friendship: Insights from Early Buddhist Mettā

One of the significant effects of technology on human relations is visible in friendship. Positively technology through its digital spaces is facilitating friendship that is instant and beyond the limitations of time and space. However, such digital friendships that operate through social media often suffer from issues of trust and sustainability. To resolve this predicament, we need to pause and reflect on how digital friendship can be reframed to improve its sustainability in a practical manner. The primary purpose of this article is to examine how helpful the early Buddhist concept of mittatā (friendship) is in sustaining friendship in the digital age. The article begins by eliciting the moral challenges people encounter in online friendships. The objective is to highlight the need for a more vital concept of friendship, such as the early Buddhist concept of mittatā, that can mitigate the moral concerns in digitized friendship, making it genuine and sustainable. The subsequent part of the article offers an overview of some of the significant theories of friendship upheld in the West and examines whether they can support the sustainability of a digitized friendship. The objective is to reflect upon the lacuna in the practice of such ideas of friendship in the contemporary digital age. To replenish the lacuna, the following section articulates the early Buddhist concept of mittatā as a noble concept of friendship that can be morally relevant and sustainable in this digital world. Based on the philosophical study of the early Buddhist literature, the present article investigates how helpful mettā (loving kindness) in this society to sustain a trustworthy friendship. It proposes an ethical and noble way to nurture and savour an honourable friendship relevant to the digital era by inculcating specific virtues advocated by the Buddha.

Two spies: Espionage and empathy

ABSTRACT This essay is a self-psychological exploration of two Israeli field operatives, or spies, and their radically different experiences after retirement. The spies, whom the author calls Ariel and Jonah, worked in the 1970s and 1980s in various locales in the Middle East. Ariel and Jonah shared similarities in their abilities as spies but diverged in the way they were able to integrate into society afterward. One went adrift, while the other integrated and was able to find his place in Israeli society. Based on in-person interviews when the author was living in Israel and subsequent visits and phone conversations, this paper explores the way empathy proved effective for Ariel and Jonah when they were working as spies in the field but functioned differently in their lives afterwards. It incorporates core self-psychological concepts such as rage, mirroring, twinship and idealization, and explores the contrast between Kohut’s early conception of empathy as vicarious introspection, and his later conceptualization of what the author calls loving empathy. It also treats the notion of cultural selfobjects, including one’s country of origin and religious symbols, and the concept of generational trauma as an ancestral narcissistic wound that lies at the heart of insatiable feelings of rage and revenge.

Community Beliefs and Practices Around High Fertility in a High-Risk Environment: A Qualitative Study on Porja Hilly Tribe Living in Andhra Pradesh, India

This study aims to document the tribal community beliefs and practices around fertility behaviours of the Porja vulnerable tribal group in Andhra Pradesh, India. With the purposive sampling method, 175 mothers of reproductive age (>15–49 years) were selected based on the inclusion criteria of having experienced fertility practices and the cultural significance associated with it. The socio-demographic profiles and the fertility rates of 175 mothers have been enumerated through household survey methods and semi-structured interview schedules. The qualitative data collection involved 42 in-depth interviews and three focus group discussions (involving 6–10 women) on specific sociocultural practices around fertility behaviour patterns. Handwritten interviews and conversations were transcribed and coded into themes and categories. Views from the themes reveal that the sociocultural environment has influenced fertility behaviours. Age at marriage and conception at adolescence are the main factors affecting tribal fertility. Traditional fertility-seeking behaviour indicated sequential care from traditional birth attendants and local medicinal women (providing medicine for early conception and birth spacing). The preference for two sons’ was the theme that largely influenced fertility trends. There is a need for comprehensive healthcare intervention in the PVTG tribal areas to lessen the unhealthy reproductive practices that affect tribal survival chances, leading to higher mortality rates.

The paradox of possibility: A temporal reading of Thomas Hobbes

This article engages the role of temporality in the work of Thomas Hobbes. Rather than focusing on the political individual proposed by his later works, it politicizes the conception of subjectivity advanced in his earlier works. In these, he advances a materialist account of subjectivity that is conceptualized in entirely temporal terms. It is, he argues, the temporal categories of memory and imagination that make humans uniquely capable of selfhood and freedom. This early conception lacks the tendency towards domination described in Leviathan, in which the state of nature is presented as a war of all against all. However, this article argues that what the state of nature reveals is that the temporality of subjectivity is not objective, but rather socially produced. As such, the state of nature depicts behavior resulting from material anxiety, which prevents thinking, and therefore acting, beyond the present. Political institutions therefore emerge in his thought as a mechanism for quelling anxiety such that the future becomes actionable. By projecting a vision of a secure, open future, these institutions create a present in which meaningful, self-directed actions become possible. That is, he is the first to posit the very modern notion that political institutions fundamentally shape our sense of possibility.

Imaging for Early Detection of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: Updates and Challenges in the Implementation of Screening and Surveillance Programs.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is one of the most aggressive cancers. It has a poor 5-year survival rate of 12%, partly because most cases are diagnosed at advanced stages, precluding curative surgical resection. Early-stage PDA has significantly better prognoses due to increased potential for curative interventions, making early detection of PDA critically important to improved patient outcomes. We examine current and evolving early detection concepts, screening strategies, diagnostic yields among high-risk individuals, controversies, and limitations of standard-of-care imaging.

An explainable artificial intelligence model for predictive maintenance and spare parts optimization

Maintenance strategies are vital for industrial and manufacturing systems. This study considers a proactive maintenance strategy and emphasizes using analytics and data science. We propose an Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) methodology for predictive maintenance. The proposed method utilizes a machine learning project cycle and Python libraries to interpret the results using the Local Interpretable Model-agnostic Explanations (LIME) method. We also introduce an early concept of spare parts management, presenting insights from predictive maintenance outcomes and providing explanations for decision-makers to enhance their understanding of the influential factors behind predictions. This study demonstrates that utilizing machine learning models in predictive maintenance is highly beneficial; however, the binary outcomes of these models can be misunderstood by decision-makers. Detailed explanations provided to decision-makers will directly impact maintenance decisions and improve spare part management.

Women Empowerment in India since 1947: A Critical Analysis

The issue of women's empowerment is not new, this is an early concept. To empower the nation, we should empower the women. Discrimination between men and women, domestic violence, lack of education, lack of awareness about the government's efforts for women's empowerment and sexual harassment are the most common problems faced by women. Although various measures have been taken by the government and supporting bodies. The purposes of this paper are to explore the various schemes, acts, and laws for women's empowerment and to identify the status of women at present. For this research, various secondary resources like research papers, reports by various ministry organisations and reports by government, non-government and international organizations are used. Government and other supporting bodies' role in women's empowerment is reviewed. Based on analysis, it was found that women are not aware of their social and legal rights, especially in rural areas. They feel inferior to themselves economically or socially or prestigiously compared to men. Though several steps have been taken by the government and other supporting bodies like NGO’s, still the women's condition in society is not satisfactory. Various rules and regulations have been formulated but the government must ensure that these rules are followed properly in the society. Women do not even know their rights; education can improve these inequalities. So, more efforts need to be made for women empowerment, so that women can use their full potential and contribute to themselves, family, society, and country. At the end of research paper, it was concluded that to encourage women empowerment women’s education, employment opportunities and support for self-employment must be promoted.

Systems‐Theoretic Concept Design: An Intent Model for Early Concept Generation

AbstractThe complexity of engineered systems has grown leaps and bounds over the last forty years. One of the main challenges in modern engineering is managing this complexity, particularly as the pace of technological change continues to accelerate across industries. While most systems professionals agree, a viable early design concept is crucial to meeting stakeholders' needs and successfully scoping a development program, traditional early concept generation approaches focus on a design‐first approach, often glossing over an analysis of system intent and a synthesis of system goals and objectives. This tendency leads to an early focus on low‐level, highly‐granular design activities that focus on advanced technologies as design components instead of on the high‐level policy or desired emergence that the new system is being designed to achieve. To combat these shortcomings, this paper introduces a new framework for conceptualizing an early design for novel, complex systems in aerospace and defense that are employed as part of a portfolio‐of‐systems in an attempt to achieve a high‐level policy or portfolio‐level capability. It outlines an intent model for framing a new system's contribution to a portfolio‐level capability, and it posits a framework for delivering a new model for early design concepts while providing a foundation to extend system‐theoretic hazard and security analysis techniques to systematically analyze safety and security engineering challenges for the designs in the earliest possible phase of their lifecycle.

Prototyping of portable medicine containers with embossed braille using an affordable desktop 3D printer

PurposePrototyping with affordable 3D printers empowers small businesses to create prototypes within a day and carry out multiple iterations of design, size, shape or assembly based on analytical results, bringing better products to market faster. This paper aims to turn the ideas into proofs of concept, advance these concepts to realistic prototypes and investigate the quality of printed prototypes prior to large-scale production.Design/methodology/approachThe experimental approach focuses on the prototyping of portable medicine containers by Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), modifying the prototypes by adding auxiliary braille flags that indicate patient initials and dosing information, and performing the moisture permeation study as well as the stability study for model drug products (i.e. ibuprofen tablets, guaifenesin tablets, dextromethorphan HBr soft gel capsules).FindingsThe study shows that an affordable 3D printer helps to create functional and visual prototypes that give a realistic depiction of the design and offer physical objects that could be investigated for product quality and feasibility.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study was the first attempt to use a desktop FDM-based 3D printer to prototype portable medicine containers in a blister packet appearance with auxiliary braille flags that help validate early concepts and facilitate the conversation on refining product features in a rapid and affordable manner.

IV. Das Einlager. Forderungsdurchsetzung in der Frühen Neuzeit zwischen Autonomie und Heteronomie

Summary In medieval and early modern Germany, the Einlager (lat. obstagium) was a widespread practice of private debt enforcement. Parties stipulated that in case the debtor defaulted, contractually agreed on persons, usually the debtor and/or sureties along with members of their retinue, would confine themselves to given premises, usually a public house, for as long as the debt was left unpaid. During that time, all costs for boarding and lodging were to be borne by the debtor. This legal institution was meant to increase the economic pressure on the debtor and keep him from pursuing his usual private and professional life. Voluntarily agreeing to the Einlager, publicly committing to a debt as well as submitting to slander should the debtor not turn himself in all hinged on contemporary codes of honour – the debtor vouched his personal honour when he took on him the possibility of the Einlager. At the same time, the Einlager itself was perceived to leave personal honour intact. This meant that it was popular in cases in which distraint for debt proved difficult; particularly noble debtors and cities found it to be acceptable. However, increasing economic pressure on an already defaulting debtor had always been viewed sceptically. During the course of the 16th century, criticism of the Einlager grew more intensive and new facets were added to it. Prolonged stays in pubs, sometimes in excess of a year, were now deemed detrimental to public as well as private morality. More importantly, the Einlager as a means of private, autonomous debt enforcement that used personal honour as a leverage point was increasingly perceived as a challenge to early modern concepts of territorial lordship, as it ignored governmental jurisdiction. Early modern German legislation addressing the issue introduced a new argument: It criticized that those employing the Einlager made themselves judges in their own causes. Assailed on all sides, the Einlager thus quickly fell into disuse around 1600. Only in a few northern German regions it was moderated by legislation and employed well into the 19th century.

Introduction to Special Issue on the Early History of Nuclear Fusion

This introductory paper to the special issue of Fusion Science and Technology commemorates early research on fusion conducted at Los Alamos (the singular entity denoted Los Alamos Laboratory/Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory/Los Alamos National Laboratory at different times is designated “Los Alamos” in this paper) in support of the eventual H-bomb program. We survey the historical origins of the thermonuclear program, what was known of fusion reactions at the outbreak of the war, and the remarkable breakthroughs involving particularly the prospect of deuterium-tritium (DT) reactions conducted during the war, and we summarize the papers in this volume. Much of the nuclear fusion technical history presented herein has not been previously reported. Papers describe aspects of fusion science during these days, on shock hydrodynamics and on electron-radiation coupling, and on nuclear physics including the discoveries of resonances in both the DT cross section and in the lithium tritium-breeding cross section. Three papers follow our colleague Mark Paris’s finding Arthur Ruhlig’s 1938 paper on the first observation of DT fusion: one on how it influenced subsequent Manhattan Project research, another on a modern calculation of that historic experiment, and a third that has repeated the experiment using modern experimental capabilities. Other papers discuss how the first H-bomb test, Ivy Mike, led to the discovery of the new elements einsteinium and fermium and how the DT fusion processes played a key role in our universe’s development after the Big Bang. We also present a paper that analyzes the pioneering Cambridge University 1934 experiment by Marcus Oliphant, Paul Harteck, and Ernest Rutherford where deuterium-deuterium fusion was first observed and that describes how Ernest Lawrence missed identifying fusion in 1933. Finally, we present a summary of early concepts for controlled fusion energy that grew out of wartime discussions at Los Alamos. The papers show how J. Robert Oppenheimer played a leading technical role in the early developments of the H-bomb, before his later opposition—our first paper in this issue addresses the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2022 vacating of the earlier 1954 decision to revoke his security clearance.