Evolution Of Concept Research Articles

A conceptual evolution and multifaceted concept of design: From historical definitions to modern perspectives and its integration with fashion

A conceptual evolution and multifaceted concept of design: From historical definitions to modern perspectives and its integration with fashion

Technostress or reaction to techno-stressors? Validation of bilingual techno-stressors index (TSI-II) and a second-order formative model of techno-distress among Canadian legal professionals

Technostress is a phenomenon that needs to be seen as a process rather than a result. This requires the adaptation of measurement tools accordingly. Legal professionals are particularly exposed to technostress. This paper presents the validation of the TSI-II, an updated and bilingual version of the Techno-Stressors Index (TSI). This updated instrument was tested (French-n = 35; English-n = 30) and then retested (Overall-n = 4482; FR-n1 = 544; ENG-n2 = 3938) in both languages among Canadian legal professionals. Using the TSI-II, this paper proposes a second-order formative model of techno-distress, including seven techno-stressors, which captures the recent developments associated with the evolution of the technostress literature. Following the best practices for scale development, TSI-II presents excellent properties and is a good predictor of perceived stress among legal professionals. This validation aligns with developments in technostress literature, namely, the conceptual evolution of techno-distress as a component of the technostress process.

Newman’s theory of health as expanding consciousness: an evolutionary concept analysis

BackgroundThe health as expanding consciousness (HEC) theory posits that health and disease are interconnected components of a comprehensive process aimed at expanding consciousness.AimThe objective of this study is to introduce the concept, research status and applications of HEC and offer a comprehensive understanding of its various key components.Data sourcesDatabases including EMBASE, PubMed, ScienceDirect, ProQuest, Wiley, Web of Science, Sinomed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and CQVIP, covering the period from 1986 to 2023.MethodEmploying Rodgers’ evolutionary concept analysis approach, this study included and analysed 70 studies.ResultsThe characteristics of HEC comprise aspects such as movement, time, space, energy, rhythm, and paradigm of health. The antecedents of HEC encompass disease, chaos, binding, centring, and choice point. Consequences associated with HEC include self-transcendence, unbinding, decentring, expanded consciousness, real freedom, pattern recognition, absolute consciousness, and death.ConclusionThis study has identified substitute terms, related concepts, attributes, antecedents, consequences, and empirical references associated with HEC. The findings provide valuable information applicable across various domains of nursing, encompassing practice, education, research, and management.

“Successful Living” Among Adolescents With HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis

“Successful Living” Among Adolescents With HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis

"Successful Living" Among Adolescents With HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis.

The concept of successful living in the context of adolescents with HIV lacks clarity and is unexplored. Without a common understanding of successful living among adolescents with HIV (AWH) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), health care interventions focusing on this population may continue to fall short, resulting in avoidable morbidity and mortality. Therefore, this analysis used Rodgers Evolutionary Concept Analysis method to identify attributes, antecedents, consequences, and related concepts of successful living among AWH in SSA. Health care interventions are encouraged to promote successful living among AWH to achieve behavioral and clinical outcomes.

Coercive control: Health, victims' rights and the ethics of care

This article provides healthcare professionals with an overview of research on coercive control, a paramount concept for understanding domestic violence, primarily targeting women and children. It aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and integrate advances into professional practices and (psycho)education. To this end, we present the conceptual evolution of coercive control and the perpetrators' behavioral patterns, their risks for victims and professionals, their devastating impact on the rights and biopsychosocial health of adult and child victims, and the challenges posed by technology, particularly generative artificial intelligence.

Mental Health Crisis: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis.

The term 'mental health crisis' is a widely used concept in clinical practice and research, appearing prominently in mental health literature across healthcare and social science disciplines. Within these contexts, the term is frequently either left undefined or defined rather narrowly, confined to clinical observations or guidelines targeted at healthcare providers and negating the multifaceted nature of crisis as described by those with lived experience. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore the characteristics of and provide a conceptual definition for the concept of 'mental health crisis'. Rodgers' method of evolutionary concept analysis was employed and 34 articles, ranging from 1994 to 2021 and a variety of disciplines, were analysed. The results highlighted the contrast between clinically oriented surrogate terms and related concepts and those used by individuals with lived crisis experience. Antecedents of crisis included underlying vulnerabilities, relational dysfunction, collapse of life structure and struggles with activities of daily living. The concept's attributes encompassed the temporality of crisis, signs and symptoms of crisis, functional decline and crisis in family and caregivers. Finally, the consequences comprised looking inward for help, looking outward for help, and opportunities and dangers. This concept analysis serves as a foundational step in understanding 'mental health crisis' and its various dimensions, facilitating more nuanced discussions and interventions in the realm of mental healthcare.

Adherence to treatment in pulmonary tuberculosis: Rodgers' evolutionary concept analysis.

Adherence to treatment is essential for the management of pulmonary tuberculosis. Nurses and healthcare professionals play a significant role in promoting adherence behavior among this population. Nevertheless, defining adherence to treatment within this particular population remains complex. This study aimed to explore and clarify the concept of adherence to treatment among individuals with pulmonary tuberculosis. Rodgers' evolutionary concept analysis was employed in this study. A literature search was conducted in the PubMed and Scopus databases to identify relevant studies published between July 2013 and July 2023. The attributes of adherence to treatment in pulmonary tuberculosis consist of multiple components: biological, individual, social, health service, and policy-making processes. Antecedents include various patient-related factors as well as factors associated with clinical conditions and patient-health professional engagement. Three consequences of the concept have emerged: enhanced treatment efficacy, increased commitment to tuberculosis treatment adherence, and improved health service quality. This study provides a comprehensive operational definition of adherence to tuberculosis treatment, including its attributes, antecedents, and consequences. This framework will assist nurses in evaluating adherence more effectively. However, further research into the experiences of individuals adhering to tuberculosis treatment is needed to confirm and enhance these strategies.

Defining evolution: exploring students’ conceptions of evolution in introductory biology courses

BackgroundUnderstanding evolution is an important part of undergraduate biology education. Despite its importance, however, students often struggle to understand evolution, often holding preconceived notions of what evolution is. Here, we investigate how students in both majors and non-majors introductory biology define and conceive of evolution at the start of the semester for a two-year college and a four-year university near each other. We analyze open-ended responses to an in-class activity on the first day of the semester that asked students to define evolution, generating insight into how students are thinking of evolution prior to any formal instruction on evolution in college.ResultsOur analysis of over 300 student responses reveals that students hold diverse conceptions about evolution, with some students perceiving evolution in the context of evolutionary processes while other students define evolution by referring to perceived evolutionary consequences. In addition, we identify multiple non-normative conceptions about evolution, including students viewing evolution and natural selection as synonymous and not recognizing other evolutionary forces, and find that very few students likely have developed mental models linking evolution and genetics. In addition, we find few differences between how students at the two- and four-year institutions perceive evolution, and similarly few differences between students in a majors and non-majors introductory biology, suggesting that these conceptions of evolution are widespread at the beginning of introductory biology, regardless of major or institution.ConclusionsWe situate our results in the existing literature examining student conceptions of evolution, with our results extending past work that has primarily relied on more closed-ended questions or focused on specific evolutionary concepts (e.g., natural selection). Our results largely align with past work on student thinking of evolution but provide a broader, more holistic perspective at the ideas and framework that students are drawing upon when introductory biology instructors first introduce the term ‘evolution’. We conclude our paper by discussing implications for the biology education research community as well as instructors.

The evolution of plasticity in the neuroscientific literature during the second half of the twentieth century to the present

ABSTRACT In the neurosciences, concepts play an important role in the conception and direction of research. Among the theoretical notions and direction of research, plasticity stands out because of the multiple ways in which scientists use it to describe and interpret how the nervous system changes and adapts to different requirements. The occurrence of different conceptualizations of plasticity in the scientific literature during the second half of the twentieth century and up to the present was investigated using bibliometric methods. Throughout the period analyzed, synaptic plasticity has remained the dominant conceptualization of plasticity. However, scientists have continued to introduce novel plasticity concepts reflecting the scientific advances they have made in understanding the dynamic nature of the nervous system. The conceptual evolution of plasticity documents that the view of the adult nervous system as immutable has been replaced by an understanding of the nervous system as capable of lifelong change and adaptation.

Evolving Novel Gene Regulatory Networks for Structural Engineering Designs.

Engineering design optimization poses a significant challenge, usually requiring human expertise to discover superior solutions. Although various search techniques have been employed to generate diverse designs, their effectiveness is often limited by problem-specific parameter tuning, making them less generalizable and scalable. This article introduces a framework inspired by evolutionary and developmental (evo-devo) concepts, aiming to automate the evolution of structural engineering designs. In biological systems, evo-devo governs the growth of single-cell organisms into multicellular organisms through the use of gene regulatory networks (GRNs). GRNs are inherently complex and highly nonlinear, and this article explores the use of neural networks and genetic programming as artificial representations of GRNs to emulate such behaviors. To evolve a wide range of Pareto fronts for artificial GRNs, this article introduces a new technique, a real value-encoded neuroevolutionary method termed real-encoded NEAT (RNEAT). The performance of RNEAT is compared with that of two well-known evolutionary search techniques across different 2-D and 3-D problems. The experimental results demonstrate two key findings. First, the proposed framework effectively generates a population of GRNs that can produce diverse structures for both 2-D and 3-D problems. Second, the proposed RNEAT algorithm outperforms its competitors on more than 50% of the problems examined. These results validate the proof of concept underlying the proposed evo-devo-based engineering design evolution.

Systematic Literature Review: The Evolution of Adaptive Governance and Practice in the Context of the Environmental Crisis

This paper aims to clarify the understanding of the conceptual evolution of the adaptive governance framework, followed by an examination of implementation actions in the environmental setting. Since three approaches are recognized to be essential in navigating complex socio-ecological systems, namely adaptive management, adaptive co-management, and adaptive governance. This might lead to confusion and misunderstandings in adaptive concepts and practice. In this study, a systematic literature review was conducted using the Scopus database. A literature search was conducted in Mei 2023 using the keyword "Adaptive Governance" as the search term. As a result, despite sharing the same purpose and philosophy, each approach's work process has distinct features and scales. Adaptive governance emerges as a response to the need for holistic solutions to overcome uncertainty within the framework of complex socio-ecological systems. This is similar to adaptive co-management, although on a larger scale and context. While adaptive management is the conceptual foundation for other approaches.

Creative Tourism: Two Decades of Conceptual Evolution and Characterization

The concept of “creative tourism”, emerging at the century’s start, responds to the “creative turn” in tourist destinations, aligning with the evolving creative class, clusters, and cities. This study employs a bibliometric analysis to examine the evolution and academic focus on creative tourism over the past two decades. Using databases like Scopus and Web of Science, we analyzed key trends, thematic developments, and the impact of creative industries on tourism. Our study reveals significant growth in creative tourism research, emphasizing creativity’s role in enhancing tourism experiences and formulating sustainable, culturally rich models. It underscores the importance of integrating creative industries into tourism and the positive impact on local economies and community development. This analysis not only maps the academic trajectory of creative tourism but also highlights its practical implications for future tourism management and sustainable community development.

Six Connotations of Sustainability in Civil and Construction Engineering: A Corpus Linguistics Study

This research explores the historic use of the concept of sustainability in civil engineering academic literature and identifies its conceptual evolution and connotative treatment over the last 40 years. We find that academic research addressing sustainability is exponentially increasing and that the focus on sustainability is enlarging from a primarily environmental perspective to include more social elements. Additionally, we propose a set of six connotations of sustainability: assessment, progress, permanence, abstractness, multidimensional, and intersectional. These connotations provide conceptual clarity for academics and practitioners in better-defining sustainability objectives and measuring outcomes. These connotations also promote more efficient collaboration with other necessary disciplines in the pursuit of project and societal-level goals. The research employs a novel use of computational corpus linguistics in CCE to identify and examine patterns of collocates associated with the word sustainability in a corpus of 335,020 peer-reviewed civil and construction engineering (CCE) scholarly abstracts published between 1981 and 2021. Demonstrating this research method is a contribution to CCE researchers systematically extracting meaning from large volumes of literature.

Variation in psychopathological terminology

Abstract Representing specialized knowledge in the medical domain implies considering the dynamism of scientific and technological progress. The advancement of knowledge on diseases goes hand in hand with the reconceptualization processes undertaken by experts with consequent conceptual evolutions and possible variations of the terms used to designate medical concepts. Sometimes term variation is the result of a desire to avoid or overcome negative connotations anchored in medical terms, and leads to the creation of less evaluatively charged terms that carry a diminished ideological load. This study illustrates the case of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), a relatively under-/misdiagnosed medical condition which has been the object of multiple reconceptualizations by experts. We focus on the analysis of the conceptual evolution of BDD and the consequent variation occurring at the linguistic level. We adopt the theoretical assumption that terminology has a double dimension – conceptual and linguistic. Following on this assumption, the terminologist must examine both the experts’ conceptualizations of a given domain and the discourses produced by them in order to effectively represent the specialized knowledge of a specific subject field. To complete the analysis, we present how information about BDD is disseminated to non-experts through the analysis of a corpus of mass-media articles.

The Conceptual Evolution of The Agribusiness Field of Study: From The Emergence of The Term to 2020

Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the evolution of research trends in the field of agribusiness, identifying the most studied terms and themes from the conception of the term agribusiness up to the year 2020. Theoretical Framework: In the integration of agriculture into industrial chains, the concepts of Agribusiness and Filière emerge. Gradually, an interdisciplinary field of study is structured. However, new elements begin to be faced: socio-environmental issues and technological development alter the dynamics of this field of study. Thus, it is necessary to structure a comprehensive knowledge of Agribusiness to understand this dynamic. Method: The methodology adopted for this research comprises bibliometric analysis in time series, using particularly the co-word technique. Data collection was carried out through the Scopus database, chosen for providing a broad view of the global and interdisciplinary scientific literature. Results and Discussion: Terms such as "agribusiness," "agriculture," and "agroindustry" form the core of studies. The terms "animal," "economy/economic impact," and "supply chains" stand out for their high occurrence in all the periods analyzed. Research Implications: A constancy of central themes and an evolution of peripheral themes in response to new environmental and technological challenges in agribusiness were observed. Originality/Value: This study contributes to the literature as one of the first articles exploring the dynamics and evolution of an interdisciplinary research field using bibliometric techniques.

Evolution content in school textbooks: data from eight European countries

BackgroundEvolution is a unifying theme in biology and its understanding is essential to address sustainability problems. However, many people across the world do not understand evolution. Textbooks are among the most widely used educational resources and the way they depict evolution may greatly impact students’ scientific literacy in evolution. In this paper we investigate which evolution concepts are addressed in European science textbooks, from the 1st to the 9th grade. A content analysis using the ‘Framework for the Assessment of school Curricula on the presence of Evolutionary concepts”, was performed on textbooks from eight European countries: Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and Slovenia. At least two experienced coders per country independently analysed the texts, images and activities, discussed the results and reached a final consensus.ResultsOur results show that textbooks lack or rarely address concepts considered important for evolution understanding, notably the processes driving evolution and their daily life implications, limiting opportunities for education for sustainability.ConclusionsWe recommend that science textbooks emphasize evolution and its processes since the first school years. This recommendation is particularly relevant for the analysed textbooks from Cyprus and Belgium, that cover less than 45% of the concepts important to evolution literacy.

Academic resilience in nusing students: a concept analysis

BackgroundAcademic resilience is a crucial concept for nursing students to cope with academic challenges. Currently, there is significant variation in the description of the concept attributes of academic resilience among nursing students, which impedes the advancement of academic research. Therefore, it is essential to establish a clear definition of the concept of academic resilience for nursing students.PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report the results of concept analysis of academic resilience of nursing students.MethodsThe Rodgers evolutionary concept analysis was employed to test the attributes, antecedents, consequences and related concepts of academic resilience of nursing students. Walker and Avant’s method was utilized to construct a model case and provide empirical referents.ResultsThe findings indicate that the attributes of nursing students’ academic resilience include self-efficacy, self-regulation and recovery, and the antecedents include internal factors and external environmental factors. The consequences include adaptability, career maturity, adversity quotient level, probability of academic success, a sense of belonging to school and low levels of psychological distress.ConclusionThe systematic understanding of academic resilience among nursing students provides a pathway for nursing educators and students to enhance academic resilience, promote academic success, and establish a foundation for the training of more qualified nurses.

Conceptual Evolution and Paradigm Reconstruction: An Integrated Framework for International Communication

The tracing of historical origins and disciplinary trajectories enables us to reveal that international communication, as a specific manifestation of global information flow and media evolution, is primarily influenced by the interplay of three societal factors: the roots of political conflicts, the catalytic role of economic and technological developments, and the reshaping of values into distinct blocs. These factors intertwine with the awareness of external exploration across different historical periods. Traditional knowledge production in international communication has evolved along two main lines: political economy and cultural studies. These paths have given rise to three major paradigms—propaganda, global communication, and intercultural communication—each stemming from differing core units of analysis. Together, they have constructed a multifaceted interpretive framework for understanding self-identity and the relationship between self and the external world in the information age since the beginning of the 20th century. This paper argues that on the new journey in the new era, efforts should be made to weaken the attributes of hierarchical control and power conflict derived from the practices of Western industrial societies and the Cold War. In the context of an era marked by the fusion of “new subjects, new networks, new media, and new values,” there is a need to return to the original purpose of communication: the sharing of information and the collective responsibility it entails. This will enable the construction of a new paradigm driven by Chinese modernization for the exchange and mutual learning of civilizations. Such a paradigm aims to unify humanity around shared values, foster the building of a human community with a shared future, and create new forms of human advancement.

The evolutionary and neurobiological attributes of consciousness: an update.

Consciousness is most frequently defined as a subjective experience of mental processes. The phenomenon of consciousness has always been a subject of great interest in various fields of science, including psychiatry, and the most prominent scientists have engaged in research on it. The studies performed in recent years have brought about novel data on the evolutionary and neurobiological attributes of this phenomenon. In the first part of the article, the evolutionary concepts of consciousness are presented, going back to the beginnings of life on our planet. They are proposed by such illustrious scientists as Joseph LeDoux, Daniel Dennett, António Damásio, and Arthur Reber. Each of them presents the issue of consciousness in the context of evolution slightly differently. However, there are many similarities concerning the development of the nervous system and mental life. The second part discusses the novel research on the cognitive and neurobiological components of consciousness. Among many researchers of this issue, we chose the achievements of two British authors such as Chris Frith and Anil Seth. The neuroanatomical and perceptive aspects of both the level and context of consciousness are provided. Besides presenting the contemporary evolutionary and neurobiological concepts of consciousness, the article aims to bring closer the profiles of the prominent researchers of neuroscience mentioned here. This term can be translated into Polish as "neuronauka", although our country's most frequently used name is "neurobiologia."