Conceptual Thinking Research Articles

In search of the roots of corporate reputation management: Being a consistent corporate social performer

AbstractCorporate social performance (CSP) has received a particularly high share of attention as one of the main determinants of corporate reputation. However, few studies have tested the extent to which the relationship between CSP and corporate reputation may be affected by industry, country, or other context‐related variables. Besides, some conceptual thinking suggests that the impact of CSP on corporate reputation may vary according to the level of consistency of a firm's behaviors. However, this view has not been empirically addressed. For this reason, the main objective of this study is to explore the impact of consistency in CSP management on corporate reputation. Specifically, we analyze both the effect of CSP internal consistency (or consistency between environmental and social performance) and CSP consistency over time on corporate reputation. The results based on data from an international sample of 133 companies for the period 2011 to 2016, support either CSP internal consistency or CSP consistency over time (positive increment of CSP over time) positively affecting corporate reputation. The results also confirm the moderation effect of CSP internal consistency on the relationship between CSP and corporate reputation. These results reveal that consistency in social responsibility management helps a firm to consolidate its corporate reputation.

868Harnessing new approaches and contemporary methods for better evidence on housing and health

868Harnessing new approaches and contemporary methods for better evidence on housing and health

Opposites in Reasoning Processes: Do We Use Them More Than We Think, but Less Than We Could?

Our aim in this paper is to contribute toward acknowledging the general role of opposites as an organizing principle in the human mind. We support this claim in relation to human reasoning by collecting evidence from various studies which shows that “thinking in opposites” is not only involved in formal logical thinking, but can also be applied in both deductive and inductive reasoning, as well as in problem solving. We also describe the results of a series of studies which, although they have been developed within a number of different theoretical frameworks based on various methodologies, all demonstrate that giving hints or training reasoners to think in terms of opposites improves their performance in tasks in which spontaneous thinking may lead to classic biases and impasses. Since we all possess an intuitive idea of what opposites are, prompting people to “think in opposites” is something which is undoubtedly within everyone's reach and in the final section, we discuss the potential of this strategy and suggest possible future research directions of systematic testing the benefits that might arise from the use of this technique in contexts beyond those tested thus far. Ascertaining the conditions in which reasoners might benefit will also help in terms of clarifying the underlying mechanisms from the point of view, for instance, of analytical, conscious processing vs. automatic, unconscious processing.

Elements of Conceptual Thinking in Planning the Behavior of Autonomous Intelligent Agents

The expediency of using the tools of visual-effective, visual-figurative and conceptual thinking for planning the purposeful activity of autonomous intelligent agents in problem environments of various degrees of a priori uncertainty has been substantiated. The content is revealed and the role of each form of thinking is shown in the process of automatic planning of the purposeful behavior of autonomous intelligent agents in the changing conditions of functioning. The special role of conceptual thinking in the performance of complex tasks by autonomous agents and the planning of polyphasic behavior associated with it is indicated. Taking into account the complexity of the problems associated with the formalization of mental acts of conceptual thinking, possible ways of its gradual development from the initial level to the transition to higher levels of development are shown, expanding on this basis the class of tasks solved by autonomous intelligent agents. A model of knowledge representation and tools for deriving solutions of the initial level of conceptual thinking have been developed, which allow intelligent agents to break down the tasks they receive into sub-goals of behavior. Then, on this basis, plan polyphase activity by searching for solutions to the associated subtasks, which ensure the determination of the minimum length routes of movement in a prob lematic environment with obstacles and the purposeful manipulation of objects in it. The tools are synthesized allowing to establish the order of elaboration of complex actions included in the structure of the task formulated by autonomous intelligent agents. It is shown that the further development of the proposed methodological foundations for constructing intelligent problem sol vers is associated with the formalization of a higher level of mental acts of conceptual thinking, which make it possible to solve practical problems of different complexity, formulated both in procedural and declarative form of presentation in the form of various target situations of the problem environment, having a large dimension.

Recall Accuracy in Children: Age vs. Conceptual Thinking.

The aim of this study was to replicate a previous experiment using a different stimulus event. The present study examined the relationship between age, development of conceptual thinking, and responses to free recall, suggestive and specific option-posing questions in children and adults. Sixty-three children (aged 7–14) and 30 adults took part in an experiment in which they first participated in a live staged event, then, a week later, were interviewed about the event and tested using the Word Meaning Structure Test. Age and level of conceptual thinking were positively correlated in children. Compared to age, conceptual thinking ability better predicted children's accurate free recall and inaccurate responses to specific option-posing questions, but not inaccurate responses to suggestive questions.

Artistic and conceptual tasks of a musician in solo and ensemble performance

The relevance of this study is justified by the necessity to investigate the tasks for the improvement of musician’s professional skills. Artistic perception of the surrounding world is based on active artistic and conceptual thinking. The purpose of this study is to define artistic and conceptual tasks of a musician. In addition, the primary purpose of this research is to consider and analyze the tasks of a performing musician. The methodological background of this study is shaped by theoretical methods of scientific knowledge. For this, the study involved such research methods as analysis and synthesis of information, as well as analytical, cultural and comparative methods. The first stage of the study was a theoretical analysis of academic literature. For the sake of this study, the types of musical performances and interpretations of works as well as the main tasks of the performing musician were considered. It was determined that musical performance is a form of art that involves the reproduction of music in a variety of ways. As a result, it was established that the task of a musician is to decipher the emotional and sensual image created by the author of the work.

History of legal science in the context of the evolution of legal thinking

The article considers the history of legal science as a moment of evolution of legal thinking, expressing the basic laws of the latter. According to the author, the most important of the laws that determine the dynamics of scientific knowledge in diachronous retrospective is a phased movement from figuratively associative (pre-predicative) legal thinking to conceptual thinking, which in its development also goes through a series of successive stages. As a result, the main trend in the history of legal science consists in the growth of knowledge, which manifests itself in the transition from a description of atomic legal facts to the identification of patterns that claim to be valid. This, in turn, predetermines the transformation of legal reality constructed by scientific knowledge.

ЕСТЕСТВЕННО-МАТЕМАТИЧЕСКОЕ ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ – ГЕНЕЗИС И ПРЕЕМСТВЕННОСТЬ

The modern school again should be tasked not only to provide a certain amount of knowledge, but also to prepare students for their future practical activities. Previously, the Soviet and Bulgarian schools solved this problem by implementing the idea of polytechnic education. The transformation of the system of general and vocational education that followed the change of political regimes in the USSR and Bulgaria led to the loss of many positive achievements that had already been achieved earlier. A high level natural and mathematical education always was a distinctive feature of the Russian mass school. Most of the seemingly diverse intellectual challenges that students face in the learning process can be solved by developing conceptual thinking. It is possible to form the conceptual thinking through systematical studying of the natural sciences basics only. Consistency in the study of the surrounding world in a comprehensive school can be achieved through the synchronization of programs and inter-subject connections, and not through metasubject, which is a return to the programs of the GUS of the 20s. Students should learn not individual information, but the basics of the sciences in a certain system. This requires stable (approved for a number of years) programs and textbooks developed as a single system., There will be no right personality without a high-quality natural-mathematical education.

Introducing Iranian Primary Children to Atoms and Molecules

In common with many other countries, the Iranian science curriculum does not introduce primary children to atoms and molecules but instead leaves the teaching of these concepts until high school. This paper challenges this practice and describes the changes in elementary Iranian children’s understanding of atoms and molecules following a 10-h teaching intervention about basic atomic-molecular theory, derived from recently published Australian research. The participants involved in this study are a group of 25 Iranian children aged 9 to 12 years old, who participated in a vacation summer school where they were taught about the structure of atoms and molecules. Thematic and content analysis of children’s written responses and drawings before and after the intervention reveal significant changes in their conceptual thinking. The results also show the extent to which the children can generate microscopic representations of the states of matter from their understanding of atoms and molecules.

Approach to Robust and Elegant Bridge Design

In bridge planning, the successful translation of the many conditioning factors into a solution that meets all safety requirements while also addressing considerations such as economy and elegance is essentially a matter of conceptual design. Despite the utmost importance of that stage, which in addition to an intuitive understanding of load-bearing mechanisms calls for imagination and a sense of form and beauty, creative conceptual thinking is systematically underestimated both in engineering training and everyday practice. The resulting impoverishment of the profession stems not only from growing, need-driven and hardly reversible specialisation, but also from inexorably extensive and opaque standardisation and control. The rules for ensuring robustness reflect the increasing complexity and opacity characterising structural design codes. While the practical importance of designing and building robust structures is universally acknowledged, the codes presently in place are often vague or confusing. Cross-referencing, in turn, may lead to loops around rules that, confounding engineers, are counterproductive. At the same time, however, that lack of clarity may afford opportunities for innovative solutions by building items that ensure robustness into the conceptual design of a structure. This paper proposes an operational design process that deals appropriately with all factors of structural performance, including robustness, without compromising bridge economy or elegance. That process, which combines a number of robustness strategies, including risk-based considerations, is illustrated with a case study of a proposal submitted to a design competition for a viaduct.

Language and Its Limits: Meaning, Reference and the Ineffable in Buddhist Philosophy

Buddhist schools of thought share two fundamental assumptions about language. On the one hand, language (śabda) is identified with conceptual thinking (kalpanā), which according to the Buddhist doctrine (dharma) separates us from the momentary and fleeting nature of reality (satya, “truth”). Language is comprised of generally applicable forms, which fuel the reificatory proclivity for clinging to the distorted – and ultimately fictious – belief in substantial existence. On the other hand, the distrust of language is mitigated by the doctrine of ineffability (anirdeśya), which although asserts that reality is beyond the scope of linguistic description, submits that philosophical analyses of key Buddhist concepts is a means of overcoming the limitations that language imposes on our experience and facilitating insight into the nature of reality (bodhi). This paper provides an overview of Buddhist philosophy of language, with an emphasis on the dialectical view of language as indispensable but ultimately insufficient for contemplation. The Buddhist discussions of ineffability are explicated and compared with its treatment in modern Occidental thought, specifically the similarities and differences with Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language.

Связывая понятие и деятельность: вариант диалектического синтеза

This work is a theoretical discussion about concept formation in a cultural-historical perspective that articulates Vygotsky’s system of concepts within Leontiev’s structure of activity. This effort has led to a theoretical proposition that we call concept-activity, a dialectical unity formed by a concept and its genetic activities, i.e., the systematised activities in which concepts emerge directed to a purpose. Taking volition and conscious awareness as analytic categories, we initially relate scientific concepts with actions — concepts-action — and everyday concepts with operations — concepts-operation. The articulation of these elements drives the emergence of conceptual thinking as an activity, framed by the term concept-activity. In other words, while scientific concepts are related to actions because both arise from a conscious and voluntary dimension, everyday concepts are related to operations through a non-conscious and non-voluntary dimension. A discussion on how the concept-activity synthetises the movement between these two forms of conceptualisations and its implication to concept formation is provided.

Influence of vocational education on color vocabulary and color naming patterns

Introduction. The professional education received and the professional activity carried out have a tangible impact on many spheres of human life. A professional environment influences a person’s consciousness, changes his/her conceptual thinking and lexical content of everyday communication. The purpose of the research is to test whether growing color competence affects the size, variability, and quality of the color vocabulary of native Russian speakers. Materials and methods. The data were collected in an online experiment involving 1737 native Russian speakers with different professional backgrounds and levels of color competence: 1103 participants were not professionally involved with color (hereafter referred to as non-professionals); 509 were students, in the process of professionally mastering the theoretical foundations of color science and colorism, and had basic color competence (hereafter referred to as novice professionals); 125 participants were practicing colorists and color consultants, designers and architects (hereafter referred to as experienced professionals). Results. The research showed that the growth of professional experience and coloristic competence noticeably affects the color vocabulary and color naming patterns. Compared to non-professionals, novice and experienced professionals use more complex color naming patterns and a greater variety of chromatic and achromatic modifiers (the Shannon diversity index increases from 6.55 to 7.52 and 7.12 respectively), but fewer basic color names (they account for 47% of non-professional, 43% of novice and 38% of experienced professionals’ vocabulary). The influence of professional education and professional culture is most pronounced in the choice of referent objects for describing connotations. 132 of the 320 referent objects proposed by non-professionals, and 113 of the 301 objects proposed by professionals, were “endemic” to each of these groups and were not used by representatives of other groups. Non-professionals most often described hues using naturally occurring substances, plants, flowers, artifacts, and body products as prototypes. Color specialists chose as referents dyes, pigments, paint brands, and exotic terms that fill modern advertising. Conclusions. The results confirm the hypothesis that, in addition to the universal perceptual factors that control color categorization, color-related cognitive processes are also influenced by social and cultural factors. The revealed professional differences of color vocabulary and color naming patterns can be used in the practical implementation of the process of formation of linguodidactic design of professional personality of a wide range of professionals, whose activities are directly or indirectly related to the choice of color and color design.

ПСИХОМЕТРИЧЕСКИЕ СВОЙСТВА И ДИАГНОСТИЧЕСКИЕ КРИТЕРИИ ШКАЛЫ ОЦЕНКИ ПОЗИТИВНЫХ СИМПТОМОВ SAPS У ПАЦИЕНТОВ С ШИЗОФРЕНИЕЙ

Objectives. To assess psychometric properties of Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) and to develop criteria for assessing the severity of positive symptoms in the dynamics of therapy, to clinically verify SAPS metric criteria. Material and methods. The study involved 157 patients with the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Psychometric analysis of SAPS was carried out on the basis of the Rasch metric system with the development of criteria for assessing the severity of positive symptoms based on the index of minimum detectable changes for 95% probability (Minimum detectable change 95% - MDC95%). Clinical verification was conducted by statistical analysis of contingency tables of clinical and metric criteria using the Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI). Results. All items of SAPS have reasonable level of construct validity. The scale is characterized by moderate reliability (r= 0.84) and high discrimination. Factor analysis has revealed heterogeneity of SAPS metric structure: items in the first group assess hallucinatory and delusional symptoms, items in the second group characterize behavioral disorders and formal thinking disorders. The heterogeneity of SAPS reflects dimensional structure of positive syndrome, which allows to consider total score on the scale as an indicator of this psychopathological construct severity. On the basis of metric approach, criteria for assessing the severity of positive symptoms in the dynamics of therapy have been developed. Statistically significant linear relationship has been found between the levels of SAPS and CGI scales: SAPS has shown higher discriminativeness in assessing severe levels and less marked discriminativeness in assessing low levels of positive symptoms compared to CGI. Conclusions. SAPS has acceptable psychometric characteristics. The developed diagnostic criteria are suitable for the use in clinical practice and research.

Conceptualizing interprofessional working – when a lawyer joins the healthcare mix

ABSTRACT Research, policy and practice in the field of interprofessional collaboration have focused on how medical, nursing, allied health and social care practitioners work together to positively impact patient care. This paper extends conceptual thinking about interprofessional practice by focusing on lawyers as part of the interprofessional mix. This attention is prompted by medical–legal partnerships (MLPs), a service model by which lawyers join health care settings to assist patients with unmet, and often health-harming, legal needs. MLPs are present in around 450 hospitals and other health care sites across the United States and the model has spread to other countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada. However, enthusiasm for the MLP model is not yet matched by good evidence on how, when and for whom the model works. Interprofessional scholars contend that imprecise terminology and poor conceptualization of interprofessional arrangements hinder high-quality research and evaluation. In response to their critiques, this paper formulates a stepwise conceptual framework to guide the design, implementation and study of interprofessional arrangements that connect health, social care and legal practitioners. This framework draws on findings from national surveys of MLP initiatives in several countries and adapts several key conceptual frameworks that have been developed from systematic reviews of interprofessional working in primary health care. These conceptual frameworks are valuable because they promote clarity about different modes of interprofessional working and characterize the factors at macro (policy, funding), meso (organizational) and micro (practitioner, patient) levels that help or hinder professionals from different disciplines in working together. The paper considers factors at these three levels that require particular attention when lawyers join health care settings and proposes questions for future research in this emerging area.

Tumor-Specific Multipath Nucleic Acid Damages Strategy by Symbiosed Nanozyme@Enzyme with Synergistic Self-Cyclic Catalysis.

The high proliferation efficiency, redox imbalance, and elevated nucleic acid repair capabilities of tumor cells severely restrict the theranostic efficacy. Selectively interference chaotic tumors with devastating nucleic acid damages (NUDs) properties are expected to overcome theranostic barriers. Here, an exquisite catalytic-based strategy with comprehensive NUDs mechanisms is demonstrated. In this regard, enzyme (glucose oxidase, GOD) symbioses nanozyme Cu3+x (PO4 )2 through biomineralization (abbreviated as Cu@GOD), GOD can disorder the metabolism by consuming glucose, thereby inhibiting the nutrition supply for nucleic acid repair. GOD-catalyzed H2 O2 guarantees the self-cyclic glutathione depletion and reactive oxygen species generation caused by Cu3+x (PO4 )2 , resulted the reduced antioxidation defense and enhanced oxidation assault, ensures an indiscriminate NUDs ability. Moreover, the high photothermal effect of Cu3+x (PO4 )2 induces effective tumor inhibition. Consequently, this substantial multipath NUDs strategy, with potentials of suppressing the cytoprotective mechanisms, amplifying the cellular oxidative stress, and disrupting the redox balance to ensure substantial irreversible NUDs, completely breaks the obstacle of chaotic tumors, providing new conceptual thinking for tumor proliferation inhibition.

Scaffolding Based Learning: Strategies For Developing Reflective Thinking Skills (A Case Study On Random Variable Material in Mathematics Statistics Courses)

Scaffolding is a learning model by providing assistance based on student difficulties. The purpose of this study is to describe the application of scaffolding-based learning to support students’ reflective thinking skills in mathematics statistics courses. Research subjects were 43 5th semester students of mathematics education study programs. This type of research is a qualitative descriptive study with three research procedures carried out, namely: 1) a preliminary study, 2) planning, and 3) implementation. The instruments used were lecturer activity observation sheets and student activity observation sheets. The results showed that the components of scaffolding-based learning can be used to support students’ reflective thinking skills in this case in learning mathematics statistics. Explaining and reviewing play a role in shaping pre-reflective situations, restructuring in shaping reflective situations, and developing conceptual thinking play a role in shaping post-reflective situations.

Omega-3 PUFA profoundly affect neural, physiological, and behavioural competences - implications for systemic changes in trophic interactions.

In recent decades, much conceptual thinking in trophic ecology has been guided by theories of nutrient limitation and the flow of elements, such as carbon and nitrogen, within and among ecosystems. More recently, ecologists have also turned their attention to examining the value of specific dietary nutrients, in particular polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), among which the omega-3 PUFA, especially eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) play a central role as essential components of neuronal cell membranes in many organisms. This review focuses on a new neuro-ecological approach stemming from the biochemical (mechanistic) and physiological (functional) role of DHA in neuronal cell membranes, in particular in conjunction with G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). We link the co-evolution of these neurological functions to metabolic dependency on dietary omega-3 PUFA. We outline ways in which deficiencies in dietary DHA supply may affect, cognition, vision, and behaviour, and ultimately, the biological fitness of consumers. We then review emerging evidence that changes in access to dietary omega-3 PUFA may ultimately have profound impacts on trophic interactions leading to potential changes in community structure and ecosystem functioning that, in turn, may affect the supply of DHA within and across ecosystems, including the supply for human consumption.

Artificial intelligence using for medical diagnosis via implementation of expert systems

Modern biomedical technologies development affords to provide the doctor with colossal amount of information about patients organism condition. However, the opportunity of using this data for medical diagnosis fully now is a distantive perspective only. The reason is a humans limited ability in assessment and interpretation this data arrays. The solution seems in artificial intelligence and expert systems wide introduction to medicine. Currently, almost all authors consider various options for constructing artificial neural networks as a way to implement artificial intelligence. This approach, which goes back to the fundamental theorem of A.N. Kolmogorov, the works of V.I. Arnold and Hecht-Nielsen [3], demonstrates excellent capabilities in a number of pattern recognition problems, which are reduced to revealing hidden details against the background of input noises. Much less often is mentioned such a method of modeling formal thinking as expert systems, which arose in the 1960s and then went into the shadows. Since the inception of cybernetics, computer programmers have tried to reproduce the mechanism of human thinking, that is, the task was to teach the computer to "think". The first known results in the field of creating and using intelligent systems were laid by the work of Norbert Wiener and G.S. Altshuller. At the same time, the creation of intelligent systems was reduced to the development of programs that solve problems using a variety of heuristic methods based on the property of human thinking to generalize.

Conceptual Thinking Profile of Mathematics Education Department Female Student in Solving Problems

This research described the conceptual thinking of female student in solving math problems. The research subject was a female student of Mathematics Education who had the upper middle category of mathematics ability. This research was an exploratory research with a qualitative descriptive approach. The data were collected through problem solving tasks and in-depth task-based interviews. The validity of the data was done through continuous observation, time triangulation, and member check. Data analysis was carried out through several stages, namely data categorization, data reduction, data presentation, data interpretation, and conclusions. The results showed that in understanding the problem, the female student made symbolic and pictorial representations separately. She mentioned the concept while drawing. In making plans, the female student’s strategies were based on certain concepts and were related to problem questions, so that the plan of solving steps was not yet complete. In implementing the plan, the female student determined the initial steps for solving certain concepts that can be resolved and linked them to the problem questions. She did the problem solving partially based on the relationship between concepts, so that the problem solving steps were less systematic.