Systemic Elements Research Articles

Characteristics and Outcomes Among Hospitalized COVID-19-Positive Patients in a Nonurban Environment.

ABSTRACTIntroductionVirtually all hospitalized coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) outcome data come from urban environments. The extent to which these findings are generalizable to other settings is unknown. Coronavirus disease-2019 data from large, urban settings may be particularly difficult to apply in military medicine, where practice environments are often semi-urban, rural, or austere. The purpose of this study is compare presenting characteristics and outcomes of U.S. patients with COVID-19 in a nonurban setting to similar patients in an urban setting.Materials and MethodsThis is a retrospective case series of adults with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infection who were admitted to Hershey Medical Center (HMC), a 548-bed tertiary academic medical center in central Pennsylvania serving semi-urban and rural populations, from March 23, 2020, to April 20, 2020 (the first month of COVID-19 admissions at HMC). Patients and outcomes of this cohort were compared to published data on a cohort of similar patients from the New York City (NYC) area.ResultsThe cohorts had similar age, gender, comorbidities, need for intensive care or mechanical ventilation, and most vital sign and laboratory studies. The NYC’s cohort had shorter hospital stays (4.1 versus 7.2 days, P < .001) but more African American patients (23% versus 12%, P = .02) and higher prevalence of abnormal alanine (>60U/L; 39.0% versus 5.9%, P < .001) and aspartate (>40U/L; 58.4% versus 42.4%, P = .012) aminotransferase, oxygen saturation <90% (20.4% versus 7.2%, P = .004), and mortality (21% versus 1.4%, P < .001).ConclusionsHospitalists in nonurban environments would be prudent to use caution when considering the generalizability of results from dissimilar regions. Further investigation is needed to explore the possibility of reproducible causative systemic elements that may help improve COVID-19-related outcomes. Broader reports of these relationships across many settings will offer military medical planners greater ability to consider outcomes most relevant to their unique settings when considering COVID-19 planning.

Особенности формирования правового государства в России

The article examines certain issues of the formation of the rule of law in Russia, problematic aspects of the formation of the rule of law, as well as the significance and characteristics of the development of the rule of law. It is noted that today, there is no clear guidance for establishing general principles of law and building a legal state. The conclusion is substantiated that the essence of the rule of law is reduced to strengthening the systemic elements and the consistency of constitutional processes and international legal order

НАЛОГОВАЯ НАГРУЗКА: ПРИНЦИПЫ И ЭФФЕКТИВНЫЕ ПУТИ ОПТИМИЗАЦИИ

The article examines the assessment and existing methods of the tax burden, directions of its optimiza-tion. One of the main systemic elements of the country's state policy is the tax system as one of the vectors in the direction of economic and social development. The legal basis of the state determines that an economic entity becomes a taxpayer, paying taxes and fees to the state budget system. For effective conduct of activi-ties, organizations need to assess the amount of taxes paid to the budget and determine how much of their own resources they can donate to the state as payment for using its services. For this, it is advisable to use the estimated indicator "tax burden". In addition to organizations, the tax burden is also calculated by the tax authorities to control the activities of taxpayers. It is important for the state to monitor both the direction of movement of tax flows and the fact of their receipt into the country's budget, taking into account the financial and economic capabilities of taxpayers, since tax revenues form a significant part of the federal and consoli-dated budget revenues.

К вопросу о понятии и сущности правового государства

The article examines the issues of the formation of the rule of law, the influence of general principles of law on this process, as well as the importance of constitutionalism on the development of the concept of the rule of law. It is noted that the model of the rule of law is embedded in the construction of the international legal system. The conclusion is substantiated that the essence of the rule of law is reduced to strengthening the systemic elements and the consistency of constitutional processes and international legal order.

ТРАДИЦИОННАЯ КУЛЬТУРА КОРЕННЫХ НАРОДОВ СЕВЕРА КАК ОБЪЕКТ ДИЗАЙН-ИНТЕРПРЕТАЦИИ (НА ПРИМЕРЕ ОБСКИХ УГРОВ)

The article presents the study of the design application, namely practical use of the elements of the traditional culture of Ob Ugric people, that include scenic compositions of rites and rituals as well as contextual attributes and decorations (ornaments). The research goal is to formulate a method of design interpretation that provides for ethically and efficiently embedment of elements of traditional culture into the semantic and image-bearing field of contemporary multicultural reality. This method is expected to further address the challenge of the deliberate development of a new/hybrid culture in the studied region (and, in a broad sense, in the entire territory of the Russian North). The novelty of the research is the detailed exploration of structural elements of the chosen culture in combination with the synchronous selection of tools, such as concepts of social and human sciences, as well as the means of a design that include formal, spatial, social, economic, ecological and technological representations.&#x0D; The basic methodology for analyzing research materials a systemic approach and structural elements of culture such as ornaments, rituals, and rituals were examined in a united figurative and semantic context. The combination of the methods of historical analysis and field ethnography allowed to identify the content and evolution of the studied phenomenon, as well as to consider individual cultural patterns and actions in real place and time.&#x0D; The proposed method of interpretation includes two following logical steps of identification: (1) the non-changeable content of the cultural core, which provides an inherent connection with the environment where the given culture takes place, and (2) the outer layer (material shell) that is available for transformation/modernization. As a result, the proposed method is presented through, first, the theoretical principles of a proper design interpretation based on the existing examples of cultural borrowings (with the case of traditional ornaments); and second, an educational experiment of designing a new Northern culture through borrowing and interpreting the traditional festivity “The Crow’s Day,” with a potential implementation within the local tourism industry. &#x0D; The final part describes the broad research relevance of the findings, along with the limitations and directions for further research.

From smart to empathic cities

This paper acknowledges the contemporary neoliberal mode of operation of Smart Cities. The pitfalls of Smart Cities concerning its propensity towards techno-centric and efficiency-focused governance are identified, with diminutive emphasis on social equity and human-centric urban growth. Thus, the paper elaborates upon an alternative mode of person-environment-interaction based approach towards placemaking: Empathic Cities. This approach implies embracing a shift from efficiency to sufficiency and wellbeing embedded regenerative perspective for conceiving the built environment. First, the variable dimensions of urban growth and governance, which gave rise to the smart city, are contextualized. The embedded neoliberal operational agenda of smart cities are established. On this basis, the underpinnings of an empathic city are established by acknowledging the shift from techno-centric to human-centric and from product-based to context-based smart city and wellbeing perspectives. Strategies toward urban development are proposed, such as embracing a regenerative perspective wherein the city and its constituents need to be understood as interdependent systemic elements while embracing a human-centric and ethical approach. Additionally, a transition from efficiency to sufficiency-oriented practices and a shift towards inclusive modes of participatory governance are proposed as fundamental principles for an empathic future of the built environment.

Рождение гетеролюдоглоссии из диссонанса языков компьютерных игр

This paper employs Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of heteroglossia as a frame­work to interpret internal tensions within contemporary digital games. To that end, I propose to acknowledge the multimodal character of entertain­ment software, with audial, visual, haptic, spatiotemporal and systemic elements of a game in constant interaction. But to properly understand said tensions — frequently dubbed “dissonance” in game criticism — it is im­portant to acknowledge the complex multimodal structure of games that attempt to utilize culturally-rooted ways to describe the world, sometimes trying to combine several such ways at once. As a result, ‚game-languages‘ are born: ways to utilize all game components to cover the specificity of certain narrative genres, to explain the nature of the world in terms con­sistent with its ideological stance. Quite often, one game combines several game-languages, and their mutually exclusive ideologies are a source of tension and dissonance. To illustrate the issue, I describe how three pri­mary game-languages of Uncharted 3 — the language of Adventure, the language of Heroics, and the language of the Traditional Game — compete to describe an armed conflict to the player.

Developing a positive living climate in residential youth care: a qualitative study

In residential care for children and youth, supporting the quality of life of children is one of the main priorities. One of the key factors in providing good quality of care in these organizations, in relation to the children’s development, is developing a positive living (group) climate. Even though some key elements in achieving such a climate have been identified, it seems to remain difficult to present a clear-cut framework that allows residential care to implement a positive living group climate in their day-to-day life. Furthermore, we have very little evidence of the individual and systemic elements that support or inhibit organizations from developing a positive living group climate. Therefore, we want to elucidate these elements. The objectives of this study were to investigate: (1) how respondents perceive a positive living group climate, and (2) which tensions they experience in relation to establishing a positive living group climate. The results indicate that respondents have ideas about the necessary main themes for establishing a positive living group climate, but that it remains difficult to grasp exactly which elements are necessary to establish such a climate. Furthermore, issues on the organizational and policy level complicate the development of a positive living climate. In this context, the respondents struggle with how to define what kind of professionalism is needed to create a positive living climate. These important outcomes are further discussed in this article.

Integrated Innovation: Applying Systems Thinking to Sustainable Innovation and Transformation

Despite allusions to systemic elements in the conception of innovation more generally, and sustainable innovation in particular, the literature generally fails to capture many of the insights that systems science can bring to our understanding of these subjects. This concept paper elaborates five principles of integrated innovation—diversity, aspiration, networks, convergence and emergence—and describes five stages of integrated innovation: intention, ideation, invention, synovation and transformation.

STANDARDIZACIJA SLOVENSKE VOJAŠKE TERMINOLOGIJE

The article describes Slovene military terminology from the perspective of terminology standardization as a component of standardization process established in the Ministry of Defence and the Slovenian Armed Forces, and as one of the major challenges of terminology work. Based on theoretical findings and analyses of terminology management in some international and national systems that boast long-standing practice of military terminology standardization, the basic components of an efficient system are identified. By comparing the current standardization process within the Ministry of Defence and the Slovenian Armed Forces and past experiences in standardizing Slovene military terminology, the author explores systemic elements required for efficient terminology standardization and offers a model of its organization. Key words Standardization, Slovene military terminology, terminology standardization, terminology work.

How Should We Select Conceptual Content for Biology High School Curricula?

The excess of curriculum content is a well-known problem in high school biology. Some strategies to adjust the amount of content to the available classroom time have been proposed, but none has been widely accepted and applied. Furthermore, biology is frequently presented in high school not as an integrated science, but as a collection of unrelated sub-areas, say, zoology, botany, physiology, genetics, and evolution. In this paper, we advance a proposal on how to develop non-arbitrary, clear criteria for selecting conceptual content to be taught and learnt in order to make the biology high school curriculum more integrated and less loaded with content. We argue that we should adopt the idea of structuring concepts for seizing the prominent role some ideas play in biological thinking. We discuss how a hierarchical conceptual framework of biology can help us to identify key concepts as well as connections between these concepts that can allow students understand sub-areas of biology. We also advocate for establishing a balance between the concepts from functional and evolutionary biology, on the one hand, and concepts representing (i) systemic components, (ii) processes, and (iii) descriptive elements, on the other hand. Finally we exemplify how these criteria can be applied by providing a proposal for structuring concepts of biology as a whole and the theory of evolution in particular.

Capabilities for recovery-oriented practice in mental health occupational therapy: A thematic analysis of lived experience perspectives

IntroductionRecovery in mental health is both a policy imperative and a contested concept with individual and systemic elements. Occupational therapy research and pre-registration education have no...

Inhibitory milieu at the multiple sclerosis lesion site and the challenges for remyelination.

Regeneration of myelin, following injury, can occur within the central nervous system to reinstate proper axonal conductance and provide trophic support. Failure to do so renders the axons vulnerable, leading to eventual degeneration, and neuronal loss. Thus, it is essential to understand the mechanisms by which remyelination or failure to remyelinate occur, particularly in the context of demyelinating and neurodegenerative disorders. In multiple sclerosis, oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) migrate to lesion sites to repair myelin. However, during disease progression, the ability of OPCs to participate in remyelination diminishes coincident with worsening of the symptoms. Remyelination is affected by a broad range of cues from intrinsic programming of OPCs and extrinsic local factors to the immune system and other systemic elements including diet and exercise. Here we review the literature on these diverse inhibitory factors and the challenges they pose to remyelination. Results spanning several disciplines from fundamental preclinical studies to knowledge gained in the clinic will be discussed.

The Effects of Diet-induced Obesity on the Distribution of System Trace Elements (P24-059-19)

ObjectivesIron (Fe), Copper (Cu), and Manganese (Mn) are essential trace elements that are critical for health and must be maintained in an optimal physiological range. When there is a disturbance of this regulation, such as obesity, pathologies ranging from anemia to neurotoxicity can occur. The objective of this current study is to examine strain and sex differences in the distribution of systemic trace elements due to diet-induced obesity (DIO). We hypothesize that high fat DIO causes significant systemic alterations of Fe, Cu, Mn distributions compared to low fat diet with sex and strain as contributing factors. MethodsBeginning at 21 days of age, male and female C57BL/6 J (n = 36) and DBA/2 J (n = 36) mice were fed either a high-fat diet (60% Kcal from fat) or a control diet (10% Kcal from fat) for 16 weeks. Food intake and body mass were measured weekly. At the end of the 16 weeks, blood, liver, and spleen tissues were collected. Fe, Cu, and Mn concentrations were measured using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy. ResultsWhile DIO did not cause any strain or sex differences in hematocrit, differences were detected in all three metals, Mn, Cu, and Fe concentrations in the liver and spleen. Specifically, there was a statistically significant sex by diet interaction on liver Mn concentrations (P = 0.008) and strain by sex interaction on spleen Mn concentrations (P = 0.002). There was a sex by diet and strain by sex interaction on liver Cu concentrations (P = 0.01 and P = 0.006, respectively). A three-way strain, sex, and diet interaction (P = 0.003) was observed for Cu in spleen. There was a strain by sex and strain by diet interaction on liver Fe concentrations (P = 0.031 and P = 0.002, respectively). There was a statistically significant strain, sex, and diet interaction on spleen Fe concentrations (P = 0.0002). The most prominent interactive effects of sex, strain and DIO was observed with liver and spleen Fe concentrations compared to Cu or Mn. For example, male DBA and female C57 mice had greatly reduced Fe in liver and spleen but their opposite sex counterparts were largely unaffected by the impact of DIO. ConclusionsOur results expand our previous data by showing strain and sex differences not only in Fe, but Cu and Mn systemic concentrations. For females, the impact of DIO on Fe was more significant in the C57 strain whereas in males the effect of DIO was more significant in the DBA strain. Funding SourcesUNCG Health and Human Sciences Research Grant & UNCG Faculty First Award.

РЕАЛІЗАЦІЯ СТРУКТУРНОЇ ПОЛІТИКИ ДЕРЖАВИ ТА ЇЇ ПРОМИСЛОВОГО РОЗВИТКУ В КОНТЕКСТІ ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ ЕКОНОМІЧНОЇ БЕЗПЕКИ

The article examined the question of the implementation of the structural policy of the State of its industrial development in the context of ensuring economic security, is formalized and documented the relationship of the components of the system, the State's economic security spheres and directions, the components of the structural policy in modern conditions of dynamic social and economic changes. Defined components of the State of structural policy, the balance of which will be able to change the structure of the economy and its industry, increasing the share of high-tech and medium technological production in its structure, to strengthen the socio-economic potential of the country, and to ensure the protection of existing and potential threats in the modern conditions of economic development. Researched that ensuring economic security displays the status and level of consideration of the economic interests of the country in one way or in another economic sector, however, structural policy and its implementation Act strategic tools, tools the actual implementation of the economic interests of the State as in the domestic market and in aspects of international relations and the realization of the interests of the country's external economic market and proven zavyazok and interdependence of the status and level of the components of the spheres economic security of the State and formation, the priorities and strategic directions of structural policy. It is investigated that the economy of the country is a system of interrelated industries, sectors, segments that are interacting and complementary functional relationships, systemic elements and structural policy reflects the structural construction of the existing the country's economic system and determines the directions of the implementation of the necessary coordination, regulatory and management changes in its structure for defined areas: industry, innovation, investment, industrial, ecological, competitive, vidtvoruvalnim, institutional regional and others. Determined that the sustainable socio-economic development is the result of implementation in the country staged and a balanced structural policy capable of ensuring the effective functioning of the entire economic system, and a high level of economic security of the State are intrinsically linked and are the result of sustained, effective socio-economic development.

Una propuesta teórica para analizar el comportamiento de los partidos políticos contemporáneos

Explicar el comportamiento de los partidos políticos, únicamente en base a factores externos o exclusivamente por sus dinámicas internas, resulta insuficiente para comprender las verdaderas causas de sus acciones. La presente propuesta supone considerar al partido como un microsistema dentro del sistema de partidos, que a su vez forma parte del conjunto del sistema político. Los tres sistemas se encuentran en continua alteración, fruto de la retroalimentación que se produce entre ellos y de las propias dinámicas internas que se experimentan en cada uno. Con este modelo de análisis integrador de las teorías preexistentes, podemos alcanzar una comprensión del comportamiento partidista más satisfactoria, en los diversos contextos competitivos propios de la política contemporánea. La propuesta incluye la identificación de los principales elementos sistémicos a considerar.

Digitised lifelong learning – the need for interdisciplinary sustainability modules in doctoral programmes

Ensuring long-term qualified employees and specialists is a key objective of a sustainable development and lifelong learning. At the same time, international competitiveness and technological capability is mainly connected to the countries’ education and science systems as well as of academia.&#x0D; Major industrialised countries such as Germany, for example, have recently increased their efforts to implement sustainably and institutionally lifelong learning courses at higher education institutions (HEI). In particular, creating offers for new target groups such as persons with family or care responsibilities, job-returnees, dropouts or experts are addressed. A main focus is the development of interdisciplinary courses in engineering and natural sciences in order to ensure the availability of skilled workforce during the transformation towards green economy.&#x0D; Therefore, strategies and (business) models for a sustainable, long-term implementation of part-time study and further education offers for new target groups at universities are still largely neglected. In addition, the adequate design of new and further development of existing qualification structures, curricula, modules, advanced study and specialised courses as well as the integration of digital (interactive) contents are accompanied by new challenges that have been largely ignored by research so far. So, both, fostered sustainable implementation of programs on an institutional basis and the subject-specific topic of sustainability is becoming increasingly important within the scope of interdisciplinary offers and courses. Moreover, new working and living environments need innovative and digitised learning backgrounds and conditions. However, a brief comparison between Germany, Austria and Switzerland, for example, reveals strong differences in the types, scope and degree of implementation at present.&#x0D; So a bunch of questions is still unanswered: How do innovative, interdisciplinary and part-time study platforms and programs have to be designed, structured and implemented? Which prerequisites, framework conditions, (quality) criteria and design forms are specifically relevant for advanced training courses and platform contents in engineering and natural sciences? Which subject-specific and cross-disciplinary competences as well as knowledge must be imparted to new target groups taking into account rapidly changing requirements in professionals’ social environment (e.g., labour market; product, service and technology management)? How can such innovative lifelong learning opportunities be designed allowing for increasing digitization efforts?&#x0D; Our research involves benchmark analyses, surveys and expert workshops in order to derive systemic, organizational and individual criteria and elements for the design and structure of sustainable, interdisciplinary further education programs and study platforms. Their characteristics will be illustrated using a three-level model. In addition, the effects of an increasing digitization of lifelong learning are to be analysed and specific methodological and didactic concepts are to be developed (e.g. blended learning). On this basis, recommendations for the flexible design, implementation and quality assurance of continuing education and training offers are derived. These results are developed in close cooperation with experts and decision-makers from politics, education/science and business in order to ensure a high level of practical applicability of the research findings. At the same time, the research is expected to strengthen the positioning of universities involved in international comparison.

Vowel perception by native Media Lengua, Quichua, and Spanish speakers

This study explores mid and high vowel perception in and across Ecuadorian Spanish, Quichua, and Media Lengua (a mixed language containing Quichua systemic elements and Spanish lexicon). Quichua and Media Lengua were originally considered three vowel systems comprised of /i, u, a/. However, recent production results reveal that mid vowels /e, o/ may have entered these languages through Spanish lexical borrowings. The aim of the present study is to test listener perception with minimal pairs containing different mid and high vowels to determine how listeners identify them. A two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) identification task experiment with paired stimuli, gradually modified along 10-step continua, revealed that listeners of all three languages demonstrate a relatively high degree of consistent response patterns with the exception of older Quichua listeners. The results of this study coupled with the ‘intermixed’ acoustic spaces in which the vowels are produced also call into question the predictions that might be made in theoretical models of L2/non-native speech perception.

We reap what we sew: perpetuating biblical illiteracy in new English Religious Studies exams and the proof text binary question

ABSTRACT This article draws on three sources of evidence that together indicate hermeneutical weaknesses in exam courses on Christianity in English Religious Education (RE). It scrutinises a single exam paper and an associated text book from a recent authorised course. It conceptually explores features of a new style of long Religious Studies (RS) exam question that is commonly set for the majority of students studying for a RS qualification at 15–16 years old. It combines these documentary sources with a focus group interview of teachers in the first year of teaching the new GCSE Religious Studies. The findings from the document analysis, conceptual analysis and focus group interview, together concur that there is a problem related to the use of fragmentary texts and the promotion of a particularly propositional conception of religion. These features are structured in by systemic elements. A small proportion of students follow text-based GCSE routes include a more detailed study of Biblical texts but the majority of 15–16-year-old students do not and so are exposed to this problem. These weaknesses could be ‘designed out’ of exams with smarter questions and mitigated against by curriculum content that specified the study of how texts are interpreted, as well as teacher expertise in the teaching and practise of hermeneutics.

CONTEXT MATTERS: LUCK AND THE PARADOX OF SKILL

CONTEXT MATTERS: LUCK AND THE PARADOX OF SKILL