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In his position paper, Calzavarini (2023) argues that recent studies in multisensory research challenge the claim that word meaning is grounded in modality-specific representations. Here we argue that the coherence of the Grounded Cognition model does not require the modality-specificity assumption. In fact, already some "strong" versions of the model had relied on a multimodal view of the sensorimotor cortex that seems consistent with much of the evidence discussed in the paper. Next, we address some possible consequences for empirical research using behavioural methods, particularly for norming studies on word meaning. We conclude by identifying some open issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taoism is the only indigenous Chinese religion and one of the most important ideological traditions that have a significant influence on leisure. Current Taoist leisure research mainly focuses on philosophical Taoism, an offshoot of the 'real Taoism'. This paper will take philosophical Taoism and religious Taoism as a cultural whole and conduct a comprehensive, in-depth study of Taoist leisure, by paying more attention to its religious dimension, which is very esoteric, characteristic, and more of the essence of Taoism but rarely investigated before. We will explore Taoist leisure from the perspectives of philosophical bases, leisure concepts, pharmaceutical and life cultivation (i.e. alchemy, regimens), outdoor activities (i.e. seclusion, festivals, liturgy, travel) and its art practices (i.e. literature, paintings, music). Finally, we will make a concise comparison and exchange between the Taoist and the West leisure in the global vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stigma is a form of injustice that contributes to the worsening course of the symptoms associated with mental health problems. The paper discusses the conceptualization and development of a contemporary theoretical model of stigma. Building on the findings of an initial scoping review, the author developed a theoretical model after thoroughly analyzing and redefining the key concepts of interest. This article proposes that stigmatized individuals are impacted by the religiocultural and structural violence perspectives embedded within social spaces, leading to stigma perception appraisal and subsequent coping mechanisms, which could be adaptive or maladaptive. Current models of mental illness stigma have gaps. It is time to relook at existing stigma frameworks and fill these gaps that have existed for many years for effective anti-stigma strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a discourse analysis of 12 Swedish sexuality education texts intended for preschool practitioners and published between 1969 and 2021. Using Fairclough's framework, we identify three discourses about children's sexual play in relation to children's sexual agency in the texts: child sexuality as encouraged and entangled with adult sexuality; child sexuality as conditioned by what is perceived as normal or abnormal in children; and child sexuality as repressed. These three discourses mainly appear chronologically, but also overlap and connect with one another. When analysis begins from children's position and a theoretical understanding of children's and adults' agency as interdependent, it becomes possible to see how the child is construed as agentic, and how the adult role changes from encouraging sexual play to regulating and monitoring behaviour so that it does not occur. Over time, discourse on young children's sexual play has changed our understanding of both adults and children. Adults are increasingly construed as less knowledgeable in relation to young children's sexuality, and young children have become understood as more dangerous and in need of having their sexuality constrained and civilised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conceptual engineering, motivated one natural way, involves the search for new concepts. But to what extent does conceptual engineering as practiced involve such conceptual innovation, and to what extent can it do so? In this paper, I first argue that conceptual engineering as practiced surprisingly does not appear to involve conceptual innovation, and then I discuss problems regarding the extent to which it can involve conceptual innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates attitudes towards death and the social factors that influence them among a sample of residents in Tehran, Iran. Using grounded theory and anchoring our analysis in the meaning of death (what people think happens after death), we were able to conceptualise three broad worldviews on death, which were then further refined into nine attitudes. Our research highlights socio-economic status as a factor potentially shaping people's attitudes towards death. A large group of our respondents, mainly among less affluent groups, think about death daily, while many among the more affluent and the educated middle class prefer to avoid thoughts of death. Our study in a Muslim majority setting in the Middle East contributes to the existing literature on attitudes towards death by going beyond simple typologies, such as western versus eastern, traditional versus modern, religious versus secular, denial versus acceptance, to show that the diversity of attitudes towards death can both incorporate and transcend all of these dichotomies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the emerging body of literature on mother-to-infant bonding and the associated variables, there are various definitions of bonding construct. Also, there is a lack of a comprehensive conceptual framework of antecedents and consequences of bonding that would guide empirical work. Aim of the study was to provide a systematic review and synthesis of concept analysis studies on maternal-foetal, mother-infant, or father-infant bonding. A systematic search was performed in PubMed, EBSCOHost (including PsycINFO), ProQuest, and CINAHL. In addition, a hand search was conducted. Papers were eligible for inclusion if they conducted concept analyses on mother or father to foetus/infant bonding. A qualitative meta-synthesis was applied to synthesise the findings. Eight papers on concept analyses were eligible for inclusion. In meta-synthesis, six aspects of parent-to-(unborn) child bonding emerged, including direction, domain, process, timing, endurance, and parental gender. Defining attributes are (i) a close relationship, (ii) filled with positive parental affection, (iii) manifested during pregnancy as monitoring foetal development and behaviour and after childbirth in proximity and interaction. Antecedents, affecting factors, and consequences of the parent-child bonding have been summarised. Parent-infant bonding refers to an emotional, behavioural, cognitive, and neurobiological tie of the parent to the (unborn) child, as a process from intention to have a child throughout infancy. This is a parental-driven process which can continue to evolve throughout child's and parent's life, characterised as enduring, committed, and engaged. Based on meta-synthesis, a conceptual structure of parent-infant bonding has been provided, which needs further empirical testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Implementation Problem for conceptual engineering is, roughly, the problem conceptual engineers face when attempting to bring about the conceptual change they support. An important aspect of this problem concerns the extent to which attempting to implement concepts can lead to unintended negative consequences. Not only can conceptual engineers fail to implement their proposals, but their interventions can produce outcomes directly counter to their goals. It is therefore important to think carefully about the prospect of attempted implementation leading to unintended negative consequences: what sort of negative consequences can conceptual engineers expect? Are some forms of conceptual engineering more likely than others to lead to such consequences? And is conceptual engineering still viable even given the risk of such consequences? This paper addresses such questions. I begin by outlining different forms of conceptual engineering (Section 2), before examining how they can produce unintended negative consequences (Section 3). I then discuss some implications of the fact that attempted implementation can produce unintended negative consequences, suggesting that, among other things, some forms of conceptual engineering are less viable than others (Section 4). I conclude, though, by considering some of the ways in which conceptual engineering is nonetheless a worthwhile pursuit (Section 5). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I discuss the emerging field of conceptual engineering from the perspective of the philosophy of mind and cognitive science. I explore the role the latter disciplines can and do play by specifically focusing on how different notions of what a concept is affects the general conceptual engineering framework, both positively and negatively, before considering a particular account that eschews talk of concepts altogether. I call this project 'Cappelen's challenge' as it draws from suggestive remarks in his work (Cappelen, H. 2018. Fixing Language: Conceptual Engineering and the Limits of Revision. Oxford: Oxford University Press). I argue that by appreciating the range of options that each theory of concepts brings with it, the field as a whole can come to better grips with its foundations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bernard Bolzano offers a criterion of individuation for ideas, according to which ideas are distinct if and only if they represent different objects or are composed differently. It fails to individuate ideas that are both simple and fail to represent, in particular syncategorematic ideas and logical constants. However, Bolzano also provides the means to close this gap. He suggests that we can distinguish ideas if they are not substitutable for each other in propositions, which we can, in turn, distinguish in terms of their truth-values. This paper explicates this suggestion and develops it into an improved individuation criterion for ideas: ideas also are distinct if we cannot replace them for one another in propositions salva veritate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital technologies have a great potential to improve the quality of life of people with dementia. However, this group is usually not involved in their development and dissemination. A consumer-directed role in the delivery of digital technologies could allow this group to regain autonomy and certain independence. This article aims to conceptualise the components of the Consumer Direction theory in the context of digital technologies and people with dementia. A literature review was conducted. We searched for studies within the aforementioned context in five relevant databases, covering the years 2012–2020. Identified studies were screened and assessed for inclusion. The data were categorised using two-stage qualitative content analysis. Forty articles were included. The results provide definitions of the four components of the Consumer Direction theory in the context of this study. Namely, what it means for people with dementia to be (1) in control of technology use, (2) offered a variety of technological options, (3) informed and supported regarding the use and training of digital technologies, and (4) actively participating in systems design. These can lead to the empowerment of people with dementia. The four theoretical components of the Consumer Direction theory are conceptualised differently in the context of this study. By providing new definitions, this paper contributes to research and practice. We expect the definitions to be deployed by researchers, practitioners, and policymakers for the creation of a more consumer-directed delivery of digital technologies to people with dementia. Digital technologies have a great potential to improve the quality of life of people with dementia. A consumer-directed role in the delivery of digital technologies could empower people with dementia and give them the opportunity to take control over the offered services as well as maintain a degree of independence. The Consumer Direction theory and its components should be conceptualised differently in the context of digital technologies and people with dementia than in previous contexts that used the theory. The new definitions can be utilised by researchers, practitioners and policymakers for the creation of a more consumer-directed delivery of digital technologies to people with dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, Multidimensional Cross-Recurrence Quantification Analysis (MdCRQA) is introduced. It is an extension of Multidimensional Recurrence Quantification Analysis (MdRQA), which allows to quantify the (auto-)recurrence properties of a single multidimensional time-series. MdCRQA extends MdRQA to bi-variate cases to allow for the quantification of the co-evolution of two multidimensional time-series. Moreover, it is shown how a Diagonal Cross-Recurrence Profile (DCRP) can be computed from the MdCRQA output that allows to capture time-lagged coupling between two multidimensional time-series. The core concepts of these analyses are described, as well as practical aspects of their application. In the supplementary materials to this paper, implementations of MdCRQA and the DCRP as MatLab- and R-functions are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concepts are the building blocks of higher-order cognition and consciousness. Building on Conceptual Spaces Theory (CST) and proceeding from the assumption that concepts are inherently dynamic, this paper provides historical context to and significantly elaborates the previously offered Iterative Subdivision Model (ISDM) with the goal of pushing it toward empirical testability. The paper describes how agents in continuous interaction with their environment adopt an intentional orientation, estimate the utility of the concept(s) applicable to action in the current context, engage in practical action, and adopt any new concepts that emerge: a largely pre-intellectual cycle that repeats essentially without interruption over the conceptual agent’s lifetime. This paper elaborates utility optimization by establishing three constraints on concept formation/evaluation – non-redundancy, distinctiveness, and proportionality – embedding them in a quasi-mathematical model intended for development into a formal logic. The notion of a distinctor – a quality dimension of the conceptual space in focus at any given time, used for making what we call a difference distinction – is key. The primary contribution of the revised ISDM is the way it relates concepts to action via utility optimization/actualization and the way it describes the emergence of quality dimensions through trial-by-action (trial and error), something previous presentations of CST have failed to address. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The end of a pandemic is as much a political act as biological reality. It is over not simply when case counts or deaths are reduced to some objectively determined acceptable level but also when, and if, the public accepts the stories that politicians and health officials tell about it. This paper has three aims. First, to develop the concept of a pandemic illness narrative – a public narrative that makes the experience of an outbreak meaningful to a community of people and explains when it will be finished. Using the case of the United States, the paper then examines how American state organisations and public health officials tried to disseminate a version of the 'restitution illness narrative' to make sense out of the COVID-19 pandemic and explain how it would ultimately end. Lastly, the paper describes the factors that made this narrative ultimately implausible to the American public. As most Americans are now seemingly indifferent about the pandemic, it has ended in the United States without ever actually being narratively concluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The broad topic of this paper is the relationship between the theoretical notion of a concept and familiar types of cognitive structures (prototypes, exemplars, causal models, etc.) The discussion is organized around different ways that theorists about concepts can attempt to accommodate what has been dubbed the Heterogeneity Hypothesis (roughly: the claim that various types of structures with which concepts have been identified co-exist and form a heterogeneous class). The most general goal of the paper is to clarify the dialectical geography when it comes to different ways of construing the relationship between concepts and familiar cognitive structures. A more focussed and more polemical goal of the paper is to raise problems for so-called pluralist approaches to concepts. This paper will not offer a comprehensive defense of any particular view about the relationship between concepts and cognitive structures, but the discussion will be a convenient venue in which to highlight some virtues of what I will call Higher-Level Unity approaches to concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ubuntu is a relational philosophy which is best known through the axiom, 'umuntu ngubuntu ngabantu' a person is a person through other persons. Transactional Analysis (TA) as a relational theory as well, is used in this paper, to expand on the understanding of the Ubuntu proverb. Existential life position, 'I'm OK, You're OK' and constructs of TA such as transgenerational scripts, stroking and physis are utilized to expand on the meaning of 'umuntu ngubuntu ngabantu.' Based on the provisions of TA, the African axiom is connected to aspects of child development, parenting, communication, sustainable development, spirituality and ecological social work. Significantly, the discourse argues that 'umuntu ngubuntu ngabantu' should never be divorced from the values of the African philosophy which include kindness, forgiveness, hospitality, humanness, social justice, human rights, social solidarity, liberty and other positive virtues. Thus, this paper is a plea for a TA and ubuntu informed social work practice that can entangle humanity from the negative transactional scripts whilst reinforcing the positive ones. To its end, the paper questions what this generation will be remembered for when it becomes the living dead (ancestors). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief note deals directly with what is interpreted as John Mollenkorpf's epistemological, comparative and regional critique to conceptual thinking in migration studies. The paper is devoted to meta-conceptual thinking. From an analytical point of view, there are three main lines of thought that inspired the author to define a geography of concepts and the need of Weberian approach. First, the distinction between the discussion of a conceptual agenda and the meanings of concepts; second, the definition of what the contextual dependence of concepts may entail; and third, the introduction of a multiscale approach. This conceptual talk is today more necessary than ever, even more so considering the era of great semantic confusion in which we live, where realities and virtuality merge, where evidence sometimes loses its function as an indicator of reality, with so many strategic narratives full of intentions and emotions in migration debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcendence, as a frequently described late-life developmental process, involves a variety of holistic life experiences that extend beyond time, culture, self, and others. The purpose of this conceptual analysis was to examine the shared component in the transcendence theories focusing on aging and older adults. A literature review of sources gleaned from four databases was conducted, and a conceptual analysis based on a descending hierarchical classification and a correspondence factorial analysis was performed. Fifty-four papers that included a definition of transcendence, gerotranscendence theory, and/or self-transcendence theory were reviewed. Six clusters emerged from the analysis of those definitions: (1) late life shift, (2) enhanced awareness, (3) maturation process, (4) individual experience of transcendence, (5) boundaries expansion, and (6) transcendence level. Results indicate gerotranscendence theory is associated with a mind-set shift in late-life, while self-transcendence theory is connected to the idea of growing awareness and the expansion of boundaries. The two theories share common transcendence aspects, such as overcoming ego matters, modifying ideas about death, and undergoing a maturation process. Conceptual clarification systematizes these theories, contributing to more consistent studies about transcendence later in life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the vast majority of qualitative health research involving Indigenous populations, Indigenous people have been marginalised from research conceptualisation and conduct. This reflects a lack of regard for Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing, has served to perpetuate deficit narratives of Indigenous peoples' health and wellbeing, and contributes to failure in addressing inequities as a result of ongoing colonisation and institutionalised oppression and racism. There is a need to place Indigenous voices and ways of doing at the centre of research by working in intercultural partnership, bringing together Indigenous and Western knowledges. This paper explores how such an approach can be applied, demonstrating a reflective process of conceptualisation and conduct that brings together Indigenous ways of working with grounded theory with Aboriginal communities in Australia. Furthermore, it supported a non-Indigenous researcher to learn ways of working respectfully, guided by community protocols. A six-stage research process was developed, overseen by an Aboriginal Women's Advisory Group. Research conceptualisation and conduct centred on three principles: bringing together Aboriginal ways of working with Western research methodology; using women's own voices to develop a narrative of cardiovascular health and wellbeing; and ensuring that tangible outcomes were delivered to women and communities in the spirit of partnership and reciprocity. This approach, guided at all steps by Indigenous women, demonstrates a way of adapting qualitative Western methodology to ensure values and principles of ethical guidelines of conduct are upheld to unravel constructs of colonisation, redress past wrongdoing, and reverse deficit narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid and pluralist accounts of concepts agree that the class of concepts includes a multiplicity of heterogeneous representational structures, such as prototypes, sets of exemplars and theories. In this paper I argue that these accounts agree on two additional central claims related to the ways in which they articulate those structures: each type of representational structure can be used independently in psychological processes, and co-referential concepts are associated in a distinctive way as representations of the same category. Although they disagree on concept individuation, they seem to agree that on a processing dimension there are multiple independent representations for a given category and on a long-term storage dimension concepts that represent the same category conform an epistemic unity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the concept and content of early adolescents' emotional skills among the general population. The research literature contains many emotional skills-related terms with overlapping meanings, and it can be challenging to determine which are applicable for example, to a music therapy assessment tool. This study comprises the first phase of developing an assessment tool for early adolescents' emotional skills, namely, determining what is to be assessed. A scoping review of the literature is presented with written definitions of emotional skills-related terms, as well as a concept analysis of the terms performed using Walker and Avant's method. The components of early adolescents' emotional skills are presented. Early adolescents' emotional skills comprise several skill components as presented in the current research literature. These components help in understanding the multifaceted entirety of emotional skills. This paper presents the term emotional skills as a practical, general term that includes the content of other emotional skills-related terms. The concept analysis' outcome, the components of early adolescents' emotional skills, is applicable to future research as a theoretical framework for developing an assessment tool for early adolescents' emotional skills. The components are also useful for music therapy clinicians to analyse their work with early adolescents and to communicate in detail the phenomenona related to emotional skills in therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incorporating anthropological principles, microhistory is a research methodology useful for exploring the interplay between ordinary people and social abstractions such as, the market, social systems, and governments. In this paper, the background and characteristics of microhistory are described, and a novel six-stage approach for conducting microhistories in mental healthcare is introduced. Each stage of the process is illustrated using sections from a microhistory focussed on the earliest recorded case comparison between British colonial mental healthcare and Aboriginal Australian traditional healing. Microhistory provides a way to uncover new insights about past mental healthcare, which may contribute to re-conceptualisations of modern-day beliefs and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on Nāgārjuna, the founder of the middle way school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. It argues that while Nāgārjuna's rejection of the notion of ontological independence is justified and correct, his philosophical project is incomplete. This stems from the fact that Nāgārjuna's rejection of the Abhidharma conception of time is not supplemented with the development of an alternative. The paper insists that Nāgārjuna's endorsement of the doctrine of impermanence without first developing a non-foundationalist conception of time is indefensible. The paper concludes by offering a description of the nature of time which, it submits, will complete the Madhyamaka project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Function creep – the expansion of a system or technology beyond its original purposes – is a well-known phenomenon. Correction: it is a well-referenced phenomenon. Yearly, hundreds of publications use the term to criticise developments in technology regulation and data governance, but surprisingly, no-one has ever written a paper about the concept itself. This paper fills that gap in the literature, by analysing and defining 'function creep'. This creates conceptual clarity that can help structure future debates and address function creep concerns. After analysing the term 'function creep' itself, I discuss concepts that share family resemblances, including other 'creep' concepts and many theoretical notions from STS, economics, sociology, public policy, law, and discourse theory. Function creep can be situated in the nexus of reverse adaptation and self-augmentation of technology, incrementalism and disruption in policy and innovation, policy spillovers, ratchet effects, transformative use, and slippery slope argumentation. Based on this, I define function creep as an imperceptibly transformative and therewith contestable change in a data-processing system's proper activity. Argumentation theory illuminates how the pejorative 'function creep' functions in debates: it makes visible that what looks like linear change is actually non-linear, and simultaneously calls for a much-needed debate about this qualitative change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article requests the journal's readers to send papers related to risk assessment in health care for its special issue.

This paper presents a framework for understanding epistemic injustice in career development theory and practice. It is based on Fricker's philosophical conceptualisation of epistemic injustice and its sub-forms of hermeneutical and testimonial injustice. The intention is to generate insights that direct us to injustices embedded in knowledge production and institutional practices that harm a person's capacity as a knower. Moreover, the intellectual-ethical virtue of mitigating epistemic injustice and how this virtue can be enacted in the context of career guidance are discussed. I argue that epistemic justice approaches contribute to intellectual and ethical dimensions of social justice and there is a need to examine distinct forms of injustices of knowing manifested in the knowledge of career development and career guidance practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this spotlight series was to bring together scholars offering innovative ways of conceptualizing how culture shows up in human development. Here in the Conclusion, we argue that the six papers in this series overlap in their conceptualization of culture as a shared system that involves meanings. With these features in common, the papers then offer us four distinct frameworks for addressing how culture shows up in development. By providing alternatives to "cause-effect," "positivist," and "variable" approaches to studying culture and development that are common in psychology, we argue that these frameworks can improve applied developmental research. At the same time, we raise three issues that remain unaddressed by these frameworks—issues of cultural transformation, individual variations, and generalization. Attending to these issues would further augment our ability to address how culture shows up in development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, some non-Aboriginal social workers and academics have difficulty working in partnership with Aboriginal children, families, and communities because they do not know how to build authentic relationships and are fearful of doing so. This is particularly the case in Child Protection where children continue to be removed from Aboriginal families. Reciprocal and genuine relationships involve holding Aboriginal worldviews as equally valid as Euro-western ones. For non-Aboriginal social workers and academics, this means moving beyond a "helping" stance, and towards genuine openness to learn and understand the world, and their place in it, in new ways. This paper shows how two social work academics undertook building relationships with Traditional Custodians in our local area to establish a resource for students that foregrounds Aboriginal ways of knowing and learning by using the Tree of Life concept to embody Aboriginal experiences. The Aboriginal author focused on coming together respectfully to create a better-shared understanding on connecting to Country. For the non-Aboriginal author, a transformation occurred, gaining embodied understanding of her own belonging and connection to Country. The paper concludes with reflections useful to others embarking on this journey. IMPLICATIONS Cultivating an academic environment that prioritises forming authentic relationships with Traditional Custodians on Country is essential in order to be culturally responsive. A decolonising embodied concept, Tree of Life, invites social workers to take a journey of personal self-discovery, of belongingness, and cultural heritage. A simulation resource developed with Traditional Custodians can disrupt daily instances of colonisation and work toward social workers reflecting on practice to minimise further harm in working with Aboriginal communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decades, the concept of urban metabolism has been a fundamental topic of the debate on cities. From the overall definition of the concept to the specific measurement of its different components, urban metabolism has been discussed in an increasing number of papers and books, particularly after the 2000s. While it is widely assumed that planning would benefit from the incorporation of the concept, there are few scientific outputs with potential for application into day-to-day practice or, indeed, reviews on that practice as part of an eventual process of integration. The paper tries to address this gap. After discussing the concept, its main components and its applicability into practice, the paper offers a review of day-to-day planning in one particular country – Portugal. Based on this insight on research and practice, it outlines a number of principles for evaluating urban metabolism. It is argued that urban metabolism should be evaluated within planning practice, different metabolic components should be assessed at different scales, the measurement of these components should be selective and balance complexity and pragmatism, and that land should be reinforced within the metabolic framework and be acknowledged as a key element in the linkage between research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extension principle is always used to fuzzify the crisp functions to obtain the fuzzy functions in which the α-level sets of fuzzy sets are involved in the calculation. In this paper, we shall consider the concepts of upper and lower α-level sets of fuzzy sets. On the other hand, we shall establish the so-called dual extension principle using the concept of dual fuzzy set, which can also be used to fuzzify the crisp function into fuzzy functions. This kind of technique can also be called the dual fuzzification. The benefit of this paper is to provide another technique called dual fuzzification to fuzzify the crisp function into fuzzy functions. The relationship between the fuzzified function using the extension principle and the dual-fuzzified function using the dual extension principle will be established in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing a deep and contextualised understanding of risk is important for public health responses to young people's alcohol consumption, which is frequently positioned as an outcome of risky behaviour. This paper expands conceptualisations of risk to encompass its wider social and cultural context through a social practice exploration of young people's controlled and managed intoxicated alcohol consumption practice. We report data from a fourteen-month qualitative study of the alcohol consumption practices of 23 young people in England, drawing on group interviews and social media interactions. Our findings provide a nuanced understanding of risk-taking, demonstrating that risk is an important aspect of the ongoing participation and performance in alcohol consumption practice and that health information and advice can be and was frequently incorporated into drinking practice without contributing to fundamental change. This raises new questions about the effectiveness of health interventions that focus on the individual, discussed in the final section of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns a series of controversies that have surrounded the concepts of 'development', 'globalization' and 'imperialism' – controversies as to whether or how these concepts can serve as descriptors of capitalist development. The paper provides an overview and critique of the dominant discourse on these concepts from a critical development studies perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we lay the foundation for research into the concept of hope in homeless people in the Czech context. The text is based on partial data from a broader empirical study. The main aim of the paper is to gain a complex understanding of the role of hope in setting goals for homeless people living in shelters. Specifically, we have focused on how homeless people conceptualise hope and how their concepts of hope can be used to set future goals as part of individual planning in a shelter? In the research, we used a qualitative strategy combining traditional techniques such as in-depth interviews and case studies with projective technique. We have identified four main concepts of hope and a range of sources and limits of hope in homeless people living in a shelter. Based on the findings, the possibilities of implementation of person-centred planning in shelters in the Czech Republic are discussed herein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is, today, widely accepted that market structures, logics, identities and activities are spreading throughout society, including civil society and its organisations. Scholars increasingly use the marketisation concept to describe these tendencies. This paper reviews the meaning attached to this concept, when used in the context of civil society. A sample of 210 peer-reviewed articles in civil society studies published between 1993 and 2017 is explored in an analysis that suggests that marketisation is being used with much variation in the literature. The analysis also shows that apart from more generic descriptions of persistent attempts to privatise and commodify various goods and services, few articles seem to involve more detailed definitions or profound conceptual arguments. Taken together, this indicates a development where the concept of marketisation runs the risk of losing its analytical powers. To avoid this, the paper proposes a stricter and more transparent use of the term 'marketisation' and suggests ways to further develop this concept in research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we provide an analysis of the concept of legal personality and discuss whether personality may be conferred on artificial intelligence systems (AIs). Legal personality will be presented as a doctrinal category that holds together bundles of rights and obligations; as a result, we first frame it as a node of inferential links between factual preconditions and legal effects. However, this inferentialist reading does not account for the 'background reasons' of legal personality, i.e., it does not explain why we cluster different situations under this doctrinal category and how extra-legal information is integrated into it. We argue that one way to account for this background is to adopt a neoinstitutional perspective and to update the ontology of legal concepts with a further layer, the meta-institutional one. We finally argue that meta-institutional concepts can also support us in finding an equilibrium around the legal-policy choices that are involved in including (or not including) AIs among legal persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In nursing and midwifery, the concept of environment is considered a meta-concept. Research findings suggest that the location is not the only important factor, as both place and space influence the practices of midwives. Moreover, research on the geography of health suggests a connection between place and health that could be extended to reproductive health. Therefore, to move beyond and expand traditional research expressions, it is beneficial to illuminate the concepts of place and space in relation to childbirth. Purpose: This study was undertaken to produce a synthesis of previous qualitative research of issues in childbirth in relation to the concepts of place and space. Method: In this Critical Interpretive Synthesis (CIS), four electronic databases; CINAHL, Medline, PsycINFO and Sociological abstracts, were used for the literature search. In total 734 papers were screened, and 27 papers met the final inclusion criteria after assessment. Results: The synthesis reveals a need to create a space for childbirth underpinned by four aspects; a homely space, a spiritual space, a safe space, and a territorial space. Conclusion: Findings from this review will provide a basis for useful dialogue in midwifery education and in clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the issue of historical figures (influential people, mainly leaders who stand out in history) "making history." Accordingly, it proposes and demonstrates a new interpretation of the role of historical figures as "makers of history in a broad sense." To dialectically accommodate the relationship between "times" and "heroes," historical figures' coming to prominence and their activities are thought of as the combined effects of historical necessity and contingency. The roles of historical figures are analyzed specifically according to different circumstances in line with the objective laws of history. The interpretation uses historical examples to illustrate the idea that the decisions of historical figures have the power to decisively influence a country's history in certain periods, and even dominate the nature of a certain social stage through their actions; at the same time, the most effective actions of historical figures somehow essentially reflect the masses' needs. In this sense, this paper argues that the principles of historicity, objectivity and value should be employed comprehensively to make critical judgments on historical figures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On Brandom's view, we can understand objectivity in terms of the view that what is objectively correct potentially transcends any given attitude. But Levine challenges this view. He distinguishes between two questions of objectivity: 'How do we grasp the concept of objectivity?' and 'What determines the difference between what is correct and what is merely taken to be correct?' And he argues that Brandom's account of objectivity fails to address the second question of objectivity. Furthermore, based on classical pragmatist views, he defends an alternative account, which he calls 'an experiential-theoretical account of objectivity'. I agree with Levine that Brandom's structural account of objectivity can hardly answer the second question of objectivity. In this paper, however, I argue that we can answer the second question of objectivity without accepting Levine's claim that experience has a rational bearing on the contents of empirical thoughts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses several foundational questions in conceptual engineering: When is conceptual engineering needed? When we engage in conceptual engineering, should we think of ourselves primarily as aiming to change concepts or language – and how should we think of either of those? Finally, how is implementing the changes recommended by conceptual engineering possible? I begin by outlining a number of different sorts of circumstances in which conceptual engineering is desirable, bringing out the commonalities across many classic projects in the history of philosophy and contemporary, socially-conscious, work in conceptual engineering. I then argue that some prominent ways of understanding concepts and meanings are unhelpful for conceptual engineering. We can do better if we think first and foremost of engineering words, considering words as a certain kind of abstract cultural artifact, which (like other artifacts) have functions and norms of use. Then we can begin to understand better how words do change naturally, and use that as a way to investigate how they (like other cultural artifacts and social norms) can also be changed artificially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2019 Australian Psychology Accreditation Council's Accreditation Standards for Psychology Programs require clinical psychology education providers to focus on building and assessing competencies. There is limited evidence regarding the most effective methods of teaching competent practice. Threshold concepts are those which change the way a learner views a topic once understood. Threshold concepts comprise a novel approach to teaching and learning in higher education which have not yet been applied to clinical psychology education. The identification and application of threshold concepts in other practice-based health care education was reviewed to assess their utility in clinical psychology education. A search of published articles related to threshold concept theory and practice-based health care disciplines was conducted and those papers which used empirical methods to identify threshold concepts were reviewed. Nine articles where threshold concepts were identified in five practice-based health care disciplines including occupational therapy, medicine, physiotherapy, paediatric surgery and prosthetics, were found. A number of threshold concepts found in other disciplines had relevance to competencies required by the standards for clinical psychology practice, predominantly with reference to competent application of psychological interventions. The literature suggests that threshold concepts are a promising area of educational innovation with strong potential to improve clinical psychology education. Identifying these concepts could assist clinical psychology educators to develop curriculum to meet the Australian standards and facilitate learners' movement through the essential learning thresholds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I argue that an adequate meta-semantic framework capable of accommodating the range of projects currently identified as projects in conceptual engineering must be sensitive to the fact that concepts (and hence projects relating to them) fall into distinct kinds. Concepts can vary, I will argue, with respect to their direction of determination, their modal range, and their temporal range. Acknowledging such variations yields a preliminary taxonomy of concepts and generates a meta-semantic framework that allows us both to accommodate the full range of cases and to identify a proper subset of concepts for special ameliorative consideration. Ignoring such variations, in contrast, leads to a restricted meta-semantic framework that accommodates only a subset of the particular projects while generating implausible accounts of others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has proliferated ageism. The impetus of this article is to show that immunosenescence is a risk factor to COVID-19 and not aging per se. Based on the idea that some older people are also healthier than younger ones, the emphasis of this article is on immunosenescence and not aging as a risk factor of COVID-19 complications. The paper utilizes a biopsychosocial approach to expound on the link between immunosenescence and COVID-19 risk factors. The article explores biological factors such as malnutrition, comorbidities, substance abuse, and sex. It also expands on psychosocial factors such as mental health disorders, homelessness, unemployment, lack of physical exercises, stigma, and discrimination. The article calls for gerontological social work to assume a developmental-clinical social work perspective to prevent the early onset and progression of immunosenescence. It calls for gerontological social work to prevent factors that promote unhealthy aging. The article promotes a preventative stance to practice and not just curative approaches. Treatment involves primary prevention which emphasizes on avoiding the onset of unhealthy aging. It is this approach that gerontological social work should aim also to address in building resilience in the face of pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much has been written about service user involvement in social work education with the literature recognizing the value of this particular type of experiential knowledge in helping students understand key competences and concepts. There is also extensive literature highlighting the role of simulation in assisting social work students to develop key insights in regard to skills and knowledge through role-plays. Using a Cross-Over design, this paper compares the contribution of drama students with service users in the preparation of social work students for field practice in Northern Ireland. Our findings suggest there is an important role for both drama students and service users working collaboratively to help social work students develop in key areas of social work competence and have implications for social work education in an international context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an approach for analysing ideology dynamics in strategic urban planning based on post-foundational political theory. Drawing on empirical material of strategic planners discussing their usage of the concept of sustainability it is suggested that although planners generally consider themselves to be pragmatic problem-solvers, it is exactly in their efforts to 'get things done' that they become deeply embroiled in the social dynamics of ideology. The reason for this is that planners are forced to employ ideologically charged concepts to bring together the disparate coalitions of actors that are needed for generating any form of policy traction in fractured governance landscapes. However, the ideological utilization of a concept contributes not only to the reproduction of hegemonic relations but also to a consequent hollowing out of the concept whereby its meaning becomes increasingly diluted, leading to its eventual demise and replacement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is often credited for its success as the world's largest democracy, but variation in subnational democracy across its states has not been systematically incorporated into scholarship on subnational regimes. This paper develops a conceptualization of subnational democracy based on four constitutive dimensions – turnover, contestation, autonomy and clean elections – and introduces a comprehensive dataset to measure each of the dimensions between 1985 and 2013. The inclusion of India – an older parliamentary democracy with a centralized federal system – broadens the universe of cases for the study of subnational regimes, and reveals variation across constitutive dimensions that has not yet been theorized. The paper shows that threats to subnational democracy come from multiple directions, including the central government and non-state armed actors, that subnational variation persists even decades after a transition at the national-level, and that subnational democracy declines in some states in spite of the national democratic track record. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper attempts to read together two otherwise unrelated questions – Deleuze's views on philosophy and the question of nationalism in India – to explore what both can offer to each other without reducing the specificity of each. The paper, however, attempts to do this also keeping in mind two immediately topical concerns: the rising popularity of Deleuze studies in India and the political debates concerning nationalism. With such an attempt at reading one concept in an-other's context, the paper thus attempts to raise broader questions concerning the conceptualisation of nationalism, philosophy and politics. Aiming to explore such concerns from the question of 'other', the approach can be summed in the following entangled sequences: conceptualising nationalism in relation to minoritarian perspectives, politics in relation to philosophy and western ideas in relation to non-western contexts. The paper, however, engages in such an approach as a cautionary experimentation of reading entanglements, divergences and contingencies without searching for some corrective or messianic possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In 2012, leading social work scholars gathered to discuss the formation of a Grand Challenges initiative for the field of social work. The Grand Challenges for Social Work Initiative (GCSWI) claims to offer an agenda for social workers that want to solve major social problems, e.g., poverty, environmental issues, and violence. GCSWI researchers utilized 21 GCSWI papers to identify innovative ways in which social workers could resolve these problems within 10 years. This paper examines the quality of the evidence for each paper, as well as exploring how much of the research was conducted by social workers. Methods: This paper uses a directed content analysis approach to explore the evidence of each of the original GCSWI papers. All 21 GC papers were independently coded by two members of the team, and after getting to acceptable inter-rater reliability, data from the coding were analyzed to assess the quality of evidence and degree of social work research involvement in the specific GCSWI paper. Results: Data from this study indicate that few GCSWI papers presented compelling evidence to support the goals of the specific GC, and few of the papers prioritized the work of social work researchers and publication in social work journals. Conclusion: Implications for the GCSWI are discussed, as well as suggestions from the analysis on how the GCSWI project can be more fully situated within the science of social work if it wishes to accomplish its ambitious goals of improving the outcomes for major social problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To discover how ethnicity is defined in communication scholarship, we analyzed the definitions of ethnicity employed in articles published in communication journals between 2000 and 2016. Our results indicate that almost all such studies (94%) contained operational definitions; however, far fewer (approximately 14%) contained theoretical definitions of ethnicity. Theoretical definitions describe the phenomenon under study in abstract terms or in terms of concepts. Operational definitions are utilization of the concepts through assessment or measurement of them. The distinction offers the difference between conceptualization and utilization of the concept. This paper focused on conceptualization of ethnicity in communication scholarship. A thematic analysis of the theoretical definitions revealed five essential elements of ethnicity: origins, descriptors, functions, location, and interaction with the social environment. An analysis of the theoretical definitions of ethnicity published in scholarly books across the same period of time revealed the same set of elements. We used these essential elements to draft a new theoretical definition of ethnicity that highlights the central role of communication in the development and maintenance of ethnicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Context: In today's increasingly digital world, it is critical that all students learn to think computationally from an early age. Assessments of Computational Thinking (CT) are essential for capturing information about student learning and challenges. When programming is used as a vehicle to foster CT skills, assessment of CT skills needs to measure understanding of programming concepts alongside general problem-solving practices applicable in contexts beyond programming. Objective: In this paper, we discuss the development of and results from separate validated assessments of programming concepts and generic CT practices for 4th-6th grade students. Method: An Evidence-Centered Design approach was used for the development and validation of the assessments, that were used with 15,000 upper elementary students in Hong Kong. Findings: Results from assessment implementation indicate that the assessments worked as designed and reveal student challenges with CT concepts and practices. Implications: These results point to the utility of our assessment as a curricular tool and the need for emphasizing certain CT concepts and practices in future curricular initiatives and teacher professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many ways of understanding what it is for an argument to be valid. Although we usually identify the concept of validity with (classical first-order) logical validity and, in turn, we typically take this to capture the notion of necessary preservation of truth in virtue of logical form, this is just one way in which validity can be explained. A different understanding of the notion of validity that has received some attention recently is based on the idea that an argument is valid just in case accepting its premises is incoherent with rejecting its conclusion. The main claim of the paper will be that, under this understanding of the notion of validity, the usual reasons to privilege a treatment of validities over a treatment of invalidities loose much of their force. Validity and invalidity are on a par, which means that there are no strong reasons to treat validities primitively and to define invalidities in terms of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]