Conceptual Foundation (conceptual + foundation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Evanescent Mentation: An Amelioative Conceptual Foundation for Research and Theory on Message Production

COMMUNICATION THEORY, Issue 2 2000
John 0.
Current theorizing about message encoding can be seen to reflect a characterization of the phenomenon that is overly static, coherent, and uniplanar, including some variations on the uniplanar theme,too verbal, too propositional, and too mentalistic. This paper examines each of these points of received understanding and suggests the need for approaches that are better able to capture the fluid, disjointed, and multiplanar character of messages and message production. The dominant approach to message production, the goals-plans-action framework, is then examined in light of this alternative characterization, with the result being the emergence of a rich set of new conceptual issues and questions. Finally, the potential of a particular theory of message production, second-generation action assembly theory (Greene, 1997), for addressing these issues is examined. [source]


Leadership: a New Frontier in Conservation Science

CONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 4 2009
JIM C. MANOLIS
estrategia; influencia; liderazgo; manejo; política Abstract:,Leadership is a critical tool for expanding the influence of conservation science, but recent advances in leadership concepts and practice remain underutilized by conservation scientists. Furthermore, an explicit conceptual foundation and definition of leadership in conservation science are not available in the literature. Here we drew on our diverse leadership experiences, our reading of leadership literature, and discussions with selected conservation science leaders to define conservation-science leadership, summarize an exploratory set of leadership principles that are applicable to conservation science, and recommend actions to expand leadership capacity among conservation scientists and practitioners. We define 2 types of conservation-science leadership: shaping conservation science through path-breaking research, and advancing the integration of conservation science into policy, management, and society at large. We focused on the second, integrative type of leadership because we believe it presents the greatest opportunity for improving conservation effectiveness. We identified 8 leadership principles derived mainly from the "adaptive leadership" literature: recognize the social dimension of the problem; cycle frequently through action and reflection; get and maintain attention; combine strengths of multiple leaders; extend your reach through networks of relationships; strategically time your effort; nurture productive conflict; and cultivate diversity. Conservation scientists and practitioners should strive to develop themselves as leaders, and the Society for Conservation Biology, conservation organizations, and academia should support this effort through professional development, mentoring, teaching, and research. Resumen:,El liderazgo es una herramienta crítica para la expansión de la influencia de la ciencia de la conservación, pero los avances recientes en los conceptos y práctica del liderazgo son subutilizados por los científicos de la conservación. Más aun, en la literatura no hay una fundamentación conceptual ni definición de liderazgo en la ciencia de la conservación. Aquí nos basamos en nuestras experiencias de liderazgo, nuestra lectura de literatura sobre liderazgo y discusiones con líderes selectos de la ciencia de conservación para definir liderazgo para la ciencia de la conservación, resumir un conjunto exploratorio de principios de liderazgo aplicables a la ciencia de la conservación y recomendar acciones para expandir la capacidad de liderazgo entre los científicos y los practicantes de la conservación. Definimos dos tipos de liderazgo de la ciencia de la conservación: configuración de la ciencia de la conservación mediante investigación original, y avance hacia la integración del liderazgo en la ciencia de la conservación en la política, el manejo y la sociedad en general. Nos centramos en el segundo tipo de liderazgo porque consideramos que presenta la mejor oportunidad para mejorar la efectividad de la conservación. Identificamos ocho principios de liderazgo derivados principalmente de la literatura sobre "liderazgo adaptativo": reconocer la dimensión social del problema; alternar entre acción y reflexión frecuentemente; obtener y mantener atención; combinar fortalezas de múltiples líderes; extender el alcance mediante redes de relaciones; organizar el esfuerzo estratégicamente; evitar conflictos productivos y desarrollar la biodiversidad. Los científicos y los practicantes de la conservación deberían esforzarse para desarrollarse como líderes y la Sociedad para la Biología de la Conservación, las organizaciones de conservación y la academia deberían respaldar este esfuerzo mediante el desarrollo profesional, la tutoría, la enseñanza y la investigación. [source]


Conceptualising dimensions of quality of life in poverty,

JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 1 2009
Suzanne M. Skevington
Abstract Are existing health-related quality of life (QoL) measures adequate for use in poverty? Focus groups of development researcher-practitioners were convened to discuss QoL in the low,middle-income countries of Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Peru and Thailand. Newly elicited themes were mapped onto the QoL concept consisting of 25 original facets from the WHOQOL-100, plus 24 additional facets derived from five subsequent WHOQOL modules (49 facets) organized in seven domains. Qualitative themes and importance ratings were used to identify seven novel themes that relate to poverty in these countries. Most are not included in QoL instruments: physical fitness & survival, social status, community relations, family life, work opportunity and environment, fairness and equality, and perception of political institutions. Community relations extended the social domain, and a political rights and freedoms domain was consolidated as a seventh domain. This cross-national study provides a new conceptual foundation for the international assessment of QoL in poverty. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Anthropological Knowledge and Native American Cultural Practice in the Liberal Polity

AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 2 2002
Professor James P. Boggs
U.S. Indian policy is caught between two incommensurable theories or paradigms. First, liberal theory extended the worldviewof early physical science to understand human nature. Providing the conceptual foundation for liberal polities, it largely underwrote U.S. Indian policy into the mid-20th century. Liberal theory recently has been superceded, as theory, by anthropological culture theory, which better accounts for variations between peoples and the realities of human life. The advent of culture theory marks a major paradigm shift within science and public consciousness. Liberal theory, however, remains the foundation for the powerful ideology of liberalism and the institutional practices of Western capitalism and democracy. Thus arise uncomfortable disjunctions,first, between incommensurable theories that both remain vital forces in public life, and, secondarily, between knowledge and practice. This article explores these contending theoretical formations, disjunctions between them, and illustrates how these disjunctions translate into contemporary argument in U.S. Indian policy. [source]


The Complementarity of the Technical Tools of Tissue Engineering and the Concepts of Artificial Organs for the Design of Functional Bioartificial Tissues

ARTIFICIAL ORGANS, Issue 9 2008
Petros Lenas
Abstract:, Although tissue engineering uses powerful biological tools, it still has a weak conceptual foundation, which is restricted at the cell level. The design criteria at the cell level are not directly related with the tissue functions, and consequently, such functions cannot be implemented in bioartificial tissues with the currently used methods. On the contrary, the field of artificial organs focuses on the function of the artificial organs that are treated in the design as integral entities, instead of the optimization of the artificial organ components. The field of artificial organs has already developed and tested methodologies that are based on system concepts and mathematical-computational methods that connect the component properties with the desired global organ function. Such methodologies are needed in tissue engineering for the design of bioartificial tissues with tissue functions. Under the framework of biomedical engineering, artificial organs and tissue engineering do not present competitive approaches, but are rather complementary and should therefore design a common future for the benefit of patients. [source]


A new politics of engagement: shareholder activism for corporate social responsibility

BUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 4 2003
Anastasia O'Rourke
Shareholder groups are increasingly going beyond the decision to invest, not to invest, or to divest by proposing and voting on company specific corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues at annual shareholder meetings. This activity is joined by an increasingly sophisticated ,strategy of engagement' by both shareholders and companies. In the process, a model of investor capitalism based on ,responsible ownership' is being forged that addresses social and environmental issues previously outside the domain of most shareholders. This paper traces a historical perspective on the growth and spread of shareholder activism, describes the key actors currently involved in this activity, illustrates the CSR issues being raised, explains the process of preparing resolutions and entering into dialogue, assesses some of the results gained so far and lays a conceptual foundation to help analyse the effectiveness of shareholder activism and assess the viability of models of ,shareholder democracy'. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


DO WE NEED AN EXTENDED EVOLUTIONARY SYNTHESIS?

EVOLUTION, Issue 12 2007
Massimo Pigliucci
The Modern Synthesis (MS) is the current paradigm in evolutionary biology. It was actually built by expanding on the conceptual foundations laid out by its predecessors, Darwinism and neo-Darwinism. For sometime now there has been talk of a new Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES), and this article begins to outline why we may need such an extension, and how it may come about. As philosopher Karl Popper has noticed, the current evolutionary theory is a theory of genes, and we still lack a theory of forms. The field began, in fact, as a theory of forms in Darwin's days, and the major goal that an EES will aim for is a unification of our theories of genes and of forms. This may be achieved through an organic grafting of novel concepts onto the foundational structure of the MS, particularly evolvability, phenotypic plasticity, epigenetic inheritance, complexity theory, and the theory of evolution in highly dimensional adaptive landscapes. [source]


Towards an ontological theory of wellness: a discussion of conceptual foundations and implications for nursing

NURSING PHILOSOPHY, Issue 3 2010
Susan R. Dunlop
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Principles of sustainable prevention: Designing scale-up of School-wide Positive Behavior Support to promote durable systems,

PSYCHOLOGY IN THE SCHOOLS, Issue 1 2010
Kent McIntosh
In this article, we provide an overview of School-wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS), an approach to building protective school cultures and preventing the development of problem behavior through instruction, environmental redesign, and attention to systems-level variables. We define the critical features of SWPBS within a prevention science lens, including identification of its conceptual foundations, proximal mediators of student outcomes, and current research base and goals. Given its evidence of effectiveness, we describe efforts and a research agenda in the area of sustainability of SWPBS, including a description of a proposed model of sustainability and a case study of statewide implementation with steps taken to promote sustained implementation. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]