Towards a healthier discount procedure.

PubMed

Klock, Rogier M; Brouwer, Werner Bf; Annemans, Lieven Jp; Bos, Jasper M; Postma, Maarten J

2005-02-01

Most national guidelines for pharmacoeconomic research prescribe discounting, mostly of money and health against the same rate. There is much debate on whether this is adequate. Two theoretical arguments, the consistency argument of Weinstein and Stason, and the paralyzing paradox of Keeler and Cretin, are mostly responsible for the current standards. However, more recently, several authors have indicated that the basis to claim the necessity of using similar discount rates is rather weak, both practically and theoretically. In terms of finding a new theoretical basis on which to base discount rates for money and, in particular, health, Van Hout has made an important suggestion arguing that the discount rate for health could be based on the expected growth in life expectancy and the diminishing marginal utility related to such additional health. Similarly, Gravelle and Smith argue that if the value of health grows over time, discount rates that are used for costs cannot directly be applied to effects, but should be adjusted downwards.

Using Toulmin's Argument Pattern in the Evaluation of Argumentation in School Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simon, Shirley

2008-01-01

Toulmin's model of argument has been used by researchers as a theoretical perspective on argument and as a methodological tool for analysing episodes of oral argumentation in school science. An adaptation of Toulmin's Argument Pattern (TAP) has also informed a professional development programme for teachers. Research on the impact of the programme…

Laplace approximation for Bessel functions of matrix argument

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butler, Ronald W.; Wood, Andrew T. A.

2003-06-01

We derive Laplace approximations to three functions of matrix argument which arise in statistics and elsewhere: matrix Bessel A[nu]; matrix Bessel B[nu]; and the type II confluent hypergeometric function of matrix argument, [Psi]. We examine the theoretical and numerical properties of the approximations. On the theoretical side, it is shown that the Laplace approximations to A[nu], B[nu] and [Psi] given here, together with the Laplace approximations to the matrix argument functions 1F1 and 2F1 presented in Butler and Wood (Laplace approximations to hyper-geometric functions with matrix argument, Ann. Statist. (2002)), satisfy all the important confluence relations and symmetry relations enjoyed by the original functions.

Dialectical Features of Students' Argumentation: A Critical Review of Argumentation Studies in Science Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nielsen, Jan Alexis

2013-01-01

This paper explores the challenges of using the Toulmin model to analyze students' dialogical argumentation. The paper presents a theoretical exposition of what is involved in an empirical study of real dialogic argumentation. Dialogic argumentation embodies dialectical features--i.e. the features that are operative when students collaboratively…

Assessment of the Ways Students Generate Arguments in Science Education: Current Perspectives and Recommendations for Future Directions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sampson, Victor; Clark, Douglas B.

2008-01-01

Theoretical and empirical research on argument and argumentation in science education has intensified over the last two decades. The term argument in this review refers to the artifacts that a student or a group of students create when asked to articulate and justify claims or explanations whereas the term argumentation refers to the process of…

Learning Science Content through Socio-Scientific Issues-Based Instruction: A Multi-Level Assessment Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sadler, Troy D.; Romine, William L.; Topçu, Mustafa Sami

2016-01-01

Science educators have presented numerous conceptual and theoretical arguments in favor of teaching science through the exploration of socio-scientific issues (SSI). However, the empirical knowledge base regarding the extent to which SSI-based instruction supports student learning of science content is limited both in terms of the number of…

Relationships between undergraduates' argumentation skills, conceptual quality of problem solutions, and problem solving strategies in introductory physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rebello, Carina M.

This study explored the effects of alternative forms of argumentation on undergraduates' physics solutions in introductory calculus-based physics. A two-phase concurrent mixed methods design was employed to investigate relationships between undergraduates' written argumentation abilities, conceptual quality of problem solutions, as well as approaches and strategies for solving argumentative physics problems across multiple physics topics. Participants were assigned via stratified sampling to one of three conditions (control, guided construct, or guided evaluate) based on gender and pre-test scores on a conceptual instrument. The guided construct and guided evaluate groups received tasks and prompts drawn from literature to facilitate argument construction or evaluation. Using a multiple case study design, with each condition serving as a case, interviews were conducted consisting of a think-aloud problem solving session paired with a semi-structured interview. The analysis of problem solving strategies was guided by the theoretical framework on epistemic games adapted by Tuminaro and Redish (2007). This study provides empirical evidence that integration of written argumentation into physics problems can potentially improve the conceptual quality of solutions, expand their repertoire of problem solving strategies and show promise for addressing the gender gap in physics. The study suggests further avenues for research in this area and implications for designing and implementing argumentation tasks in introductory college physics.

[Fair or unfair? Ignore or respond? Evaluation of argumentative lack of integrity and possible reactions].

PubMed

Mischo, C

2000-01-01

In this study, the conditions of the evaluation of and reaction to unfair argumentative contributions are investigated. Based on the construct of argumentational integrity, the theoretical conceptualization of the unfairness evaluation differentiates between the severity of a rule violation and the degree of subjective awareness, also taking into account aggravating and mitigating context factors. The impact of these factors is tested by a logistic regression approach (N = 597) applying two different argumentational episodes. The severity of a rule violation shows the greatest influence on the evaluation, followed by the speaker's knowledge of the subject matter and his/her argumentative competence, and the frequency of the rule violation; these results hold for both episodes. The degree of awareness is only relevant if it is subjectively perceived. Apart from these main effects, special predictor patterns are identified, permitting the prediction of an unfairness verdict. With regard to the reactions to unfair contributions, the unfairness verdict was of greater importance than the effect of the argumentational episode and the interaction of unfairness verdict and episode.

Identifying Kinds of Reasoning in Collective Argumentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conner, AnnaMarie; Singletary, Laura M.; Smith, Ryan C.; Wagner, Patty Anne; Francisco, Richard T.

2014-01-01

We combine Peirce's rule, case, and result with Toulmin's data, claim, and warrant to differentiate between deductive, inductive, abductive, and analogical reasoning within collective argumentation. In this theoretical article, we illustrate these kinds of reasoning in episodes of collective argumentation using examples from one…

Explaining Moral Behavior.

PubMed

Osman, Magda; Wiegmann, Alex

2017-03-01

In this review we make a simple theoretical argument which is that for theory development, computational modeling, and general frameworks for understanding moral psychology researchers should build on domain-general principles from reasoning, judgment, and decision-making research. Our approach is radical with respect to typical models that exist in moral psychology that tend to propose complex innate moral grammars and even evolutionarily guided moral principles. In support of our argument we show that by using a simple value-based decision model we can capture a range of core moral behaviors. Crucially, the argument we propose is that moral situations per se do not require anything specialized or different from other situations in which we have to make decisions, inferences, and judgments in order to figure out how to act.

Pettit on consequentialism and universalizability.

PubMed

Gleeson, Andrew

2005-01-01

Philip Pettit has argued that universalizability entails consequentialism. I criticise the argument for relying on a question-begging reading of the impartiality of universalization. A revised form of the argument can be constructed by relying on preference-satisfaction rationality, rather than on impartiality. But this revised argument succumbs to an ambiguity in the notion of a preference (or desire). I compare the revised argument to an earlier argument of Pettit's for consequentialism that appealed to the theoretical virtue of simplicity, and I raise questions about the force of appeal to notions like simplicity and rationality in moral argument.

Argumentation for Learning: Well-Trodden Paths and Unexplored Territories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Asterhan, Christa S. C.; Schwarz, Baruch B.

2016-01-01

There is increasing consensus among psycho-educational scholars about argumentation as a means to improve student knowledge and understanding of subject matter. In this article, we argue that, notwithstanding a strong theoretical rationale, causal evidence is not abundant, definitions of the objects of study (argumentation, learning) are often not…

Revisiting Jürgen Habermas's Notion of Communicative Action and Its Relevance for South African School Governance: Can It Succeed?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mabovula, Nonceba

2010-01-01

I apply as theoretical framework the Habermassian principles of "communicative action" and "consensus" through deliberation and reasoning. In particular, I focus on "rational" and "argumentative" communication through which school governance stakeholders could advance arguments and counter-arguments. I…

The macrostructure of informal arguments: a proposed model and analysis.

PubMed

Ricco, Robert B

2003-08-01

Theories of informal reasoning and critical thinking often maintain that everyday, informal arguments can be classified into types based on the specific organization that the premises or reasons enter into in their support for the conclusion (Snoeck Henkemans, 2000; Vorobej, 1995b). Three general types are identified: convergent, coordinately linked, and subordinately linked arguments. There has been no empirical research, however, to determine whether these structural distinctions have any psychological reality. In the first two of four experiments, college students were presented with premise pairs from larger, informal arguments and were asked to judge the nature of the relationship between the premises in a pair. The judgments involved applying "tests" of linkage, subordination, and so on, that have been proposed in the theoretical literature on argument analysis (e.g., Walton, 1996a; Yanal, 1991). Results suggest that adults can effectively distinguish between linked (interdependent) and convergent relationships and can further distinguish between interdependencies that are full and those that are merely partial. Adults also distinguished between subordinate and nonsubordinate relations. Experiments 3 and 4 provide evidence that adults make use of information about argument structure in evaluating argument strength and in categorizing arguments. Experiment 4 further suggests that facility with macrostructure is only modestly related to deductive reasoning competence. Findings are framed in terms of a speculative account of how argument structure is identified and mentally represented.

Toulmin's argument pattern as a "horizon of possibilities" in the study of argumentation in science education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erduran, Sibel

2018-01-01

Kim and Roth (this issue) purport to draw on the social-psychological theory of L. S. Vygotsky in order to investigate social relations in children's argumentation in science topics. The authors argue that the argumentation framework offered by Stephen Toulmin is limited in addressing social relations. The authors thus criticize Toulmin's Argument Pattern (TAP) as an analytical tool and propose to investigate the genesis of evidence-related practices (especially burden of proof) in second- and third-grade children by studying dialogical interactions. In this paper, I illustrate how Toulmin's framework can contribute to (a) the study of "social relations", and (b) provide an example utilizing a theoretical framework on social relations, namely Engeström's Activity Theory framework, and (c) describe how we have used the Activity Theory along with TAP in order to understand the development of argumentation in the practices of science educators. Overall, I will argue that TAP is not inherently incapable of addressing social relational aspects of argumentation in science education but rather that science education researchers can transform theoretical tools such as Toulmin's framework intended for other purposes for use in science education research.

Empty Signifiers, Education and Politics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Szkudlarek, Tomasz

2007-01-01

The paper assumes that education is part of the process of discursive construction of society. The theoretical framework on which this argument is based includes Ernesto Laclau's theory of the "ontological impossibility and political necessity of society", and the role discourse and empty signifiers play in the establishment of political…

An Experiment in Teaching Human Ethology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barnett, S. A.

1977-01-01

Students of ethology are often confused about the validity of arguments based on comparisons of animal and human behavior. The problem can be dealt with purely theoretically or through observational or experimental studies of human behavior. Some results of using these two methods are described and discussed. (Author/MA)

Advancing Fourth-Grade Students' Understanding of Arithmetic Properties with Instruction That Promotes Mathematical Argumentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rumsey, Chepina Witkowski

2012-01-01

The goals for this study were to investigate how fourth-grade students developed an understanding of the arithmetic properties when instruction promoted mathematical argumentation and to identify the characteristics of students' arguments. Using the emergent perspective as an overarching theoretical perspective helped distinguish between two…

Reconsidering Sexual Identities: Intersectionality Theory and the Implications for Educating Counsellors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheshire, Liane C.

2013-01-01

Counselling programs in Canada provide minimal training relating to lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) issues and cultures. This article presents a theoretical argument proposing that counselling programs move away from educating counsellors about LGB issues through specialized courses based on multicultural approaches of difference and diversity…

Log-Multiplicative Association Models as Item Response Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Carolyn J.; Yu, Hsiu-Ting

2007-01-01

Log-multiplicative association (LMA) models, which are special cases of log-linear models, have interpretations in terms of latent continuous variables. Two theoretical derivations of LMA models based on item response theory (IRT) arguments are presented. First, we show that Anderson and colleagues (Anderson & Vermunt, 2000; Anderson & Bockenholt,…

Brain Imaging, Forward Inference, and Theories of Reasoning

PubMed Central

Heit, Evan

2015-01-01

This review focuses on the issue of how neuroimaging studies address theoretical accounts of reasoning, through the lens of the method of forward inference (Henson, 2005, 2006). After theories of deductive and inductive reasoning are briefly presented, the method of forward inference for distinguishing between psychological theories based on brain imaging evidence is critically reviewed. Brain imaging studies of reasoning, comparing deductive and inductive arguments, comparing meaningful versus non-meaningful material, investigating hemispheric localization, and comparing conditional and relational arguments, are assessed in light of the method of forward inference. Finally, conclusions are drawn with regard to future research opportunities. PMID:25620926

Strategies and arguments of ergonomic design for sustainability.

PubMed

Marano, Antonio; Di Bucchianico, Giuseppe; Rossi, Emilio

2012-01-01

Referring to the discussion recently promoted by the Sub-Technical Committee n°4 "Ergonomics and design for sustainability", in this paper will be shown the early results of a theoretical and methodological study on Ergonomic design for sustainability. In particular, the research is based on the comparison between the common thematic structure characterizing Ergonomics, with the principles of Sustainable Development and with criteria adopted from other disciplines already oriented toward Sustainability. The paper identifies an early logical-interpretative model and describes possible and relevant Strategies of Ergonomic design for sustainability, which are connected in a series of specific Sustainable Arguments.

Brain imaging, forward inference, and theories of reasoning.

PubMed

Heit, Evan

2014-01-01

This review focuses on the issue of how neuroimaging studies address theoretical accounts of reasoning, through the lens of the method of forward inference (Henson, 2005, 2006). After theories of deductive and inductive reasoning are briefly presented, the method of forward inference for distinguishing between psychological theories based on brain imaging evidence is critically reviewed. Brain imaging studies of reasoning, comparing deductive and inductive arguments, comparing meaningful versus non-meaningful material, investigating hemispheric localization, and comparing conditional and relational arguments, are assessed in light of the method of forward inference. Finally, conclusions are drawn with regard to future research opportunities.

Critical Argument and Writer Identity: Social Constructivism as a Theoretical Framework for EFL Academic Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKinley, Jim

2015-01-01

This article makes the argument that we need to situate student's academic writing as socially constructed pieces of writing that embody a writer's cultural identity and critical argument. In support, I present and describe a comprehensive model of an original English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing analytical framework. This article explains…

Lakatos' Scientific Research Programmes as a Framework for Analysing Informal Argumentation about Socio-Scientific Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Shu-Nu; Chiu, Mei-Hung

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study is to explore how Lakatos' scientific research programmes might serve as a theoretical framework for representing and evaluating informal argumentation about socio-scientific issues. Seventy undergraduate science and non-science majors were asked to make written arguments about four socio-scientific issues. Our analysis…

Stanovich's arguments against the "adaptive rationality" project: An assessment.

PubMed

Polonioli, Andrea

2015-02-01

This paper discusses Stanovich's appeal to individual differences in reasoning and decision-making to undermine the "adaptive rationality" project put forth by Gigerenzer and his co-workers. I discuss two different arguments based on Stanovich's research. First, heterogeneity in the use of heuristics seems to be at odds with the adaptationist background of the project. Second, the existence of correlations between cognitive ability and susceptibility to cognitive bias suggests that the "standard picture of rationality" (Stein, 1996, 4) is normatively adequate. I argue that, as matters stand, none of the arguments can be seen as fully compelling. Nevertheless, my discussion is not only critical of Stanovich's research, as I also show that (and how) his research can push forward the so-called "rationality debate" by encouraging greater theoretical and experimental work. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Biblical Antecedents to Fiscal Equity: Policy Implications for Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Furst, Lyndon G.

Most arguments for fiscal equity in financing America's schools have been based on constitutional provisions and on the socio-political dogma that underlies a democratic society. This paper approaches the subject using as its theoretical basis a document even more basic to the founding of the republic than the Constitution--the Bible. Using the…

Testcross Response to Four Cycles of Half-sib and S2 Recurrent Selection in the BS13 Maize (Zea mays L.) Population

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Inbred progeny recurrent selection was shown to be superior to several forms of outbred-progeny recurrent selection for improving population per se performance based on theoretical arguments. However, recent improvements to theory and mounting empirical evidence suggest that inbred-progeny recurren...

Hardy's argument and successive spin-s measurements

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ahanj, Ali

2010-07-15

We consider a hidden-variable theoretic description of successive measurements of noncommuting spin observables on an input spin-s state. In this scenario, the hidden-variable theory leads to a Hardy-type argument that quantum predictions violate it. We show that the maximum probability of success of Hardy's argument in quantum theory is ((1/2)){sup 4s}, which is more than in the spatial case.

Designing for students' science learning using argumentation and classroom debate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bell, Philip Laverne

1998-12-01

This research investigates how to design and introduce an educational innovation into a classroom setting to support learning. The research yields cognitive design principles for instruction involving scientific argumentation and debate. Specifically, eighth-grade students used a computer learning environment to construct scientific arguments and to participate in a classroom debate. The instruction was designed to help students integrate their science understanding by debating: How far does light go, does light die out over distance or go forever until absorbed? This research explores the tension between focusing students' conceptual change on specific scientific phenomena and their development of integrated understanding. I focus on the importance of connecting students' everyday experiences and intuitions to their science learning. The work reported here characterizes how students see the world through a filter of their own understanding. It explores how individual and social mechanisms in instruction support students as they expand the range of ideas under consideration and distinguish between these ideas using scientific criteria. Instruction supported students as they engaged in argumentation and debate on a set of multimedia evidence items from the World-Wide-Web. An argument editor called SenseMaker was designed and studied with the intent of making individual and group thinking visible during instruction. Over multiple classroom trials, different student cohorts were increasingly supported in scientific argumentation involving systematic coordination of evidence with theoretical ideas about light. Students' knowledge representations were used as mediating "learning artifacts" during classroom debate. Two argumentation conditions were investigated. The Full Scope group prepared to defend either theoretical position in the debate. These students created arguments that included more theoretical conjectures and made more conceptual progress in understanding light. The Personal Scope group prepared to defend their original opinion about the debate. These students produced more acausal descriptions of evidence and theorized less in their arguments. Regardless of students' prior knowledge of light, the Full Scope condition resulted in a more integrated understanding. Results from the research were synthesized in design principles geared towards helping future designers. Sharing and refining cognitive design principles offers a productive focus for developing a design science for education.

Mathematical Idea Analysis: What Embodied Cognitive Science Can Say about the Human Nature of Mathematics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nunez, Rafael E.

This paper gives a brief introduction to a discipline called the cognitive science of mathematics. The theoretical background of the arguments is based on embodied cognition and findings in cognitive linguistics. It discusses Mathematical Idea Analysis, a set of techniques for studying implicit structures in mathematics. Particular attention is…

Dewey's Logic as a Methodological Grounding Point for Practitioner-Based Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Demetrion, George

2012-01-01

The purpose of this essay is to draw out key insights from Dewey's important text "Logic: The Theory of Inquiry" to provide theoretical and practical support for the emergent field of teacher research. The specific focal point is the argument in Cochran-Smith and Lytle's "Inside/Outside: Teacher Research and Knowledge" on the significance of…

The nature and development of hypothetico-predictive argumentation with implications for science teaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lawson, Anton E.

2003-11-01

This paper explicates a pattern of scientific argumentation in which scientists respond to causal questions with the generation and test of alternative hypotheses through cycles of hypothetico-predictive argumentation. Hypothetico-predictive arguments are employed to test causal claims that exist on at least two levels (designated stage 4 in which the causal claims are perceptible, and stage 5 in which the causal claims are imperceptible). Origins of the ability to construct and comprehend hypothetico-predictive arguments at the highest level can be traced to pre-verbal reasoning of the sensory-motor child and the gradual internalization of verbally mediated arguments involving nominal, categorical, causal and, finally, theoretical propositions. Presumably, the ability to construct and comprehend hypothetico-predictive arguments (an aspect of procedural knowledge) is necessary for the construction of conceptual knowledge (an aspect of declarative knowledge) because such arguments are used during concept construction and conceptual change. Science instruction that focuses on the generation and debate of hypothetico-predictive arguments should improve students' conceptual understanding and their argumentative/reasoning skills.

The Relationship Between Chinese Students' Subject Matter Knowledge and Argumentation Pedagogy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jianlan; Buck, Gayle

2015-01-01

Science education in China is Subject Matter Knowledge (SMK) oriented in that SMK understanding is the major benchmark to assess students' achievement in science learning. Such an orientation causes students to overemphasize the memorization of SMK and neglect other indispensable components of science, such as scientific attitudes and research skills. The central government in China launched an educational innovation known as New Curriculum Reform in 2003. Considerable progress has been made in the past 11 years in regard to theoretical understandings and administrative priorities, but little progress has been made in terms of classroom instruction and scientific literacy cultivation at the secondary level. Under the pressure of nationwide standardized exams, any educational innovations are unlikely to be accepted unless there is robust evidence suggesting their efficacy in promoting students' achievements on exams, or even attempted unless teachers are assured such attempts will not negatively impact such achievement. Argumentation-integrated curriculum is one such innovation. Scientific argumentation is an essential scientific activity that leads to the development of an explanation based on empirical evidence. An initial foundation of SMK, in terms of the necessary background knowledge, is considered by many to be a vital component of argumentation and an enhanced SMK is one of the intended products of argumentation. The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed methods study was to investigate the relationship between Chinese students' SMK levels and argumentation pedagogy and to provide insights into a possible research agenda focused on implementing argumentation in a heavily SMK-oriented context.

Political Participation as Public Pedagogy--The Educational Situation in Young People's Political Conversations in Social Media

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Andersson, Erik; Olson, Maria

2014-01-01

In this article we argue that young people's political participation in the social media can be considered "public pedagogy". The argument builds on a previous empirical analysis of a Swedish net community called Black Heart. Theoretically, the article is based on a particular notion of public pedagogy, education and Hannah Arendt's…

Theoretical Grounding: The "Missing Link" in Suicide Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogers, James R.

2001-01-01

Discusses the strengths and limitations of the current pragmatic focus of research in suicidology and presents an argument for theoretical grounding as a precursor for continued advancement in this area. Presents an existential-constructivist framework of "meaning creation" as a theoretical heuristic for understanding suicide. Outlines general…

TAPping into argumentation: Developments in the application of Toulmin's Argument Pattern for studying science discourse

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erduran, Sibel; Simon, Shirley; Osborne, Jonathan

2004-11-01

This paper reports some methodological approaches to the analysis of argumentation discourse developed as part of the two-and-a-half year project titled Enhancing the Quality of Argument in School Scienc'' supported by the Economic and Social Research Council in the United Kingdom. In this project researchers collaborated with middle-school science teachers to develop models of instructional activities in an effort to make argumentation a component of instruction. We begin the paper with a brief theoretical justification for why we consider argumentation to be of significance to science education. We then contextualize the use of Toulmin's Argument Pattern in the study of argumentation discourse and provide a justification for the methodological outcomes our approach generates. We illustrate how our work refines and develops research methodologies in argumentation analysis. In particular, we present two methodological approaches to the analysis of argumentation resulting in whole-class as well as small-group student discussions. For each approach, we illustrate our coding scheme and some results as well as how our methodological approach has enabled our inquiry into the quality of argumentation in the classroom. We conclude with some implications for future research in argumentation in science education.

A Theoretical Sketch of Medical Professionalism as a Normative Complex

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holtman, Matthew C.

2008-01-01

Validity arguments for assessment tools intended to measure medical professionalism suffer for lack of a clear theoretical statement of what professionalism is and how it should behave. Drawing on several decades of field research addressing deviance and informal social control among physicians, a theoretical sketch of professionalism is presented…

Novel Image Encryption Scheme Based on Chebyshev Polynomial and Duffing Map

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

We present a novel image encryption algorithm using Chebyshev polynomial based on permutation and substitution and Duffing map based on substitution. Comprehensive security analysis has been performed on the designed scheme using key space analysis, visual testing, histogram analysis, information entropy calculation, correlation coefficient analysis, differential analysis, key sensitivity test, and speed test. The study demonstrates that the proposed image encryption algorithm shows advantages of more than 10113 key space and desirable level of security based on the good statistical results and theoretical arguments. PMID:25143970

Group Emotions: The Social and Cognitive Functions of Emotions in Argumentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polo, Claire; Lund, Kristine; Plantin, Christian; Niccolai, Gerald P.

2016-01-01

The learning sciences of today recognize the tri-dimensional nature of learning as involving cognitive, social and emotional phenomena. However, many computer-supported argumentation systems still fail in addressing the socio-emotional aspects of group reasoning, perhaps due to a lack of an integrated theoretical vision of how these three…

Drawing Analogies between Logic Programming and Natural Language Argumentation Texts to Scaffold Learners' Understanding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ragonis, Noa; Shilo, Gila

2014-01-01

The paper presents a theoretical investigational study of the potential advantages that secondary school learners may gain from learning two different subjects, namely, logic programming within computer science studies and argumentation texts within linguistics studies. The study suggests drawing an analogy between the two subjects since they both…

Developing a Theoretical Framework to Assess Taiwanese Primary Students' Geometric Argumentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Tsu-Nan

2015-01-01

Geometric competences of students have sparked great concern in Taiwan since the release of the last TIMMS [Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study] assessment. Geometric argumentation is viewed as to play an important role to enhance the competences of geometry and reasoning. This study adopts Toulmin's (2003) model to develop such…

Middle School Students' Conceptual Change in Global Climate Change: Using Argumentation to Foster Knowledge Construction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Golden, Barry W.

2011-01-01

This research examined middle school student conceptions about global climate change (GCC) and the change these conceptions undergo during an argument driven instructional unit. The theoretical framework invoked for this study is the "framework theory" of conceptual change (Vosniadou, 2007a). This theory posits that students do not…

Can We Separate Verbs from Their Argument Structure? A Group Study in Aphasia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caley, Sarah; Whitworth, Anne; Claessen, Mary

2017-01-01

Background: Given the integral role that verbs play in sentence production, understanding verb deficits is critical to clinical practice. Difficulties in sentence production are often directly related to an inability to retrieve argument structure information which, according to most theoretical accounts, is specified at a lexical level as part of…

Intervention for Verb Argument Structure in Children with Persistent SLI: A Randomized Control Trial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ebbels, Susan H.; van der Lely, Heather K. J.; Dockrell, Julie E.

2007-01-01

Purpose: The authors aimed to establish whether 2 theoretically motivated interventions could improve use of verb argument structure in pupils with persistent specific language impairment (SLI). Method: Twenty-seven pupils with SLI (ages 11;0-16;1) participated in this randomized controlled trial with "blind" assessment. Participants were randomly…

Model Estimation Using Ridge Regression with the Variance Normalization Criterion. Interim Report No. 2. The Education and Inequality in Canada Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Wan-Fung; Bulcock, Jeffrey Wilson

The purposes of this study are: (1) to demonstrate the superiority of simple ridge regression over ordinary least squares regression through theoretical argument and empirical example; (2) to modify ridge regression through use of the variance normalization criterion; and (3) to demonstrate the superiority of simple ridge regression based on the…

[Controversies around QALYs].

PubMed

Rogalewicz, Vladimír; Barták, Miroslav

The paper summarizes the criticisms of the QALY concept utilization in health-economic evaluations that has been growing stronger in the last years. Despite of its limitations, the QALY concept has been routinely used in many countries incl. the Czech Republic. However, some states disapproved QALYs as an optimizing criterion at the level of their political decisions. The critical reflection concerns both the theoretical and the experimental issues. Based on a literary review, fundamental arguments against the concept are summarized, and a synthesis of material objections is presented. The critical arguments focus on the foundations of the QALY concept in the economic theory, some ethical principles, inconsistencies and technical imperfections of the quality-of-life measurement tools used in QALY calculations, the substitution rule, differences between various diagnoses, and disregarding some other important parameters. As a whole, the critics´ arguments can be judged as quite strong. The future will show whether the critical arguments summarized in this paper will lead to a development of alternative tools that have a potential of eliminating imperfections in QALYs, and consequently provide more complex data for the decision process.Key words: cost-effectiveness - health technology assessment - HTA - QALY - utility measure for medical interventions.

Theory and practice in sport psychology and motor behaviour needs to be constrained by integrative modelling of brain and behaviour.

PubMed

Keil, D; Holmes, P; Bennett, S; Davids, K; Smith, N

2000-06-01

Because of advances in technology, the non-invasive study of the human brain has enhanced the knowledge base within the neurosciences, resulting in an increased impact on the psychological study of human behaviour. We argue that application of this knowledge base should be considered in theoretical modelling within sport psychology and motor behaviour alongside existing ideas. We propose that interventions founded on current theoretical and empirical understanding in both psychology and the neurosciences may ultimately lead to greater benefits for athletes during practice and performance. As vehicles for exploring the arguments of a greater integration of psychology and neurosciences research, imagery and perception-action within the sport psychology and motor behaviour domains will serve as exemplars. Current neuroscience evidence will be discussed in relation to theoretical developments; the implications for sport scientists will be considered.

Prospects and Challenges of Using the Argumentation Instructional Method to Indigenise School Science Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moyo, Partson Virira; Kizito, Rita

2014-01-01

Identifying an instructional tool for merging scientific and indigenous knowledge (IK) is problematic as there is no clear guidance on how this can be achieved. Argumentation is recommended as a possible integrative instructional theoretical methodology as it imbues notions of dialogue and persuasion, while at the same time embracing the…

Enhancing nature of science understanding, reflective judgment, and argumentation through socioscientific issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Callahan, Brendan E.

There is a distinct divide between theory and practice in American science education. Research indicates that a constructivist philosophy, in which students construct their own knowledge, is conductive to learning, while in many cases teachers continue to present science in a more traditional manner. This study sought to explore possible relationships between a socioscientific issues based curriculum and three outcome variables: nature of science understanding, reflective judgment, and argumentation skill. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to examine both whole class differences as well as individual differences between the beginning and end of a semester of high school Biology I. Results indicated that the socioscientific issues based curriculum did not produce statistically significant changes over the course of one semester. However, the treatment group scored better on all three instruments than the comparison group. The small sample size may have contributed to the inability to find statistical significance in this study. The qualitative interviews did indicate that some students provided more sophisticated views on nature of science and reflective judgment, and were able to provide slightly more complex argumentation structures. Theoretical implications regarding the use of explicit use of socioscientific issues in the classroom are presented.

Aristotelian syllogisms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ollongren, Alexander

2011-02-01

Aristotelian assertive syllogistic logic (without modalities) is embedded in the author's Lingua Cosmica. The well-known basic structures of assertions and conversions between them in this logic are represented in LINCOS. Since these representations correspond with set-theoretic operations, the latter are embedded in LINCOS as well. Based on this valid argumentation in Aristotle's sense is obtained for four important so-called perfect figures. Their constructive (intuitionistic) verifications are of a surprisingly elegant simplicity.

Dialectical Features of Students' Argumentation: A Critical Review of Argumentation Studies in Science Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nielsen, Jan Alexis

2013-02-01

This paper explores the challenges of using the Toulmin model to analyze students' dialogical argumentation. The paper presents a theoretical exposition of what is involved in an empirical study of real dialogic argumentation. Dialogic argumentation embodies dialectical features — i.e. the features that are operative when students collaboratively manage disagreement by providing arguments and engaging critically with the arguments provided by others. The paper argues that while dialectical features cannot readily be understood from a Toulminian perspective, it appears that an investigation of them is a prerequisite for conducting Toulminian analysis. This claim is substantiated by a detailed review of five of the ten most significant papers on students' argumentation in science education. This leads to the surprising notion that empirical studies in the argumentation strand — even those studies that have employed non-dialectical frameworks such as the Toulmin model — have implicitly struggled to come to terms with the dialectical features of students' discourse. The paper finally explores how some scholars have worked to attend directly to these dialectical features; and it presents five key issues that need to be addressed in a continued scholarly discussion.

Argumentation, Critical Thinking, Nature of Science and Socioscientific Issues: A Dialogue between Two Researchers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yacoubian, Hagop A.; Khishfe, Rola

2018-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast between two theoretical frameworks for addressing nature of science (NOS) and socioscientific issues (SSI) in school science. These frameworks are critical thinking (CT) and argumentation (AR). For the past years, the first and second authors of this paper have pursued research in this area…

Toward a Model of Influence in Persuasive Discussions: Negotiating Quality, Authority, Privilege, and Access within a Student-Led Argument

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Engle, Randi A.; Langer-Osuna, Jennifer M.; McKinney de Royston, Maxine

2014-01-01

It is commonly observed that during classroom or group discussions some students have greater influence than may be justified by the normative quality of those students' contributions. We propose a 5-component theoretical framework in order to explain how undue influence unfolds. We build on literatures on persuasion, argumentation, discourse, and…

The Effect of Communication Centers on College Student Retention: An Argument

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yook, Eunkyong Lee

2013-01-01

One of the most urgent issues facing institutions of higher learning in the United States today is the problem of college student retention. The purpose of this article is to provide a theoretically and empirically supported argument for stating that there is one potent force for retention of college students that has been as yet largely unmined:…

Toward functional classification of neuronal types.

PubMed

Sharpee, Tatyana O

2014-09-17

How many types of neurons are there in the brain? This basic neuroscience question remains unsettled despite many decades of research. Classification schemes have been proposed based on anatomical, electrophysiological, or molecular properties. However, different schemes do not always agree with each other. This raises the question of whether one can classify neurons based on their function directly. For example, among sensory neurons, can a classification scheme be devised that is based on their role in encoding sensory stimuli? Here, theoretical arguments are outlined for how this can be achieved using information theory by looking at optimal numbers of cell types and paying attention to two key properties: correlations between inputs and noise in neural responses. This theoretical framework could help to map the hierarchical tree relating different neuronal classes within and across species. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Bioethics of protection and the laic compassion: the moral debate on euthanasia].

PubMed

Siqueira-Batista, Rodrigo; Schramm, Fermin Roland

2009-01-01

The bioethical debate on euthanasia (good death) has been classically polarized between the principles of sacredness of life--the argumentation against--and the quality of life, represented by the vicarious principle of respect for autonomy--the argumentation in favor. In both cases the question is built around the pertinence and moral legitimacy--or not--of the individual possibility to decide about the termination of ones own existence, demanding for oneself a good death. Undoubtedly, euthanasia always implies besides the self, the other, who will either carry out the action--or hold to non-action--culminating in the abbreviation of life. To propose a discussion about this last referred issue, based on the bioethics of protection theoretical references and the concept of laic compassion is the scope of the present essay.

Short Round Sub-Linear Zero-Knowledge Argument for Linear Algebraic Relations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seo, Jae Hong

Zero-knowledge arguments allows one party to prove that a statement is true, without leaking any other information than the truth of the statement. In many applications such as verifiable shuffle (as a practical application) and circuit satisfiability (as a theoretical application), zero-knowledge arguments for mathematical statements related to linear algebra are essentially used. Groth proposed (at CRYPTO 2009) an elegant methodology for zero-knowledge arguments for linear algebraic relations over finite fields. He obtained zero-knowledge arguments of the sub-linear size for linear algebra using reductions from linear algebraic relations to equations of the form z = x *' y, where x, y ∈ Fnp are committed vectors, z ∈ Fp is a committed element, and *' : Fnp × Fnp → Fp is a bilinear map. These reductions impose additional rounds on zero-knowledge arguments of the sub-linear size. The round complexity of interactive zero-knowledge arguments is an important measure along with communication and computational complexities. We focus on minimizing the round complexity of sub-linear zero-knowledge arguments for linear algebra. To reduce round complexity, we propose a general transformation from a t-round zero-knowledge argument, satisfying mild conditions, to a (t - 2)-round zero-knowledge argument; this transformation is of independent interest.

The Effects of Argument Quality and Involvement Type on Attitude Formation and Attitude Change: A Test of Dual-Process and Social Judgment Predictions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Hee Sun; Levine, Timothy R.; Kingsley Westerman, Catherine Y.; Orfgen, Tierney; Foregger, Sarah

2007-01-01

Involvement has long been theoretically specified as a crucial factor determining the persuasive impact of messages. In social judgment theory, ego-involvement makes people more resistant to persuasion, whereas in dual-process models, high-involvement people are susceptible to persuasion when argument quality is high. It is argued that these…

Electrical properties of III-Nitride LEDs: Recombination-based injection model and theoretical limits to electrical efficiency and electroluminescent cooling

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

David, Aurelien, E-mail: adavid@soraa.com; Hurni, Christophe A.; Young, Nathan G.

The current-voltage characteristic and ideality factor of III-Nitride quantum well light-emitting diodes (LEDs) grown on bulk GaN substrates are investigated. At operating temperature, these electrical properties exhibit a simple behavior. A model in which only active-region recombinations have a contribution to the LED current is found to account for experimental results. The limit of LED electrical efficiency is discussed based on the model and on thermodynamic arguments, and implications for electroluminescent cooling are examined.

The Convergence of Institutional Logics on the Community College Sector and the Normalization of Emotional Labor: A New Theoretical Approach for Considering the Community College Faculty Labor Expectations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonzales, Leslie D.; Ayers, David F.

2018-01-01

Little empirical research has systematically focused on, or interrogated, the labor expectations set forth for community college faculty. Thus, in this paper, we present a theoretical argument, which we formed by (re) reading several community college focused studies through various theoretical lenses. Ultimately, we merged two…

Education as a Factor of Intercultural Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gojkov, Grozdanka

2011-01-01

The paper considers alternative constructivism as a possibility of theoretical starting point regarding education as a factor of intercultural communication. The introductory part of the paper deals with Kelly's personal construct theory permeating the arguments in favour of the theoretical research thesis referring to the issue of the extent the…

[Evaluation of arguments in research reports].

PubMed

Botes, A

1999-06-01

Some authors on research methodology are of opinion that research reports are based on the logic of reasoning and that such reports communicate with the reader by presenting logical, coherent arguments (Böhme, 1975:206; Mouton, 1996:69). This view implies that researchers draw specific conclusions and that such conclusions are justified by way of reasoning (Doppelt, 1998:105; Giere, 1984:26; Harre, 1965:11; Leherer & Wagner, 1983 & Pitt, 1988:7). The structure of a research report thus consists mainly of conclusions and reasons for such conclusions (Booth, Colomb & Williams, 1995:97). From this it appears that justification by means of reasoning is a standard procedure in research and research reports. Despite the fact that the logic of research is based on reasoning, that the justification of research findings by way of reasoning appears to be standard procedure and that the structure of a research report comprises arguments, the evaluation or assessment of research, as described in most textbooks on research methodology (Burns & Grove, 1993:647; Creswell, 1994:193; LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 1994:441/481) does not focus on the arguments of research. The evaluation criteria for research reports which are set in these textbooks are related to the way in which the research process is carried out and focus on the measures for internal, external, theoretical, measurement and inferential validity. This means that criteria for the evaluation of research are comprehensive and they should be very specific in respect of each type of research (for example quantitative or qualitative). When the evaluation of research reports is focused on arguments and logic, there could probably be one set of universal standards against which all types of human science research reports can be assessed. Such a universal set of standards could possibly simplify the evaluation of research reports in the human sciences since they can be used to assess all the critical aspects of research reports. As arguments from the basic structure of research reports and are probably also important in the evaluation of research reports in the human sciences, the following questions which I want to answer, are relevant to this paper namely: What are the standards which the reasoning in research reports in the human sciences should meet? How can research reports in the human sciences be assessed or evaluated according to these standards? In answering the first question, the logical demands that are made on reasoning in research are investigated. From these demands the acceptability of the statements, relevance and support of the premises to the conclusion are set as standards for reasoning in research. In answering the second question, a research article is used to demonstrate how the macro- and micro-arguments of research reports can be assessed or evaluated according to these standards. With evaluation it is indicated that the aspects of internal, external, theoretical, measurement and inferential validity can be evaluated according to these standards.

Community and job satisfactions: an argument for reciprocal influence based on the principle of stimulus generalization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gavin, J.; Montgomery, J.C.

The principle of stimulus generalization provided the underlying argument for a test of hypotheses regarding the association of community and job satisfactions and a critique of related theory and research. Two-stage least squares (2SLS) analysis made possible the examination of reciprocal causation, a notion inherent in the theoretical argument. Data were obtained from 276 employees of a Western U.S. coal mine as part of a work attitudes survey. The 2SLS analysis indicated a significant impact of community satisfaction on job satisfaction and an effect of borderline significance of job on community satisfaction. Theory-based correlational comparisons were made on groups ofmore » employees residing in four distinct communities, high and low tenure groups, males and females, and different levels in the mine's hierarchy. The pattern of correlations was generally consistent with predictions, but significance tests for differences yielded equivocal support. When considered in the context of previous studies, the data upheld a reciprocal causal model and the explanatory principle of stimulus generalization for understanding the relation of community and job satisfactions. Sample characteristics necessitate cautious interpretation and the model per se might best be viewed as a heuristic framework for more definitive research.« less

Physics of negative absolute temperatures.

PubMed

Abraham, Eitan; Penrose, Oliver

2017-01-01

Negative absolute temperatures were introduced into experimental physics by Purcell and Pound, who successfully applied this concept to nuclear spins; nevertheless, the concept has proved controversial: a recent article aroused considerable interest by its claim, based on a classical entropy formula (the "volume entropy") due to Gibbs, that negative temperatures violated basic principles of statistical thermodynamics. Here we give a thermodynamic analysis that confirms the negative-temperature interpretation of the Purcell-Pound experiments. We also examine the principal arguments that have been advanced against the negative temperature concept; we find that these arguments are not logically compelling, and moreover that the underlying "volume" entropy formula leads to predictions inconsistent with existing experimental results on nuclear spins. We conclude that, despite the counterarguments, negative absolute temperatures make good theoretical sense and did occur in the experiments designed to produce them.

Experimental relevance of global properties of time-delayed feedback control.

PubMed

von Loewenich, Clemens; Benner, Hartmut; Just, Wolfram

2004-10-22

We show by means of theoretical considerations and electronic circuit experiments that time-delayed feedback control suffers from severe global constraints if transitions at the control boundaries are discontinuous. Subcritical behavior gives rise to small basins of attraction and thus limits the control performance. The reported properties are, on the one hand, universal since the mechanism is based on general arguments borrowed from bifurcation theory and, on the other hand, directly visible in experimental time series.

Planetary science. Europa's ocean--the case strengthens.

PubMed

Stevenson, D

2000-08-25

The possibility of a subsurface ocean on Jupiter's moon Europa has been suggested on the basis of theoretical, geological, and spectroscopic arguments. But, as Stevenson explains in his Perspective, none of these arguments were compelling. In contrast, the magnetic field data obtained by the Galileo spacecraft and presented in the report by Kivelson et al., provide persuasive evidence for a conducting layer--most likely a global water ocean--near Europa's surface.

How Massive Can Stars Be?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinochet, Jorge; Van Sint Jan, Michael

2017-01-01

Theoretical assessment of the upper limit of a star's mass is a difficult problem which lies at the frontier of astrophysical research. In this article we develop a simple and plausible argument to estimate this value. The value at which we arrive is ~228 solar masses; well within the range of predicted accepted theoretical values. Towards the end…

Constructor theory of probability

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Unitary quantum theory, having no Born Rule, is non-probabilistic. Hence the notorious problem of reconciling it with the unpredictability and appearance of stochasticity in quantum measurements. Generalizing and improving upon the so-called ‘decision-theoretic approach’, I shall recast that problem in the recently proposed constructor theory of information—where quantum theory is represented as one of a class of superinformation theories, which are local, non-probabilistic theories conforming to certain constructor-theoretic conditions. I prove that the unpredictability of measurement outcomes (to which constructor theory gives an exact meaning) necessarily arises in superinformation theories. Then I explain how the appearance of stochasticity in (finitely many) repeated measurements can arise under superinformation theories. And I establish sufficient conditions for a superinformation theory to inform decisions (made under it) as if it were probabilistic, via a Deutsch–Wallace-type argument—thus defining a class of decision-supporting superinformation theories. This broadens the domain of applicability of that argument to cover constructor-theory compliant theories. In addition, in this version some of the argument's assumptions, previously construed as merely decision-theoretic, follow from physical properties expressed by constructor-theoretic principles. PMID:27616914

Beyond the theoretical rhetoric: a proposal to study the consequences of drug legalization.

PubMed

Yacoubian, G S

2001-01-01

Drug legalization is a frequently-debated drug control policy alternative. It should come as little surprise, therefore, that the arguments in favor of both legalization and prohibition have resulted in a conceptual stalemate. While theoretical deliberations are unquestionably valuable, they seem to have propelled this particular issue to its limit. To date, no works have suggested any empirical studies that might test the framework and potential consequences of drug legalization. In the current study, the arguments surrounding the drug legalization debate are synthesized into a proposal for future research. Such a proposal illustrates that the core elements surrounding drug legalization are not only testable, but that the time may be right to consider such an empirical effort.

Maximizing Wellness in Successful Aging and Cancer Coping: The Importance of Family Communication from a Socioemotional Selectivity Theoretical Perspective

PubMed Central

Fisher, Carla L.; Nussbaum, Jon F.

2015-01-01

Interpersonal communication is a fundamental part of being and key to health. Interactions within family are especially critical to wellness across time. Family communication is a central means of adaptation to stress, coping, and successful aging. Still, no theoretical argument in the discipline exists that prioritizes kin communication in health. Theoretical advances can enhance interventions and policies that improve family life. This article explores socioemotional selectivity theory (SST), which highlights communication in our survival. Communication partner choice is based on one's time perspective, which affects our prioritization of goals to survive—goals sought socially. This is a first test of SST in a family communication study on women's health and aging. More than 300 women of varying ages and health status participated. Two time factors, later adulthood and late-stage breast cancer, lead women to prioritize family communication. Findings provide a theoretical basis for prioritizing family communication issues in health reform. PMID:26997920

Maximizing Wellness in Successful Aging and Cancer Coping: The Importance of Family Communication from a Socioemotional Selectivity Theoretical Perspective.

PubMed

Fisher, Carla L; Nussbaum, Jon F

Interpersonal communication is a fundamental part of being and key to health. Interactions within family are especially critical to wellness across time. Family communication is a central means of adaptation to stress, coping, and successful aging. Still, no theoretical argument in the discipline exists that prioritizes kin communication in health. Theoretical advances can enhance interventions and policies that improve family life. This article explores socioemotional selectivity theory (SST), which highlights communication in our survival. Communication partner choice is based on one's time perspective, which affects our prioritization of goals to survive-goals sought socially. This is a first test of SST in a family communication study on women's health and aging. More than 300 women of varying ages and health status participated. Two time factors, later adulthood and late-stage breast cancer, lead women to prioritize family communication. Findings provide a theoretical basis for prioritizing family communication issues in health reform.

Perception and Cognition Are Largely Independent, but Still Affect Each Other in Systematic Ways: Arguments from Evolution and the Consciousness-Attention Dissociation

PubMed Central

Montemayor, Carlos; Haladjian, Harry H.

2017-01-01

The main thesis of this paper is that two prevailing theories about cognitive penetration are too extreme, namely, the view that cognitive penetration is pervasive and the view that there is a sharp and fundamental distinction between cognition and perception, which precludes any type of cognitive penetration. These opposite views have clear merits and empirical support. To eliminate this puzzling situation, we present an alternative theoretical approach that incorporates the merits of these views into a broader and more nuanced explanatory framework. A key argument we present in favor of this framework concerns the evolution of intentionality and perceptual capacities. An implication of this argument is that cases of cognitive penetration must have evolved more recently and that this is compatible with the cognitive impenetrability of early perceptual stages of processing information. A theoretical approach that explains why this should be the case is the consciousness and attention dissociation framework. The paper discusses why concepts, particularly issues concerning concept acquisition, play an important role in the interaction between perception and cognition. PMID:28174551

An Argumentation Framework based on Paraconsistent Logic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Umeda, Yuichi; Takahashi, Takehisa; Sawamura, Hajime

Argumentation is the most representative of intelligent activities of humans. Therefore, it is natural to think that it could have many implications for artificial intelligence and computer science as well. Specifically, argumentation may be considered a most primitive capability for interaction among computational agents. In this paper we present an argumentation framework based on the four-valued paraconsistent logic. Tolerance and acceptance of inconsistency that this logic has as its logical feature allow for arguments on inconsistent knowledge bases with which we are often confronted. We introduce various concepts for argumentation, such as arguments, attack relations, argument justification, preferential criteria of arguments based on social norms, and so on, in a way proper to the four-valued paraconsistent logic. Then, we provide the fixpoint semantics and dialectical proof theory for our argumentation framework. We also give the proofs of the soundness and completeness.

Portfolio theory and the alternative decision rule of cost-effectiveness analysis: theoretical and practical considerations.

PubMed

Sendi, Pedram; Al, Maiwenn J; Gafni, Amiram; Birch, Stephen

2004-05-01

Bridges and Terris (Soc. Sci. Med. (2004)) critique our paper on the alternative decision rule of economic evaluation in the presence of uncertainty and constrained resources within the context of a portfolio of health care programs (Sendi et al. Soc. Sci. Med. 57 (2003) 2207). They argue that by not adopting a formal portfolio theory approach we overlook the optimal solution. We show that these arguments stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of the alternative decision rule of economic evaluation. In particular, the portfolio theory approach advocated by Bridges and Terris is based on the same theoretical assumptions that the alternative decision rule set out to relax. Moreover, Bridges and Terris acknowledge that the proposed portfolio theory approach may not identify the optimal solution to resource allocation problems. Hence, it provides neither theoretical nor practical improvements to the proposed alternative decision rule.

Single-snapshot DOA estimation by using Compressed Sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fortunati, Stefano; Grasso, Raffaele; Gini, Fulvio; Greco, Maria S.; LePage, Kevin

2014-12-01

This paper deals with the problem of estimating the directions of arrival (DOA) of multiple source signals from a single observation vector of an array data. In particular, four estimation algorithms based on the theory of compressed sensing (CS), i.e., the classical ℓ 1 minimization (or Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator, LASSO), the fast smooth ℓ 0 minimization, and the Sparse Iterative Covariance-Based Estimator, SPICE and the Iterative Adaptive Approach for Amplitude and Phase Estimation, IAA-APES algorithms, are analyzed, and their statistical properties are investigated and compared with the classical Fourier beamformer (FB) in different simulated scenarios. We show that unlike the classical FB, a CS-based beamformer (CSB) has some desirable properties typical of the adaptive algorithms (e.g., Capon and MUSIC) even in the single snapshot case. Particular attention is devoted to the super-resolution property. Theoretical arguments and simulation analysis provide evidence that a CS-based beamformer can achieve resolution beyond the classical Rayleigh limit. Finally, the theoretical findings are validated by processing a real sonar dataset.

[Euthanasia and the paradoxes of autonomy].

PubMed

Siqueira-Batista, Rodrigo; Schramm, Fermin Roland

2008-01-01

The principle of respect for autonomy has proved very useful for bioethical arguments in favor of euthanasia. However unquestionable its theoretical efficacy, countless aporiae can be raised when conducting a detailed analysis of this concept, probably checkmating it. Based on such considerations, this paper investigates the principle of autonomy, starting with its origins in Greek and Christian traditions, and then charting some of its developments in Western cultures through to its modern formulation, a legacy of Immanuel Kant. The main paradoxes of this concept are then presented in the fields of philosophy, biology, psychoanalysis and politics, expounding several of the theoretical difficulties to be faced in order to make its applicability possible within the scope of decisions relating to the termination of life.

Critical thinking as a self-regulatory process component in teaching and learning.

PubMed

Phan, Huy P

2010-05-01

This article presents a theoretically grounded model of critical thinking and self-regulation in the context of teaching and learning. Critical thinking, deriving from an educational psychology perspective is a complex process of reflection that helps individuals become more analytical in their thinking and professional development. My conceptualisation in this discussion paper argues that both theoretical orientations (critical thinking and self-regulation) operate in a dynamic interactive system of teaching and learning. My argument, based on existing research evidence, suggests two important points: (i) critical thinking acts as another cognitive strategy of self-regulation that learners use in their learning, and (ii) critical thinking may be a product of various antecedents such as different self-regulatory strategies.

The Thesis, the Pendulum and the Battlefield

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ameri, Amir

2015-01-01

The debate over the design thesis is often entangled in the dialectics of the practical and the theoretical. Whether the argument is waged and weighted in favour of a practical emphasis or a theoretical emphasis, or more insidious, a judicious balance between the two, what is inevitably assumed in the debate is the possibility of drawing and/or…

Theoretical aspects of the equivalence principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Damour, Thibault

2012-09-01

We review several theoretical aspects of the equivalence principle (EP). We emphasize the unsatisfactory fact that the EP maintains the absolute character of the coupling constants of physics, while general relativity and its generalizations (Kaluza-Klein, …, string theory) suggest that all absolute structures should be replaced by dynamical entities. We discuss the EP-violation phenomenology of dilaton-like models, which is likely to be dominated by the linear superposition of two effects: a signal proportional to the nuclear Coulomb energy, related to the variation of the fine-structure constant, and a signal proportional to the surface nuclear binding energy, related to the variation of the light quark masses. We recall various theoretical arguments (including a recently proposed anthropic argument) suggesting that the EP be violated at a small, but not unmeasurably small level. This motivates the need for improved tests of the EP. These tests are probing new territories in physics that are related to deep, and mysterious, issues in fundamental physics.

[Origin of the scientific arguments underlying qualitative research].

PubMed

Minayo, Maria Cecília de Souza

2017-01-01

This article analyzes the origin of the primary arguments that underpin the qualitative approach, covering the birthplace of comprehensive and dialectical thought in Germany, its expansion into other countries such as France and the United States, and its spread into Latin America. The historical journey of the text starts with the development of modern science, examining the first empirical works in the Chicago School and the subsequent period of ostracism of qualitative research. The text also evidences a revival of comprehensive theoretical and empirical perspectives from the 1960s onwards, accompanying the cultural movement that came to question the great theoretical narratives and give rise to reflections on subjectivity. Theoretically, qualitative approaches are now considered a promising form of knowledge construction within the social and human sciences, with consolidated theories and a process of permanent internal critique. Such consolidation is ensured by the researchers' formation of conferences and university departments, the existence of books for the training of new researchers, and the increased presence of relevant spaces in scientific journals.

Using the Cognitive Apprenticeship Web-Based Argumentation System to Improve Argumentation Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsai, Chun-Yen; Jack, Brady Michael; Huang, Tai-Chu; Yang, Jin-Tan

2012-01-01

This study investigated how the instruction of argumentation skills could be promoted by using an online argumentation system. This system entitled "Cognitive Apprenticeship Web-based Argumentation" (CAWA) system was based on cognitive apprenticeship model. One hundred eighty-nine fifth grade students took part in this study. A quasi-experimental…

Information Theoretic Approaches to Rapid Discovery of Relationships in Large Climate Data Sets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knuth, Kevin H.; Rossow, William B.; Clancy, Daniel (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Mutual information as the asymptotic Bayesian measure of independence is an excellent starting point for investigating the existence of possible relationships among climate-relevant variables in large data sets, As mutual information is a nonlinear function of of its arguments, it is not beholden to the assumption of a linear relationship between the variables in question and can reveal features missed in linear correlation analyses. However, as mutual information is symmetric in its arguments, it only has the ability to reveal the probability that two variables are related. it provides no information as to how they are related; specifically, causal interactions or a relation based on a common cause cannot be detected. For this reason we also investigate the utility of a related quantity called the transfer entropy. The transfer entropy can be written as a difference between mutual informations and has the capability to reveal whether and how the variables are causally related. The application of these information theoretic measures is rested on some familiar examples using data from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) to identify relation between global cloud cover and other variables, including equatorial pacific sea surface temperature (SST), over seasonal and El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycles.

The discourse of design-based science classroom activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azevedo, Flávio S.; Martalock, Peggy L.; Keser, Tugba

2015-06-01

This paper is an initial contribution to a general theory in which science classroom activity types and epistemological discourse practices are systematically linked. The idea is that activities and discourse are reflexively related, so that different types of science classroom activities (e.g., scientific argumentation, modeling, and design) recruit characteristically distinct forms of participants' (students and teacher) discourse. Such a general theory would eventually map out the full spectrum of discourse practices (and their patterns of manifestation) across various kinds of science classroom activities, and reveal new relationships between forms of both discourse and activities. Because this defines a complex and long-term project, here our aim is simply to delineate this larger theoretical program and to illustrate it with a detailed case study—namely, that of mapping out and characterizing the discourse practices of design- based science classroom activities. To do so, we draw on data from an activity that is prototypically design-based—i.e., one in which students iteratively design and refine an artifact (in this case, pictorial representations of moving objects)—and examine the structure and dynamics of the whole-class discourse practices that emerge around these representational forms. We then compare and contrast these discourse practices to those of an activity that is prototypical of scientific argumentation (taken from the literature)—i.e., one in which students argue between competing theories and explanations of a phenomenon—and begin to illustrate the kinds of insights our theoretical program might afford.

[Non-speech oral motor treatment efficacy for children with developmental speech sound disorders].

PubMed

Ygual-Fernandez, A; Cervera-Merida, J F

2016-01-01

In the treatment of speech disorders by means of speech therapy two antagonistic methodological approaches are applied: non-verbal ones, based on oral motor exercises (OME), and verbal ones, which are based on speech processing tasks with syllables, phonemes and words. In Spain, OME programmes are called 'programas de praxias', and are widely used and valued by speech therapists. To review the studies conducted on the effectiveness of OME-based treatments applied to children with speech disorders and the theoretical arguments that could justify, or not, their usefulness. Over the last few decades evidence has been gathered about the lack of efficacy of this approach to treat developmental speech disorders and pronunciation problems in populations without any neurological alteration of motor functioning. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association has advised against its use taking into account the principles of evidence-based practice. The knowledge gathered to date on motor control shows that the pattern of mobility and its corresponding organisation in the brain are different in speech and other non-verbal functions linked to nutrition and breathing. Neither the studies on their effectiveness nor the arguments based on motor control studies recommend the use of OME-based programmes for the treatment of pronunciation problems in children with developmental language disorders.

Participation and argument in legislative debate on statewide smoking restrictions

PubMed Central

Apollonio, Dorie E; Lopipero, Peggy; Bero, Lisa A

2007-01-01

Background In this paper we review the relationship between participation in legislative hearings, the use of ideological arguments, and the strength of public health legislation using a theoretical construct proposed by E. E. Schattschneider in 1960. Schattschneider argued that the breadth and types of participation in a political discussion could change political outcomes. Methods We test Schattschneider's argument empirically by reviewing the efforts of six states to pass Clean Indoor Air Acts by coding testimony given before legislators, comparing these findings to the different characteristics of each state's political process and the ultimate strength of each state's legislation. Results We find that although greater participation is associated with stronger legislation, there is no clear relationship between the use and type of ideological arguments and eventual outcomes. Conclusion These findings offer validation of a long-standing theory about the importance of political participation, and suggest strategies for public health advocates seeking to establish new legislation. PMID:17953767

A new probability distribution model of turbulent irradiance based on Born perturbation theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Hongxing; Liu, Min; Hu, Hao; Wang, Qian; Liu, Xiguo

2010-10-01

The subject of the PDF (Probability Density Function) of the irradiance fluctuations in a turbulent atmosphere is still unsettled. Theory reliably describes the behavior in the weak turbulence regime, but theoretical description in the strong and whole turbulence regimes are still controversial. Based on Born perturbation theory, the physical manifestations and correlations of three typical PDF models (Rice-Nakagami, exponential-Bessel and negative-exponential distribution) were theoretically analyzed. It is shown that these models can be derived by separately making circular-Gaussian, strong-turbulence and strong-turbulence-circular-Gaussian approximations in Born perturbation theory, which denies the viewpoint that the Rice-Nakagami model is only applicable in the extremely weak turbulence regime and provides theoretical arguments for choosing rational models in practical applications. In addition, a common shortcoming of the three models is that they are all approximations. A new model, called the Maclaurin-spread distribution, is proposed without any approximation except for assuming the correlation coefficient to be zero. So, it is considered that the new model can exactly reflect the Born perturbation theory. Simulated results prove the accuracy of this new model.

Integrated argument-based inquiry with multiple representation approach to promote scientific argumentation skill

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suminar, Iin; Muslim, Liliawati, Winny

2017-05-01

The purpose of this research was to identify student's written argument embedded in scientific inqury investigation and argumentation skill using integrated argument-based inquiry with multiple representation approach. This research was using quasi experimental method with the nonequivalent pretest-posttest control group design. Sample ot this research was 10th grade students at one of High School in Bandung using two classes, they were 26 students of experiment class and 26 students of control class. Experiment class using integrated argument-based inquiry with multiple representation approach, while control class using argument-based inquiry. This study was using argumentation worksheet and argumentation test. Argumentation worksheet encouraged students to formulate research questions, design experiment, observe experiment and explain the data as evidence, construct claim, warrant, embedded multiple modus representation and reflection. Argumentation testinclude problem which asks students to explain evidence, warrants, and backings support of each claim. The result of this research show experiment class students's argumentation skill performed better than control class students that of experiment class was 0.47 and control class was 0.31. The results of unequal variance t-test for independent means show that students'sargumentationskill of experiment class performed better significantly than students'sargumentationskill of control class.

Using the Cognitive Apprenticeship Web-based Argumentation System to Improve Argumentation Instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsai, Chun-Yen; Jack, Brady Michael; Huang, Tai-Chu; Yang, Jin-Tan

2012-08-01

This study investigated how the instruction of argumentation skills could be promoted by using an online argumentation system. This system entitled `Cognitive Apprenticeship Web-based Argumentation' (CAWA) system was based on cognitive apprenticeship model. One hundred eighty-nine fifth grade students took part in this study. A quasi-experimental design was adopted and qualitative and quantitative analyses were used to evaluate the effectiveness of this online system in measuring students' progress in learning argumentation. The results of this study showed that different teaching strategies had effects on students' use of argumentation in the topics of daily life and the concept of `vision.' When the CAWA system was employed during the instruction and practice of argumentation on these two topics, the students' argumentation performance improved. Suggestions on how the CAWA system could be used to enhance the instruction of argumentation skills in science education were also discussed.

Declining fertility and economic well-being: do education and health ride to the rescue?

PubMed Central

Prettner, Klaus; Bloom, David E.; Strulik, Holger

2015-01-01

It is widely argued that declining fertility slows the pace of economic growth in industrialized countries through its negative effect on labor supply. There are, however, theoretical arguments suggesting that the effect of falling fertility on effective labor supply can be offset by associated behavioral changes. We formalize these arguments by setting forth a dynamic consumer optimization model that incorporates endogenous fertility as well as endogenous education and health investments. The model shows that a fertility decline induces higher education and health investments that are able to compensate for declining fertility under certain circumstances. We assess the theoretical implications by investigating panel data for 118 countries over the period 1980 to 2005 and show that behavioral changes partly mitigate the negative impact of declining fertility on effective labor supply. PMID:26388677

A sociocultural historical examination of youth argumentation across the settings of their lives: Implications for science education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bricker, Leah A.

In this dissertation, I examine youth argumentative practices as employed over time and across settings. Specifically, I examine youth perspective on argumentation and their own argumentative practices, the relationship between argumentation and learning, and the relationship between argumentation and youth, family, and community cultures. The theoretical framework I employ enables me to analyze argumentation as a set of practices employed in situated activity systems and framed by culturally-influenced ways of understanding activity associated with argumentative practice. I utilize data from a long-term team ethnography of youth science and technology learning across settings and time. Research fieldwork was conducted across dozens of social settings over the course of three years. Data includes approximately 700 hours of participant observations and interviews with thirteen upper elementary and middle school young people, as well as 128 of their parents, extended family members, peers, and teachers. Findings highlight the multitude of meanings youth associate with argumentation as it occurs in their lives (e.g., at home, in classrooms, in neighborhoods), as well as the detailed accounts of their argumentative practices and how these practices are differentially used across the social settings youth frequent. Additionally, findings highlight how historically rooted cultural practices help to frame youth perspectives on argumentation and their argumentative practices. Findings also include details about the specific communicative features of youth argumentation (e.g., linguistic elements such as discourse markers, evidentials, and indexicals, as well as non-verbal gestures) and how communicative features relate to youth learning across settings and over time. I use this dissertation in part to dialogue with the science education community, which currently argues that youth in science classrooms should learn how to argue scientifically. Designs of learning environments meant to accomplish that goal have to date not attended to the argumentation practices of youth. I argue that significant progress with respect to this goal is unlikely unless the field deeply attends to the specific details of existing argumentative practices youth employ across the settings of their lives. I use this dissertation to detail their argumentative practices in order to add to the literature in this area.

Have We Vindicated the Motivational Unconscious Yet? A Conceptual Review

PubMed Central

Billon, Alexandre

2011-01-01

Motivationally unconscious (M-unconscious) states are unconscious states that can directly motivate a subject’s behavior and whose unconscious character typically results from a form of repression. The basic argument for M-unconscious states claims that they provide the best explanation for some seemingly non-rational behaviors, like akrasia, impulsivity, or apparent self-deception. This basic argument has been challenged on theoretical, empirical, and conceptual grounds. Drawing on recent works on apparent self-deception and on the “cognitive unconscious” I assess those objections. I argue that (i) even if there is a good theoretical argument for its existence, (ii) most empirical vindications of the M-unconscious miss their target. (iii) As for the conceptual objections, they compel us to modify the classical picture of the M-unconscious. I conclude that M-unconscious states and processes must be affective states and processes that the subject really feels and experiences – and which are in this sense conscious – even though they are not, or not well, cognitively accessible to him. Dual-process psychology and the literature on cold–hot empathy gaps partly support the existence of such M-unconscious states. PMID:21991258

Charge density waves in disordered media circumventing the Imry-Ma argument

DOE PAGES

Changlani, Hitesh J.; Tubman, Norm M.; Hughes, Taylor L.

2016-08-24

Two powerful theoretical predictions, Anderson localization and the Imry-Ma argument, impose significant restrictions on the phases of matter that can exist in the presence of even the smallest amount of disorder in one-dimensional systems. These predictions forbid electrically conducting states and ordered states respectively. It was thus remarkable that a mechanism to circumvent Anderson localization relying on the presence of correlated disorder was found, that is also realized in certain biomolecular systems. Here, in a similar manner, we show that the Imry-Ma argument can be circumvented, resulting in the formation of stable ordered states with discrete broken symmetries in disorderedmore » one dimensional systems. We then investigate other mechanisms by which disorder can destroy an ordered state.« less

Charge density waves in disordered media circumventing the Imry-Ma argument

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Changlani, Hitesh J.; Tubman, Norm M.; Hughes, Taylor L.

Two powerful theoretical predictions, Anderson localization and the Imry-Ma argument, impose significant restrictions on the phases of matter that can exist in the presence of even the smallest amount of disorder in one-dimensional systems. These predictions forbid electrically conducting states and ordered states respectively. It was thus remarkable that a mechanism to circumvent Anderson localization relying on the presence of correlated disorder was found, that is also realized in certain biomolecular systems. Here, in a similar manner, we show that the Imry-Ma argument can be circumvented, resulting in the formation of stable ordered states with discrete broken symmetries in disorderedmore » one dimensional systems. We then investigate other mechanisms by which disorder can destroy an ordered state.« less

Predator-prey Encounter Rates in Turbulent Environments: Consequences of Inertia Effects and Finite Sizes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pecseli, H. L.; Trulsen, J.

2009-10-08

Experimental as well as theoretical studies have demonstrated that turbulence can play an important role for the biosphere in marine environments, in particular also by affecting prey-predator encounter rates. Reference models for the encounter rates rely on simplifying assumptions of predators and prey being described as point particles moving passively with the local flow velocity. Based on simple arguments that can be tested experimentally we propose corrections for the standard expression for the encounter rates, where now finite sizes and Stokes drag effects are included.

The Cultural Shaping of Parental Involvement: Theoretical Insights from Israeli Jewish Parents' Involvement in the Primary Schooling of Their Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erdreich, Lauren; Golden, Deborah

2016-01-01

This paper presents a theoretical argument regarding the power of school to shape parental involvement in culturally informed ways. The paper emerges out of preliminary fieldwork among Jewish middle-class parents in a town in northern Israel, during which our attention was drawn to the intense activity in and around their children's transition to…

Judgment, Probability, and Aristotle's Rhetoric.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warnick, Barbara

1989-01-01

Discusses Aristotle's five means of making judgments: intelligence, "episteme" (scientific knowledge), "sophia" (theoretical wisdom), "techne" (art), and "phronesis" (practical wisdom). Sets Aristotle's theory of rhetorical argument within the context of his overall view of human judgment. Notes that…

Principles and Heuristics for Designing Minimalist Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Meij, Hans; Carroll, John M.

1995-01-01

Presents an overview of principles and heuristics for designing minimalist instruction, with examples and theoretical or empirical arguments. Provides a starting point from which to create minimalist instruction to suit a variety of uses. (SR)

Linear Transforms for Fourier Data on the Sphere: Application to High Angular Resolution Diffusion MRI of the Brain

PubMed Central

Haldar, Justin P.; Leahy, Richard M.

2013-01-01

This paper presents a novel family of linear transforms that can be applied to data collected from the surface of a 2-sphere in three-dimensional Fourier space. This family of transforms generalizes the previously-proposed Funk-Radon Transform (FRT), which was originally developed for estimating the orientations of white matter fibers in the central nervous system from diffusion magnetic resonance imaging data. The new family of transforms is characterized theoretically, and efficient numerical implementations of the transforms are presented for the case when the measured data is represented in a basis of spherical harmonics. After these general discussions, attention is focused on a particular new transform from this family that we name the Funk-Radon and Cosine Transform (FRACT). Based on theoretical arguments, it is expected that FRACT-based analysis should yield significantly better orientation information (e.g., improved accuracy and higher angular resolution) than FRT-based analysis, while maintaining the strong characterizability and computational efficiency of the FRT. Simulations are used to confirm these theoretical characteristics, and the practical significance of the proposed approach is illustrated with real diffusion weighted MRI brain data. These experiments demonstrate that, in addition to having strong theoretical characteristics, the proposed approach can outperform existing state-of-the-art orientation estimation methods with respect to measures such as angular resolution and robustness to noise and modeling errors. PMID:23353603

Parental Authority over Education and the Right to Invite

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warnick, Bryan R.

2014-01-01

In this article, Bryan R. Warnick explores parents' authority to make educational decisions for their children. In philosophical debates, three types of arguments are typically invoked to justify parents' rights: arguments based on the welfare interests of children, arguments based on the expressive interests of parents, and arguments based on the…

Implementation of Web-Based Argumentation in Facilitating Elementary School Students to Learn Environmental Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, T. H.

2014-01-01

This research develops a Web-based argumentation system named the Web-based Interactive Argumentation System (WIAS). WIAS can provide teachers with the scaffolding for argumentation instruction. Students can propose their statements, collect supporting evidence and share and discuss with peers online. This research adopts a quasi-experimental…

Situating Standard Setting within Argument-Based Validity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papageorgiou, Spiros; Tannenbaum, Richard J.

2016-01-01

Although there has been substantial work on argument-based approaches to validation as well as standard-setting methodologies, it might not always be clear how standard setting fits into argument-based validity. The purpose of this article is to address this lack in the literature, with a specific focus on topics related to argument-based…

DNA in the material world: electrical properties and nano-applications.

PubMed

Triberis, Georgios P; Dimakogianni, Margarita

2009-01-01

Contradictory experimental findings and theoretical interpretations have spurred intense debate over the electrical properties of the DNA double helix. In the present review article the various factors responsible for these divergences are discussed. The enlightenment of this issue could improve long range chemistry of oxidative DNA damage and repair processes, monitoring protein-DNA interactions and possible applications in nano-electronic circuit technology. The update experimental situation concerning measurements of the electrical conductivity is given. The character of the carriers responsible for the electrical conductivity measured in DNA is investigated. A theoretical model for the temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity of DNA is presented, based on microscopic models and percolation theoretical arguments. The theoretical results, excluding or including correlation effects, are applied to recent experimental findings for DNA, considering it as a one dimensional molecular wire. The results indicate that correlation effects are probably responsible for large hopping distances in DNA samples. Other theoretical conductivity models proposed for the interpretation of the responsible transport mechanism are also reviewed. Some of the most known and pioneering works on DNA's nano-applications, future developments and perspectives along with current technological limitations and patents are presented and discussed.

The Operation Method of Smarter City Based on Ecological Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, C.; Fan, H. Y.

2017-10-01

As the city and urbanization’s accelerated pace has caused galloping population, the urban framework is extending with increasingly complex social problems. The urban management tends to become complicated and the governance seems more difficult to pursue. exploring the urban management’s new model has attracted local governments’ urgent attention. tcombines the guiding ideology and that management’s practices based on ecological theory, explains the Smarter city Ecology Managementmodel’s formation, makes modern urban management’s comparative analysis and further defines the aforesaid management mode’s conceptual model. Based on the smarter city system theory’s ecological carrying capacity, the author uses mathematical model to prove the coordination relationship between the smarter city Ecology Managementmode’s subsystems, demonstrates that it can improve the urban management’s overall level, emphasizes smarter city management integrity, believing that urban system’s optimization is based on each subsystem being optimized, attaching the importance to elements, structure, and balance between each subsystem and between internal elements. Through the establishment of the smarter city Ecology Managementmodel’s conceptual model and theoretical argumentation, it provides a theoretical basis and technical guidance to that model’s innovation.

Computers in the University's Curriculum: The Theoretical Arguments for Including Computers in Telecommunications.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eastman, Susan T.

1984-01-01

Argues that the telecommunications field has specific computer applications; therefore courses on how to use computer programs for audience analysis, station accounting, newswriting, etc., should be included in the telecommunications curriculum. (PD)

Self-organized criticality in single-neuron excitability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gal, Asaf; Marom, Shimon

2013-12-01

We present experimental and theoretical arguments, at the single-neuron level, suggesting that neuronal response fluctuations reflect a process that positions the neuron near a transition point that separates excitable and unexcitable phases. This view is supported by the dynamical properties of the system as observed in experiments on isolated cultured cortical neurons, as well as by a theoretical mapping between the constructs of self-organized criticality and membrane excitability biophysics.

Evolutionary preferences for physical formidability in leaders.

PubMed

Murray, Gregg R

2014-01-01

This research uses evolutionary theory to evaluate followers' preferences for physically formidable leaders and to identify conditions that stimulate those preferences. It employs a population-based survey experiment (N ≥ 760), which offers the advantages to internal validity of experiments and external validity of a highly heterogeneous sample drawn from a nationally representative subject pool. The theoretical argument proffered here is followers tend to prefer leaders with greater physical formidability because of evolutionary adaptations derived from humans' violent ancestral environment. In this environment, individuals who allied with and ultimately followed physically powerful partners were more likely to acquire and retain important resources necessary for survival and reproduction because the presence of the physically powerful partner cued opponents to avoid a challenge for the resources or risk a costly confrontation. This argument suggests and the results indicate that threatening (war) and nonthreatening (peace, cooperation, and control) stimuli differentially motivate preferences for physically formidable leaders. In particular, the findings suggest threatening conditions lead to preferences for leaders with more powerful physical attributes, both anthropometric (i.e., weight, height, and body mass index) and perceptual (i.e., attributes of being "physically imposing or intimidating" and "physically strong"). Overall, this research offers a theoretical framework from which to understand this otherwise seemingly irrational phenomenon. Further, it advances the emerging but long-neglected investigation of biological effects on political behavior and has implications for a fundamental process in democratic society, leader selection.

Licensing Surrogate Decision-Makers.

PubMed

Rosoff, Philip M

2017-06-01

As medical technology continues to improve, more people will live longer lives with multiple chronic illnesses with increasing cumulative debilitation, including cognitive dysfunction. Combined with the aging of society in most developed countries, an ever-growing number of patients will require surrogate decision-makers. While advance care planning by patients still capable of expressing their preferences about medical interventions and end-of-life care can improve the quality and accuracy of surrogate decisions, this is often not the case, not infrequently leading to demands for ineffective, inappropriate and prolonged interventions. In 1980 LaFollette called for the licensing of prospective parents, basing his argument on the harm they can do to vulnerable people (children). In this paper, I apply his arguments to surrogate decision-makers for cognitively incapacitated patients, rhetorically suggesting that we require potential surrogates to qualify for this position by demonstrating their ability to make reasonable and rational decisions for others. I employ this theoretical approach to argue that the loose criteria by which we authorize surrogates' generally unchallenged power should be reconsidered.

The Impact of Socioscientific Issues Based Curriculum Involving Environmental Outdoor Education for Fourth Grade Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burek, Karey J.

There is a divide between what students are being taught within the science classroom and what they experience out in the real world. This study sought to explore possible relationships between a socioscientific issues embedded curriculum and outcome variables addressing environmental attitude and knowledge, oral and written argumentation and critical thinking skills. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to examine both within and between class differences as well as individual differences between the beginning and end of a semester of elementary school. Results indicated that socioscientific issues assist students in developing their critical thinking skills while also providing students the opportunity to be exposed to and participate in local and global environmental issues influencing the community at large. Statistical significance was found between groups in regards to attitude toward the environment, the qualitative interviews did indicate that some students provided more advanced argumentation skills by articulating alternate viewpoints on controversial environmental topics. Theoretical implications regarding the use of socioscientific issues in the classroom are presented.

Heisenberg's observability principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wolff, Johanna

2014-02-01

Werner Heisenberg's 1925 paper 'Quantum-theoretical re-interpretation of kinematic and mechanical relations' marks the beginning of quantum mechanics. Heisenberg famously claims that the paper is based on the idea that the new quantum mechanics should be 'founded exclusively upon relationships between quantities which in principle are observable'. My paper is an attempt to understand this observability principle, and to see whether its employment is philosophically defensible. Against interpretations of 'observability' along empiricist or positivist lines I argue that such readings are philosophically unsatisfying. Moreover, a careful comparison of Heisenberg's reinterpretation of classical kinematics with Einstein's argument against absolute simultaneity reveals that the positivist reading does not fit with Heisenberg's strategy in the paper. Instead the appeal to observability should be understood as a specific criticism of the causal inefficacy of orbital electron motion in Bohr's atomic model. I conclude that the tacit philosophical principle behind Heisenberg's argument is not a positivistic connection between observability and meaning, but the idea that a theory should not contain causally idle wheels.

[On-line processing mechanisms in text comprehension: a theoretical review on constructing situation models].

PubMed

Iseki, Ryuta

2004-12-01

This article reviewed research on construction of situation models during reading. To position variety of research in overall process appropriately, an unitary framework was devised in terms of three theories for on-line processing: resonance process, event-indexing model, and constructionist theory. Resonance process was treated as a basic activation mechanism in the framework. Event-indexing model was regarded as a screening system which selected and encoded activated information in situation models along with situational dimensions. Constructionist theory was considered to have a supervisory role based on coherence and explanation. From a view of the unitary framework, some problems concerning each theory were examined and possible interpretations were given. Finally, it was pointed out that there were little theoretical arguments on associative processing at global level and encoding text- and inference-information into long-term memory.

Contrasting Models of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Reply to Monroe and Mineka (2008)

PubMed Central

Berntsen, Dorthe; Rubin, David C.; Johansen, Malene Klindt

2009-01-01

We address the four main points in Monroe and Mineka (2008)’s Comment. First, we first show that the DSM PTSD diagnosis includes an etiology and that it is based on a theoretical model with a distinguished history in psychology and psychiatry. Two tenets of this theoretical model are that voluntary (strategic) recollections of the trauma are fragmented and incomplete while involuntary (spontaneous) recollections are vivid and persistent and yield privileged access to traumatic material. Second, we describe differences between our model and other cognitive models of PTSD. We argue that these other models share the same two tenets as the diagnosis and we show that these two tenets are largely unsupported by empirical evidence. Third, we counter arguments about the strength of the evidence favoring the mnemonic model, and fourth, we show that concerns about the causal role of memory in PTSD are based on views of causality that are generally inappropriate for the explanation of PTSD in the social and biological sciences. PMID:20808720

The need for true controversies in psychoanalysis: the debates on Melanie Klein and Jacques Lacan in the Rio de la Plata.

PubMed

Bernardi, Ricardo

2002-08-01

Controversies are part of the process of scientific knowing. In psychoanalysis, the diversity of theoretical, technical and epistemological positions makes the debate particularly necessary and by the same token difficult. In this paper, the author examines the function of controversies and the obstacles to their development, taking as examples the debates held in the Río de la Plata (Buenos Aires and Montevideo) during the nineteen seventies, when the dominant Kleinian ideas came into contact with Lacanian thought. The author examines different examples of argumentative discourses, using concepts taken from the theory of argumentation. The major difficulties encountered did not hinge on characteristics pertaining to psychoanalytic theories (i.e. the lack of commensurability between them), but on the defensive strategies aimed at keeping each theory's premises safe from the opposing party's arguments. A true debate implies the construction of a shared argumentative field that makes it possible to lay out the different positions and see some interaction between them and is guided by the search for the best argument. When this occurs, controversies promote the discipline's development, even when they fail to reach any consensus.

Predictive genetic testing in minors for late-onset conditions: a chronological and analytical review of the ethical arguments.

PubMed

Mand, Cara; Gillam, Lynn; Delatycki, Martin B; Duncan, Rony E

2012-09-01

Predictive genetic testing is now routinely offered to asymptomatic adults at risk for genetic disease. However, testing of minors at risk for adult-onset conditions, where no treatment or preventive intervention exists, has evoked greater controversy and inspired a debate spanning two decades. This review aims to provide a detailed longitudinal analysis and concludes by examining the debate's current status and prospects for the future. Fifty-three relevant theoretical papers published between 1990 and December 2010 were identified, and interpretative content analysis was employed to catalogue discrete arguments within these papers. Novel conclusions were drawn from this review. While the debate's first voices were raised in opposition of testing and their arguments have retained currency over many years, arguments in favour of testing, which appeared sporadically at first, have gained momentum more recently. Most arguments on both sides are testable empirical claims, so far untested, rather than abstract ethical or philosophical positions. The dispute, therein, lies not so much in whether minors should be permitted to access predictive genetic testing but whether these empirical claims on the relative benefits or harms of testing should be assessed.

Social values and the corruption argument against financial incentives for healthy behaviour

PubMed Central

Brown, Rebecca C H

2017-01-01

Financial incentives may provide a way of reducing the burden of chronic diseases by motivating people to adopt healthy behaviours. While it is still uncertain how effective such incentives could be for promoting health, some argue that, even if effective, there are ethical objections that preclude their use. One such argument is made by Michael Sandel, who suggests that monetary transactions can have a corrupting effect on the norms and values that ordinarily regulate exchange and behaviour in previously non-monetised contexts. In this paper, I outline Sandel's corruption argument and consider its validity in the context of health incentives. I distinguish between two forms of corruption that are implied by Sandel's argument: efficiency corruption and value corruption. While Sandel's thought-provoking discussion provides a valuable contribution to debates about health policies generally and health incentives specifically, I suggest the force of his criticism of health incentives is limited: further empirical evidence and theoretical reasoning are required to support the suggestion that health incentives are an inappropriate tool for promoting health. While I do not find Sandel's corruption argument compelling, this only constitutes a partial defence of health incentives, since other criticisms relating to their use may prove more successful. PMID:27738254

Using the Change Manager Model for the Hippocampal System to Predict Connectivity and Neurophysiological Parameters in the Perirhinal Cortex

PubMed Central

Coward, L. Andrew; Gedeon, Tamas D.

2016-01-01

Theoretical arguments demonstrate that practical considerations, including the needs to limit physiological resources and to learn without interference with prior learning, severely constrain the anatomical architecture of the brain. These arguments identify the hippocampal system as the change manager for the cortex, with the role of selecting the most appropriate locations for cortical receptive field changes at each point in time and driving those changes. This role results in the hippocampal system recording the identities of groups of cortical receptive fields that changed at the same time. These types of records can also be used to reactivate the receptive fields active during individual unique past events, providing mechanisms for episodic memory retrieval. Our theoretical arguments identify the perirhinal cortex as one important focal point both for driving changes and for recording and retrieving episodic memories. The retrieval of episodic memories must not drive unnecessary receptive field changes, and this consideration places strong constraints on neuron properties and connectivity within and between the perirhinal cortex and regular cortex. Hence the model predicts a number of such properties and connectivity. Experimental test of these falsifiable predictions would clarify how change is managed in the cortex and how episodic memories are retrieved. PMID:26819594

Daring to Marry: Marriage Equality Activism After Proposition 8 as Challenge to the Assimilationist/Radical Binary in Queer Studies.

PubMed

Weber, Shannon

2015-01-01

I analyze three case studies of marriage equality activism and marriage equality-based groups after the passage of Proposition 8 in California. Evaluating the JoinTheImpact protests of 2008, the LGBTQ rights group GetEQUAL, and the group One Struggle One Fight, I argue that these groups revise queer theoretical arguments about marriage equality activism as by definition assimilationist, homonormative, and single-issue. In contrast to such claims, the cases studied here provide a snapshot of heterogeneous, intersectional, and coalition-based social justice work in which creative methods of protest, including direct action and flash mobs, are deployed in militant ways for marriage rights and beyond.

Assessing the validity of discourse analysis: transdisciplinary convergence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jaipal-Jamani, Kamini

2014-12-01

Research studies using discourse analysis approaches make claims about phenomena or issues based on interpretation of written or spoken text, which includes images and gestures. How are findings/interpretations from discourse analysis validated? This paper proposes transdisciplinary convergence as a way to validate discourse analysis approaches to research. The argument is made that discourse analysis explicitly grounded in semiotics, systemic functional linguistics, and critical theory, offers a credible research methodology. The underlying assumptions, constructs, and techniques of analysis of these three theoretical disciplines can be drawn on to show convergence of data at multiple levels, validating interpretations from text analysis.

Feet and syllables in elephants and missiles: a reappraisal.

PubMed

Zonneveld, Wim; van der Pas, Brigit; de Bree, Elise

2007-01-01

Using data from a case study presented in Chiat (1989), Marshall and Chiat (2003) compare two different approaches to account for the realization of intervocalic consonants in child phonology: "coda capture theory" and the "foot domain account". They argue in favour of the latter account. In this note, we present a reappraisal of this argument using the same data. We conclude that acceptance of the foot domain account, in the specific way developed by the authors, is unmotivated for both theoretical and empirical reasons. We maintain that syllable-based coda capture is (still) the better approach to account for the relevant facts.

Asymptotics of nonparametric L-1 regression models with dependent data

PubMed Central

ZHAO, ZHIBIAO; WEI, YING; LIN, DENNIS K.J.

2013-01-01

We investigate asymptotic properties of least-absolute-deviation or median quantile estimates of the location and scale functions in nonparametric regression models with dependent data from multiple subjects. Under a general dependence structure that allows for longitudinal data and some spatially correlated data, we establish uniform Bahadur representations for the proposed median quantile estimates. The obtained Bahadur representations provide deep insights into the asymptotic behavior of the estimates. Our main theoretical development is based on studying the modulus of continuity of kernel weighted empirical process through a coupling argument. Progesterone data is used for an illustration. PMID:24955016

Impact of Model-Based Teaching on Argumentation Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ogan-Bekiroglu, Feral; Belek, Deniz Eren

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine effects of model-based teaching on students' argumentation skills. Experimental design guided to the research. The participants of the study were pre-service physics teachers. The argumentative intervention lasted seven weeks. Data for this research were collected via video recordings and written arguments.…

Test of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Steering Based on the All-Versus-Nothing Proof

PubMed Central

Wu, Chunfeng; Chen, Jing-Ling; Ye, Xiang-Jun; Su, Hong-Yi; Deng, Dong-Ling; Wang, Zhenghan; Oh, C. H.

2014-01-01

In comparison with entanglement and Bell nonlocality, Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering is a newly emerged research topic and in its incipient stage. Although Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering has been explored via violations of steering inequalities both theoretically and experimentally, the known inequalities in the literatures are far from well-developed. As a result, it is not yet possible to observe Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering for some steerable mixed states. Recently, a simple approach was presented to identify Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering based on all-versus-nothing argument, offering a strong condition to witness the steerability of a family of two-qubit (pure or mixed) entangled states. In this work, we show that the all-versus-nothing proof of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering can be tested by measuring the projective probabilities. Through the bound of probabilities imposed by local-hidden-state model, the proposed test shows that steering can be detected by the all-versus-nothing argument experimentally even in the presence of imprecision and errors. Our test can be implemented in many physical systems and we discuss the possible realizations of our scheme with non-Abelian anyons and trapped ions. PMID:24598858

Complexity in language acquisition.

PubMed

Clark, Alexander; Lappin, Shalom

2013-01-01

Learning theory has frequently been applied to language acquisition, but discussion has largely focused on information theoretic problems-in particular on the absence of direct negative evidence. Such arguments typically neglect the probabilistic nature of cognition and learning in general. We argue first that these arguments, and analyses based on them, suffer from a major flaw: they systematically conflate the hypothesis class and the learnable concept class. As a result, they do not allow one to draw significant conclusions about the learner. Second, we claim that the real problem for language learning is the computational complexity of constructing a hypothesis from input data. Studying this problem allows for a more direct approach to the object of study--the language acquisition device-rather than the learnable class of languages, which is epiphenomenal and possibly hard to characterize. The learnability results informed by complexity studies are much more insightful. They strongly suggest that target grammars need to be objective, in the sense that the primitive elements of these grammars are based on objectively definable properties of the language itself. These considerations support the view that language acquisition proceeds primarily through data-driven learning of some form. Copyright © 2013 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Test of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering based on the all-versus-nothing proof.

PubMed

Wu, Chunfeng; Chen, Jing-Ling; Ye, Xiang-Jun; Su, Hong-Yi; Deng, Dong-Ling; Wang, Zhenghan; Oh, C H

2014-03-06

In comparison with entanglement and Bell nonlocality, Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering is a newly emerged research topic and in its incipient stage. Although Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering has been explored via violations of steering inequalities both theoretically and experimentally, the known inequalities in the literatures are far from well-developed. As a result, it is not yet possible to observe Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering for some steerable mixed states. Recently, a simple approach was presented to identify Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering based on all-versus-nothing argument, offering a strong condition to witness the steerability of a family of two-qubit (pure or mixed) entangled states. In this work, we show that the all-versus-nothing proof of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering can be tested by measuring the projective probabilities. Through the bound of probabilities imposed by local-hidden-state model, the proposed test shows that steering can be detected by the all-versus-nothing argument experimentally even in the presence of imprecision and errors. Our test can be implemented in many physical systems and we discuss the possible realizations of our scheme with non-Abelian anyons and trapped ions.

Argumentation Based Joint Learning: A Novel Ensemble Learning Approach

PubMed Central

Xu, Junyi; Yao, Li; Li, Le

2015-01-01

Recently, ensemble learning methods have been widely used to improve classification performance in machine learning. In this paper, we present a novel ensemble learning method: argumentation based multi-agent joint learning (AMAJL), which integrates ideas from multi-agent argumentation, ensemble learning, and association rule mining. In AMAJL, argumentation technology is introduced as an ensemble strategy to integrate multiple base classifiers and generate a high performance ensemble classifier. We design an argumentation framework named Arena as a communication platform for knowledge integration. Through argumentation based joint learning, high quality individual knowledge can be extracted, and thus a refined global knowledge base can be generated and used independently for classification. We perform numerous experiments on multiple public datasets using AMAJL and other benchmark methods. The results demonstrate that our method can effectively extract high quality knowledge for ensemble classifier and improve the performance of classification. PMID:25966359

Legitimacy and Justice Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mueller, Charles W.; Landsman, Miriam J.

2004-01-01

Consistent with the theoretical argument of Hegtvedt and Johnson, we empirically examine the relationship between collectivity-generated legitimacy of reward procedures and individual-level justice perceptions about reward distributions. Using data from a natural setting, we find that collectivity sources of validity (authorization and…

Perezhivanie and classroom discourse: a cultural-historical perspective on "Discourse of design based science classroom activities"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adams, Megan; March, Sue

2015-06-01

Flavio Azevedo, Peggy Martalock and Tugba Keser challenge the `argumentation focus of science lessons' and propose that through a `design-based approach' emergent conversations with the teacher offer possibilities for different types of discussions to enhance pedagogical discourse in science classrooms. This important paper offers a "preliminary contribution to a general theory" regarding the link between activity types and discourse practices. Azevedo, Martalock and Keser offer a general perspective with a sociocultural framing for analysis of classroom discourse. Interestingly the specific concepts drawn upon are from conversation analysis; there are few sociocultural concepts explored in detail. Therefore, in this article we focus on a cultural historical (Vygotsky in The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky. The history and development of higher mental functions, vol 4. Plenum Press, New York, 1987; The Vygotsky reader. Black, Cambridge, 1994) methodology to explore, analyse and explain how we would use a different theoretical lens. We argue that a cultural historical reading of argumentation in science lessons and design based activity will expand Azevedo, Martalock and Keser's proposed general theory of activity types and discourse practices. Specifically, we use Lev Vygotksy's idea of perezhivanie as the unit of analysis to reconceptualise this important paper. We focus on the holistic category of students' emotional experience through discourse while developing scientific awareness.

Linear transforms for Fourier data on the sphere: application to high angular resolution diffusion MRI of the brain.

PubMed

Haldar, Justin P; Leahy, Richard M

2013-05-01

This paper presents a novel family of linear transforms that can be applied to data collected from the surface of a 2-sphere in three-dimensional Fourier space. This family of transforms generalizes the previously-proposed Funk-Radon Transform (FRT), which was originally developed for estimating the orientations of white matter fibers in the central nervous system from diffusion magnetic resonance imaging data. The new family of transforms is characterized theoretically, and efficient numerical implementations of the transforms are presented for the case when the measured data is represented in a basis of spherical harmonics. After these general discussions, attention is focused on a particular new transform from this family that we name the Funk-Radon and Cosine Transform (FRACT). Based on theoretical arguments, it is expected that FRACT-based analysis should yield significantly better orientation information (e.g., improved accuracy and higher angular resolution) than FRT-based analysis, while maintaining the strong characterizability and computational efficiency of the FRT. Simulations are used to confirm these theoretical characteristics, and the practical significance of the proposed approach is illustrated with real diffusion weighted MRI brain data. These experiments demonstrate that, in addition to having strong theoretical characteristics, the proposed approach can outperform existing state-of-the-art orientation estimation methods with respect to measures such as angular resolution and robustness to noise and modeling errors. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Is Piaget's epistemic subject dead?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lawson, Anton E.

Niaz (1990) presents arguments in favor of the retention of Piaget's epistemic subject as a theoretical construct to guide research and practice in science education and psychology. The intent of this article is to point out the weaknesses of those arguments and to suggest that the weight of evidence argues against the existence of the logical thinker postulated by Piaget. Therefore, contrary to Niaz's conclusion that the acceptance of Piaget's epistemic subject will facilitate the development of cognitive theories with greater explanatory power, the conclusion is reached that Piaget's epistemic subject is dead and that continued acceptance of this aspect of Piagetian theory would be counterproductive.

The motor theory of speech perception revisited.

PubMed

Massaro, Dominic W; Chen, Trevor H

2008-04-01

Galantucci, Fowler, and Turvey (2006) have claimed that perceiving speech is perceiving gestures and that the motor system is recruited for perceiving speech. We make the counter argument that perceiving speech is not perceiving gestures, that the motor system is not recruitedfor perceiving speech, and that speech perception can be adequately described by a prototypical pattern recognition model, the fuzzy logical model of perception (FLMP). Empirical evidence taken as support for gesture and motor theory is reconsidered in more detail and in the framework of the FLMR Additional theoretical and logical arguments are made to challenge gesture and motor theory.

Expanding Discourse Repertoires with Hybridity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Gregory J.

2012-01-01

In "Hybrid discourse practice and science learning" Kamberelis and Wehunt present a theoretically rich argument about the potential of hybrid discourses for science learning. These discourses draw from different forms of "talk, social practice, and material practices" to create interactions that are "intertextually complex" and "interactionally…

Inoculating against Pro-Plagiarism Justifications: Rational and Affective Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Compton, Josh; Pfau, Michael

2008-01-01

Student plagiarism continues to threaten academic integrity. This investigation assessed whether an inoculation message strategy could combat university plagiarism by protecting student attitudes against pro-plagiarism justification arguments. Additionally, we sought theoretical confirmation of previous findings on involvement and accessibility in…

Examining the Value of a Scaffolded Critique Framework to Promote Argumentative and Explanatory Writings within an Argument-Based Inquiry Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jang, Jeong-yoon; Hand, Brian

2017-01-01

This study investigated the value of using a scaffolded critique framework to promote two different types of writing--argumentative writing and explanatory writing--with different purposes within an argument-based inquiry approach known as the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach. A quasi-experimental design with sixth and seventh grade…

Framing new research in science literacy and language use: Authenticity, multiple discourses, and the Third Space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wallace, Carolyn S.

2004-11-01

This article presents a theoretical framework in the form of a model on which to base research in scientific literacy and language use. The assumption guiding the framework is that scientific literacy is comprised of the abilities to think metacognitively, to read and write scientific texts, and to apply the elements of a scientific argument. The framework is composed of three theoretical constructs: authenticity, multiple discourses, and Bhabha's Third Space. Some of the implications of the framework are that students need opportunities to (a) use scientific language in everyday situations; (b) negotiate readily among the many discourse genres of science; and (c) collaborate with teachers and peers on the meaning of scientific language. These ideas are illustrated with data excerpts from contemporary research studies. A set of potential research issues for the future is posed at the end of the article.

Multiblob coarse-graining for mixtures of long polymers and soft colloids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Locatelli, Emanuele; Capone, Barbara; Likos, Christos N.

2016-11-01

Soft nanocomposites represent both a theoretical and an experimental challenge due to the high number of the microscopic constituents that strongly influence the behaviour of the systems. An effective theoretical description of such systems invokes a reduction of the degrees of freedom to be analysed, hence requiring the introduction of an efficient, quantitative, coarse-grained description. We here report on a novel coarse graining approach based on a set of transferable potentials that quantitatively reproduces properties of mixtures of linear and star-shaped homopolymeric nanocomposites. By renormalizing groups of monomers into a single effective potential between a f-functional star polymer and an homopolymer of length N0, and through a scaling argument, it will be shown how a substantial reduction of the to degrees of freedom allows for a full quantitative description of the system. Our methodology is tested upon full monomer simulations for systems of different molecular weight, proving its full predictive potential.

Addiction and autonomy: can addicted people consent to the prescription of their drug of addiction?

PubMed

Foddy, Bennett; Savulescu, Julian

2006-02-01

It is often claimed that the autonomy of heroin addicts is compromised when they are choosing between taking their drug of addiction and abstaining. This is the basis of claims that they are incompetent to give consent to be prescribed heroin. We reject these claims on a number of empirical and theoretical grounds. First we argue that addicts are likely to be sober, and thus capable of rational thought, when approaching researchers to participate in research. We reject behavioural evidence purported to establish that addicts lack autonomy. We present an argument that extrinsic forces must be irresistible in order to make a choice non-autonomous. We argue that heroin does not present such an irresistible force. We make a case that drug-oriented desires are strong regular appetitive desires, which do not compromise consent. Finally we argue that an addict's apparent desire to engage in a harmful act cannot be construed as evidence of irrational or compulsive thought. On these arguments, a sober heroin addict must be considered competent, autonomous and capable of giving consent. More generally, any argument against legalisation of drugs or supporting infringement of the liberty of those desiring to take drugs of addiction must be based on considerations of harm and paternalism, and not on false claims that addicts lack freedom of the will.

Fads, fashions, and bandwagons in health care strategy.

PubMed

Kaissi, Amer A; Begun, James W

2008-01-01

Many observers have alleged that "fads," "fashions," and "bandwagons" (imitation strategies) are prominent feature of the health care organizational strategy landscape. "Imitation behavior" may fulfill symbolic functions such as signaling innovativeness but results in the adoption of strategies that are effective for some organizations but not for many organizations that adopt them. We seek to identify and recognize the extent of fads, fashions, and bandwagons in health care strategy, understand the rationale for such imitation behavior, and draw implications for practice, education, and research. We examine theoretical arguments for imitation and evidence on imitation strategies in health care organizations, based on literature review, interviews with health care managers in two different metropolitan areas, and a case example of the purchase of medical group practices by hospitals. Fads, fashions, and bandwagons can be distinguished from strategic responses to regulatory requirements and efficient strategic choices that are the result of systematic analysis. There are substantial theoretical reasons to expect imitation behavior. Imitation strategies can derive from copying the behavior of "exemplar" organizations or from "keeping up" with competitive rivals. Anecdotal and empirical evidence points to a significant amount of imitation behavior in health care strategy. The performance effects of imitation behavior have not been investigated in past research. The widespread existence of fads and fashions is an argument for evidence-based management. Although it is essential to learn about strategies that have worked for other organizations, managers should carefully take account of the quality of evidence for the strategy and their organizations' distinctive local conditions. Managers should beware of the tendency of individuals and groups to move too readily to the solution stage of problem solving.

Quality, Evolution, and Positional Change of University Students' Argumentation Patterns about Organic Agriculture during an Argument-Critique-Argument Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yu, Shu-Mey; Yore, Larry D.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality, evolution, and position of university students' argumentation about organic agriculture over a 4-week argument-critique-argument e-learning experience embedded in a first year university biology course. The participants (N = 43) were classified into three groups based on their…

Individual Differences in the "Myside Bias" in Reasoning and Written Argumentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolfe, Christopher R.

2012-01-01

Three studies examined the "myside bias" in reasoning, evaluating written arguments, and writing argumentative essays. Previous research suggests that some people possess a fact-based argumentation schema and some people have a balanced argumentation schema. I developed reliable Likert scale instruments (1-7 rating) for these constructs…

50 CFR 18.89 - Oral and written arguments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Oral and written arguments. 18.89 Section... and written arguments. (a) The presiding officer may, in his discretion, provide for oral argument by... presiding officer proposed findings and conclusions and written arguments or briefs, which are based upon...

Individual versus Group Argumentation: Student's Performance in a Malaysian Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heng, Lee Ling; Surif, Johari; Seng, Cher Hau

2014-01-01

Scientific argumentation has been greatly emphasized in the National Science Standard due to its ability to enhance students' understanding of scientific concepts. This study investigated the mastery level of scientific argumentation, based on Toulmin's Argumentation Model (TAP), when students engage in individual and group argumentations. A total…

Fuzzy-Set Case Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mikkelsen, Kim Sass

2017-01-01

Contemporary case studies rely on verbal arguments and set theory to build or evaluate theoretical claims. While existing procedures excel in the use of qualitative information (information about kind), they ignore quantitative information (information about degree) at central points of the analysis. Effectively, contemporary case studies rely on…

Operant Variability: Procedures and Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Machado, Armando; Tonneau, Francois

2012-01-01

Barba's (2012) article deftly weaves three main themes in one argument about operant variability. From general theoretical considerations on operant behavior (Catania, 1973), Barba derives methodological guidelines about response differentiation and applies them to the study of operant variability. In the process, he uncovers unnoticed features of…

Reconstructing Dewey: Dialectics and Democratic Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, Jeff

2012-01-01

This essay aims to demonstrate the theoretical purchase offered by linking Dewey's educational theory with a rigorous account of dialectical development. Drawing on recent literature which emphasizes the continuing influence of Hegel on Dewey's thought throughout the latter's career, this essay reconstructs Dewey's argument regarding the…

Norwegian Superintendents as Mediators of Change Initiatives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paulsen, Jan Merok

2014-01-01

The underlying theoretical argument in this article views municipal school superintendents in the Nordic context as middle managers in organizational theory terminology. Empirical support for this discussion emerges from national data collected among Norwegian school superintendents in 2009. Findings show that the actual work and leadership…

Supporting Use of Evidence in Argumentation through Practice in Argumentation and Reflection in the Context of SOCRATES Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iordanou, Kalypso; Constantinou, Costas P.

2015-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine how students used evidence in argumentation while they engaged in argumentive and reflective activities in the context of a designed learning environment. A Web-based learning environment, SOCRATES, was developed, which included a rich data base on the topic of climate change. Sixteen 11th graders, working with…

Analogical-mapping-based comparison tasks as a scaffold for argumentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Emig, Brandon R.

Given the centrality of the argumentation process to science and consequent importance to science education, inviting science students to engage in argumentation and scaffolding that argumentation in order that it lead to learning and not frustration is important. The present research invites small groups of science content learners (54 preservice elementary teachers at a large research university) to use analogical-mapping-based comparison tasks in service of argumentation to determine which of two possible analogues, in this case simple machines, is most closely related to a third. These activities and associated instruction scaffolded student small-groups' argumentation in four ways: (1) supporting new analogical correspondences on the heels of prior correspondences; (2) discerning definitions and descriptions for simple machine elements; (3) identifying and dealing with ambiguity in potential correspondences; and (4) making reflections on prior analogical correspondences in service of their final arguments. Analogical-mapping-based comparison activities scaffolded student small groups both in their argumentation and in content learning about simple machines. Implications, limitations, and directions for future related research are also discussed.

Supporting middle school students' construction of evidence-based arguments: Impact of and student interactions with computer-based argumentation scaffolds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belland, Brian Robert

Middle school students have difficulty creating evidence-based arguments (EBAs) during problem-based learning (PBL) units due to challenges (a) adequately representing the unit's central problem (Ge & Land, 2004; Liu & Bera, 2005), (b) determining and obtaining the most relevant evidence (Pedersen & Liu, 2002-2003), and (c) synthesizing gathered information to construct a sound argument (Cho & Jonassen, 2002). I designed and developed the Connection Log to support middle school students in this process. This study addressed (1) the Connection Log's impact on (a) argument evaluation ability, and (b) group argument quality and (2) how and why middle school science students used the Connection Log. Four sections of a 7th-grade science class participated. Student groups selected a stakeholder position related to the Human Genome Project (HGP) and needed to decide on and promote a plan to use $3 million to further their position as pertains to the HGP. I randomly assigned one higher-achieving and one lower-achieving class to Connection Log or no Connection Log conditions. Students completed an argument evaluation test, and impact on argument evaluation ability was determined using nested ANOVA. Two graduate students, blind to treatment conditions, rated group arguments, and impact on group argument quality was determined using nested MANOVA. To determine how and why students used the Connection Log, I videotaped and interviewed one small group from each class in the experimental condition. I coded transcripts and generated themes, triangulating the two data sources with informal observations during all class sessions and what students wrote in the Connection Log. I detected no significant differences on claim, evidence, or connection of claim to evidence ratings of debate performances. However, students used the Connection Log to counter different difficulties, and I found a significant main effect of the Connection Log on argument evaluation ability, as well as a significant simple main effect of the Connection Log on argument evaluation ability of lower-achieving students. Implications include the Connection Log's potential to facilitate the creation of evidence-based arguments and the importance of (a) supporting English as a New Language students' efforts and (b) redundancy in communication.

Negotiating Competing Schemas for Discourse: A Framework and Study of Argument Construction. The Writing of Arguments across Diverse Contexts. Study 2. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higgins, Lorraine; Flower, Linda

A study described college student writers as they constructed arguments, creating a picture of school-based argument drawn not from ideal models of arguments as envisioned by educators, but from experiences of students themselves. A three-part framework that synthesizes rhetorical perspectives on argument with a social-cognitive view of the…

A trade based view on casino taxation: market conditions.

PubMed

Li, Guoqiang; Gu, Xinhua; Wu, Jie

2015-06-01

This article presents a trade based theory of casino taxation along with empirical evidence found from Macao as a typical tourism resort. We prove that there is a unique optimum gaming tax in a particular market for casino gambling, argue that any change in this tax is engendered by external demand shifts, and suggest that the economic rent from gambling legalization should be shared through such optimal tax between the public and private sectors. Our work also studies the tradeoff between economic benefits and social costs arising from casino tourism, and provides some policy recommendations for the sustainable development of gaming-led economies. The theoretical arguments in this article turn out to be consistent with empirical observations on Macao realities over the recent decade.

Towards a Formal Basis for Modular Safety Cases

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Denney, Ewen; Pai, Ganesh

2015-01-01

Safety assurance using argument-based safety cases is an accepted best-practice in many safety-critical sectors. Goal Structuring Notation (GSN), which is widely used for presenting safety arguments graphically, provides a notion of modular arguments to support the goal of incremental certification. Despite the efforts at standardization, GSN remains an informal notation whereas the GSN standard contains appreciable ambiguity especially concerning modular extensions. This, in turn, presents challenges when developing tools and methods to intelligently manipulate modular GSN arguments. This paper develops the elements of a theory of modular safety cases, leveraging our previous work on formalizing GSN arguments. Using example argument structures we highlight some ambiguities arising through the existing guidance, present the intuition underlying the theory, clarify syntax, and address modular arguments, contracts, well-formedness and well-scopedness of modules. Based on this theory, we have a preliminary implementation of modular arguments in our toolset, AdvoCATE.

Nursing and euthanasia: a review of argument-based ethics literature.

PubMed

Quaghebeur, Toon; Dierckx de Casterlé, Bernadette; Gastmans, Chris

2009-07-01

This article gives an overview of the nursing ethics arguments on euthanasia in general, and on nurses' involvement in euthanasia in particular, through an argument-based literature review. An in-depth study of these arguments in this literature will enable nurses to engage in the euthanasia debate. We critically appraised 41 publications published between January 1987 and June 2007. Nursing ethics arguments on (nurses' involvement in) euthanasia are guided primarily by the principles of respect for autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence and justice. Ethical arguments related to the nursing profession are described. From a care perspective, we discuss arguments that evaluate to what degree euthanasia can be considered positively or negatively as a form of good nursing care. Most arguments in the principle-, profession- and care-orientated approaches to nursing ethics are used both pro and contra euthanasia in general, and nurses' involvement in euthanasia in particular.

Grade 10 Thai students' scientific argumentation in learning about electric field through science, technology, and society (STS) approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chitnork, Amporn; Yuenyong, Chokchai

2018-01-01

The research aimed to enhance Grade 10 Thai students' scientific argumentation in learning about electric field through science, technology, and society (STS) approach. The participants included 45 Grade 10 students who were studying in a school in Nongsonghong, Khon Kaen, Thailand. Methodology regarded interpretive paradigm. The intervention was the force unit which was provided based on Yuenyong (2006) STS approach. Students learned about the STS electric field unit for 4 weeks. The students' scientific argumentation was interpreted based on Toulmin's argument pattern or TAP. The TAP provided six components of argumentation including data, claim, warrants, qualifiers, rebuttals and backing. Tools of interpretation included students' activity sheets, conversation, journal writing, classroom observation and interview. The findings revealed that students held the different pattern of argumentation. Then, they change pattern of argumentation close to the TAP. It indicates that the intervention of STS electric field unit enhance students to develop scientific argumentation. This finding may has implication of further enhancing scientific argumentation in Thailand.

Scaffolding Online Argumentation during Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oh, S.; Jonassen, D. H.

2007-01-01

In this study, constraint-based argumentation scaffolding was proposed to facilitate online argumentation performance and ill-structured problem solving during online discussions. In addition, epistemological beliefs were presumed to play a role in solving ill-structured diagnosis-solution problems. Constraint-based discussion boards were…

Do habitable worlds require magnetic fields?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brain, D. A.; Egan, H. L.; Ma, Y. J.; Jarvinen, R.; Jakosky, B. M.; Moore, T. E.; Garcia-Sage, K.

2017-12-01

Of the three terrestrial worlds that have significant atmospheres (Venus, Earth, and Mars), only Earth also possesses a global dynamo magnetic field. This magnetic field is often thought to have shielded the planet from the impinging solar wind, preventing the atmosphere from being stripped away to space. The atmospheres of Mars and Venus, by contrast, are thought to have escaped to space or been dessicated (respectively) due at least in part to their planet's lack of global magnetic field. The assumption that global scale magnetic fields are a necessary requirement for surface habitability is widely used both in the planetary and exoplanetary communities, but this assumption has been called into question in recent years based both on theoretical arguments and on observations returned by spacecraft. Here we summarize the arguments "for" and "against" the importance of magnetic fields for planetary habitability, and review the observations that teach us about the role of magnetic fields. We then identify several ongoing efforts and likely fruitful avenues for determining whether a dynamo field is necessary for life to be possible at a planet's surface.

Surface symmetry energy of nuclear energy density functionals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nikolov, N.; Schunck, N.; Nazarewicz, W.; Bender, M.; Pei, J.

2011-03-01

We study the bulk deformation properties of the Skyrme nuclear energy density functionals (EDFs). Following simple arguments based on the leptodermous expansion and liquid drop model, we apply the nuclear density functional theory to assess the role of the surface symmetry energy in nuclei. To this end, we validate the commonly used functional parametrizations against the data on excitation energies of superdeformed band heads in Hg and Pb isotopes and fission isomers in actinide nuclei. After subtracting shell effects, the results of our self-consistent calculations are consistent with macroscopic arguments and indicate that experimental data on strongly deformed configurations in neutron-rich nuclei are essential for optimizing future nuclear EDFs. The resulting survey provides a useful benchmark for further theoretical improvements. Unlike in nuclei close to the stability valley, whose macroscopic deformability hangs on the balance of surface and Coulomb terms, the deformability of neutron-rich nuclei strongly depends on the surface symmetry energy; hence, its proper determination is crucial for the stability of deformed phases of the neutron-rich matter and description of fission rates for r-process nucleosynthesis.

Size of photons and the idea of coherence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pandey, Rakesh Kumar

2018-05-01

Ever since behavior of photons were explained in terms of the matter-wave duality, mystery about the size of such a photon as it behaves like a particle has never slipped out from the scientific discussions. It is normally believed that the size of the photons is of the order of the wavelength of the electromagnetic wave. This paper addresses this scientific concern and attempts at opening the issue up for discussion after making a completely theoretical but consistent proposition. The argument presented here borrows the idea from the way particles have been conceptualized in quantum mechanics. In quantum mechanics it is argued that a particle gets represented not by a single wave but a group of waves in a way that the group velocity of such a group of waves exactly gives the velocity of the particle. Based on the same argument it is explained how the coherence length instead of the wavelength of the electromagnetic wave, must estimate the linear dimension of a photon. In the end, the discussion on the size of a photon in view of the special theory of relativity is also initiated in this paper.

The structure of recreation behavior

Treesearch

Thomas A. More; James R. Averill

2003-01-01

We present a meta-theoretical analysis of recreation concepts as an argument about organizing and explaining recreation behavior. Recreation activities are behavioral constructions that people build from both prototypic subsystems (those present in virtually all instances of the activity) and design subsystems (optional subsystems that adapt the activity to serve...

Incorporating Emotional Intelligence in Legal Education: A Theoretical Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Douglas, Susan

2015-01-01

"Thinking like a lawyer" is traditionally associated with rational-analytical problem solving and an adversarial approach to conflict. These features have been correlated with problems of psychological, or emotional, distress amongst lawyers and law students. These problems provide a strong argument for incorporating a consideration of…

"People Who Need People": Attachment and Professional Caregiving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schuengel, C.; Kef, S.; Damen, S.; Worm, M.

2010-01-01

From the perspective of attachment theory, this paper discusses individual differences in the quality of caregiving by direct-care staff for persons with intellectual disabilities. Theoretical arguments and findings from related literature are cited to support the probable role of professionals' own attachment experiences and their mental…

Interpretation as Adaptation: Education for Survival in Uncertain Times

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gough, Steve; Stables, Andrew

2012-01-01

The argument challenges dominant approaches to education for sustainability through adopting a theoretical framework grounded in broad ontological realism but epistemological relativism, consonant with both Darwin and a fully semiotic account of living and learning (Stables & Gough, 2006; Stables, 2005, 2006). This framework draws together strands…

Sanctification, Stress, and Marital Quality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellison, Christopher G.; Henderson, Andrea K.; Glenn, Norval D.; Harkrider, Kristine E.

2011-01-01

This article contributes to recent work investigating the role of religious sanctification, that is, the process via which one's spouse or marital relationship is perceived as having divine character or sacred significance. We outline a series of theoretical arguments linking marital sanctification with specific aspects of marital quality. A…

Chinese Language Teaching and Information Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ho, Man-koon

2000-01-01

Provides an overview of the theoretical arguments and problems encountered in the implementation of information technology in Chinese language teaching. States there is a belief that teaching and learning can be enhanced with the introduction of information technology, explaining that it may increase students' motivation to learn. (CMK)

Out of Asia: Learning Re-Examined, Teacher Education Re-Configured

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dobinson, Toni

2012-01-01

The impetus for this argumentative paper is anecdotal evidence overheard in West Australian educational settings indicating that there continues to be "othering" of learners from Asian backgrounds. Exploring prevailing Western social, theoretical and educational discourses associated with Asia, the author argues that teacher education in…

Patterns of Bureaucracy in Intercollegiate Athletic Departments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rocha, Claudio M.

2010-01-01

The theoretical argument of the current research is that athletic departments have been effective in attaining their conflicting goals mainly because they have become highly effective in managing institutional rules. Neo-institutionalism (DiMaggio & Powell, 1991), loose coupling (Meyer & Rowan, 1977), and patterns of bureaucracy (Gouldner, 1954)…

Demystification of Bell inequality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khrennikov, Andrei

2009-08-01

The main aim of this review is to show that the common conclusion that Bell's argument implies that any attempt to proceed beyond quantum mechanics induces a nonlocal model was not totally justified. Our analysis of Bell's argument demonstrates that violation of Bell's inequality implies neither "death of realism" nor nonlocality. This violation is just a sign of non-Kolmogorovness of statistical data - impossibility to put statistical data collected in a few different experiments (corresponding to incompatible settings of polarization beam splitters) in one probability space. This inequality was well known in theoretical probability since 19th century (from works of Boole). We couple non-Kolmogorovness of data with design of modern detectors of photons.

Staging on the Internet: research on online photo album users in Taiwan with the spectacle/performance paradigm.

PubMed

Hsu, Chiung-wen

2007-08-01

This study explores motivations of online photo album users in Taiwan and the distinctive "staging" phenomenon with media gratifications and an a priori theoretical framework, the spectacle/performance paradigm (SPP). Media drenching, performance, function and reference are "new" gratifications, which no prior research was found. These gratifications are consistent with the argument of the "diffused audience" on the Internet. This study verifies that the process-content distinction may not be applicable in the Internet setting because distinctions between the real world and the mediated world are vanishing, which is also the main argument of the SPP paradigm.

Disentangling Gratitude: A Theoretical and Psychometric Examination of the Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test-Revised Short (GRAT-RS).

PubMed

Hammer, Joseph H; Brenner, Rachel E

2017-07-14

This study extended our theoretical and applied understanding of gratitude through a psychometric examination of the most popular multidimensional measure of gratitude, the Gratitude, Resentment, and Appreciation Test-Revised Short form (GRAT-RS). Namely, the dimensionality of the GRAT-RS, the model-based reliability of the GRAT-RS total score and 3 subscale scores, and the incremental evidence of validity for its latent factors were assessed. Dimensionality measures (e.g., explained common variance) and confirmatory factor analysis results with 426 community adults indicated that the GRAT-RS conformed to a multidimensional (bifactor) structure. Model-based reliability measures (e.g., omega hierarchical) provided support for the future use of the Lack of a Sense of Deprivation raw subscale score, but not for the raw GRAT-RS total score, Simple Appreciation subscale score, or Appreciation of Others subscale score. Structural equation modeling results indicated that only the general gratitude factor and the lack of a sense of deprivation specific factor accounted for significant variance in life satisfaction, positive affect, and distress. These findings support the 3 pillars of gratitude conceptualization of gratitude over competing conceptualizations, the position that the specific forms of gratitude are theoretically distinct, and the argument that appreciation is distinct from the superordinate construct of gratitude.

Constraints on spin-dependent parton distributions at large x from global QCD analysis

DOE PAGES

Jimenez-Delgado, P.; Avakian, H.; Melnitchouk, W.

2014-09-28

This study investigate the behavior of spin-dependent parton distribution functions (PDFs) at large parton momentum fractions x in the context of global QCD analysis. We explore the constraints from existing deep-inelastic scattering data, and from theoretical expectations for the leading x → 1 behavior based on hard gluon exchange in perturbative QCD. Systematic uncertainties from the dependence of the PDFs on the choice of parametrization are studied by considering functional forms motivated by orbital angular momentum arguments. Finally, we quantify the reduction in the PDF uncertainties that may be expected from future high-x data from Jefferson Lab at 12 GeV.

The Shannon entropy as a measure of diffusion in multidimensional dynamical systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giordano, C. M.; Cincotta, P. M.

2018-05-01

In the present work, we introduce two new estimators of chaotic diffusion based on the Shannon entropy. Using theoretical, heuristic and numerical arguments, we show that the entropy, S, provides a measure of the diffusion extent of a given small initial ensemble of orbits, while an indicator related with the time derivative of the entropy, S', estimates the diffusion rate. We show that in the limiting case of near ergodicity, after an appropriate normalization, S' coincides with the standard homogeneous diffusion coefficient. The very first application of this formulation to a 4D symplectic map and to the Arnold Hamiltonian reveals very successful and encouraging results.

Statistical analysis of financial returns for a multiagent order book model of asset trading

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Preis, Tobias; Golke, Sebastian; Paul, Wolfgang; Schneider, Johannes J.

2007-07-01

We recently introduced a realistic order book model [T. Preis , Europhys. Lett. 75, 510 (2006)] which is able to generate the stylized facts of financial markets. We analyze this model in detail, explain the consequences of the use of different groups of traders, and focus on the foundation of a nontrivial Hurst exponent based on the introduction of a market trend. Our order book model supports the theoretical argument that a nontrivial Hurst exponent implies not necessarily long-term correlations. A coupling of the order placement depth to the market trend can produce fat tails, which can be described by a truncated Lévy distribution.

Success, Difficulty, and Instructional Strategy to Enact an Argument-Based Inquiry Approach: Experiences of Elementary Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choi, Aeran; Klein, Vanessa; Hershberger, Susan

2015-01-01

This study aimed to investigate the successes and difficulties that teachers perceived as they enacted an argument-based inquiry approach; and instructional strategies that teachers used within an argument-based inquiry approach. Nineteen elementary teachers from 14 Midwestern elementary schools were enrolled in an intensive 2-week professional…

Understanding Cognitive Engagement in Online Discussion: Use of a Scaffolded, Audio-Based Argumentation Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oh, Eunjung Grace; Kim, Hyun Song

2016-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to explore how adult learners engage in asynchronous online discussion through the implementation of an audio-based argumentation activity. The study designed scaffolded audio-based argumentation activities to promote students' cognitive engagement. The research was conducted in an online graduate course at a liberal…

Nonlocality without inequality for almost all two-qubit entangled states based on Cabello's nonlocality argument

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kunkri, Samir; Choudhary, Sujit K.; Ahanj, Ali

2006-02-15

Here we deal with a nonlocality argument proposed by Cabello, which is more general than Hardy's nonlocality argument, but still maximally entangled states do not respond. However, for most of the other entangled states, maximum probability of success of this argument is more than that of the Hardy's argument.

The impact of design-based modeling instruction on seventh graders' spatial abilities and model-based argumentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McConnell, William J.

Due to the call of current science education reform for the integration of engineering practices within science classrooms, design-based instruction is receiving much attention in science education literature. Although some aspect of modeling is often included in well-known design-based instructional methods, it is not always a primary focus. The purpose of this study was to better understand how design-based instruction with an emphasis on scientific modeling might impact students' spatial abilities and their model-based argumentation abilities. In the following mixed-method multiple case study, seven seventh grade students attending a secular private school in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States underwent an instructional intervention involving design-based instruction, modeling and argumentation. Through the course of a lesson involving students in exploring the interrelatedness of the environment and an animal's form and function, students created and used multiple forms of expressed models to assist them in model-based scientific argument. Pre/post data were collected through the use of The Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotation, the Mental Rotation Test and interviews. Other data included a spatial activities survey, student artifacts in the form of models, notes, exit tickets, and video recordings of students throughout the intervention. Spatial abilities tests were analyzed using descriptive statistics while students' arguments were analyzed using the Instrument for the Analysis of Scientific Curricular Arguments and a behavior protocol. Models were analyzed using content analysis and interviews and all other data were coded and analyzed for emergent themes. Findings in the area of spatial abilities included increases in spatial reasoning for six out of seven participants, and an immense difference in the spatial challenges encountered by students when using CAD software instead of paper drawings to create models. Students perceived 3D printed models to better assist them in scientific argumentation over paper drawing models. In fact, when given a choice, students rarely used paper drawing to assist in argument. There was also a difference in model utility between the two different model types. Participants explicitly used 3D printed models to complete gestural modeling, while participants rarely looked at 2D models when involved in gestural modeling. This study's findings added to current theory dealing with the varied spatial challenges involved in different modes of expressed models. This study found that depth, symmetry and the manipulation of perspectives are typically spatial challenges students will attend to using CAD while they will typically ignore them when drawing using paper and pencil. This study also revealed a major difference in model-based argument in a design-based instruction context as opposed to model-based argument in a typical science classroom context. In the context of design-based instruction, data revealed that design process is an important part of model-based argument. Due to the importance of design process in model-based argumentation in this context, trusted methods of argument analysis, like the coding system of the IASCA, was found lacking in many respects. Limitations and recommendations for further research were also presented.

Characteristic Sizes of Life in the Oceans, from Bacteria to Whales.

PubMed

Andersen, K H; Berge, T; Gonçalves, R J; Hartvig, M; Heuschele, J; Hylander, S; Jacobsen, N S; Lindemann, C; Martens, E A; Neuheimer, A B; Olsson, K; Palacz, A; Prowe, A E F; Sainmont, J; Traving, S J; Visser, A W; Wadhwa, N; Kiørboe, T

2016-01-01

The size of an individual organism is a key trait to characterize its physiology and feeding ecology. Size-based scaling laws may have a limited size range of validity or undergo a transition from one scaling exponent to another at some characteristic size. We collate and review data on size-based scaling laws for resource acquisition, mobility, sensory range, and progeny size for all pelagic marine life, from bacteria to whales. Further, we review and develop simple theoretical arguments for observed scaling laws and the characteristic sizes of a change or breakdown of power laws. We divide life in the ocean into seven major realms based on trophic strategy, physiology, and life history strategy. Such a categorization represents a move away from a taxonomically oriented description toward a trait-based description of life in the oceans. Finally, we discuss life forms that transgress the simple size-based rules and identify unanswered questions.

Assurance Arguments for the Non-Graphically-Inclined: Two Approaches

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heavner, Emily; Holloway, C. Michael

2017-01-01

We introduce and discuss two approaches to presenting assurance arguments. One approach is based on a monograph structure, while the other is based on a tabular structure. In today's research and academic setting, assurance cases often use a graphical notation; however for people who are not graphically inclined, these notations can be difficult to read. This document proposes, outlines, explains, and presents examples of two non-graphical assurance argument notations that may be appropriate for non-graphically-inclined readers and also provide argument writers with freedom to add details and manipulate an argument in multiple ways.

Improved argument-FFT frequency offset estimation for QPSK coherent optical Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Jilong; Li, Wei; Yuan, Zhilin; Li, Haitao; Huang, Liyan; Hu, Qianggao

2016-02-01

A frequency offset estimation (FOE) algorithm based on fast Fourier transform (FFT) of the signal's argument is investigated, which does not require removing the modulated data phase. In this paper, we analyze the flaw of the argument-FFT algorithm and propose a combined FOE algorithm, in which the absolute of frequency offset (FO) is accurately calculated by argument-FFT algorithm with a relatively large number of samples and the sign of FO is determined by FFT-based interpolation discrete Fourier transformation (DFT) algorithm with a relatively small number of samples. Compared with the previous algorithms based on argument-FFT, the proposed one has low complexity and can still effectively work with a relatively less number of samples.

Rethinking Communication in Innovation Processes: Creating Space for Change in Complex Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leeuwis, Cees; Aarts, Noelle

2011-01-01

This paper systematically rethinks the role of communication in innovation processes, starting from largely separate theoretical developments in communication science and innovation studies. Literature review forms the basis of the arguments presented. The paper concludes that innovation is a collective process that involves the contextual…

A Note on Verification of Computer Simulation Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aigner, Dennis J.

1972-01-01

Establishes an argument that questions the validity of one test'' of goodness-of-fit (the extent to which a series of obtained measures agrees with a series of theoretical measures) for the simulated time path of a simple endogenous (internally developed) variable in a simultaneous, perhaps dynamic econometric model. (Author)

The Evolution of Social and Semantic Networks in Epistemic Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Margolin, Drew Berkley

2012-01-01

This study describes and tests a model of scientific inquiry as an evolving, organizational phenomenon. Arguments are derived from organizational ecology and evolutionary theory. The empirical subject of study is an "epistemic community" of scientists publishing on a research topic in physics: the string theoretic concept of…

Looking at and Looking Along: A Conceptual Framework for Teaching Different Perspectives in Geography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Puttick, Steven

2013-01-01

This paper builds on arguments made by Chalmers, Keown, and Kent ["Exploring Different 'Perspectives' in Secondary Geography: Professional Development Options." "International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education," 11(4), 313-324 (2002)], about teaching different theoretical perspectives in geography.…

Learner Differences in Theory and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalantzis, Mary; Cope, Bill

2016-01-01

This paper explores the complex and shifting dimensions of the social, cultural and bodily differences that impact on learners and their learning. Our theoretical argument proceeds in five stages. First, we build a typology of terms used to classify demographic differences for the purposes of designing, implementing and evaluating the…

Theory of precipitation effects on dead cylindrical fuels

Treesearch

Michael A. Fosberg

1972-01-01

Numerical and analytical solutions of the Fickian diffusion equation were used to determine the effects of precipitation on dead cylindrical forest fuels. The analytical solution provided a physical framework. The numerical solutions were then used to refine the analytical solution through a similarity argument. The theoretical solutions predicted realistic rates of...

The Metrical Foot in Diyari.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poser, William

1989-01-01

Considers the metrical foot in Diyari, a South Australian Language, and concludes that, on the basis of stress alone, an argument can be made for the constituency of the metrical stress foot under certain theoretical assumptions. This conclusion is reinforced by the occupance in Diyari of other less theory-dependant phenomena. (46 references) (JL)

Rejoinder to V. Suthakaran

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hansen, James T.

2012-01-01

V. Suthakaran (2012) uses cognitive-experiential self-theory as the basis for his argument that the humanities and science should have equal ideological status in the counseling profession. The author disagrees with this basic thesis and some of the related theoretical points that V. Suthakaran makes. However, the author agrees that the humanities…

An Argument for Love in Intercultural Education for Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lanas, Maija

2017-01-01

This paper proposes rethinking intercultural education in teacher education, arguing that any discussion of student teachers' intercultural education should be connected more explicitly to a theoretical conceptualisation of love. The first part of the paper focuses on identifying discursive boundaries in engaging with intercultural education in…

Pedagogy Is for Kids: Andragogy Is for Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moberg, Eric

2006-01-01

Malcolm Knowles laments the paucity of "thinking, investigating, and writing about adult learning" in the opening sentence of his theoretical framework of "Andragogy" (1998, p. 35). Knowles' central argument is that we learn differently as adults from how we learn as children, so we should tailor adult education accordingly. Knowles highlighted…

A Galilean Approach to the Galileo Affair, 1609-2009

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Finocchiaro, Maurice A.

2011-01-01

Galileo's telescopic discoveries of 1609-1612 provided a crucial, although not conclusive, confirmation of the Copernican hypothesis of the earth's motion. In Galileo's approach, the Copernican Revolution required that the geokinetic hypothesis be supported not only with new theoretical arguments but also with new observational evidence; that it…

Acting White: A Critical Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sohn, Kitae

2011-01-01

The hypothesis of acting White has been heatedly debated and influential over the last 20 years or so in explaining the Black-White test score gap. Recently, economists have joined the debate and started providing new theoretical and empirical analyses of the phenomenon. This paper critically reviews the arguments that have been advanced to…

The Communicative Function of Ambiguity in Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piantadosi, Steven T.; Tily, Harry; Gibson, Edward

2012-01-01

We present a general information-theoretic argument that all efficient communication systems will be ambiguous, assuming that context is informative about meaning. We also argue that ambiguity allows for greater ease of processing by permitting efficient linguistic units to be re-used. We test predictions of this theory in English, German, and…

Free Speech Yearbook 1978.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phifer, Gregg, Ed.

The 17 articles in this collection deal with theoretical and practical freedom of speech issues. The topics include: freedom of speech in Marquette Park, Illinois; Nazis in Skokie, Illinois; freedom of expression in the Confederate States of America; Robert M. LaFollette's arguments for free speech and the rights of Congress; the United States…

"When You're in a Different Country, Things Are More Apparent": Gender and Study Abroad in Mexico

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGivern, Martha B.

2013-01-01

This dissertation bridges the divide between comparative education and international education literature by examining student experiences in study abroad programs to make theoretical arguments about the role of culture in "doing" and "undoing" gender. The "undoing gender" framework in comparative education literature…

Examining Transfer Effects from Dialogic Discussions to New Tasks and Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reznitskaya, Alina; Glina, Monica; Carolan, Brian; Michaud, Olivier; Rogers, Jon; Sequeira, Lavina

2012-01-01

This study investigated whether students who engage in inquiry dialogue with others improve their performance on various tasks measuring argumentation development. The study used an educational environment called Philosophy for Children (P4C) to examine specific theoretical assumptions regarding the role dialogic interaction plays in the…

Individualized population care: linking personal care to population care in general practice.

PubMed

Buetow, Stephen; Getz, Linn; Adams, Peter

2008-10-01

General practice is increasingly expected to deliver population care to individual patients. The feasibility and ethics of this policy shift have been challenged. Our aim is to suggest how to deliver population care while protecting personal care. We outline and discuss concepts of these types of care, their relation to the prevailing discourse regarding intervention benefits, and arguments for individualized population care. Individualized population care can enable general practice to meet the health targets of individual patients in the light of population-based goals. It unifies the concepts of personal care and whole population care. Personal care focuses on the individual good in particular consultations. Whole population care focuses on the overall health good of a population without reference to the individuality of each population member. These types of care constitute elements of a continuum that varies in purpose and objects of focus. The limitations of a crude dichotomy of personal care and population care are made explicit in a series of five arguments that lend support to the concept of individualized population care. We advocate a constructive but critical attitude towards the idea of population-based interventions in everyday general practice. Traditional personal care and whole population care can theoretically be integrated into individualized population care. However, this presupposes clinical-epidemiological expertise and moral awareness in practising clinicians.

Who theorizes age? The "socio-demographic variables" device and age-period-cohort analysis in the rhetoric of survey research.

PubMed

Rughiniș, Cosima; Humă, Bogdana

2015-12-01

In this paper we argue that quantitative survey-based social research essentializes age, through specific rhetorical tools. We outline the device of 'socio-demographic variables' and we discuss its argumentative functions, looking at scientific survey-based analyses of adult scientific literacy, in the Public Understanding of Science research field. 'Socio-demographics' are virtually omnipresent in survey literature: they are, as a rule, used and discussed as bundles of independent variables, requiring little, if any, theoretical and measurement attention. 'Socio-demographics' are rhetorically effective through their common-sense richness of meaning and inferential power. We identify their main argumentation functions as 'structure building', 'pacification', and 'purification'. Socio-demographics are used to uphold causal vocabularies, supporting the transmutation of the descriptive statistical jargon of 'effects' and 'explained variance' into 'explanatory factors'. Age can also be studied statistically as a main variable of interest, through the age-period-cohort (APC) disambiguation technique. While this approach has generated interesting findings, it did not mitigate the reductionism that appears when treating age as a socio-demographic variable. By working with age as a 'socio-demographic variable', quantitative researchers convert it (inadvertently) into a quasi-biological feature, symmetrical, as regards analytical treatment, with pathogens in epidemiological research. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Inviting Argument by Analogy: Analogical-Mapping-Based Comparison Activities as a Scaffold for Small-Group Argumentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Emig, Brandon R.; McDonald, Scott; Zembal-Saul, Carla; Strauss, Susan G.

2014-01-01

This study invited small groups to make several arguments by analogy about simple machines. Groups were first provided training on analogical (structure) mapping and were then invited to use analogical mapping as a scaffold to make arguments. In making these arguments, groups were asked to consider three simple machines: two machines that they had…

Design Research on Inquiry-Based Multivariable Calculus: Focusing on Students' Argumentation and Instructional Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kwon, Oh Nam; Bae, Younggon; Oh, Kuk Hwan

2015-01-01

In this study, researchers design and implement an inquiry based multivariable calculus course in a university which aims at enhancing students' argumentation in rich mathematical discussions. This research aims to understand the characteristics of students' argumentation in activities involving proof constructions through mathematical…

Argumentation Practices in Classroom: Pre-service teachers' conceptual understanding of chemical equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaya, Ebru

2013-05-01

This study examines the impact of argumentation practices on pre-service teachers' understanding of chemical equilibrium. The sample consisted of 100 pre-service teachers in two classes of a public university. One of these classes was assigned as experimental and the other as control group, randomly. In the experimental group, the subject of chemical equilibrium was taught by using argumentative practices and the participants were encouraged to participate in the lessons actively. However, the instructor taught the same subject by using the lecturing method without engaging argumentative activities in the control group. The Chemical Equilibrium Concept Test and Written Argumentation Survey were administered to all participants to assess their conceptual understanding and the quality of their arguments, respectively. The analysis of covariance results indicate that argumentation practices significantly improved conceptual understanding of the experimental group when compared to the control group. Furthermore, the results show that the pre-service teachers exposed to argumentative practices constructed more quality arguments than those in the control group after the instruction. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the instruction based on argumentative practices is effective in concept teaching in science education. Therefore, argumentation should be explicitly taught in teacher education besides elementary and secondary education.

The pedagogy of argumentation in science education: science teachers' instructional practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Özdem Yilmaz, Yasemin; Cakiroglu, Jale; Ertepinar, Hamide; Erduran, Sibel

2017-07-01

Argumentation has been a prominent concern in science education research and a common goal in science curriculum in many countries over the past decade. With reference to this goal, policy documents burden responsibilities on science teachers, such as involving students in dialogues and being guides in students' spoken or written argumentation. Consequently, teachers' pedagogical practices regarding argumentation gain importance due to their impact on how they incorporate this practice into their classrooms. In this study, therefore, we investigated the instructional strategies adopted by science teachers for their argumentation-based science teaching. Participants were one elementary science teacher, two chemistry teachers, and four graduate students, who have a background in science education. The study took place during a graduate course, which was aimed at developing science teachers' theory and pedagogy of argumentation. Data sources included the participants' video-recorded classroom practices, audio-recorded reflections, post-interviews, and participants' written materials. The findings revealed three typologies of instructional strategies towards argumentation. They are named as Basic Instructional Strategies for Argumentation, Meta-level Instructional ‌St‌‌rategies for ‌Argumentation, and Meta-strategic Instructional ‌St‌‌rategies for ‌Argumentation. In conclusion, the study provided a detailed coding framework for the exploration of science teachers' instructional practices while they are implementing argumentation-based lessons.

A stale challenge to the philosophy of science: commentary on "Is psychology based on a methodological error?" by Michael Schwarz.

PubMed

Ruck, Nora; Slunecko, Thomas

2010-06-01

In his article "Is psychology based on a methodological error?" and based on a quite convincing empirical basis, Michael Schwarz offers a methodological critique of one of mainstream psychology's key test theoretical axioms, i.e., that of the in principle normal distribution of personality variables. It is characteristic of this paper--and at first seems to be a strength of it--that the author positions his critique within a frame of philosophy of science, particularly positioning himself in the tradition of Karl Popper's critical rationalism. When scrutinizing Schwarz's arguments, however, we find Schwarz's critique profound only as an immanent critique of test theoretical axioms. We raise doubts, however, as to Schwarz's alleged 'challenge' to the philosophy of science because the author not at all seems to be in touch with the state of the art of contemporary philosophy of science. Above all, we question the universalist undercurrent that Schwarz's 'bio-psycho-social model' of human judgment boils down to. In contrast to such position, we close our commentary with a plea for a context- and culture sensitive philosophy of science.

Promoting Students' Attention to Argumentative Reasoning Patterns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cavagnetto, Andy R.; Kurtz, Kenneth J.

2016-01-01

Argument-based interventions in science education have largely been motivated by the perspective that students lack knowledge of argument. Recent studies, however, suggest that contextual factors influence students' argument quality. The authors hypothesize that a key limiting factor lies in students' abilities to recognize when to employ…

Modelling Mathematical Argumentation: The Importance of Qualification

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Inglis, Matthew; Mejia-Ramos, Juan; Simpson, Adrian

2007-01-01

In recent years several mathematics education researchers have attempted to analyse students' arguments using a restricted form of Toulmina's ["The Uses of Argument," Cambridge University Press, UK, 1958] argumentation scheme. In this paper we report data from task-based interviews conducted with highly talented postgraduate mathematics students,…

Characterizing the changes in teaching practice during first semester implementation of an argument-based inquiry approach in a middle school science classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinney, Brian Robert John

The purpose of this study was to characterize ways in which teaching practice in classroom undergoing first semester implementation of an argument-based inquiry approach changes in whole-class discussion. Being that argument is explicitly called for in the Next Generation Science Standards and is currently a rare practice in teaching, many teachers will have to transform their teaching practice for inclusion of this feature. Most studies on Argument-Based Inquiry (ABI) agree that development of argument does not come easily and is only acquired through practice. Few studies have examined the ways in which teaching practice changes in relation to the big idea or disciplinary core idea (NGSS), the development of dialogue, and/or the development of argument during first semester implementation of an argument-based inquiry approach. To explore these areas, this study posed three primary research questions: (1) How does a teacher in his first semester of Science Writing Heuristic professional development make use of the "big idea"?, (1a) Is the indicated big idea consistent with NGSS core concepts?, (2) How did the dialogue in whole-class discussion change during the first semester of argument-based inquiry professional development?, (3) How did the argument in whole-class discussion change during the first semester of argument-based inquiry professional development? This semester-long study that took place in a middle school in a rural Midwestern city was grounded in interactive constructivism, and utilized a qualitative design to identify the ways in which the teacher utilized big ideas and how dialogue and argumentative dialogue developed over time. The purposefully selected teacher in this study provided a unique situation where he was in his first semester of professional development using the Science Writing Heuristic Approach to argument-based inquiry with 19 students who had two prior years' experience in ABI. Multiple sources of data were collected, including classroom video with transcripts, teacher interview, researcher field notes, student journals, teacher lesson plans from previous years, and a student questionnaire. Data analysis used a basic qualitative approach. The results showed (1) only the first time period had a true big idea, while the other two units contained topics, (2) each semester contained a similar use for the given big idea, though its role in the class was reduced after the opening activity, (3) the types of teacher questions shifted toward students explaining their comprehension of ideas and more students were involved in discussing each idea and for more turns of talk than in earlier time periods, (4) understanding science term definitions became more prominent later in the semester, with more stating science terms occurring earlier in the semester, (5) no significant changes were seen to the use of argument or claims and evidence throughout the study. The findings have informed theory and practice about science argumentation, the practice of whole-class dialogue, and the understanding of practice along four aspects: (1) apparent lack of understanding about big ideas and how to utilize them as the central organizing feature of a unit, (2) independent development of dialogue and argument, (3) apparent lack of understanding about the structure of argument and use of basic terminology with argument and big ideas, (4) challenges of ABI implementation. This study provides insight into the importance of prolonged and persistent professional development with ABI in teaching practice.

Social values and the corruption argument against financial incentives for healthy behaviour.

PubMed

Brown, Rebecca C H

2017-03-01

Financial incentives may provide a way of reducing the burden of chronic diseases by motivating people to adopt healthy behaviours. While it is still uncertain how effective such incentives could be for promoting health, some argue that, even if effective, there are ethical objections that preclude their use. One such argument is made by Michael Sandel, who suggests that monetary transactions can have a corrupting effect on the norms and values that ordinarily regulate exchange and behaviour in previously non-monetised contexts. In this paper, I outline Sandel's corruption argument and consider its validity in the context of health incentives. I distinguish between two forms of corruption that are implied by Sandel's argument: efficiency corruption and value corruption While Sandel's thought-provoking discussion provides a valuable contribution to debates about health policies generally and health incentives specifically, I suggest the force of his criticism of health incentives is limited: further empirical evidence and theoretical reasoning are required to support the suggestion that health incentives are an inappropriate tool for promoting health. While I do not find Sandel's corruption argument compelling, this only constitutes a partial defence of health incentives, since other criticisms relating to their use may prove more successful. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Dutch Protocols for Deliberately Ending the Life of Newborns: A Defence.

PubMed

Tedesco, Matthew

2017-06-01

The Groningen Protocol, introduced in the Netherlands in 2005 and accompanied by revised guidelines published in a report commissioned by the Royal Dutch Medical Association in 2014, specifies conditions under which the lives of severely ill newborns may be deliberately ended. Its publication came four years after the Netherlands became the first nation to legalize the voluntary active euthanasia of adults, and the Netherlands remains the only country to offer a pathway to protecting physicians who might engage in deliberately ending the life of a newborn (DELN). In this paper, I offer two lines of argument. The first is a positive argument for the Protocol, grounded in the good of the newborn as unanimously determined by those in a position to determine it. The second addresses the widely shared belief that the killing of newborns is morally prohibited, where I offer two arguments-one grounded in the fact that the kinds of cases the Protocol is meant to govern are very rare and highly unusual, and the other focused more broadly on the role of pre-theoretical beliefs in moral reasoning-meant to undermine the strong role that the critic of the Protocol affords this belief. I argue that, given this second line of argument, the beliefs underlying my positive argument for the Protocol are in fact more secure than the widely shared belief underlying the critic's position.

Innovative learning model for improving students’ argumentation skill and concept understanding on science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nafsiati Astuti, Rini

2018-04-01

Argumentation skill is the ability to compose and maintain arguments consisting of claims, supports for evidence, and strengthened-reasons. Argumentation is an important skill student needs to face the challenges of globalization in the 21st century. It is not an ability that can be developed by itself along with the physical development of human, but it must be developed under nerve like process, giving stimulus so as to require a person to be able to argue. Therefore, teachers should develop students’ skill of arguing in science learning in the classroom. The purpose of this study is to obtain an innovative learning model that are valid in terms of content and construct in improving the skills of argumentation and concept understanding of junior high school students. The assessment of content validity and construct validity was done through Focus Group Discussion (FGD), using the content and construct validation sheet, book model, learning video, and a set of learning aids for one meeting. Assessment results from 3 (three) experts showed that the learning model developed in the category was valid. The validity itself shows that the developed learning model has met the content requirement, the student needs, state of the art, strong theoretical and empirical foundation and construct validity, which has a connection of syntax stages and components of learning model so that it can be applied in the classroom activities

Debating the role of econophysics.

PubMed

Rosser, J Barkley

2008-07-01

Research in econophysics has been going on for more than a decade with considerable publicity in some of the leading general science journals. Strong claims have been made by some advocates regarding its reputed superiority to economics, with arguments that in fact the teaching of microeconomics and macroeconomics as they are currently constituted should cease and be replaced by appropriate courses in mathematics, physics, and some other harder sciences. The lack of invariance principles in economics and the failure of economists to deal properly with certain empirical regularities are held against it in this line of argument. Responding arguments address four points: (a) that many econophysicists lack awareness of what has been done in economics and thus sometimes claim a greater degree of originality and innovativeness in their work than is deserved, (b) that econophysicists do not use as sufficiently rigorous or sophisticated statistical methodology as econometricians, (c) that econophysicists search for universal empirical regularities in economics that probably do not exist, and (d) that the theoretical models they adduce to explain empirical phenomena have many difficulties and limits. This article examines the arguments and concludes that nonlinear dynamics and entropy concepts may provide a productive way forward.

A Dialogic Path to Evidence-Based Argumentive Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hemberger, Laura; Kuhn, Deanna; Matos, Flora; Shi, Yuchen

2017-01-01

Central to argument are evidence-based claims, requiring coordination of a claim with evidence bearing on it. We advocate a dialogic approach to developing argument skills and in the work reported here examine the further scaffold of prompts that exemplify functions of evidence in relation to a claim. This scaffold was successful in accelerating…

Exploring the Argumentation Pattern in Modeling-Based Learning about Apparent Motion of Mars

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Su-Kyeong

2016-01-01

This study proposed an analytic framework for coding students' dialogic argumentation and investigated the characteristics of the small-group argumentation pattern observed in modeling-based learning. The participants were 122 second grade high school students in South Korea divided into an experimental and a comparison group. Modeling-based…

ALES: An Innovative Argument-Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abbas, Safia; Sawamura, Hajime

2010-01-01

This paper presents the development of an Argument-Learning System (ALES). The idea is based on the AIF (argumentation interchange format) ontology using "Walton theory". ALES uses different mining techniques to manage a highly structured arguments repository. This repository was designed, developed and implemented by the authors. The aim is to…

Argument Complexity: Teaching Undergraduates to Make Better Arguments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Matthew A.; West, Robert L.

2017-01-01

The task of turning undergrads into academics requires teaching them to reason about the world in a more complex way. We present the Argument Complexity Scale, a tool for analysing the complexity of argumentation, based on the Integrative Complexity and Conceptual Complexity Scales from, respectively, political psychology and personality theory.…

Expanding Argument Instruction: Incorporating Multimodality and Digital Tools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howell, Emily

2018-01-01

The researcher conducted a formative experiment in a ninth- and a 10th-grade English classroom to observe a multiliteracies-based intervention implemented to improve high school students' arguments. Traditionally, argument is taught from a cognitive perspective, emphasizing concepts such as claims, evidence, and warrants. However, arguments are…

Thermal shock fracture in cross-ply fibre-reinforced ceramic-matrix composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kastritseas, C.; Smith, P. A.; Yeomans, J. A.

2010-11-01

The onset of matrix cracking due to thermal shock in a range of simple and multi-layer cross-ply laminates comprising a calcium aluminosilicate (CAS) matrix reinforced with Nicalon® fibres is investigated analytically. A comprehensive stress analysis under conditions of thermal shock, ignoring transient effects, is performed and fracture criteria based on either a recently derived model for the thermal shock resistance of unidirectional Nicalon®/glass ceramic-matrix composites or fracture mechanics considerations are formulated. The effect of material thickness on the apparent thermal shock resistance is also modelled. Comparison with experimental results reveals that the accuracy of the predictions is satisfactory and the reasons for some discrepancies are discussed. In addition, a theoretical argument based on thermal shock theory is formulated to explain the observed cracking patterns.

Scalable algorithms for three-field mixed finite element coupled poromechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castelletto, Nicola; White, Joshua A.; Ferronato, Massimiliano

2016-12-01

We introduce a class of block preconditioners for accelerating the iterative solution of coupled poromechanics equations based on a three-field formulation. The use of a displacement/velocity/pressure mixed finite-element method combined with a first order backward difference formula for the approximation of time derivatives produces a sequence of linear systems with a 3 × 3 unsymmetric and indefinite block matrix. The preconditioners are obtained by approximating the two-level Schur complement with the aid of physically-based arguments that can be also generalized in a purely algebraic approach. A theoretical and experimental analysis is presented that provides evidence of the robustness, efficiency and scalability of the proposed algorithm. The performance is also assessed for a real-world challenging consolidation experiment of a shallow formation.

Using argument notation to engineer biological simulations with increased confidence

PubMed Central

Alden, Kieran; Andrews, Paul S.; Polack, Fiona A. C.; Veiga-Fernandes, Henrique; Coles, Mark C.; Timmis, Jon

2015-01-01

The application of computational and mathematical modelling to explore the mechanics of biological systems is becoming prevalent. To significantly impact biological research, notably in developing novel therapeutics, it is critical that the model adequately represents the captured system. Confidence in adopting in silico approaches can be improved by applying a structured argumentation approach, alongside model development and results analysis. We propose an approach based on argumentation from safety-critical systems engineering, where a system is subjected to a stringent analysis of compliance against identified criteria. We show its use in examining the biological information upon which a model is based, identifying model strengths, highlighting areas requiring additional biological experimentation and providing documentation to support model publication. We demonstrate our use of structured argumentation in the development of a model of lymphoid tissue formation, specifically Peyer's Patches. The argumentation structure is captured using Artoo (www.york.ac.uk/ycil/software/artoo), our Web-based tool for constructing fitness-for-purpose arguments, using a notation based on the safety-critical goal structuring notation. We show how argumentation helps in making the design and structured analysis of a model transparent, capturing the reasoning behind the inclusion or exclusion of each biological feature and recording assumptions, as well as pointing to evidence supporting model-derived conclusions. PMID:25589574

Using argument notation to engineer biological simulations with increased confidence.

PubMed

Alden, Kieran; Andrews, Paul S; Polack, Fiona A C; Veiga-Fernandes, Henrique; Coles, Mark C; Timmis, Jon

2015-03-06

The application of computational and mathematical modelling to explore the mechanics of biological systems is becoming prevalent. To significantly impact biological research, notably in developing novel therapeutics, it is critical that the model adequately represents the captured system. Confidence in adopting in silico approaches can be improved by applying a structured argumentation approach, alongside model development and results analysis. We propose an approach based on argumentation from safety-critical systems engineering, where a system is subjected to a stringent analysis of compliance against identified criteria. We show its use in examining the biological information upon which a model is based, identifying model strengths, highlighting areas requiring additional biological experimentation and providing documentation to support model publication. We demonstrate our use of structured argumentation in the development of a model of lymphoid tissue formation, specifically Peyer's Patches. The argumentation structure is captured using Artoo (www.york.ac.uk/ycil/software/artoo), our Web-based tool for constructing fitness-for-purpose arguments, using a notation based on the safety-critical goal structuring notation. We show how argumentation helps in making the design and structured analysis of a model transparent, capturing the reasoning behind the inclusion or exclusion of each biological feature and recording assumptions, as well as pointing to evidence supporting model-derived conclusions.

DDM at Work. Reply to comments on "Dependency distance: A new perspective on syntactic patterns in natural languages"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Chunshan; Liang, Junying; Liu, Haitao

2017-07-01

We provide responses to the commentaries in this volume to evaluate, clarify and extend some of the arguments in Dependency distance: A new perspective on syntactic patterns in natural languages. Evidences show that DDM (dependency distance minimization) is an important linguistic universal, biologically or cognitively motivated, in shaping the language system. As a general tendency, DDM works quite well in theoretical argumentations as well as practical applications. However, this does not mean that DDM is the only linguistic universal that works: it is highly possible that other factors, which might be biologically, physically, socially or culturally motivated, work as well to jointly mold languages.

A General No-Cloning Theorem for an infinite Multiverse

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gauthier, Yvon

2013-10-01

In this paper, I formulate a general no-cloning theorem which covers the quantum-mechanical and the theoretical quantum information cases as well as the cosmological multiverse theory. However, the main argument is topological and does not involve the peculiar copier devices of the quantum-mechanical and information-theoretic approaches to the no-cloning thesis. It is shown that a combinatorial set-theoretic treatment of the mathematical and physical spacetime continuum in cosmological or quantum-mechanical terms forbids an infinite (countable or uncountable) number of exact copies of finite elements (states) in the uncountable multiverse cosmology. The historical background draws on ideas from Weyl to Conway and Kochen on the free will theorem in quantum mechanics.

Between meaning and duty - leaders' uses and misuses of ethical arguments in generating engagement.

PubMed

Bøgeskov, Benjamin Olivares; Rasmussen, Lise Dam; Weinreich, Elvi

2017-03-01

To identify, record and determine from the perspective of an argumentation theory whether and how nurse leaders use or possibly misuse ethical arguments to motivate and engage their staff when daily practice is affected by reforms. In some cases, health reforms based on New Public Management theories have met resistance, especially when perceived as contrary to nurses' professional and personal ethical values, creating a motivational challenge for nurse leaders. Qualitative thematic analysis and argumentation analysis based on personal interviews, focus group interviews and observations of nurse leaders and nurses in two different wards in a Danish hospital that has undergone structural and management reforms. Nurse leaders use ethical arguments to engage their staff, either by trying to make the reforms ethically meaningful or by appealing to duty when no meaning can be found. Occasionally, these ethical arguments are fallacious and inconclusive from an argumentation theory perspective. Using ethical arguments can motivate and engage staff, but it may also escalate conflicts. Managers and leaders must be aware that, if the argument is flawed, appealing to higher ethical values is not always beneficial. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Systematic Reviews of Research in Education: Aims, Myths and Multiple Methods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gough, David; Thomas, James

2016-01-01

Systematic reviews are still a controversial topic in some quarters, with the arguments for and against their use being well-rehearsed. In an attempt to advance a more nuanced approach to thinking about systematic reviewing, this paper illustrates the wide range of theoretical perspectives, methodologies and purposes that underpin the vast range…

A Strategy to Support Educational Leaders in Developing Countries to Manage Contextual Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolhuter, Charl; van der Walt, Hannes; Steyn, Hennie

2016-01-01

The central theoretical argument of this paper is that educational leadership and organisational development and change in educational institutions in developing countries will not be effective unless school leaders are aware of the challenges posed by contextual factors that might have an impact on their professional activities. The article…

The Complex Relationship between Cyberbullying and Trust

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pieschl, Stephanie; Porsch, Torsten

2017-01-01

Theoretically, there are strong arguments for a relationship between cyberbullying and trust. On the one hand, trust is built on experiences; thus, experiences of malevolence such as cyberbullying might contribute to low trust. On the other hand, high trust may lead to risky online behavior such as self-disclosures that could increase the risk of…

Department Level Information Resource Management: A Theoretical Argument for a Decentralized Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beath, Cynthia Mathis; Straub, Detmar W.

1991-01-01

Explores where the responsibility for information resources management (IRM) can lie, identifying entities which might carry IRM tasks: (1) individuals; (2) departments; (3) institutions; and (4) markets. It is argued that the IRM function should be located at the department level, and that associated departmental costs may be overshadowed by the…

Towards a Framework for Understanding the Process of Educating the "Special" in Special Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hausstatter, Rune Sarromaa; Connolley, Steven

2012-01-01

This article addresses the debate between traditionalism and inclusion within special education, and presents the argument that being disabled and having special needs are very real conditions, even though disabilities are socially constructed, and that teachers must respond to this reality. This article first presents a theoretical framework that…

The Expansion of Two-Year Colleges: Tests of Institutional and Political Economy Theories in a Dynamic Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blau, Judith R.; And Others

Traditional theoretical explanations for the rate of expansion of educational institutions have included the "organizational ecology" model of new foundings as a function of population density, the "institutional theory" argument that foundings are responsive to societal/consumer demand, and theories of political economy which describe foundings…

Economics Imperialism and the Role of Educational Philosophy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilead, Tal

2015-01-01

To date, philosophers of education have shown relatively little interest in analyzing the theoretical basis in which the economics of education is grounded. The main argument of this article is that due to the changing nature of orthodox economic theory's influence on education, a philosophical examination of its underpinnings is required. It is…

Evidence for extended chromospheres surrounding red giant stars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stencel, R. E.

1982-01-01

Observational evidence and theoretical arguments are summarized which indicate that regions of partially ionized hydrogen extending several stellar radii are an important feature of red giant and supergiant stars. The implications of the existence of extended chromospheres are examined in terms of the nature of the other atmospheres of, and mass loss from cool stars.

Storytelling for Ordinary, Practical Purposes (Walter Benjamin's "The Storyteller")

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pereira, Íris Susana Pires; Doecke, Brenton

2016-01-01

This essay explores the role that storytelling can play in teachers' learning. Walter Benjamin's "The Storyteller" provides a theoretical framework that enables us to highlight the complexity of the professional learning of teachers when they share stories about their everyday lives. We develop our argument by presenting two instances of…

Theme Choice in EAP and Media Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hawes, Thomas; Thomas, Sarah

2012-01-01

If assignments are to present clear arguments that a reader may follow without confusion or rereading, learners need to master a range of thematic options and employ them in proportions appropriate to the target genre. This paper builds upon recent theoretical work on a) genre differences in terms of thematisation between two British newspapers,…

Future Directions: An Alternate Organizational Lens on Middle-of-the-Road Education Reforms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mercado-Garcia, Diana

2017-01-01

This essay response critically examines and expands on the arguments put forth by the authors of "Navigating Middle-of-the-Road Reforms through Collaborative Community." Using organizational theory, the paper clarifies questions about the theoretical construct of collaborative community and middle-of-the-road reforms. It concludes by…

Characterizing Teacher Attention to Student Thinking: A Role for Epistemological Messages

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russ, Rosemary S.

2018-01-01

Although research and policy suggest science and mathematics teachers should attend to their student's thinking during instruction, our field has inadequately defined what that means in relation to our ultimate goals for the practice. Here I present a theoretical argument that, in making their definitions, researchers should leverage the ways…

Urbanism and Voter Turnout: A Note on Some Unexpected Findings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monroe, Alan D.

1977-01-01

Analysis of voter turnout reveals rural areas to have much higher turnout than urban. Furthermore, these rural areas have lower levels of education, income, and industrialization. Several theoretical arguments are examined. Available from: the Wayne State University Press, 5980 Cass Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48202, $4.00 single copy. (Author/MLF)

Empirical Scientific Research and Legal Studies Research--A Missing Link

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Landry, Robert J., III

2016-01-01

This article begins with an overview of what is meant by empirical scientific research in the context of legal studies. With that backdrop, the argument is presented that without engaging in normative, theoretical, and doctrinal research in tandem with empirical scientific research, the role of legal studies scholarship in making meaningful…

Acts of Resistance: Breaking the Silence of Grief Following Traffic Crash Fatalities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Breen, Lauren J.; O'Connor, Moira

2010-01-01

Theoretical arguments and empirical evidence demonstrate the limited utility of a narrow construction of "normal" grief. Sudden and violent death, the young age of the deceased, and perceptions of death preventability are associated with grief reactions that extend beyond an expected grief response. Interviews were conducted with 21…

Working against the Grain: Researching School Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Niesche, Richard

2012-01-01

Criticisms of the field of educational leadership and management have consisted of the arguments that scholarship is generally lacking in theoretical and methodological rigour. While it is beyond the scope of this Review Essay to fully examine the terrain of critical approaches to leadership, what is important to note is what little headway much…

Computer Literacy and Empowered Learning: A Theoretical Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stevenson, Robert B.

The dual conception of literacy as functional knowledge and communication skills has provided the parameters of the debate on computer literacy, which has focussed on what type of knowledge is necessary, and what level, if any, of programming should be taught. These arguments and definitions, however, reflect a particular view of epistemology,…

Theoretical Concept of Power vs. Oppression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartlep, Nicholas D.

2008-01-01

This urban synthesis paper encompasses the works of Drs. Joel Handler, Yeheskel Hasenfeld, Ann Winfield, John Rury, and Jean Anyon. The main purpose of this paper is to synthesize arguments contained within their books relating to the theory of power vs. oppression as it plays out within our society. This synthesizing acknowledges and elucidates…

The Contemplative Bow in Teaching and Learning Pastoral Care

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koppel, Michael S.

2013-01-01

This article elucidates theoretical underpinnings for the use of one's self in the pastoral theological classroom. The contemplative bow is developed as a capacious metaphor to describe appropriate self use and its necessary importance in the teaching and learning of pastoral arts in a theological curriculum. Central to the argument is the…

Theorising about Mathematics Teachers' Professional Knowledge: The Content, Form, Nature, and Course of Teachers' Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scheiner, Thorsten

2015-01-01

The guiding philosophy of this theoretical work lays in the argument that mathematics teachers' professional knowledge is the integration of various knowledge facets derived from different sources including teaching experience and research. This paper goes beyond past trends identifying what the teachers' knowledge is about (content) by providing…

Emotional Aspects of Nursery Policy and Practice--Progress and Prospect

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elfer, Peter

2015-01-01

This article argues for a turn in early years policy towards more serious attention to the emotional dimensions of nursery organisation and practice. The article describes three developing bodies of research on emotion in nursery, each taking a different theoretical perspective. The central argument of the article is that these three bodies of…

An Inquiry into the Structure of Situational Interests

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Azevedo, Flávio S.

2018-01-01

I advance theoretically and empirically grounded arguments for broadening how we frame and understand situational interests. A situational interest refers to the short-term spike in a person's attention and participation in an activity and it is triggered in the interactions between the person and environment features (e.g., novelty and surprise).…

Continuing Challenges for a Systemic Theory of Gifted Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schorer, Jorg; Baker, Joseph

2012-01-01

Ziegler and Phillipson make a strong case for the need to reconsider traditional models of gifted education. Although their evidence and argument are compelling, the reviewers argue that several additional steps are needed to justify the theoretical foundation of the theory in order to facilitate its evaluation by researchers. First, Ziegler and…

Blame Analysis: Accounting for the Behavior of Protected Groups.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Felson, Richard B.

1991-01-01

Criticizes the use of blame analysis rather than scientific analysis in sociological studies. Defines blame analysis as an approach to social science that (1) evaluates theories according to the extent that they blame protected groups; (2) equates cause with blame; (3) and rejects theoretical arguments that posit any causal role for the protected…

On the Locus of the Syllable Frequency Effect in Speech Production

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laganaro, Marina; Alario, F. -Xavier

2006-01-01

The observation of a syllable frequency effect in naming latencies has been an argument in favor of a functional role of stored syllables in speech production. Accordingly, various theoretical models postulate that a repository of syllable representations is accessed during phonetic encoding. However, the direct empirical evidence for locating the…

Arguments for a Common Set of Principles for Collaborative Inquiry in Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cousins, J. Bradley; Whitmore, Elizabeth; Shulha, Lyn

2013-01-01

In this article, we critique two recent theoretical developments about collaborative inquiry in evaluation--using logic models as a means to understand theory, and efforts to compartmentalize versions of collaborative inquiry into discrete genres--as a basis for considering future direction for the field. We argue that collaborative inquiry in…

Developmental Conditions of Adaptive Self-Stabilization in Adolescence: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greve, Werner; Thomsen, Tamara

2013-01-01

In a cross-sectional study with 541 German students (mean age: 12.61 yrs) and (for a subsample of N = 350) one of their parents, developmental conditions for a particular resource of self-regulation ("Flexibility of Goal Adjustment"; Brandtstadter & Renner, 1990) are investigated. Theoretical ¨ arguments and empirical results from…

Moral Maturity and Autonomy: Appreciating the Significance of Lawrence Kolhberg's Just Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDonough, Graham P.

2005-01-01

Lawrence Kohlberg's Just Community program of moral education has conceptual significance to his theoretical work in the field of moral development. This argument contends that a perspective recognizing the Just Community as conceptually significant provides a more comprehensive picture of Kohlberg's work than do critical perspectives that limit…

Group Incentives for Teachers and Their Effects on Student Learning: A Systematic Review of Theory and Evidence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tirivayi, Nyasha; Maasen van den Brink, Henriette; Groot, Wim

2014-01-01

The effects of teachers' group incentives on student achievement are examined by reviewing theoretical arguments and empirical studies published between 1990 and 2011. Studies from developing countries reported positive effects of group incentives on student test scores. However, experimental studies from developed countries reported insignificant…

Feet, Footwork, Footwear, and "Being Alive" in the Modern School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burke, Catherine

2018-01-01

This article considers the theoretical argument of anthropologist Tim Ingold, that the denial and subsequent encasement of bare feet in footwear was a critical characteristic of the development of modern societies, in exploring three aspects of feet, footwork, and footwear in the history of the modern school. First, the material conditions of feet…

Interactive Effects of Emotional Dissonance and Self-Control Demands on Burnout, Anxiety, and Absenteeism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diestel, Stefan; Schmidt, Klaus-Helmut

2010-01-01

Two specific sources of stress at work have recently received increasing attention in organizational stress research: emotional dissonance (ED) and self-control demands (SCDs). Both theoretical arguments and experimental findings in basic research strongly suggest that ED and different SCDs draw on a common limited regulatory resource.…

The political economy of urban homicide: assessing the relative impact of gender inequality on sex-specific victimization.

PubMed

DeWees, Mari A; Parker, Karen F

2003-02-01

This research examines the ways in which the changing political economy of urban areas has contributed differently to the homicide victimization rates of females and males across US cities. Recent research, while relatively limited, has presented disparate results regarding the effect of gender inequality on urban sex-specific victimization. Our work further explores this relationship by taking into account relative gender disparities in income, education, labor market opportunities, and politics in an examination of sex-specific homicide victimization in 1990. Key to this current investigation is the evaluation of feminist and lifestyle arguments that suggest that structural gender inequality has a unique effect on female victimization. Overall, our findings reveal gender inequality to be a significant predictor of both male and female urban homicide. While these findings suggest mixed support for theoretical arguments regarding gender inequality, further analyses reveal significant differences in specific types of gender inequality on victimization patterns across genders. These additional results highlight the need for greater attention toward both methodological and theoretical issues when examining the interconnections between gender, political economy, and violence in research.

Understanding the Alternative Conceptions of Pre-Service Secondary Science Teachers about Tidal Phenomena Based on Toulmin's Argumentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oh, Jun-Young

2014-01-01

Constructing explanations and participating in argumentative discourse are seen as essential practices of scientific inquiry. The objective of this study was to explore the elements and origins of pre-service secondary science teachers' alternative conceptions of tidal phenomena based on the elements used in Toulmin's Argument Model through…

Polysemous Verbs and Modality in Native and Non-Native Argumentative Writing: A Corpus-Based Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salazar, Danica; Verdaguer, Isabel

2009-01-01

The present study is a corpus-based analysis of a selection of polysemous lexical verbs used to express modality in student argumentative writing. Twenty-three lexical verbs were searched for in three 100,000-word corpora of argumentative essays written in English by American, Filipino and Spanish university students. Concordance lines were…

Representational Tools in Computer-Supported Collaborative Argumentation-Based Learning: How Dyads Work with Constructed and Inspected Argumentative Diagrams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Amelsvoort, Marije; Andriessen, Jerry; Kanselaar, Gellof

2007-01-01

This article investigates the conditions under which diagrammatic representations support collaborative argumentation-based learning in a computer environment. Thirty dyads of 15- to 18-year-old students participated in a writing task consisting of 3 phases. Students prepared by constructing a representation (text or diagram) individually. Then…

Enhancing Pre-Service Physics Teachers' Perceived Self-Efficacy of Argumentation-Based Pedagogy through Modelling and Mastery Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ogan-Bekiroglu, Feral; Aydeniz, Mehmet

2013-01-01

This study explored the impact of explicit instruction on argumentation-based pedagogy, coupled with modelling and hands-on learning activities on pre-service physics teachers' perceived self-efficacy to teach science through argumentation. Participants consisted of 24 pre-service physics teachers attending an established teacher education program…

Prospective Secondary Science Teachers' Argumentation Skills and the Interaction of These Skills with Their Conceptual Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Acar, Ömer; Patton, Bruce R.; White, Arthur L.

2015-01-01

This study investigated if prospective secondary science teachers enhance their argumentation skills and the interaction of the change in their argumentation skills with their conceptual knowledge during an argumentation-based guided inquiry course. 37 prospective secondary science teachers constituted the study sample. They were grouped according…

Validation of Automated Scoring for a Formative Assessment That Employs Scientific Argumentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mao, Liyang; Liu, Ou Lydia; Roohr, Katrina; Belur, Vinetha; Mulholland, Matthew; Lee, Hee-Sun; Pallant, Amy

2018-01-01

Scientific argumentation is one of the core practices for teachers to implement in science classrooms. We developed a computer-based formative assessment to support students' construction and revision of scientific arguments. The assessment is built upon automated scoring of students' arguments and provides feedback to students and teachers.…

Analogical-Mapping-Based Comparison Tasks as a Scaffold for Argumentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Emig, Brandon R.

2011-01-01

Given the centrality of the argumentation process to science and consequent importance to science education, inviting science students to engage in argumentation and scaffolding that argumentation in order that it lead to learning and not frustration is important. The present research invites small groups of science content learners (54 preservice…

Investigating the Effect of Argument-Driven Inquiry in Laboratory Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Demircioglu, Tuba; Ucar, Sedat

2015-01-01

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of argument-driven inquiry (ADI) based laboratory instruction on the academic achievement, argumentativeness, science process skills, and argumentation levels of pre-service science teachers in the General Physics Laboratory III class. The study was conducted with 79 pre-service science teachers.…

Argumentation and Participation Patterns in General Chemistry Peer-Led Sessions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kulatunga, Ushiri; Moog, Richard S.; Lewis, Jennifer E.

2013-01-01

This article focuses on the use of Toulmin's argumentation scheme to investigate the characteristics of student group argumentation in Peer-Led Guided Inquiry sessions for a General Chemistry I course. A coding scheme based on Toulmin's [Toulmin [1958] "The uses of argument." Cambridge: Cambridge University Press] argumentation…

Assessing Argumentative Representation with Bayesian Network Models in Debatable Social Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Zhidong; Lu, Jingyan

2014-01-01

This study seeks to obtain argumentation models, which represent argumentative processes and an assessment structure in secondary school debatable issues in the social sciences. The argumentation model was developed based on mixed methods, a combination of both theory-driven and data-driven methods. The coding system provided a combing point by…

Argument to Foster Scientific Literacy: A Review of Argument Interventions in K-12 Science Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cavagnetto, Andy R.

2010-01-01

The goal of scientific literacy has led to a steady increase in argument-based interventions in science education contexts. It has been suggested that student participation in argument develops communication skills, metacognitive awareness, critical thinking, an understanding of the culture and practice of science, and scientific literacy.…

An Instrument for Analyzing Arguments Produced in Modeling-Based Chemistry Lessons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mendonça, Paula Cristina Cardoso; Justi, Rosária

2014-01-01

Previous research on argumentation in science education has focused on the understanding of relationships between modeling and argumentation (an important topic that only recently has been addressed in few empirical studies), and the methodological difficulties related to the analysis of arguments produced in classrooms. Our study is related to…

Teacher Argumentation in the Secondary Science Classroom: Images of Two Modes of Scientific Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gray, Ron E.

2009-01-01

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine scientific arguments constructed by secondary science teachers during instruction. The analysis focused on how arguments constructed by teachers differed based on the mode of inquiry underlying the topic. Specifically, how did the structure and content of arguments differ between experimentally…

'You are inferior!' Revisiting the expressivist argument.

PubMed

Hofmann, Bjørn

2017-09-01

According to the expressivist argument the choice to use biotechnologies to prevent the birth of individuals with specific disabilities is an expression of disvalue for existing people with this disability. The argument has stirred a lively debate and has recently received renewed attention. This article starts with presenting the expressivist argument and its core elements. It then goes on to present and examine the counter-arguments before it addresses some aspects that have gained surprisingly little attention. The analysis demonstrates that the expressivist argument has a wide range of underpinnings and that counter-arguments tend to focus on only a few of these. It also reveals an important aspect that appears to have been ignored, i.e., that people do not select foetuses based on chromosomes or other biological traits, but based on characteristics of living persons with specific disabilities. This makes it more difficult to undermine the claim that negative selection of foetuses expresses a disvaluing of persons with such disabilities. It leaves the expressivist argument with a strong bite still. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Ever since language and learning: afterthoughts on the Piaget-Chomsky debate.

PubMed

Piattelli-Palmarini, M

1994-01-01

The central arguments and counter-arguments presented by several participants during the debate between Piaget and Chomsky at the Royaumont Abbey in October 1975 are here reconstructed in a particularly consice chronological and "logical" sequence. Once the essential points of this important exchange are thus clearly laid out, it is easy to witness that recent developments in generative grammar, as well as new data on language acquisition, especially in the acquisition of pronouns by the congenitally deaf child, corroborate the "language specificity" thesis defended by Chomsky. By the same token these data and these new theoretical refinements refute the Piagetian hypothesis that language is constructed upon abstractions from sensorimotor schemata. Moreover, in the light of modern evolutionary theory, Piaget's basic assumptions on the biological roots of cognition, language and learning turn out to be unfounded. In hindsight, all this accrues to the validity of Fodor's seemingly "paradoxical" argument against "learning" as a transition from "less" powerful to "more" powerful conceptual systems.

Explicit argumentation instruction to facilitate conceptual understanding and argumentation skills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seda Cetin, Pinar

2014-01-01

Background: Argumentation is accepted by many science educators as a major component of science education. Many studies have investigated students' conceptual understanding and their engagement in argumentative activities. However, studies conducted in the subject of chemistry are very rare. Purpose: The present study aimed to investigate the effects of argumentation-based chemistry lessons on pre-service science teachers' understanding of reaction rate concepts, their quality of argumentation, and their consideration of specific reaction rate concepts in constructing an argument. Moreover, students' perceptions of argumentation lessons were explored. Sample: There were 116 participants (21 male and 95 female), who were pre-service first-grade science teachers from a public university. The participants were recruited from the two intact classes of a General Chemistry II course, both of which were taught by the same instructor. Design and methods: In the present study, non-equivalent control group design was used as a part of quasi-experimental design. The experimental group was taught using explicit argumentation activities, and the control group was instructed using traditional instruction. The data were collected using a reaction rate concept test, a pre-service teachers' survey, and the participants' perceptions of the argumentation lessons questionnaire. For the data analysis, the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, the Mann-Whitney U-test and qualitative techniques were used. Results: The results of the study indicated that an argumentation-based intervention caused significantly better acquisition of scientific reaction rate-related concepts and positively impacted the structure and complexity of pre-service teachers' argumentation. Moreover, the majority of the participants reported positive feelings toward argumentation activities. Conclusions: As students are encouraged to state and support their view in the chemistry classroom when studying reaction rate, it was observed that their understanding increased in terms of both the context and the quality of the argumentation that they produced. In light of the findings, it is suggested that argumentation activities should be developed to promote students' science content knowledge and argumentation skills.

Origin of the moon - The collision hypothesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stevenson, D. J.

1987-01-01

Theoretical models of lunar origin involving one or more collisions between the earth and other large sun-orbiting bodies are examined in a critical review. Ten basic propositions of the collision hypothesis (CH) are listed; observational data on mass and angular momentum, bulk chemistry, volatile depletion, trace elements, primordial high temperatures, and orbital evolution are summarized; and the basic tenets of alternative models (fission, capture, and coformation) are reviewed. Consideration is given to the thermodynamics of large impacts, rheological and dynamical problems, numerical simulations based on the CH, disk evolution models, and the chemical implications of the CH. It is concluded that the sound arguments and evidence supporting the CH are not (yet) sufficient to rule out other hypotheses.

Another serious misunderstanding: Jung, Giegerich and a premature requiem.

PubMed

Saban, Mark

2015-02-01

Barreto's paper, 'Requiem for analytical psychology' utilized Jung's dreams and visions to argue for the obsolescence of Jungian psychology. Its thesis rested upon the theoretical assumptions of Giegerich's psychology as a Discipline of Interiority, which he and Giegerich claim are themselves based in Jung's psychology. Here I argue that that claim is misplaced because it depends upon a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of Jung's psychological project. I shall further argue that Giegerich's arguments for a Jungian basis to his psychology rely upon misreadings and decontextualisations of Jung's original texts. Finally, I shall attempt to draw attention to the weaknesses and contradictions involved in Barreto's interpretations of Jung's dreams and visions. © 2015, The Society of Analytical Psychology.

Measurement of long-range angular correlations and azimuthal anisotropies in high-multiplicity p + Au collisions at s NN = 200 GeV

DOE PAGES

Aidala, C.; Akiba, Y.; Alfred, M.; ...

2017-03-24

Inmore » this paper, we present measurements of long-range angular correlations and the transverse momentum dependence of elliptic flow ν 2 in high-multiplicity p + Au collisions at s NN = 200 GeV. A comparison of these results to previous measurements in high-multiplicity d + Au and 3He + Au collisions demonstrates a relation between ν 2 and the initial collision eccentricity ε 2, suggesting that the observed momentum-space azimuthal anisotropies in these small systems have a collective origin and reflect the initial geometry. Good agreement is observed between the measured ν 2 and hydrodynamic calculations for all systems, and an argument disfavoring theoretical explanations based on initial momentum-space domain correlations is presented. Finally, the set of measurements presented here allows us to leverage the distinct intrinsic geometry of each of these systems to distinguish between different theoretical descriptions of the long-range correlations observed in small collision systems.« less

Measurement of long-range angular correlations and azimuthal anisotropies in high-multiplicity p + Au collisions at s NN = 200 GeV

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aidala, C.; Akiba, Y.; Alfred, M.

Inmore » this paper, we present measurements of long-range angular correlations and the transverse momentum dependence of elliptic flow ν 2 in high-multiplicity p + Au collisions at s NN = 200 GeV. A comparison of these results to previous measurements in high-multiplicity d + Au and 3He + Au collisions demonstrates a relation between ν 2 and the initial collision eccentricity ε 2, suggesting that the observed momentum-space azimuthal anisotropies in these small systems have a collective origin and reflect the initial geometry. Good agreement is observed between the measured ν 2 and hydrodynamic calculations for all systems, and an argument disfavoring theoretical explanations based on initial momentum-space domain correlations is presented. Finally, the set of measurements presented here allows us to leverage the distinct intrinsic geometry of each of these systems to distinguish between different theoretical descriptions of the long-range correlations observed in small collision systems.« less

Axonal Transport: How High Microtubule Density Can Compensate for Boundary Effects in Small-Caliber Axons

PubMed Central

Wortman, Juliana C.; Shrestha, Uttam M.; Barry, Devin M.; Garcia, Michael L.; Gross, Steven P.; Yu, Clare C.

2014-01-01

Long-distance intracellular axonal transport is predominantly microtubule-based, and its impairment is linked to neurodegeneration. In this study, we present theoretical arguments that suggest that near the axon boundaries (walls), the effective viscosity can become large enough to impede cargo transport in small (but not large) caliber axons. Our theoretical analysis suggests that this opposition to motion increases rapidly as the cargo approaches the wall. We find that having parallel microtubules close enough together to enable a cargo to simultaneously engage motors on more than one microtubule dramatically enhances motor activity, and thus minimizes the effects of any opposition to transport. Even if microtubules are randomly placed in axons, we find that the higher density of microtubules found in small-caliber axons increases the probability of having parallel microtubules close enough that they can be used simultaneously by motors on a cargo. The boundary effect is not a factor in transport in large-caliber axons where the microtubule density is lower. PMID:24559984

Measurement of long-range angular correlations and azimuthal anisotropies in high-multiplicity p +Au collisions at √{sNN}=200 GeV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aidala, C.; Akiba, Y.; Alfred, M.; Andrieux, V.; Aoki, K.; Apadula, N.; Asano, H.; Ayuso, C.; Azmoun, B.; Babintsev, V.; Bandara, N. S.; Barish, K. N.; Bathe, S.; Bazilevsky, A.; Beaumier, M.; Belmont, R.; Berdnikov, A.; Berdnikov, Y.; Blau, D. S.; Boer, M.; Bok, J. S.; Brooks, M. L.; Bryslawskyj, J.; Bumazhnov, V.; Butler, C.; Campbell, S.; Canoa Roman, V.; Cervantes, R.; Chi, C. Y.; Chiu, M.; Choi, I. J.; Choi, J. B.; Citron, Z.; Connors, M.; Cronin, N.; Csanád, M.; Csörgő, T.; Danley, T. W.; Daugherity, M. S.; David, G.; Deblasio, K.; Dehmelt, K.; Denisov, A.; Deshpande, A.; Desmond, E. J.; Dion, A.; Dixit, D.; Do, J. H.; Drees, A.; Drees, K. A.; Dumancic, M.; Durham, J. M.; Durum, A.; Elder, T.; Enokizono, A.; En'yo, H.; Esumi, S.; Fadem, B.; Fan, W.; Feege, N.; Fields, D. E.; Finger, M.; Finger, M.; Fokin, S. L.; Frantz, J. E.; Franz, A.; Frawley, A. D.; Fukuda, Y.; Gal, C.; Gallus, P.; Garg, P.; Ge, H.; Giordano, F.; Goto, Y.; Grau, N.; Greene, S. V.; Grosse Perdekamp, M.; Gunji, T.; Guragain, H.; Hachiya, T.; Haggerty, J. S.; Hahn, K. I.; Hamagaki, H.; Hamilton, H. F.; Han, S. Y.; Hanks, J.; Hasegawa, S.; Haseler, T. O. S.; He, X.; Hemmick, T. K.; Hill, J. C.; Hill, K.; Hollis, R. S.; Homma, K.; Hong, B.; Hoshino, T.; Hotvedt, N.; Huang, J.; Huang, S.; Imai, K.; Imrek, J.; Inaba, M.; Iordanova, A.; Isenhower, D.; Ito, Y.; Ivanishchev, D.; Jacak, B. V.; Jezghani, M.; Ji, Z.; Jiang, X.; Johnson, B. M.; Jorjadze, V.; Jouan, D.; Jumper, D. S.; Kang, J. H.; Kapukchyan, D.; Karthas, S.; Kawall, D.; Kazantsev, A. V.; Khachatryan, V.; Khanzadeev, A.; Kim, C.; Kim, D. J.; Kim, E.-J.; Kim, M. H.; Kim, M.; Kincses, D.; Kistenev, E.; Klatsky, J.; Kline, P.; Koblesky, T.; Kotov, D.; Kudo, S.; Kurita, K.; Kwon, Y.; Lajoie, J. G.; Lallow, E. O.; Lebedev, A.; Lee, S.; Leitch, M. J.; Leung, Y. H.; Lewis, N. A.; Li, X.; Lim, S. H.; Liu, L. D.; Liu, M. X.; Loggins, V.-R.; Loggins, V.-R.; Lovasz, K.; Lynch, D.; Majoros, T.; Makdisi, Y. I.; Makek, M.; Malaev, M.; Manko, V. I.; Mannel, E.; Masuda, H.; McCumber, M.; McGaughey, P. L.; McGlinchey, D.; McKinney, C.; Mendoza, M.; Mignerey, A. C.; Mihalik, D. E.; Milov, A.; Mishra, D. K.; Mitchell, J. T.; Mitsuka, G.; Miyasaka, S.; Mizuno, S.; Montuenga, P.; Moon, T.; Morrison, D. P.; Morrow, S. I. M.; Murakami, T.; Murata, J.; Nagai, K.; Nagashima, K.; Nagashima, T.; Nagle, J. L.; Nagy, M. I.; Nakagawa, I.; Nakagomi, H.; Nakano, K.; Nattrass, C.; Niida, T.; Nouicer, R.; Novák, T.; Novitzky, N.; Novotny, R.; Nyanin, A. S.; O'Brien, E.; Ogilvie, C. A.; Orjuela Koop, J. D.; Osborn, J. D.; Oskarsson, A.; Ottino, G. J.; Ozawa, K.; Pantuev, V.; Papavassiliou, V.; Park, J. S.; Park, S.; Pate, S. F.; Patel, M.; Peng, W.; Perepelitsa, D. V.; Perera, G. D. N.; Peressounko, D. Yu.; Perezlara, C. E.; Perry, J.; Petti, R.; Phipps, M.; Pinkenburg, C.; Pisani, R. P.; Pun, A.; Purschke, M. L.; Read, K. F.; Reynolds, D.; Riabov, V.; Riabov, Y.; Richford, D.; Rinn, T.; Rolnick, S. D.; Rosati, M.; Rowan, Z.; Runchey, J.; Safonov, A. S.; Sakaguchi, T.; Sako, H.; Samsonov, V.; Sarsour, M.; Sato, K.; Sato, S.; Schaefer, B.; Schmoll, B. K.; Sedgwick, K.; Seidl, R.; Sen, A.; Seto, R.; Sexton, A.; Sharma, D.; Shein, I.; Shibata, T.-A.; Shigaki, K.; Shimomura, M.; Shioya, T.; Shukla, P.; Sickles, A.; Silva, C. L.; Silvermyr, D.; Singh, B. K.; Singh, C. P.; Singh, V.; Slunečka, M.; Smith, K. L.; Snowball, M.; Soltz, R. A.; Sondheim, W. E.; Sorensen, S. P.; Sourikova, I. V.; Stankus, P. W.; Stoll, S. P.; Sugitate, T.; Sukhanov, A.; Sumita, T.; Sun, J.; Syed, S.; Sziklai, J.; Takeda, A.; Tanida, K.; Tannenbaum, M. J.; Tarafdar, S.; Tarnai, G.; Tieulent, R.; Timilsina, A.; Todoroki, T.; Tomášek, M.; Towell, C. L.; Towell, R. S.; Tserruya, I.; Ueda, Y.; Ujvari, B.; van Hecke, H. W.; Vazquez-Carson, S.; Velkovska, J.; Virius, M.; Vrba, V.; Vukman, N.; Wang, X. R.; Wang, Z.; Watanabe, Y.; Watanabe, Y. S.; Wong, C. P.; Woody, C. L.; Xu, C.; Xu, Q.; Xue, L.; Yalcin, S.; Yamaguchi, Y. L.; Yamamoto, H.; Yanovich, A.; Yin, P.; Yoo, J. H.; Yoon, I.; Yu, H.; Yushmanov, I. E.; Zajc, W. A.; Zelenski, A.; Zharko, S.; Zou, L.; Phenix Collaboration

2017-03-01

We present measurements of long-range angular correlations and the transverse momentum dependence of elliptic flow v2 in high-multiplicity p +Au collisions at √{s NN}=200 GeV. A comparison of these results to previous measurements in high-multiplicity d +Au and 3He+Au collisions demonstrates a relation between v2 and the initial collision eccentricity ɛ2, suggesting that the observed momentum-space azimuthal anisotropies in these small systems have a collective origin and reflect the initial geometry. Good agreement is observed between the measured v2 and hydrodynamic calculations for all systems, and an argument disfavoring theoretical explanations based on initial momentum-space domain correlations is presented. The set of measurements presented here allows us to leverage the distinct intrinsic geometry of each of these systems to distinguish between different theoretical descriptions of the long-range correlations observed in small collision systems.

Using a matrix-analytical approach to synthesizing evidence solved incompatibility problem in the hierarchy of evidence.

PubMed

Walach, Harald; Loef, Martin

2015-11-01

The hierarchy of evidence presupposes linearity and additivity of effects, as well as commutativity of knowledge structures. It thereby implicitly assumes a classical theoretical model. This is an argumentative article that uses theoretical analysis based on pertinent literature and known facts to examine the standard view of methodology. We show that the assumptions of the hierarchical model are wrong. The knowledge structures gained by various types of studies are not sequentially indifferent, that is, do not commute. External validity and internal validity are at least partially incompatible concepts. Therefore, one needs a different theoretical structure, typical of quantum-type theories, to model this situation. The consequence of this situation is that the implicit assumptions of the hierarchical model are wrong, if generalized to the concept of evidence in total. The problem can be solved by using a matrix-analytical approach to synthesizing evidence. Here, research methods that produce different types of evidence that complement each other are synthesized to yield the full knowledge. We show by an example how this might work. We conclude that the hierarchical model should be complemented by a broader reasoning in methodology. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluating science arguments: evidence, uncertainty, and argument strength.

PubMed

Corner, Adam; Hahn, Ulrike

2009-09-01

Public debates about socioscientific issues are increasingly prevalent, but the public response to messages about, for example, climate change, does not always seem to match the seriousness of the problem identified by scientists. Is there anything unique about appeals based on scientific evidence-do people evaluate science and nonscience arguments differently? In an attempt to apply a systematic framework to people's evaluation of science arguments, the authors draw on the Bayesian approach to informal argumentation. The Bayesian approach permits questions about how people evaluate science arguments to be posed and comparisons to be made between the evaluation of science and nonscience arguments. In an experiment involving three separate argument evaluation tasks, the authors investigated whether people's evaluations of science and nonscience arguments differed in any meaningful way. Although some differences were observed in the relative strength of science and nonscience arguments, the evaluation of science arguments was determined by the same factors as nonscience arguments. Our results suggest that science communicators wishing to construct a successful appeal can make use of the Bayesian framework to distinguish strong and weak arguments. 2009 APA, all rights reserved

Examining Elementary Students' Development of Oral and Written Argumentation Practices through Argument-Based Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Ying-Chih; Hand, Brian; Park, Soonhye

2016-01-01

Argumentation, and the production of scientific arguments are critical elements of inquiry that are necessary for helping students become scientifically literate through engaging them in constructing and critiquing ideas. This case study employed a mixed methods research design to examine the development in 5th grade students' practices of oral…

Argumentative Skills Development in Teaching Philosophy to Secondary School Students through Constructive Controversy: An Exploratory Study Case

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morais, Teresa; Silva, Helena; Lopes, José; Dominguez, Caroline

2017-01-01

The use of argumentative strategies that promote the defense of well-grounded personal arguments contributes to the development of a critical, ethical and political thought that leads to responsible and socially committed people. Based on the quality of the produced arguments in philosophical essays, this work evaluates the potential application…

Bridging the Gap between Graphical Arguments and Verbal-Symbolic Proofs in a Real Analysis Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zazkis, Dov; Weber, Keith; Mejía-Ramos, Juan Pablo

2016-01-01

We examine a commonly suggested proof construction strategy from the mathematics education literature--that students first produce a graphical argument and then work to construct a verbal-symbolic proof based on that graphical argument. The work of students who produce such graphical arguments when solving proof construction tasks was analyzed to…

Comparing the Effectiveness of Verification and Inquiry Laboratories in Supporting Undergraduate Science Students in Constructing Arguments around Socioscientific Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grooms, Jonathon; Sampson, Victor; Golden, Barry

2014-01-01

This quasi-experimental study uses a pre-/post-intervention approach to investigate the quality of undergraduate students' arguments in the context of socioscientific issues (SSI) based on experiencing a semester of traditional "cookbook" instruction (N?=?79) or a semester of argument-based instruction (N?=?73) in the context of an…

Implementation of a Curriculum-Integrated Computer Game for Introducing Scientific Argumentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wallon, Robert C.; Jasti, Chandana; Lauren, Hillary Z. G.; Hug, Barbara

2017-11-01

Argumentation has been emphasized in recent US science education reform efforts (NGSS Lead States 2013; NRC 2012), and while existing studies have investigated approaches to introducing and supporting argumentation (e.g., McNeill and Krajcik in Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 45(1), 53-78, 2008; Kang et al. in Science Education, 98(4), 674-704, 2014), few studies have investigated how game-based approaches may be used to introduce argumentation to students. In this paper, we report findings from a design-based study of a teacher's use of a computer game intended to introduce the claim, evidence, reasoning (CER) framework (McNeill and Krajcik 2012) for scientific argumentation. We studied the implementation of the game over two iterations of development in a high school biology teacher's classes. The results of this study include aspects of enactment of the activities and student argument scores. We found the teacher used the game in aspects of explicit instruction of argumentation during both iterations, although the ways in which the game was used differed. Also, students' scores in the second iteration were significantly higher than the first iteration. These findings support the notion that students can learn argumentation through a game, especially when used in conjunction with explicit instruction and support in student materials. These findings also highlight the importance of analyzing classroom implementation in studies of game-based learning.

The bare necessities? A realist review of necessity argumentations used in health care coverage decisions.

PubMed

Kleinhout-Vliek, Tineke; de Bont, Antoinette; Boer, Bert

2017-07-01

Policy makers and insurance companies decide on coverage of care by both calculating (cost-) effectiveness and assessing the necessity of coverage. To investigate argumentations pertaining to necessity used in coverage decisions made by policy makers and insurance companies, as well as those argumentations used by patients, authors, the public and the media. This study is designed as a realist review, adhering to the RAMESES quality standards. Embase, Medline and Web of Science were searched and 98 articles were included that detailed necessity-based argumentations. We identified twenty necessity-based argumentation types. Seven are only used to argue in favour of coverage, five solely for arguing against coverage, and eight are used to argue both ways. A positive decision appears to be facilitated when patients or the public set the decision on the agenda. Moreover, half the argumentation types are only used by patients, authors, the public and the media, whereas the other half is also used by policy makers and insurance companies. The latter group is more accepted and used in more different countries. The majority of necessity-based argumentation types is used for either favouring or opposing coverage, and not for both. Patients, authors, the public and the media use a broader repertoire of argumentation types than policy makers and insurance companies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Perceptions of Prospective Biology Teachers on Scientific Argumentation in Microbiology Inquiry Lab Activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roviati, E.; Widodo, A.; Purwianingsih, W.; Riandi, R.

2017-09-01

Inquiry laboratory activity and scientific argumentation in science education should be promoted and explicitly experienced by prospective biology teacher students in classes, including in microbiology courses. The goal of this study is to get information about perceptions of prospective biology teachers on scientific argumentation in microbiology inquiry lab activities. This study reported the result of a survey research to prospective biology teachers about how their perception about microbiology lab classes and their perception about inquiry and argumentation in microbiology lab activities should be. The participants of this study were 100 students of biology education department from an institute in Cirebon, West Java taking microbiology lecture during the fifth semester. The data were collected using questionnaire to explore the perceptions and knowledge of prospective biology teachers about microbiology, inquiry lab activities and argumentation. The result showed that students thought that the difficulties of microbiology as a subject were the lack of references and the way lecturer teaching. The students’ perception was that argumentation and inquiry should be implemented in microbiology courses and lab activities. Based on the data from questionnaire, It showed that prospective biology teacher students had very little knowledge about scientific argumentation and its implementation in science education. When the participants made arguments based on the problems given, they showed low quality of arguments.

Local field potentials and border ownership: A conjecture about computation in visual cortex.

PubMed

Zucker, Steven W

2012-01-01

Border ownership is an intermediate-level visual task: it must integrate (upward flowing) image information about edges with (downward flowing) shape information. This highlights the familiar local-to-global aspect of border formation (linking of edge elements to form contours) with the much less studied global-to-local aspect (which edge elements form part of the same shape). To address this task we show how to incorporate certain high-level notions of distance and geometric arrangement into a form that can influence image-based edge information. The center of the argument is a reaction-diffusion equation that reveals how (global) aspects of the distance map (that is, shape) can be "read out" locally, suggesting a solution to the border ownership problem. Since the reaction-diffusion equation defines a field, a possible information processing role for the local field potential can be defined. We argue that such fields also underlie the Gestalt notion of closure, especially when it is refined using modern experimental techniques. An important implication of this theoretical argument is that, if true, then network modeling must be extended to include the substrate surrounding spiking neurons, including glia. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The End of Theory? Does the Data Deluge Make the Scientific Method Obsolete?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kreinovich, Vladik; McClure, John; Symons, John

2008-10-01

Why do we need theory? One of the purposes of science is to predict: e.g., how a complex material behaves in different situations. There are a lot of records describing how different materials behave in different situations. In the past, it was not possible to find a similar record and simply recall what happened then. The only possibility was to extract, from the data, a simple dependence, and then use this dependence for predictions. For example, we can use Ohm's law V=I.R to predict the voltage V based on the current I and the resistance R. Nowadays, computer searches are so fast that there seems to be no need for any theoretical laws anymore: if we want to predict, we can simply search through all the records and find what happened in a similar situation. So maybe we do not need theory at all. This was the argument developed in a recent (June 2008) article in a popular Wired magazine. In our presentation, we will describe this argument in detail, and give our opinion on whether the computer progress will indeed lead to the end of the theory as we know it.

The Emergence of Relationship-based Cooperation.

PubMed

Xu, Bo; Wang, Jianwei

2015-11-16

This paper investigates the emergence of relationship-based cooperation by coupling two simple mechanisms into the model: tie strength based investment preference and homophily assumption. We construct the model by categorizing game participants into four types: prosocialists (players who prefers to invest in their intimate friends), antisocialists (players who prefer to invest in strangers), egoists (players who never cooperate) and altruists (players who cooperate indifferently with anyone). We show that the relationship-based cooperation (prosocialists) is favored throughout the evolution if we assume players of the same type have stronger ties than different ones. Moreover, we discover that strengthening the internal bonds within the strategic clusters further promotes the competitiveness of prosocialists and therefore facilitates the emergence of relationship-based cooperation in our proposed scenarios. The robustness of the model is also tested under different strategy updating rules and network structures. The results show that this argument is robust against the variations of initial conditions and therefore can be considered as a fundamental theoretical framework to study relationship-based cooperation in reality.

The Emergence of Relationship-based Cooperation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Bo; Wang, Jianwei

2015-11-01

This paper investigates the emergence of relationship-based cooperation by coupling two simple mechanisms into the model: tie strength based investment preference and homophily assumption. We construct the model by categorizing game participants into four types: prosocialists (players who prefers to invest in their intimate friends), antisocialists (players who prefer to invest in strangers), egoists (players who never cooperate) and altruists (players who cooperate indifferently with anyone). We show that the relationship-based cooperation (prosocialists) is favored throughout the evolution if we assume players of the same type have stronger ties than different ones. Moreover, we discover that strengthening the internal bonds within the strategic clusters further promotes the competitiveness of prosocialists and therefore facilitates the emergence of relationship-based cooperation in our proposed scenarios. The robustness of the model is also tested under different strategy updating rules and network structures. The results show that this argument is robust against the variations of initial conditions and therefore can be considered as a fundamental theoretical framework to study relationship-based cooperation in reality.

The Emergence of Relationship-based Cooperation

PubMed Central

Xu, Bo; Wang, Jianwei

2015-01-01

This paper investigates the emergence of relationship-based cooperation by coupling two simple mechanisms into the model: tie strength based investment preference and homophily assumption. We construct the model by categorizing game participants into four types: prosocialists (players who prefers to invest in their intimate friends), antisocialists (players who prefer to invest in strangers), egoists (players who never cooperate) and altruists (players who cooperate indifferently with anyone). We show that the relationship-based cooperation (prosocialists) is favored throughout the evolution if we assume players of the same type have stronger ties than different ones. Moreover, we discover that strengthening the internal bonds within the strategic clusters further promotes the competitiveness of prosocialists and therefore facilitates the emergence of relationship-based cooperation in our proposed scenarios. The robustness of the model is also tested under different strategy updating rules and network structures. The results show that this argument is robust against the variations of initial conditions and therefore can be considered as a fundamental theoretical framework to study relationship-based cooperation in reality. PMID:26567904

Exploring teachers' meta-strategic knowledge of science argumentation teaching with the repertory grid technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Yu-Ren; Hung, Cheng-Yu; Hung, Jeng-Fung

2017-01-01

This study investigated two science teachers' meta-strategic knowledge (MSK) of argumentation teaching by applying the repertory grid technique (RGT). One teacher was a novice, while the other was experienced in teaching argumentation. Using the RGT, we elicited the objectives and strategies of the two teachers regarding their argumentation teaching involving two social scientific issue (SSI) scenarios. The results showed that the experienced teacher had more varied and organised MSK for teaching argumentation than the novice teacher. Meanwhile, the novice teacher indicated a belief that the learning of argumentation should occur in a more student-centred manner, rather than relying on a traditional lecture-based environment. Consequently, she spent a considerable amount of time engaging students with their peers' ideas through discussion and collaboration. On the other hand, the experienced teacher noticed that most of students had the ability to generate arguments, but that few knew how to argue based on evidence. Therefore, she helped students to collect data from various resources and suggested that they construct their own knowledge framework in order to improve students' ability to incorporate their understanding of scientific knowledge into scientific argumentation.

Teaching Strategies for Developing Students' Argumentation Skills About Socioscientific Issues in High School Genetics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dawson, Vaille Maree; Venville, Grady

2010-03-01

An outcome of science education is that young people have the understandings and skills to participate in public debate and make informed decisions about science issues that influence their lives. Toulmin’s argumentation skills are emerging as an effective strategy to enhance the quality of evidence based decision making in science classrooms. In this case study, an Australian science teacher participated in a one-on-one professional learning session on argumentation before explicitly teaching argumentation skills to two year 10 classes studying genetics. Over two lessons, the teacher used whole class discussion and writing frames of two socioscientific issues to teach students about argumentation. An analysis of classroom observation field notes, audiotaped lesson transcripts, writing frames and student interviews indicate that four factors promoted student argumentation. The factors are: the role of the teacher in facilitating whole class discussion; the use of writing frames; the context of the socioscientific issue; and the role of the students. It is recommended that professional learning to promote student argumentation may need to be tailored to individual teachers and that extensive classroom based research is required to determine the impact of classroom factors on students’ argumentation.

Education, Technology and the Sociological Imagination--Lessons to Be Learned from C. Wright Mills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Selwyn, Neil

2017-01-01

As part of the "Learning, Media & Technology" series on "Key Thinkers and Theoretical Traditions", this paper explores the relevance of C. Wright Mills' much lauded book "The Sociological Imagination". The argument is made that we would do well to take heed of many of the central tenets of Mills' call to arms for…

Traditional and Digital Literacy. the Literacy Hypothesis, Technologies of Reading and Writing, and the "Grammatized" Body

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vlieghe, Joris

2015-01-01

This article discusses, from a theoretical and philosophical perspective, the meaning and the importance of "basic literacy training" for education in an age in which digital technologies have become ubiquitous. I discuss some arguments, which I draw from the so-called literacy hypothesis approach (McLuhan, Goody, Havelock, Ong), in…

Harnessing Emotions to Deliberative Argumentation in Classroom Discussions on Historical Issues in Multi-Cultural Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldberg, Tsafrir; Schwarz, Baruch B.

2016-01-01

This theoretical paper is about the role of emotions in historical reasoning in the context of classroom discussions. Peer deliberations around texts have become important practices in history education according to progressive pedagogies. However, in the context of issues involving emotions, such approaches may result in an obstacle for…

On the Basis of the Basic Variety.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwartz, Bonnie D.

1997-01-01

Considers the interplay between source and target language in relation to two points made by Klein and Perdue: (1) the argument that the analysis of the target language should not be used as the model for analyzing interlanguage data; and (2) the theoretical claim that under the technical assumptions of minimalism, the Basic Variety is a "perfect"…

Linking Work-Family Conflict to Career Commitment: The Moderating Effects of Gender and Mentoring among Nigerian Civil Servants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Okurame, David E.

2012-01-01

Little research attention has been given to the linkage between work-family conflict and career commitment. Likewise, although, theoretical arguments about the moderator effects of mentoring on the relationship between work-family conflict and career attitudes have been made in the literature, no research has investigated this assumption. This…

Bare Writing: Comparing Multiliteracies Theory and Nonrepresentational Theory Approaches to a Young Writer Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Amanda R.

2017-01-01

In this article, the author argues that new theoretical approaches to literacy are necessary for making visible the affective, embodied, and noncognitive domains of textual meaning making that are often obscured in traditional approaches. To experiment with this argument, the author conducted two analyses on the same data set, using…

Collaborative Learning in an Undergraduate Theory Course: An Assessment of Goals and Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDuff, Elaine

2012-01-01

This project was designed to assess whether a collaborative learning approach to teaching sociological theory would be a successful means of improving student engagement in learning theory and of increasing both the depth of students' understanding of theoretical arguments and concepts and the ability of students to theorize for themselves. A…

Speaker-Versus Listener-Oriented Disfluency: A Re-Examination of Arguments and Assumptions from Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Engelhardt, Paul E.; Alfridijanta, Oliver; McMullon, Mhairi E. G.; Corley, Martin

2017-01-01

We re-evaluate conclusions about disfluency production in high-functioning forms of autism spectrum disorder (HFA). Previous studies examined individuals with HFA to address a theoretical question regarding speaker- and listener-oriented disfluencies. Individuals with HFA tend to be self-centric and have poor pragmatic language skills, and should…

Vector Potential, Electromagnetic Induction and "Physical Meaning"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giuliani, G.

2010-01-01

A forgotten experiment by Andre Blondel (1914) proves, as held on the basis of theoretical arguments in a previous paper, that the time variation of the magnetic flux is not the cause of the induced emf; the physical agent is instead the vector potential through the term [equation omitted] (when the induced circuit is at rest). The "good…

In Defence of Personal Autonomy as a Fundamental Educational Aim in Liberal Democracies: A Response to Hand

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aviram, Aharon; Assor, Avi

2010-01-01

This paper responds to Michael Hand's argument in "Against autonomy as an educational aim" ("Oxford Review of Education", 32, 535-550), refutes it and identifies two faults at its foundation. Through this criticism, the paper makes a substantiated case, both theoretical and empirical, for endorsing the value of education for…

The Dubious Benefits of Multi-Level Modeling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gorard, Stephen

2007-01-01

This paper presents an argument against the wider adoption of complex forms of data analysis, using multi-level modeling (MLM) as an extended case study. MLM was devised to overcome some deficiencies in existing datasets, such as the bias caused by clustering. The paper suggests that MLM has an unclear theoretical and empirical basis, has not led…

From Early Attachment to Engagement with Learning in School: The Role of Self-Regulation and Persistence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Drake, Kim; Belsky, Jay; Fearon, R. M. Pasco

2014-01-01

This article presents theoretical arguments and supporting empirical evidence suggesting that attachment experiences in early life may be important in the later development of self-regulation and conscientious behavior. Analyses of data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth…

Hate Speech or Free Speech: Can Broad Campus Speech Regulations Survive Current Judicial Reasoning?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heiser, Gregory M.; Rossow, Lawrence F.

1993-01-01

Federal courts have found speech regulations overbroad in suits against the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin System. Attempts to assess the theoretical justification and probable fate of broad speech regulations that have not been explicitly rejected by the courts. Concludes that strong arguments for broader regulation will…

Linking Exploration and Exploitation: How a Think Tank Triggers a Managerial Innovation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frost, Jetta; Vogel, Rick

2008-01-01

In this article, we focus on think tanks as intermediaries between exploration and exploitation. To underpin our theoretical arguments on their linking function between both domains, we conducted a case study. The object of investigation is a think tank which has played a decisive role in the modernisation of the German public sector. The…

Mathematics Teachers' Visualization of Complex Number Multiplication and the Roots of Unity in a Dynamic Geometry Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caglayan, Gunhan

2016-01-01

This qualitative research, drawing on the theoretical frameworks by Even (1990, 1993) and Sfard (2007), investigated five high school mathematics teachers' geometric interpretations of complex number multiplication along with the roots of unity. The main finding was that mathematics teachers constructed the modulus, the argument, and the conjugate…

Desiring Diversity and Backlash: White Property Rights in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patel, Leigh

2015-01-01

In this theoretical essay, I argue that the current incidences of backlash to diversity are best understood as a dynamic of complicated, historic and intertwined desires for racial diversity and white entitlement to property. I frame this argument in the theories of critical race theory and settler colonialism, each of which provide necessary but…

The theoretical root of Karl Jaspers' General Psychopathology. Part 2: The influence of Max Weber.

PubMed

Kumazaki, Tsutomu

2013-09-01

The present study explores and compares Jaspers' methodology of psychopathology with Weber's methodology of sociology. In his works, Weber incorporated the arguments of many other researchers into his own methodology. Jaspers respected Weber as a mentor and presented arguments that were very similar to Weber's. Both Weber and Jaspers began from empathic understanding, but at the same time aimed for a rational and ideal-typical conceptualization. In addition, their methodologies were similar with respect to their detailed terminology. Such similarities cannot be seen with any other scholars. This suggests that Weber may have played an integral role as a mediator between his contemporary scholars and Jaspers. Thus, Weber may have had the most significant influence on Jaspers.

DDM at Work: Reply to comments on "Dependency distance: A new perspective on syntactic patterns in natural languages".

PubMed

Xu, Chunshan; Liang, Junying; Liu, Haitao

2017-07-01

We provide responses to the commentaries in this volume to evaluate, clarify and extend some of the arguments in Dependency distance: A new perspective on syntactic patterns in natural languages. Evidences show that DDM (dependency distance minimization) is an important linguistic universal, biologically or cognitively motivated, in shaping the language system. As a general tendency, DDM works quite well in theoretical argumentations as well as practical applications. However, this does not mean that DDM is the only linguistic universal that works: it is highly possible that other factors, which might be biologically, physically, socially or culturally motivated, work as well to jointly mold languages. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Social argumentation in online synchronous communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Angiono, Ivan

In education, argumentation has an increasing importance because it can be used to foster learning in various fields including philosophy, history, sciences, and mathematics. Argumentation is also at the heart of scientific inquiry. Many educational technology researchers have been interested in finding out how technologies can be employed to improve students' learning of argumentation. Therefore, many computer-based tools or argumentation systems have been developed to assist students in their acquisition of argumentation skills. While the argumentation systems incorporating online debating tools present a good resource in formal settings, there is limited research revealing what argumentative skills students are portraying in informal online settings without the presence of a moderator. This dissertation investigates the nature of argumentative practices in a massively multiplayer online game where the system successfully incorporates the authentic use of online synchronous communication tools and the patterns that emerge from the interplay between a number of contextual variables including synchronicity, interest, authenticity, and topical knowledge.

Rare-event statistics and modular invariance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nechaev, S. K.; Polovnikov, K.

2018-01-01

Simple geometric arguments based on constructing the Euclid orchard are presented, which explain the equivalence of various types of distributions that result from rare-event statistics. In particular, the spectral density of the exponentially weighted ensemble of linear polymer chains is examined for its number-theoretic properties. It can be shown that the eigenvalue statistics of the corresponding adjacency matrices in the sparse regime show a peculiar hierarchical structure and are described by the popcorn (Thomae) function discontinuous in the dense set of rational numbers. Moreover, the spectral edge density distribution exhibits Lifshitz tails, reminiscent of 1D Anderson localization. Finally, a continuous approximation for the popcorn function is suggested based on the Dedekind η-function, and the hierarchical ultrametric structure of the popcorn-like distributions is demonstrated to be related to hidden SL(2,Z) modular symmetry.

Algebraic model checking for Boolean gene regulatory networks.

PubMed

Tran, Quoc-Nam

2011-01-01

We present a computational method in which modular and Groebner bases (GB) computation in Boolean rings are used for solving problems in Boolean gene regulatory networks (BN). In contrast to other known algebraic approaches, the degree of intermediate polynomials during the calculation of Groebner bases using our method will never grow resulting in a significant improvement in running time and memory space consumption. We also show how calculation in temporal logic for model checking can be done by means of our direct and efficient Groebner basis computation in Boolean rings. We present our experimental results in finding attractors and control strategies of Boolean networks to illustrate our theoretical arguments. The results are promising. Our algebraic approach is more efficient than the state-of-the-art model checker NuSMV on BNs. More importantly, our approach finds all solutions for the BN problems.

A Fortran-90 Based Multiprecision System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bailey, David H.; Lasinski, T. A. (Technical Monitor)

1994-01-01

The author has developed a new version of his Fortran multiprecision computation system that is based on the Fortran-90 language. With this new approach, a translator program is not required - translation of Fortran code for multiprecision is accomplished by merely utilizing advanced features of Fortran-90, such as derived data types and operator extensions. This approach results in more reliable translation and also permits programmers of multiprecision applications to utilize the full power of the Fortran-90 language. Three multiprecision datatypes are supported in this system: multiprecision integer. real and complex. All the usual Fortran conventions for mixed mode operations are supported, and many of the Fortran intrinsics, such as SIN, EXP and MOD, are supported with multiprecision arguments. This paper also briefly describes an interesting application of this software, wherein new number-theoretic identities have been discovered by means of multiprecision computations.

Freud's "bad conscience": The case of Nietzsche's Genealogy.

PubMed

Greer, Scott

2002-01-01

This article develops the argument that Friedrich Nietzsche influenced several aspects of Freud's later writings by illustrating, in particular, the impact of Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morals on Freud's Civilization and its Discontents. The theoretical and conceptual schemes represented in Freud's Discontents are found to bear a remarkable similarity to Nietzsche's Genealogy on a number of highly specific points. It is suggested that "DAS ES," "Uber-ich," and "bad conscience," concepts central to Freud's moral theory of mind, are at least partly derived from Nietzsche. Moreover, Freud's phylogenetic theory of guilt is based upon premises found in Nietzsche, as are specific details relating to ideas on human prehistory and the ancestral family. Based on this evidence, a re-examination of the moral and social dimensions of Freud's "structural" model may be in order. Copyright 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Do medical students generate sound arguments during small group discussions in problem-based learning?: an analysis of preclinical medical students' argumentation according to a framework of hypothetico-deductive reasoning.

PubMed

Ju, Hyunjung; Choi, Ikseon; Yoon, Bo Young

2017-06-01

Hypothetico-deductive reasoning (HDR) is an essential learning activity and a learning outcome in problem-based learning (PBL). It is important for medical students to engage in the HDR process through argumentation during their small group discussions in PBL. This study aimed to analyze the quality of preclinical medical students' argumentation according to each phase of HDR in PBL. Participants were 15 first-year preclinical students divided into two small groups. A set of three 2-hour discussion sessions from each of the two groups during a 1-week-long PBL unit on the cardiovascular system was audio-recorded. The arguments constructed by the students were analyzed using a coding scheme, which included four types of argumentation (Type 0: incomplete, Type 1: claim only, Type 2: claim with data, and Type 3: claim with data and warrant). The mean frequency of each type of argumentation according to each HDR phase across the two small groups was calculated. During small group discussions, Type 1 arguments were generated most often (frequency=120.5, 43%), whereas the least common were Type 3 arguments (frequency=24.5, 8.7%) among the four types of arguments. The results of this study revealed that the students predominantly made claims without proper justifications; they often omitted data for supporting their claims or did not provide warrants to connect the claims and data. The findings suggest instructional interventions to enhance the quality of medical students' arguments in PBL, including promoting students' comprehension of the structure of argumentation for HDR processes and questioning.

Nuclear clustering and the electron screening puzzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bertulani, C. A.; Spitaleri, C.

2018-01-01

Electron screening changes appreciably the magnitude of astrophysical nuclear reactions within stars. This effect is also observed in laboratory experiments on Earth, where atomic electrons are present in the nuclear targets. Theoretical models were developed over the past 30 years and experimental measurements have been carried out to study electron screening in thermonuclear reactions. None of the theoretical models were able to explain the high values of the experimentally determined screening potentials. We explore the possibility that the "electron screening puzzle" is due to nuclear clusterization and polarization e_ects in the fusion reactions. We will discuss the supporting arguments for this scenario.

The role of ecological dynamics in analysing performance in team sports.

PubMed

Vilar, Luís; Araújo, Duarte; Davids, Keith; Button, Chris

2012-01-01

Performance analysis is a subdiscipline of sports sciences and one-approach, notational analysis, has been used to objectively audit and describe behaviours of performers during different subphases of play, providing additional information for practitioners to improve future sports performance. Recent criticisms of these methods have suggested the need for a sound theoretical rationale to explain performance behaviours, not just describe them. The aim of this article was to show how ecological dynamics provides a valid theoretical explanation of performance in team sports by explaining the formation of successful and unsuccessful patterns of play, based on symmetry-breaking processes emerging from functional interactions between players and the performance environment. We offer the view that ecological dynamics is an upgrade to more operational methods of performance analysis that merely document statistics of competitive performance. In support of our arguments, we refer to exemplar data on competitive performance in team sports that have revealed functional interpersonal interactions between attackers and defenders, based on variations in the spatial positioning of performers relative to each other in critical performance areas, such as the scoring zones. Implications of this perspective are also considered for practice task design and sport development programmes.

Did Ptolemy make novel predictions? Launching Ptolemaic astronomy into the scientific realism debate.

PubMed

Carman, Christián; Díez, José

2015-08-01

The goal of this paper, both historical and philosophical, is to launch a new case into the scientific realism debate: geocentric astronomy. Scientific realism about unobservables claims that the non-observational content of our successful/justified empirical theories is true, or approximately true. The argument that is currently considered the best in favor of scientific realism is the No Miracles Argument: the predictive success of a theory that makes (novel) observational predictions while making use of non-observational content would be inexplicable unless such non-observational content approximately corresponds to the world "out there". Laudan's pessimistic meta-induction challenged this argument, and realists reacted by moving to a "selective" version of realism: the approximately true part of the theory is not its full non-observational content but only the part of it that is responsible for the novel, successful observational predictions. Selective scientific realism has been tested against some of the theories in Laudan's list, but the first member of this list, geocentric astronomy, has been traditionally ignored. Our goal here is to defend that Ptolemy's Geocentrism deserves attention and poses a prima facie strong case against selective realism, since it made several successful, novel predictions based on theoretical hypotheses that do not seem to be retained, not even approximately, by posterior theories. Here, though, we confine our work just to the detailed reconstruction of what we take to be the main novel, successful Ptolemaic predictions, leaving the full analysis and assessment of their significance for the realist thesis to future works. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Effects of socioscientific issues-based instruction on argumentation ability and biology concepts of upper secondary school students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faelt, Surasak; Samiphak, Sara; Pattaradilokrat, Sittiporn

2018-01-01

Argumentation skill is an essential skill needed in students, and one of the competencies in scientific literacy. Through arguing on socioscientific issues, students may gain deeper conceptual understanding. The purpose of this research is to examine the efficacy of a socioscientific issues-based instruction compared with an inquirybased instruction. This is to determine which one is better in promoting 10th grade students' argumentation ability and biology concepts of digestive system and cellular respiration. The forty 10th grade students included in this study were from two mathematics-science program classes in a medium-sized secondary school located in a suburb of Buriram province, Thailand. The research utilizes a quasi-experimental design; pre-test post-test control group design. We developed and implemented 4 lesson plans for both socioscientific issues-based instruction and inquiry-based instruction. Ten weeks were used to collect the data. A paper-based questionnaire and informal interviews were designed to test students' argumentation ability, and the two-tier multiple-choice test was designed to test their biology concepts. This research explore qualitatively and quantitatively students' argumentation abilities and biology concepts, using arithmetic mean, mean of percentage, standard deviation and t-test. Results show that there is no significant difference between the two group regarding mean scores of the argumentation ability. However, there is significant difference between the two groups regarding mean scores of the biology concepts. This suggests that socioscientific issues-based instruction could be used to improve students' biology concepts.

Volatile dynamics in crystal-rich magma bodies, perspectives from laboratory experiments and theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faroughi, S.; Parmigiani, A.; Huber, C.

2013-12-01

The amount of volatiles and the dynamics of bubbles play a significant role on the transition between different volcanic eruption behaviors. The transport of exsolved volatiles through zoned magma chambers is complex and remains poorly constrained. Here we focus on the different transport of volatiles under two end member regimes: crystal-poor systems (bubbles form a suspension) versus crystal-rich reservoirs (multiphase porous media flow). We present a combination of multiphase flow laboratory experiments (using silicon oil and water) and a theoretical argument based on Stokes flow streamfunctions to contrast the differences between the transport of exsolved volatiles in both regimes. The first set of experiments involves the buoyant migration of water droplets in silicon oil in the absence of glass beads. We measure the non-linear hydrodynamic interaction between bubbles and its effect on slowing down the average flux of water droplets as the water volume fraction increases. Our experimental results are compared to a theoretical argument in which a streamfunction formulation is used to estimate the effect of a suspension on bubble migration. We find a good agreement between the new theory and our experimental results. The second set of experiments focuses on the transport of water (non-wetting fluid) in porous media saturated with viscous silicon oils. Contrary to suspension dynamics, in multiphase porous media, an increase in the saturation of non-wetting fluid leads to a non-linear increase in its volumetric flux. The steady-state migration of non-wetting fluid is controlled by the formation of viscous fingering instability that greatly enhances transport. We propose that the regime of energy dissipation during the migration of bubbles in heterogeneous magma reservoirs can change, leading to bubble accumulation in crystal-poor regions as fingering becomes unstable and volatiles form a disperse bubble suspension.

Rethinking the Argumentative Essay

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneer, David

2014-01-01

This article investigates the construction of the argumentative essay as it is commonly presented in academic writing textbooks and classrooms for English language learners. The author first examines the traditional three-stage structure (thesis-argument-conclusion) and then problematizes it within a genre-based approach to academic writing. He…

Towards Measurement of Confidence in Safety Cases

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Denney, Ewen; Paim Ganesh J.; Habli, Ibrahim

2011-01-01

Arguments in safety cases are predominantly qualitative. This is partly attributed to the lack of sufficient design and operational data necessary to measure the achievement of high-dependability targets, particularly for safety-critical functions implemented in software. The subjective nature of many forms of evidence, such as expert judgment and process maturity, also contributes to the overwhelming dependence on qualitative arguments. However, where data for quantitative measurements is systematically collected, quantitative arguments provide far more benefits over qualitative arguments, in assessing confidence in the safety case. In this paper, we propose a basis for developing and evaluating integrated qualitative and quantitative safety arguments based on the Goal Structuring Notation (GSN) and Bayesian Networks (BN). The approach we propose identifies structures within GSN-based arguments where uncertainties can be quantified. BN are then used to provide a means to reason about confidence in a probabilistic way. We illustrate our approach using a fragment of a safety case for an unmanned aerial system and conclude with some preliminary observations

Non-faith-based arguments against physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia.

PubMed

Sulmasy, Daniel P; Travaline, John M; Mitchell, Louise A; Ely, E Wesley

2016-08-01

This article is a complement to "A Template for Non-Religious-Based Discussions Against Euthanasia" by Melissa Harintho, Nathaniel Bloodworth, and E. Wesley Ely which appeared in the February 2015 Linacre Quarterly . Herein we build upon Daniel Sulmasy's opening and closing arguments from the 2014 Intelligence Squared debate on legalizing assisted suicide, supplemented by other non-faith-based arguments and thoughts, providing four nontheistic arguments against physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia: (1) "it offends me"; (2) slippery slope; (3) "pain can be alleviated"; (4) physician integrity and patient trust. Lay Summary: Presented here are four non-religious, reasonable arguments against physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia: (1) "it offends me," suicide devalues human life; (2) slippery slope, the limits on euthanasia gradually erode; (3) "pain can be alleviated," palliative care and modern therapeutics more and more adequately manage pain; (4) physician integrity and patient trust, participating in suicide violates the integrity of the physician and undermines the trust patients place in physicians to heal and not to harm.

The Structure of Scientific Arguments by Secondary Science Teachers: Comparison of experimental and historical science topics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gray, Ron; Kang, Nam-Hwa

2014-01-01

Just as scientific knowledge is constructed using distinct modes of inquiry (e.g. experimental or historical), arguments constructed during science instruction may vary depending on the mode of inquiry underlying the topic. The purpose of this study was to examine whether and how secondary science teachers construct scientific arguments during instruction differently for topics that rely on experimental or historical modes of inquiry. Four experienced high-school science teachers were observed daily during instructional units for both experimental and historical science topics. The main data sources include classroom observations and teacher interviews. The arguments were analyzed using Toulmin's argumentation pattern revealing specific patterns of arguments in teaching topics relying on these 2 modes of scientific inquiry. The teachers presented arguments to their students that were rather simple in structure but relatively authentic to the 2 different modes. The teachers used far more evidence in teaching topics based on historical inquiry than topics based on experimental inquiry. However, the differences were implicit in their teaching. Furthermore, their arguments did not portray the dynamic nature of science. Very few rebuttals or qualifiers were provided as the teachers were presenting their claims as if the data led straightforward to the claim. Implications for classroom practice and research are discussed.

The role of electronic health records in clinical reasoning.

PubMed

Berndt, Markus; Fischer, Martin R

2018-05-16

Electronic health records (eHRs) play an increasingly important role in documentation and exchange of information in multi-and interdisciplinary patient care. Although eHRs are associated with mixed evidence in terms of effectiveness, they are undeniably the health record form of the future. This poses several learning opportunities and challenges for medical education. This review aims to connect the concept of eHRs to key competencies of physicians and elaborates current learning science perspectives on diagnostic and clinical reasoning based on a theoretical framework of scientific reasoning and argumentation. It concludes with an integrative vision of the use of eHRs, and the special role of the patient, for teaching and learning in medicine. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

Do uniform tangential interfacial stresses enhance adhesion?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menga, Nicola; Carbone, Giuseppe; Dini, Daniele

2018-03-01

We present theoretical arguments, based on linear elasticity and thermodynamics, to show that interfacial tangential stresses in sliding adhesive soft contacts may lead to a significant increase of the effective energy of adhesion. A sizable expansion of the contact area is predicted in conditions corresponding to such scenario. These results are easily explained and are valid under the assumptions that: (i) sliding at the interface does not lead to any loss of adhesive interaction and (ii) spatial fluctuations of frictional stresses can be considered negligible. Our results are seemingly supported by existing experiments, and show that frictional stresses may lead to an increase of the effective energy of adhesion depending on which conditions are established at the interface of contacting bodies in the presence of adhesive forces.

Effects of asperity contact on stick-slip dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamaguchi, Tetsuo

2017-04-01

It is believed that asperity contact plays an important role in fricton, in particular in onset of dynamic slip or stick-slip motions. However, there remains very few studies controling asperities and observing their effects on mascoscopic stick-slip behavior or frictional constitutive laws. Here we perform stick-slip friction experiments between compliant gels with well-controlled asperity shape/size/configurations by molding technique. We find that, as curvature radius of the asperity becomes larger and the normal stress becomes smaller, velocity dependence turns from rate-strengthening to rate-weakening and accordingly, frictional behavior transitions from steady sliding, slow slip to fast slip. In this talk, we discuss the asperity size effects based on microscopic/macroscopic observations as well as a theoretical argument.

Necessary Educational Reform for the 21st Century: The Future of Public Schools in Our Democracy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laguardia, Armando; Pearl, Arthur

2009-01-01

We offer a theoretical and ecological argument for the preparation of citizens in U.S. public schools. This democratic education draws legitimacy from the concern of the nations founders for a populace educated to govern itself. We also emphasize the need for new democratic skills and knowledge in the face of today's challenges, and our…

Emotional Ecology: The Intersection of Emotional Knowledge and Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zembylas, Michalinos

2007-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to offer some theoretical as well as empirical examples that describe the interrelations between pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and emotional knowledge in teaching and learning. The argument put forward is that there is a need to expand current conceptions of PCK and acknowledge the role of emotional knowledge. It…

Higher Education Funding Reform and University-Industry Links in Developing Countries: The Case of Thailand

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schiller, Daniel; Liefner, Ingo

2007-01-01

Most investigations into the effects of funding changes on higher education systems have been carried out in developed economies. This article focuses on the Thai higher education system, applying theoretical arguments and empirical analyses to the case of a newly industrialising country. One goal of the Thai higher education funding reform is to…

Guidelines and Best Practices for Electrophysiological Data Collection, Analysis and Reporting in Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Webb, Sara Jane; Bernier, Raphael; Henderson, Heather A.; Johnson, Mark H.; Jones, Emily J. H.; Lerner, Matthew D.; McPartland, James C.; Nelson, Charles A.; Rojas, Donald C.; Townsend, Jeanne; Westerfield, Marissa

2015-01-01

The EEG reflects the activation of large populations of neurons that act in synchrony and propagate to the scalp surface. This activity reflects both the brain's background electrical activity and when the brain is being challenged by a task. Despite strong theoretical and methodological arguments for the use of EEG in understanding the…

Newton on Objects Moving in a Fluid--The Penetration Length

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saslow, Wayne M.; Lu, Hong

2008-01-01

We solve for the motion of an object with initial velocity v[subscript 0] and subject only to the combined drag of forces linear and quadratic in the velocity. This problem was treated briefly by Newton, after he developed a theoretical argument for the quadratic term, which we now know is characteristic of turbulent flow. Linear drag introduces a…

Learning in Social Action: A Contribution to Understanding Informal Education. Global Perspectives on Adult Education and Training.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foley, Griff

This book argues the importance of the incidental learning that can occur when people become involved in voluntary organizations, social struggles, and political activity. Chapter 1 introduces the case studies of informal learning in social struggle used to develop the argument and outlines the theoretical framework within which the case studies…

On the Conjunction Fallacy and the Meaning of "and", yet Again: A Reply to Hertwig, Benz, and Krauss (2008)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tentori, Katya; Crupi, Vincenzo

2012-01-01

In this paper we question the theoretical tenability of Hertwig, Benz, and Krauss's (2008) (HBK) argument that responses commonly taken as manifestations of the conjunction fallacy should be instead considered as reflecting "reasonable pragmatic and semantic inferences" because the meaning of and does not always coincide with that of the logical…

Who Do You Think You Are? Medical Student Socioeconomic Status and Intention to Work in Underserved Areas

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffin, Barbara; Porfeli, Erik; Hu, Wendy

2017-01-01

A frequently cited rationale for increasing the participation of students from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds is that it will create a workforce who will choose to work in low SES and medically underserviced communities. Two theoretical arguments, one that supports and one that contradicts this assumption, are proposed to explain the…

Small Worlds, Lifeworlds, and Information: The Ramifications of the Information Behaviour of Social Groups in Public Policy and the Public Sphere

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burnett, Gary; Jaeger, Paul T.

2008-01-01

Introduction: This paper attempts to build bridges between two sets of theoretical concepts related to information behaviour: the macro-level concepts of Jurgen Habermas related to lifeworlds and the micro-level concepts of Elfreda Chatman related to small worlds. Argument: Habermas and Chatman explored similar issues of information behaviour at…

School Drama and Representations of War and Terror--Some Theoretical Approaches to Understanding Learning in Drama in Troubled Times

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Franks, Anton

2008-01-01

The argument here proceeds from an understanding that learning in drama is about participating in forms of cultural production whilst simultaneously engaging thought and feeling to make sense of aspects of contemporary life. In contemporary culture, acts of war and terror are mediated through television and digitised media and are thereby given…

Volitional Aesthetics: A Philosophy for the Use of Visual Culture in Art Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carter, Mary C.

2008-01-01

This article is a philosophical argument that seeks to contribute to the field of art education by contributing toward and justifying a different aesthetic philosophy to support the use of visual culture in art education. Using the theoretical changes in art history and cultural theory as a backdrop, an aesthetic theory is constructed and labeled…

Secularisation and the Securitisation of the Sacred: A Response to Lewin's Framing of the Gearon-Jackson Debate

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gearon, Liam

2017-01-01

In this article, I make a response to Lewin's insightful and judicious contribution to the Gearon-Jackson debate. I address the central and important arguments made by Lewin in relation to three aspects of my theoretical orientations on religion in education: (1) what Lewin rightly identifies as my "propositional" interpretation of…

Theoretical Arguments For and Against Single-Sex Schools: A Critical Analysis of the Explanations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mael, Fred; Smith, Mark; Alonso, Alex; Rogers, Kelly; Gibson, Doug

2004-01-01

The question of whether single-sex schooling is preferable to coeducation for some or all students continues to be hotly debated. Much of the debate is philosophical and would be waged even if single-sex schooling were shown to be highly advantageous for one or more subpopulations. However, the actual research evidence, although suggestive that…

Consumption Values and Empowerment of the Student as Customer: Taking a Rational Look inside Higher Education's "Pandora's Box"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Andel, Jeroen; Botas, Paulo Charles Pimentel; Huisman, Jeroen

2012-01-01

There has been much debate on the concept of student as customer/consumer in higher education but little empirical research, most of which lacks a solid theoretical framework. This article summarises the key arguments in the literature and their shortcomings, proposes a framework to analyse student perceptions and behaviour, and reports research…

Boundary Spanners as Bridges of Student and School Discourses in an Urban Science and Mathematics High School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buxton, Cory A.; Carlone, Heidi B.; Carlone, David

2005-01-01

A key to improving urban science and mathematics education is to facilitate the mutual understanding of the participants involved and then look for strategies to bridge differences. Educators need new theoretical tools to do so. In this paper the argument is made that the concept of "boundary spanner" is such a tool. Boundary spanners…

Why Knowledge Matters in Curriculum: A Social Realist Argument. New Studies in Critical Realism and Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wheelahan, Leesa

2012-01-01

What should we teach in our schools and vocational education and higher education institutions? Is theoretical knowledge still important? This book argues that providing students with access to knowledge should be the raison d'etre of education. Its premise is that access to knowledge is an issue of social justice because society uses it to…

Quality Education in Africa: Introducing Philosophy for Children to Promote Open-Mindedness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ndofirepi, A. P.

2012-01-01

This paper presents a theoretical argument for the introduction of Philosophy for Children (P4C) in schools for the realization of quality education in Africa. While I acknowledge that there is a multiple range of attributes of quality education, I isolate open-mindedness as a value that strives to prepare learners to engage in inquiry and equip…

Funding for the Future: Strategic Research in Further Education. A Report for FEDA.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bellfield, C. R.; Bullock, A. D.; Rikowski, G.; Thomas, H. R.

A research study focused on the funding method for further education (FE) in Britain. From a theoretical study of the stimuli built into the new funding methodology, four topics of interest were selected for further investigation. To clarify the arguments, these topics were cast as a series of hypotheses that could then be tested using both…

Grounded theory research: literature reviewing and reflexivity.

PubMed

McGhee, Gerry; Marland, Glenn R; Atkinson, Jacqueline

2007-11-01

This paper is a report of a discussion of the arguments surrounding the role of the initial literature review in grounded theory. Researchers new to grounded theory may find themselves confused about the literature review, something we ourselves experienced, pointing to the need for clarity about use of the literature in grounded theory to help guide others about to embark on similar research journeys. The arguments for and against the use of a substantial topic-related initial literature review in a grounded theory study are discussed, giving examples from our own studies. The use of theoretically sampled literature and the necessity for reflexivity are also discussed. Reflexivity is viewed as the explicit quest to limit researcher effects on the data by awareness of self, something seen as integral both to the process of data collection and the constant comparison method essential to grounded theory. A researcher who is close to the field may already be theoretically sensitized and familiar with the literature on the study topic. Use of literature or any other preknowledge should not prevent a grounded theory arising from the inductive-deductive interplay which is at the heart of this method. Reflexivity is needed to prevent prior knowledge distorting the researcher's perceptions of the data.

From Intervention to Co-constitution: New Directions in Theorizing about Aging and Technology.

PubMed

Peine, Alexander; Neven, Louis

2018-05-30

We propose directions for future research on aging and technology to address fundamental changes in the experience of later life that come with the "digitization" of societies. Our argument is contextualized by the massive investments of policy makers and companies in gerontechnologies and their failure to create scale and impact. Partly this failure is due to an interventionist logic that positions new technologies as interventions or solutions to the problems of aging. What has been overlooked - at least theoretically - is how aging is already co-constituted by gerontechnology design, the socio-material practices it enacts, and the policy discourse around them. Goals are (a) reviewing elements of the current aging and technology agenda, (b) demonstrating how the interventionist logic has hampered theory development (and practical impact), (c) pulling together key insights from the emerging body of empirical literature at the intersection of social gerontology and Science and Technology Studies (STS), with the objective of (d) providing directions for future research on aging and technology. Our argument presents the theoretical gains that can be made by combining insights from STS and social gerontology to research the co-constitution of aging and technology.

Argumentation, critical thinking, nature of science and socioscientific issues: a dialogue between two researchers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yacoubian, Hagop A.; Khishfe, Rola

2018-05-01

The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast between two theoretical frameworks for addressing nature of science (NOS) and socioscientific issues (SSI) in school science. These frameworks are critical thinking (CT) and argumentation (AR). For the past years, the first and second authors of this paper have pursued research in this area using CT and AR as theoretical frameworks, respectively. Yacoubian argues that future citizens need to develop a critical mindset as they are guided to (1) practice making judgments on what views of NOS to acquire and (2) practice making decisions on SSI through applying their NOS understandings. Khishfe asserts that AR is an important component of decision making when dealing with SSI and the practice in AR in relation to controversial issues is needed for informed decision making. She argues that AR as a framework may assist in the development of more informed understandings of NOS. In this paper, the authors delve into a dialogue for (1) elucidating strengths and potential of each framework, (2) highlighting challenges that they face in their research using the frameworks in question, (3) exploring the extent to which the frameworks can overlap, and (4) proposing directions for future research.

Re-thinking typologies of multiple murders: the missing category of serial-mass murder and its theoretical and practical implications.

PubMed

Edelstein, Arnon

2014-01-01

The concept of multiple murders (mm) is as old as humanity itself but it has only become prevalent in academic thought within the last three decades. Over this period scholars have introduced two main attitudes regarding multiple murders. Some argue that multiple murders are, theoretically and empirically, one concept that includes different sub-types: mass murder, spree murder, and serial murder. Other scholars claim that those "sub categories", are a whole different phenomenon, which are worthy and needed a separate examination and discussion because its uniqueness. To my opinion, this argument is more a semantic one than a fundamental one, as long as we consider each type of these murders as a unique phenomenon, with its own and unique characteristics. In addition both parties agree that the concept of multiple murders is differentiated into the same three main sub-categories. My argument is that a fourth sub-category of mm exists which goes unrecognized by most scholars. This sub-category, named "serial-mass murder," will help to differentiate the sub-categories more accurately and will more clearly define each of the remaining sub-categories.

Measurement analysis and quantum gravity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Albers, Mark; Kiefer, Claus; Reginatto, Marcel

2008-09-15

We consider the question of whether consistency arguments based on measurement theory show that the gravitational field must be quantized. Motivated by the argument of Eppley and Hannah, we apply a DeWitt-type measurement analysis to a coupled system that consists of a gravitational wave interacting with a mass cube. We also review the arguments of Eppley and Hannah and of DeWitt, and investigate a second model in which a gravitational wave interacts with a quantized scalar field. We argue that one cannot conclude from the existing gedanken experiments that gravity has to be quantized. Despite the many physical arguments whichmore » speak in favor of a quantum theory of gravity, it appears that the justification for such a theory must be based on empirical tests and does not follow from logical arguments alone.« less

Improving Students’ Evaluation of Informal Arguments

PubMed Central

LARSON, AARON A.; BRITT, M. ANNE; KURBY, CHRISTOPHER A.

2010-01-01

Evaluating the structural quality of arguments is a skill important to students’ ability to comprehend the arguments of others and produce their own. The authors examined college and high school students’ ability to evaluate the quality of 2-clause (claim-reason) arguments and tested a tutorial to improve this ability. These experiments indicated that college and high school students had difficulty evaluating arguments on the basis of their quality. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that a tutorial explaining skills important to overall argument evaluation increased performance but that immediate feedback during training was necessary for teaching students to evaluate the claim-reason connection. Using a Web-based version of the tutorial, Experiment 3 extended this finding to the performance of high-school students. The study suggests that teaching the structure of an argument and teaching students to pay attention to the precise message of the claim can improve argument evaluation. PMID:20174611

Steering, or maybe why Einstein did not go all the way to Bellʼs argument

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Werner, R. F.

2014-10-01

It is shown that a main source of conflict between Einstein and the mainstream quantum physicists was his insistence that wave functions, like classical probability distributions, do not refer to individual particles and, in particular, do not describe individual systems completely. The EPR paper was written to argue for this position. By aiming at showing that wave functions are unsuitable as local hidden variables, the authors failed to see that a slight extension could have ruled out such local hidden variables in general. As background for this analysis of the EPR argument the notion of steering is described, and a version of the Bell argument is proved which emphasizes non-local signalling aspects. Finally, some background is given concerning a well-known paper by the present author, which is celebrating 25 years this year, and in which the first non-steering models were constructed. This article is part of a special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical devoted to ‘50 years of Bell’s theorem’.

Setting up Conditions for Negotiation in Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yoon, Sae Yeol; Bennett, William; Mendez, Claudia Aguirre; Hand, Brian

2010-01-01

When using an argument based inquiry approach like the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach, argumentation between peers and with a teacher will provide great opportunities for students to experience negotiation of meaning in relation to science content. However, students do not automatically engage in dialogue and argumentation with…

Validity Arguments for Diagnostic Assessment Using Automated Writing Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chapelle, Carol A.; Cotos, Elena; Lee, Jooyoung

2015-01-01

Two examples demonstrate an argument-based approach to validation of diagnostic assessment using automated writing evaluation (AWE). "Criterion"®, was developed by Educational Testing Service to analyze students' papers grammatically, providing sentence-level error feedback. An interpretive argument was developed for its use as part of…

The effectiveness of argumentation in tutorial dialogues with an Intelligent Tutoring System for genetic risk of breast cancer.

PubMed

Cedillos-Whynott, Elizabeth M; Wolfe, Christopher R; Widmer, Colin L; Brust-Renck, Priscila G; Weil, Audrey; Reyna, Valerie F

2016-09-01

BRCA Gist is an Intelligent Tutoring System that helps women understand issues related to genetic testing and breast cancer risk. In two laboratory experiments and a field experiment with community and web-based samples, an avatar asked 120 participants to produce arguments for and against genetic testing for breast cancer risk. Two raters assessed the number of argumentation elements (claim, reason, backing, etc.) found in response to prompts soliciting arguments for and against genetic testing for breast cancer risk (IRR=.85). When asked to argue for genetic testing, 53.3 % failed to meet the minimum operational definition of making an argument, a claim supported by one or more reasons. When asked to argue against genetic testing, 59.3 % failed to do so. Of those who failed to generate arguments most simply listed disconnected reasons. However, participants who provided arguments against testing (40.7 %) performed significantly higher on a posttest of declarative knowledge. In each study we found positive correlations between the quality of arguments against genetic testing (i.e., number of argumentation elements) and genetic risk categorization scores. Although most interactions did not contain two or more argument elements, when more elements of arguments were included in the argument against genetic testing interaction, participants had greater learning outcomes. Apparently, many participants lack skills in making coherent arguments. These results suggest an association between argumentation ability (knowing how to make complex arguments) and subsequent learning. Better education in developing arguments may be necessary for people to learn from generating arguments within Intelligent Tutoring Systems and other settings.

The effectiveness of argumentation in tutorial dialogues with an Intelligent Tutoring System for genetic risk of breast cancer

PubMed Central

Cedillos-Whynott, Elizabeth M.; Wolfe, Christopher R.; Widmer, Colin L.; Brust-Renck, Priscila G.; Weil, Audrey; Reyna, Valerie F.

2017-01-01

BRCA Gist is an Intelligent Tutoring System that helps women understand issues related to genetic testing and breast cancer risk. In two laboratory experiments and a field experiment with community and web-based samples, an avatar asked 120 participants to produce arguments for and against genetic testing for breast cancer risk. Two raters assessed the number of argumentation elements (claim, reason, backing, etc.) found in response to prompts soliciting arguments for and against genetic testing for breast cancer risk (IRR=.85). When asked to argue for genetic testing, 53.3 % failed to meet the minimum operational definition of making an argument, a claim supported by one or more reasons. When asked to argue against genetic testing, 59.3 % failed to do so. Of those who failed to generate arguments most simply listed disconnected reasons. However, participants who provided arguments against testing (40.7 %) performed significantly higher on a posttest of declarative knowledge. In each study we found positive correlations between the quality of arguments against genetic testing (i.e., number of argumentation elements) and genetic risk categorization scores. Although most interactions did not contain two or more argument elements, when more elements of arguments were included in the argument against genetic testing interaction, participants had greater learning outcomes. Apparently, many participants lack skills in making coherent arguments. These results suggest an association between argumentation ability (knowing how to make complex arguments) and subsequent learning. Better education in developing arguments may be necessary for people to learn from generating arguments within Intelligent Tutoring Systems and other settings. PMID:26511370

Perceptions of the Nature and 'Goodness' of Argument among College Students, Science Teachers, and Scientists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abi-El-Mona, Issam; Abd-El-Khalick, Fouad

2011-03-01

This study aimed to elucidate college freshmen science students, secondary science teachers, and scientists' perceptions of 'scientific' argument; to compare participants' perceptions with Stephen Toulmin's analytical framework of argument; and to characterize the criteria that participants deployed when assessing the 'quality' or 'goodness' of arguments. Thirty students, teachers, and scientists-with 10 members in each group-participated in two semi-structured individual interviews. During the first interview, participants generated an argument in response to a socioscientific issue. In the second interview, each participant 'evaluated' three arguments generated by a member from each participant group without being privy to the arguer's group membership. Interview transcripts were qualitatively analyzed. The findings point to both similarities and differences between participants' conceptions of argument and those based on Toulmin's analytical framework. Participants used an array of common and idiosyncratic criteria to judge the quality or goodness of argument. Finally, contrary to expectations, participants independently agreed that the 'best' arguments were those generated by participant science teachers.

The influence of affective and cognitive arguments on message judgement and attitude change: The moderating effects of meta-bases and structural bases.

PubMed

Keer, Mario; van den Putte, Bas; Neijens, Peter; de Wit, John

2013-01-01

This study investigated whether the efficacy of affective vs. cognitive persuasive messages was moderated by (1) individuals' subjective assessments of whether their attitudes were based on affect or cognition (i.e. meta-bases) and (2) the degree individuals' attitudes were correlated with affect and cognition (i.e. structural bases). Participants (N = 97) were randomly exposed to a message containing either affective or cognitive arguments discouraging binge drinking. The results demonstrated that meta-bases and not structural bases moderated the influence of argument type on message judgement. Affective (cognitive) messages were judged more positively when individuals' meta-bases were more affective (cognitive). In contrast, structural bases and not meta-bases moderated the influence of argument type on attitude and intention change following exposure to the message. Surprisingly, change was greater among individuals who read a message that mismatched their structural attitude base. Affective messages were more effective as attitudes were more cognition-based, and vice versa. Thus, although individuals prefer messages that match their meta-base, attitude and intention change regarding binge drinking are best established by mismatching their structural base.

Encoding and Retrieval Interference in Sentence Comprehension: Evidence from Agreement

PubMed Central

Villata, Sandra; Tabor, Whitney; Franck, Julie

2018-01-01

Long-distance verb-argument dependencies generally require the integration of a fronted argument when the verb is encountered for sentence interpretation. Under a parsing model that handles long-distance dependencies through a cue-based retrieval mechanism, retrieval is hampered when retrieval cues also resonate with non-target elements (retrieval interference). However, similarity-based interference may also stem from interference arising during the encoding of elements in memory (encoding interference), an effect that is not directly accountable for by a cue-based retrieval mechanism. Although encoding and retrieval interference are clearly distinct at the theoretical level, it is difficult to disentangle the two on empirical grounds, since encoding interference may also manifest at the retrieval region. We report two self-paced reading experiments aimed at teasing apart the role of each component in gender and number subject-verb agreement in Italian and English object relative clauses. In Italian, the verb does not agree in gender with the subject, thus providing no cue for retrieval. In English, although present tense verbs agree in number with the subject, past tense verbs do not, allowing us to test the role of number as a retrieval cue within the same language. Results from both experiments converge, showing similarity-based interference at encoding, and some evidence for an effect at retrieval. After having pointed out the non-negligible role of encoding in sentence comprehension, and noting that Lewis and Vasishth’s (2005) ACT-R model of sentence processing, the most fully developed cue-based retrieval approach to sentence processing does not predict encoding effects, we propose an augmentation of this model that predicts these effects. We then also propose a self-organizing sentence processing model (SOSP), which has the advantage of accounting for retrieval and encoding interference with a single mechanism. PMID:29403414

Examining Elementary Students' Development of Oral and Written Argumentation Practices Through Argument-Based Inquiry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Ying-Chih; Hand, Brian; Park, Soonhye

2016-05-01

Argumentation, and the production of scientific arguments are critical elements of inquiry that are necessary for helping students become scientifically literate through engaging them in constructing and critiquing ideas. This case study employed a mixed methods research design to examine the development in 5th grade students' practices of oral and written argumentation from one unit to another over 16 weeks utilizing the science writing heuristic approach. Data sources included five rounds of whole-class discussion focused on group presentations of arguments that occurred over eleven class periods; students' group writings; interviews with six target students and the teacher; and the researcher's field notes. The results revealed five salient trends in students' development of oral and written argumentative practices over time: (1) Students came to use more critique components as they participated in more rounds of whole-class discussion focused on group presentations of arguments; (2) by challenging each other's arguments, students came to focus on the coherence of the argument and the quality of evidence; (3) students came to use evidence to defend, support, and reject arguments; (4) the quality of students' writing continuously improved over time; and (5) students connected oral argument skills to written argument skills as they had opportunities to revise their writing after debating and developed awareness of the usefulness of critique from peers. Given the development in oral argumentative practices and the quality of written arguments over time, this study indicates that students' development of oral and written argumentative practices is positively related to each other. This study suggests that argumentative practices should be framed through both a social and epistemic understanding of argument-utilizing talk and writing as vehicles to create norms of these complex practices.

Enhancing Online Collaborative Argumentation through Question Elaboration and Goal Instructions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Golanics, J. D.; Nussbaum, E. M.

2008-01-01

Computer-supported collaborative argumentation can improve understanding and problem-solving skills. This study uses WebCT to explore the improvement of argumentation in asynchronous, web-based discussions through goal instructions, which are statements at the end of a discussion prompt indicating what students should achieve. In a previous study…

Getting the Argument Started: A Variation on the Density Investigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Joi P.; Wolf, Steven F.

2017-01-01

The ability to "engage in argument from evidence" is one of the eight practices identified in the "Next Generation Science Standards" as well as an emerging focus of undergraduate chemistry curricula. Guiding students to make evidence-based claims that engender argumentation will require faculty to revise conventional…

Development of Quantitative Reasoning and Gender Biases.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klaczynski, Paul A.; Aneja, Alka

2002-01-01

The relationship between higher order reasoning and sex bias was investigated among children 7, 9 and 11 years old. Children read arguments enhancing their own or other gender, then rated argument intelligence, judged other children based on observations, and justified their arguments. Findings showed that own-gender reasoning biases declined with…

Argumentation and Decision Making in Professional Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gainsburg, Julie; Fox, John; Solan, Lawrence M.

2016-01-01

How is argumentation used in professional practice? As schools aim to ensure that students are college-and-career ready, classroom practices might be informed by argumentation in the professions. An analysis of evidence-based reasoning in 3 professions--engineering, law, and medicine--offers out-of-school perspectives on the practices and purposes…

Constructing Scientific Arguments Using Evidence from Dynamic Computational Climate Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pallant, Amy; Lee, Hee-Sun

2015-01-01

Modeling and argumentation are two important scientific practices students need to develop throughout school years. In this paper, we investigated how middle and high school students (N = 512) construct a scientific argument based on evidence from computational models with which they simulated climate change. We designed scientific argumentation…

A Group Intelligence-Based Asynchronous Argumentation Learning-Assistance Platform

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Chenn-Jung; Chang, Shun-Chih; Chen, Heng-Ming; Tseng, Jhe-Hao; Chien, Sheng-Yuan

2016-01-01

Structured argumentation support environments have been built and used in scientific discourse in the literature. However, to the best our knowledge, there is no research work in the literature examining whether student's knowledge has grown during learning activities with asynchronous argumentation. In this work, an intelligent computer-supported…

Promoting Critical, Elaborative Discussions through a Collaboration Script and Argument Diagrams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scheuer, Oliver; McLaren, Bruce M.; Weinberger, Armin; Niebuhr, Sabine

2014-01-01

During the past two decades a variety of approaches to support argumentation learning in computer-based learning environments have been investigated. We present an approach that combines argumentation diagramming and collaboration scripts, two methods successfully used in the past individually. The rationale for combining the methods is to…

Mentoring and Argumentation in a Game-Infused Science Curriculum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gould, Deena L.; Parekh, Priyanka

2018-04-01

Engaging in argumentation from evidence is challenging for most middle school students. We report the design of a media-based mentoring system to support middle school students in engaging in argumentation in the context of a game-infused science curriculum. Our design emphasizes learners apprenticing with college student mentors around the socio-scientific inquiry of a designed video game. We report the results of a mixed-methods study examining the use of this media-based mentoring system with students ages 11 through 14. We observed that the discourse of groups of students that engaged with the game-infused science curriculum while interacting with college student mentors via a social media platform demonstrated statistically significant higher ratings of cognitive, epistemic, and social aspects of argumentation than groups of students that engaged with the social media platform and game-infused science curriculum without mentors. We further explored the differences between the Discourses of the mentored and non-mentored groups. This analysis showed that students in the mentored groups were invited, guided, and socialized into roles of greater agency than students in the non-mentored groups. This increased agency might explain why mentored groups demonstrated higher levels of scientific argumentation than non-mentored groups. Based on our analyses, we argue that media-based mentoring may be designed around a video game to support middle school students in engaging in argumentation from evidence.

The inseparable role of emotions in the teaching and learning of primary school science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siry, Christina; Brendel, Michelle

2016-09-01

In this paper, we seek to explore the inseparable role of emotions in the teaching and the learning of science at the primary school level, as we elaborate the theoretical underpinnings and personal experiences that lead us to this notion of inseparability. We situate our perspectives on the complexity of science education in primary schools, draw on existing literature on emotions in science, and present arguments for the necessity of working towards positive emotions in our work with young children and their teachers. We layer our own perspectives and experiences as teachers and as researchers onto methodological arguments through narratives to emerge with a reflective essay that seeks to highlight the importance of emotions in our work with children and their teachers in elementary school science.

Can it ever be better never to have existed at all? Person-based consequentialism and a new repugnant conclusion.

PubMed

Roberts, Melinda A

2003-01-01

Broome and others have argued that it makes no sense, or at least that it cannot be true, to say that it is better for a given person that he or she exist than not. That argument can be understood to suggest that, likewise, it makes no sense, or at least that it cannot be true, to say that it is worse for a given person that he or she exist than that he or she never have existed at all. This argument is of critical importance to the question of whether consequentialist theory should take a traditional, aggregative form or a less conventional, person-affecting, or person-based form. I believe that, potentially, the argument represents a far more serious threat to the person-based approach than does, for example, Parfit's two medical programmes example. Parfit's example nicely illuminates the distinction between aggregative and person-based approaches and raises important questions. But the example--though not, I think, by Parfit--is sometimes pressed into service as a full-fledged counterexample against the person-based approach. As such, I argue, the example is not persuasive. In contrast, the Broomeian argument, if correct, is definitive. For that argument relies on certain metaphysical assumptions and various uncontroversial normative claims--and hence nicely avoids putting into play the controversial normative claims that lie at the very heart of the debate. The purpose of the present paper, then, is to evaluate the Broomeian argument. I argue that this potentially definitive challenge to a person-based approach does not in fact succeed.

Merging Theoretical Models and Therapy Approaches in the Context of Internet Gaming Disorder: A Personal Perspective.

PubMed

Young, Kimberly S; Brand, Matthias

2017-01-01

Although, it is not yet officially recognized as a clinical entity which is diagnosable, Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has been included in section III for further study in the DSM-5 by the American Psychiatric Association (APA, 2013). This is important because there is increasing evidence that people of all ages, in particular teens and young adults, are facing very real and sometimes very severe consequences in daily life resulting from an addictive use of online games. This article summarizes general aspects of IGD including diagnostic criteria and arguments for the classification as an addictive disorder including evidence from neurobiological studies. Based on previous theoretical considerations and empirical findings, this paper examines the use of one recently proposed model, the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model, for inspiring future research and for developing new treatment protocols for IGD. The I-PACE model is a theoretical framework that explains symptoms of Internet addiction by looking at interactions between predisposing factors, moderators, and mediators in combination with reduced executive functioning and diminished decision making. Finally, the paper discusses how current treatment protocols focusing on Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Internet addiction (CBT-IA) fit with the processes hypothesized in the I-PACE model.

Merging Theoretical Models and Therapy Approaches in the Context of Internet Gaming Disorder: A Personal Perspective

PubMed Central

Young, Kimberly S.; Brand, Matthias

2017-01-01

Although, it is not yet officially recognized as a clinical entity which is diagnosable, Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has been included in section III for further study in the DSM-5 by the American Psychiatric Association (APA, 2013). This is important because there is increasing evidence that people of all ages, in particular teens and young adults, are facing very real and sometimes very severe consequences in daily life resulting from an addictive use of online games. This article summarizes general aspects of IGD including diagnostic criteria and arguments for the classification as an addictive disorder including evidence from neurobiological studies. Based on previous theoretical considerations and empirical findings, this paper examines the use of one recently proposed model, the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model, for inspiring future research and for developing new treatment protocols for IGD. The I-PACE model is a theoretical framework that explains symptoms of Internet addiction by looking at interactions between predisposing factors, moderators, and mediators in combination with reduced executive functioning and diminished decision making. Finally, the paper discusses how current treatment protocols focusing on Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Internet addiction (CBT-IA) fit with the processes hypothesized in the I-PACE model. PMID:29104555

Reproductive cloning and arguments from potential.

PubMed

Oakley, Justin

2006-01-01

The possibility of human reproductive cloning has led some bioethicists to suggest that potentiality-based arguments for fetal moral status become untenable, as such arguments would be committed to making the implausible claim that any adult somatic cell is itself a potential person. In this article I defend potentiality-based arguments for fetal moral status against such a reductio. Starting from the widely-held claim that the maintenance of numerical identity throughout successive changes places constraints on what a given entity can plausibly be said to have the potential to become, I argue that the cell reprogramming that takes place in reproductive cloning is such that it produces a new individual, and so adult somatic cells cannot be potential persons.

A Legal Negotiatiton Support System Based on A Diagram

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nitta, Katsumi; Shibasaki, Masato; Yasumura, Yoshiaki; Hasegawa, Ryuzo; Fujita, Hiroshi; Koshimura, Miyuki; Inoue, Katsumi; Shirai, Yasuyuki; Komatsu, Hiroshi

We present an overview of a legal negotiation support system, ANS (Argumentation based Negotiation support System). ANS consists of a user interface, three inference engines, a database of old cases, and two decision support modules. The ANS users negotiates or disputes with others via a computer network. The negotiation status is managed in the form of the negotiation diagram. The negotiation diagram is an extension of Toulmin’s argument diagram, and it contains all arguments insisted by participants. The negotiation protocols are defined as operations to the negotiation diagram. By exchanging counter arguments each other, the negotiation diagram grows up. Nonmonotonic reasoning using rule priorities are applied to the negotiation diagram.

Can't see the woods for the trees: exploring the range and connection of tobacco industry argumentation in the 2012 UK standardised packaging consultation.

PubMed

Lie, Jessamina Lih Yan; Fooks, Gary; de Vries, Nanne K; Heijndijk, Suzanne M; Willemsen, Marc C

2017-07-25

Transnational tobacco company (TTC) submissions to the 2012 UK standardised packaging consultation are studied to examine TTC argumentation in the context of Better Regulation practices. A content analysis was conducted of Philip Morris International and British American Tobacco submissions to the 2012 UK consultation. Industry arguments concerning expected costs and (contested) benefits of the policy were categorised into themes and frames. The inter-relationship between frames through linked arguments was mapped to analyse central arguments using an argumentation network. 173 arguments were identified. Arguments fell into one of five frames: ineffectiveness, negative economic consequences, harm to public health, increased crime or legal ramifications. Arguments highlighted high costs to a wide range of groups, including government, general public and other businesses. Arguments also questioned the public health benefits of standardised packaging and highlighted the potential benefits to undeserving groups. An increase in illicit trade was the most central argument and linked to the greatest variety of arguments. In policy-making systems characterised by mandatory impact assessments and public consultations, the wide range of cost (and contested benefits) based arguments highlights the risk of TTCs overloading policy actors and causing delays in policy adoption. Illicit trade related arguments are central to providing a rationale for these arguments, which include the claim that standardised packaging will increase health risks. The strategic importance of illicit trade arguments to industry argumentation in public consultations underlines the risks of relying on industry data relating to the scale of the illicit trade. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Against the empirical viability of the Deutsch-Wallace-Everett approach to quantum mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dawid, Richard; Thébault, Karim P. Y.

2014-08-01

The subjective Everettian approach to quantum mechanics presented by Deutsch and Wallace fails to constitute an empirically viable theory of quantum phenomena. The decision theoretic implementation of the Born rule realized in this approach provides no basis for rejecting Everettian quantum mechanics in the face of empirical data that contradicts the Born rule. The approach of Greaves and Myrvold, which provides a subjective implementation of the Born rule as well but derives it from empirical data rather than decision theoretic arguments, avoids the problem faced by Deutsch and Wallace and is empirically viable. However, there is good reason to cast doubts on its scientific value.

Nominalization and Alternations in Biomedical Language

PubMed Central

Cohen, K. Bretonnel; Palmer, Martha; Hunter, Lawrence

2008-01-01

Background This paper presents data on alternations in the argument structure of common domain-specific verbs and their associated verbal nominalizations in the PennBioIE corpus. Alternation is the term in theoretical linguistics for variations in the surface syntactic form of verbs, e.g. the different forms of stimulate in FSH stimulates follicular development and follicular development is stimulated by FSH. The data is used to assess the implications of alternations for biomedical text mining systems and to test the fit of the sublanguage model to biomedical texts. Methodology/Principal Findings We examined 1,872 tokens of the ten most common domain-specific verbs or their zero-related nouns in the PennBioIE corpus and labelled them for the presence or absence of three alternations. We then annotated the arguments of 746 tokens of the nominalizations related to these verbs and counted alternations related to the presence or absence of arguments and to the syntactic position of non-absent arguments. We found that alternations are quite common both for verbs and for nominalizations. We also found a previously undescribed alternation involving an adjectival present participle. Conclusions/Significance We found that even in this semantically restricted domain, alternations are quite common, and alternations involving nominalizations are exceptionally diverse. Nonetheless, the sublanguage model applies to biomedical language. We also report on a previously undescribed alternation involving an adjectival present participle. PMID:18779866

`Let your data tell a story:' climate change experts and students navigating disciplinary argumentation in the classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walsh, Elizabeth Mary; McGowan, Veronica Cassone

2017-01-01

Science education trends promote student engagement in authentic knowledge in practice to tackle personally consequential problems. This study explored how partnering scientists and students on a social media platform supported students' development of disciplinary practice knowledge through practice-based learning with experts during two pilot enactments of a project-based curriculum focusing on the ecological impacts of climate change. Through the online platform, scientists provided feedback on students' infographics, visual argumentation artifacts that use data to communicate about climate change science. We conceptualize the infographics and professional data sets as boundary objects that supported authentic argumentation practices across classroom and professional contexts, but found that student generated data was not robust enough to cross these boundaries. Analysis of the structure and content of the scientists' feedback revealed that when critiquing argumentation, scientists initiated engagement in multiple scientific practices, supporting a holistic rather than discrete model of practice-based learning. While traditional classroom inquiry has emphasized student experimentation, we found that engagement with existing professional data sets provided students with a platform for developing expertise in systemic scientific practices during argument construction. We further found that many students increased the complexity and improved the visual presentation of their arguments after feedback.

From facts to arguments: A study of the 2014 Swiss controversy over systematic mammography screening.

PubMed

Perrenoud, Caroline; Stiefel, Friedrich; Bourquin, Céline

2018-06-01

The Swiss Medical Board (SMB) has recently revived the controversy over mammography screening by recommending to stop the introduction of new systematic mammography screening programs. This study aimed to examine the Swiss media coverage of the release of the SMB report. The dataset consisted of 25 newspaper and "medical magazine" articles, and TV/radio interviews. The analytic approach was based on argumentation theory. Authority and community arguments were the most frequent types of arguments. With respect to authority arguments, stakeholders for instance challenged or supported the expertise of the SMB by referring to the competence of external figures of authority. Community arguments were based on common values such as life (saved thanks to systematic mammography screening) and money (costs associated with unnecessary care induced by systematic mammography screening). The efficiency of mammography screening which was the key issue of the debate appeared to be largely eluded, and the question of what women should do endures. While interpersonal and interprofessional communication has become a major topic of interest in the medical community, it appears that media communication on mammography screening is still rather ineffective. We call in particular for a more fact-based discussion. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Constructing Scientific Arguments Using Evidence from Dynamic Computational Climate Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pallant, Amy; Lee, Hee-Sun

2015-04-01

Modeling and argumentation are two important scientific practices students need to develop throughout school years. In this paper, we investigated how middle and high school students ( N = 512) construct a scientific argument based on evidence from computational models with which they simulated climate change. We designed scientific argumentation tasks with three increasingly complex dynamic climate models. Each scientific argumentation task consisted of four parts: multiple-choice claim, openended explanation, five-point Likert scale uncertainty rating, and open-ended uncertainty rationale. We coded 1,294 scientific arguments in terms of a claim's consistency with current scientific consensus, whether explanations were model based or knowledge based and categorized the sources of uncertainty (personal vs. scientific). We used chi-square and ANOVA tests to identify significant patterns. Results indicate that (1) a majority of students incorporated models as evidence to support their claims, (2) most students used model output results shown on graphs to confirm their claim rather than to explain simulated molecular processes, (3) students' dependence on model results and their uncertainty rating diminished as the dynamic climate models became more and more complex, (4) some students' misconceptions interfered with observing and interpreting model results or simulated processes, and (5) students' uncertainty sources reflected more frequently on their assessment of personal knowledge or abilities related to the tasks than on their critical examination of scientific evidence resulting from models. These findings have implications for teaching and research related to the integration of scientific argumentation and modeling practices to address complex Earth systems.

New strings for old Veneziano amplitudes. II. Group-theoretic treatment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kholodenko, A. L.

2006-09-01

In this part of our four parts work we use theory of polynomial invariants of finite pseudo-reflection groups in order to reconstruct both the Veneziano and Veneziano-like (tachyon-free) amplitudes and the generating function reproducing these amplitudes. We demonstrate that such generating function and amplitudes associated with it can be recovered with help of finite dimensional exactly solvableN=2 supersymmetric quantum mechanical model known earlier from works of Witten, Stone and others. Using the Lefschetz isomorphism theorem we replace traditional supersymmetric calculations by the group-theoretic thus solving the Veneziano model exactly using standard methods of representation theory. Mathematical correctness of our arguments relies on important theorems by Shepard and Todd, Serre and Solomon proven respectively in the early 50s and 60s and documented in the monograph by Bourbaki. Based on these theorems, we explain why the developed formalism leaves all known results of conformal field theories unchanged. We also explain why these theorems impose stringent requirements connecting analytical properties of scattering amplitudes with symmetries of space-time in which such amplitudes act.

Analysis of the Rotational Structure of ˜{B}^2A' ← ˜{X}^2A' Transition of Isopropoxy Radical: Isolated State vs. Coupled States Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Melnik, Dmitry G.; Miller, Terry A.; Liu, Jinjun

2013-06-01

Isopropoxy radicals are reactive intermediates in atmospheric and combustion chemistry. From the theoretical point of view, they represent an extreme case of ``isotopically'' substituted methoxy radicals with two methyl groups playing the role of heavy hydrogen isotopes. Previously the rotationally resolved spectra of ˜{B}^2A' ← ˜{X}^2A' electronic transition were successfully analyzed using a simple effective rotational Hamiltonian of the isolated ˜{X} and ˜{B} states. However, a number of the experimentally determined parameters appeared dramatically inconsistent with the quantum chemistry calculations and theoretical predictions based on the symmetry arguments. Recently, we analyzed these spectra using a coupled two state model, which explicitly includes interactions between the ground ˜{X}^2A' state and low-lying excited ˜{A}^2A^'' state. In this presentation we will discuss the results of this analysis and compare the parameters of both models and their physical significance. D. G. Melnik, T. A. Miller and J. Liu, TI15, 67^{th Molecular Spectroscopy Symposium}, Columbus, 2012

Grade 5 Students' Online Argumentation about Their In-Class Inquiry Investigations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choi, Aeran; Hand, Brian; Norton-Meier, Lori

2014-01-01

This study examined the extent to which fifth-grade students participate in online argumentation and the argument patterns they produced about the inquiry-based investigations completed using the Science Writing Heuristic approach in their science classes. One hundred twenty-nine students from five classes of two teachers in a Midwestern public…

Mentoring and Argumentation in a Game-Infused Science Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gould, Deena L.; Parekh, Priyanka

2018-01-01

Engaging in argumentation from evidence is challenging for most middle school students. We report the design of a media-based mentoring system to support middle school students in engaging in argumentation in the context of a game-infused science curriculum. Our design emphasizes learners apprenticing with college student mentors around the…

Scaffolding Argumentation about Water Quality: A Mixed-Method Study in a Rural Middle School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Belland, Brian R.; Gu, Jiangyue; Armbrust, Sara; Cook, Brant

2015-01-01

A common way for students to develop scientific argumentation abilities is through argumentation about socioscientific issues, defined as scientific problems with social, ethical, and moral aspects. Computer-based scaffolding can support students in this process. In this mixed method study, we examined the use and impact of computer based…

The Relationships between Modelling and Argumentation from the Perspective of the Model of Modelling Diagram

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mendonça, Paula Cristina Cardoso; Justi, Rosária

2013-01-01

Some studies related to the nature of scientific knowledge demonstrate that modelling is an inherently argumentative process. This study aims at discussing the relationship between modelling and argumentation by analysing data collected during the modelling-based teaching of ionic bonding and intermolecular interactions. The teaching activities…

Mastery of Scientific Argumentation on the Concept of Neutralization in Chemistry: A Malaysian Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heng, Lee Ling; Surif, Johari; Seng, Cher Hau; Ibrahim, Nor Hasniza

2015-01-01

Purpose: Argumentative practices are central to science education, and have recently been emphasised to promote students' reasoning skills and to develop student's understanding of scientific concepts. This study examines the mastery of scientific argumentation, based on the concept of neutralisation, among secondary level science students, when…

Mindfulness and an Argument for Tier 1, Whole School Support

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stuart, Shannon K.; Collins, James; Toms, Ozalle; Gwalla-Ogisi, Nomsa

2017-01-01

This article provides an argument for implementing mindfulness supports within a school that adheres to the principles of whole schooling. First, the authors synthesize the research related to the use of mindfulness-based activities in schools. Next, they provide an argument for implementing mindfulness supports within a school that adheres to the…

Malaysian Students' Scientific Argumentation: Do Groups Perform Better than Individuals?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heng, Lee Ling; Surif, Johari; Seng, Cher Hau

2015-01-01

The practices of argumentation have recently been upheld as an important need to develop students' understanding of scientific concepts. However, the present education system in Malaysia is still largely examination-based and teacher-oriented. Thus, this study aims to examine the mastery level of scientific argumentation and its scheme among…

Relationships between Undergraduates' Argumentation Skills, Conceptual Quality of Problem Solutions, and Problem Solving Strategies in Introductory Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rebello, Carina M.

2012-01-01

This study explored the effects of alternative forms of argumentation on undergraduates' physics solutions in introductory calculus-based physics. A two-phase concurrent mixed methods design was employed to investigate relationships between undergraduates' written argumentation abilities, conceptual quality of problem solutions, as well…

Thermal gas rectification using a sawtooth channel.

PubMed

Solórzano, S; Araújo, N A M; Herrmann, H J

2017-09-01

We study the rectification of a two-dimensional thermal gas in a channel of asymmetric dissipative walls. For an ensemble of smooth Lennard-Jones particles, our numerical simulations reveal a nonmonotonic dependence of the flux on the thermostat temperature, channel asymmetry, and particle density, with three distinct regimes. Theoretical arguments are developed to shed light on the functional dependence of the flux on the model parameters.

The Theoretical and Empirical Arguments for Diversifying the Teacher Workforce: A Review of the Evidence. CEDR Working Paper. WP #2015-9

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldhaber, Dan; Theobald, Roddy; Tien, Christopher

2015-01-01

Concerns about the (lack of) diversity of the U.S. teacher workforce--and, in particular, the mismatch between the demographics of the teacher workforce and the nation's students--are not new. Recruitment of minorities into teaching has long been a policy goal, particularly in districts with large percentages of minority students (Dometrius &…

Evidence for extended chromospheres surrounding red giant stars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stencel, R. E.

1981-01-01

There is now an increasing amount of both observational evidence and theoretical arguments that regions of partially ionized hydrogen extending several stellar radii are an important feature of red giant and supergiant stars. This evidence is discussed and the implications of the existence of extended chromospheres in terms of the nature of the outer atmospheres of, and mass loss from, cool stars are examined.

Non-faith-based arguments against physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia

PubMed Central

Sulmasy, Daniel P.; Travaline, John M.; Mitchell, Louise A.; Ely, E. Wesley

2016-01-01

This article is a complement to “A Template for Non-Religious-Based Discussions Against Euthanasia” by Melissa Harintho, Nathaniel Bloodworth, and E. Wesley Ely which appeared in the February 2015 Linacre Quarterly. Herein we build upon Daniel Sulmasy's opening and closing arguments from the 2014 Intelligence Squared debate on legalizing assisted suicide, supplemented by other non-faith-based arguments and thoughts, providing four nontheistic arguments against physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia: (1) “it offends me”; (2) slippery slope; (3) “pain can be alleviated”; (4) physician integrity and patient trust. Lay Summary: Presented here are four non-religious, reasonable arguments against physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia: (1) “it offends me,” suicide devalues human life; (2) slippery slope, the limits on euthanasia gradually erode; (3) “pain can be alleviated,” palliative care and modern therapeutics more and more adequately manage pain; (4) physician integrity and patient trust, participating in suicide violates the integrity of the physician and undermines the trust patients place in physicians to heal and not to harm. PMID:27833206

Nonviolent unitarization: basic postulates to soft quantum structure of black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giddings, Steven B.

2017-12-01

A first-principles approach to the unitarity problem for black holes is systematically explored, based on the postulates of 1) quantum mechanics 2) the ability to approximately locally divide quantum gravitational systems into subsystems 3) correspondence with quantum field theory predictions for appropriate observers and (optionally) 4) universality of new gravitational effects. Unitarity requires interactions between the internal state of a black hole and its surroundings that have not been identified in the field theory description; correspondence with field theory indicates that these are soft. A conjectured information-theoretic result for information transfer between subsystems, partly motivated by a perturbative argument, then constrains the minimum coupling size of these interactions of the quantum atmosphere of a black hole. While large couplings are potentially astronomically observable, given this conjecture one finds that the new couplings can be exponentially small in the black hole entropy, yet achieve the information transfer rate needed for unitarization, due to the large number of black hole internal states. This provides a new possible alternative to arguments for large effects near the horizon. If universality is assumed, these couplings can be described as small, soft, state-dependent fluctuations of the metric near the black hole. Open questions include that of the more fundamental basis for such an effective picture.

The Effects of Prior-knowledge and Online Learning Approaches on Students' Inquiry and Argumentation Abilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Wen-Tsung; Lin, Yu-Ren; She, Hsiao-Ching; Huang, Kai-Yi

2015-07-01

This study investigated the effects of students' prior science knowledge and online learning approaches (social and individual) on their learning with regard to three topics: science concepts, inquiry, and argumentation. Two science teachers and 118 students from 4 eighth-grade science classes were invited to participate in this research. Students in each class were divided into three groups according to their level of prior science knowledge; they then took either our social- or individual-based online science learning program. The results show that students in the social online argumentation group performed better in argumentation and online argumentation learning. Qualitative analysis indicated that the students' social interactions benefited the co-construction of sound arguments and the accurate understanding of science concepts. In constructing arguments, students in the individual online argumentation group were limited to knowledge recall and self-reflection. High prior-knowledge students significantly outperformed low prior-knowledge students in all three aspects of science learning. However, the difference in inquiry and argumentation performance between low and high prior-knowledge students decreased with the progression of online learning topics.

Teacher argumentation in the secondary science classroom: Images of two modes of scientific inquiry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gray, Ron E.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine scientific arguments constructed by secondary science teachers during instruction. The analysis focused on how arguments constructed by teachers differed based on the mode of inquiry underlying the topic. Specifically, how did the structure and content of arguments differ between experimentally and historically based topics? In addition, what factors mediate these differences? Four highly experienced high school science teachers were observed daily during instructional units for both experimental and historical science topics. Data sources include classroom observations, field notes, reflective memos, classroom artifacts, a nature of science survey, and teacher interviews. The arguments were analyzed for structure and content using Toulmin's argumentation pattern and Walton's schemes for presumptive reasoning revealing specific patterns of use between the two modes of inquiry. Interview data was analyzed to determine possible factors mediating these patterns. The results of this study reveal that highly experienced teachers present arguments to their students that, while simple in structure, reveal authentic images of science based on experimental and historical modes of inquiry. Structural analysis of the data revealed a common trend toward a greater amount of scientific data used to evidence knowledge claims in the historical science units. The presumptive reasoning analysis revealed that, while some presumptive reasoning schemes remained stable across the two units (e.g. 'causal inferences' and 'sign' schemes), others revealed different patterns of use including the 'analogy', 'evidence to hypothesis', 'example', and 'expert opinion' schemes. Finally, examination of the interview and survey data revealed five specific factors mediating the arguments constructed by the teachers: view of the nature of science, nature of the topic, teacher personal factors, view of students, and pedagogical decisions. These factors influenced both the structure and use of presumptive reasoning in the arguments. The results have implications for classroom practice, teacher education, and further research.

Arguments, Contradictions, Resistances, and Conceptual Change in Students' Understanding of Atomic Structure.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Niaz, Mansoor; Aguilera, Damarys; Maza, Arelys; Liendo, Gustavo

2002-01-01

Reports on a study aimed at facilitating freshman general chemistry students' understanding of atomic structure based on the work of Thomson, Rutherford, and Bohr. Hypothesizes that classroom discussions based on arguments/counterarguments of the heuristic principles on which these scientists based their atomic models can facilitate students'…

Model of twelve properties of a set of organic solvents with graph-theoretical and/or experimental parameters.

PubMed

Pogliani, Lionello

2010-01-30

Twelve properties of a highly heterogeneous class of organic solvents have been modeled with a graph-theoretical molecular connectivity modified (MC) method, which allows to encode the core electrons and the hydrogen atoms. The graph-theoretical method uses the concepts of simple, general, and complete graphs, where these last types of graphs are used to encode the core electrons. The hydrogen atoms have been encoded by the aid of a graph-theoretical perturbation parameter, which contributes to the definition of the valence delta, delta(v), a key parameter in molecular connectivity studies. The model of the twelve properties done with a stepwise search algorithm is always satisfactory, and it allows to check the influence of the hydrogen content of the solvent molecules on the choice of the type of descriptor. A similar argument holds for the influence of the halogen atoms on the type of core electron representation. In some cases the molar mass, and in a minor way, special "ad hoc" parameters have been used to improve the model. A very good model of the surface tension could be obtained by the aid of five experimental parameters. A mixed model method based on experimental parameters plus molecular connectivity indices achieved, instead, to consistently improve the model quality of five properties. To underline is the importance of the boiling point temperatures as descriptors in these last two model methodologies. Copyright 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Examining Intertextual Connections in Written Arguments: A Study of Student Writing as Social Participation and Response

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olsen, Allison Wynhoff; VanDerHeide, Jennifer; Goff, Brenton; Dunn, Mandie B.

2018-01-01

Writing studies scholarship has long understood the need for context-based studies of student writing. Few studies, however, have closely examined how students use intertextual relationships in the context of learning to compose argumentative essays. Drawing on a 17-day argumentative writing unit in a ninth-grade humanities classroom, this article…

Planning and Revising Written Arguments: The Effects of Two Text Structure-Based Interventions on Persuasiveness of 8th-Grade Students' Essays

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Midgette, Ekaterina; Haria, Priti

2016-01-01

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of two comprehensive argumentative writing interventions--Text Structure Instruction (TSI) and Text Structure Revision Instruction (TSRI)--on the eighth-grade students' ability to compose convincing essays that include structural elements of argumentative discourse. Both treatment groups…

Analyzing the Efficiency of Argumentation Based Practices on 9th Grade Functions Subject

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mercan, Emel; Isleyen, Tevfik

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of teaching 9th grade Functions subject through argumentation on students' science process skills, attitudes towards Maths, willingness for argumentation and conceptual comprehension. The study was designed as a quasi-experimental model with pretest-posttest control group. It was carried out…

The Role of Teacher Instructional Discourse in Scaffolding Adolescent Students' Argumentation Strategy Use in Small Group Text-Based Discussions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Alyssa T. G.

2017-01-01

The goal of this study is to investigate the role of English Language Arts (ELA) teachers' verbal discourse moves in scaffolding adolescent students' argumentative thinking in small group interpretive discussions about literature. Demands related to argumentation may present particular challenges for adolescent students (Biancarosa & Snow,…

An Antisymmetry Account of the Syntactic Positions of Nominal Arguments in Turkish: Implications for Clausal Architecture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nagai, Miho

2013-01-01

This dissertation examines the syntactic positions of nominal arguments in Turkish, looking at Turkish clausal structure based on Aktionsart (aspectual) properties (e.g. Vendler 1967) of (dynamic) predicates from the perspective of Antisymmetry (Kayne 1994). It has been argued that indefinite/non-specific arguments appear syntactically in lower…

Tracing the Development of Argumentive Writing in a Discourse-Rich Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuhn, Deanna; Hemberger, Laura; Khait, Valerie

2016-01-01

In most assessments of students' argumentive writing and in most research on the topic, students write on topics for which they have no specific prior preparation. We examined development in the argumentive writing urban middle school students did as part of a two-year dialogic-based intervention in which students engaged deeply with a series of…

Mesh-type acoustic vector sensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zalalutdinov, M. K.; Photiadis, D. M.; Szymczak, W. G.; McMahon, J. W.; Bucaro, J. A.; Houston, B. H.

2017-07-01

Motivated by the predictions of a theoretical model developed to describe the acoustic flow force exerted on closely spaced nano-fibers in a viscous medium, we have demonstrated a novel concept for a particle velocity-based directional acoustic sensor. The central element of the concept exploits the acoustically induced normal displacement of a fine mesh as a measure of the collinear projection of the particle velocity in the sound wave. The key observations are (i) the acoustically induced flow force on an individual fiber within the mesh is nearly independent of the fiber diameter and (ii) the mesh-flow interaction can be well-described theoretically by a nearest neighbor coupling approximation. Scaling arguments based on these two observations indicate that the refinement of the mesh down to the nanoscale leads to significant improvements in performance. The combination of the two dimensional nature of the mesh together with the nanoscale dimensions provides a dramatic gain in the total length of fiber exposed to the flow, leading to a sensitivity enhancement by orders of magnitude. We describe the fabrication of a prototype mesh sensor equipped with optical readout. Preliminary measurements carried out over a considerable bandwidth together with the results of numerical simulations are in good agreement with the theory, thus providing a proof of concept.

Learning with touchscreen devices: game strategies to improve geometric thinking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soldano, Carlotta; Arzarello, Ferdinando

2016-03-01

The aim of this paper is to reflect on the importance of the students' game-strategic thinking during the development of mathematical activities. In particular, we hypothesise that this type of thinking helps students in the construction of logical links between concepts during the "argumentation phase" of the proving process. The theoretical background of our study lies in the works of J. Hintikka, a Finnish logician, who developed a new type of logic, based on game theory, called the logic of inquiry. In order to experiment with this new approach to the teaching and learning of mathematics, we have prepared five game-activities based on geometric theorems in which two players play against each other in a multi-touch dynamic geometric environment (DGE). In this paper, we present the design of the first game-activity and the relationship between it and the logic of inquiry. Then, adopting the theoretical framework of the instrumental genesis by Vérillon and Rabardel (EJPE 10: 77-101, 1995), we will present and analyse significant actions and dialogues developed by students while they are solving the game. We focus on the presence of a particular way of playing the game introduced by the students, the "reflected game", and highlight its functions for the development of the task.

Articulating uncertainty as part of scientific argumentation during model-based exoplanet detection tasks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Hee-Sun; Pallant, Amy; Pryputniewicz, Sarah

2015-08-01

Teaching scientific argumentation has emerged as an important goal for K-12 science education. In scientific argumentation, students are actively involved in coordinating evidence with theory based on their understanding of the scientific content and thinking critically about the strengths and weaknesses of the cited evidence in the context of the investigation. We developed a one-week-long online curriculum module called "Is there life in space?" where students conduct a series of four model-based tasks to learn how scientists detect extrasolar planets through the “wobble” and transit methods. The simulation model allows students to manipulate various parameters of an imaginary star and planet system such as planet size, orbit size, planet-orbiting-plane angle, and sensitivity of telescope equipment, and to adjust the display settings for graphs illustrating the relative velocity and light intensity of the star. Students can use model-based evidence to formulate an argument on whether particular signals in the graphs guarantee the presence of a planet. Students' argumentation is facilitated by the four-part prompts consisting of multiple-choice claim, open-ended explanation, Likert-scale uncertainty rating, and open-ended uncertainty rationale. We analyzed 1,013 scientific arguments formulated by 302 high school student groups taught by 7 teachers. We coded these arguments in terms of the accuracy of their claim, the sophistication of explanation connecting evidence to the established knowledge base, the uncertainty rating, and the scientific validity of uncertainty. We found that (1) only 18% of the students' uncertainty rationale involved critical reflection on limitations inherent in data and concepts, (2) 35% of students' uncertainty rationale reflected their assessment of personal ability and knowledge, rather than scientific sources of uncertainty related to the evidence, and (3) the nature of task such as the use of noisy data or the framing of critiquing scientists' discovery encouraged students' articulation of scientific uncertainty sources in different ways.

Deconvolution When Classifying Noisy Data Involving Transformations.

PubMed

Carroll, Raymond; Delaigle, Aurore; Hall, Peter

2012-09-01

In the present study, we consider the problem of classifying spatial data distorted by a linear transformation or convolution and contaminated by additive random noise. In this setting, we show that classifier performance can be improved if we carefully invert the data before the classifier is applied. However, the inverse transformation is not constructed so as to recover the original signal, and in fact, we show that taking the latter approach is generally inadvisable. We introduce a fully data-driven procedure based on cross-validation, and use several classifiers to illustrate numerical properties of our approach. Theoretical arguments are given in support of our claims. Our procedure is applied to data generated by light detection and ranging (Lidar) technology, where we improve on earlier approaches to classifying aerosols. This article has supplementary materials online.

Elements of the cognitive universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Topsøe, Flemming

2017-06-01

"The least biased inference, taking available information into account, is the one with maximum entropy". So we are taught by Jaynes. The many followers from a broad spectrum of the natural and social sciences point to the wisdom of this principle, the maximum entropy principle, MaxEnt. But "entropy" need not be tied only to classical entropy and thus to probabilistic thinking. In fact, the arguments found in Jaynes' writings and elsewhere can, as we shall attempt to demonstrate, profitably be revisited, elaborated and transformed to apply in a much more general abstract setting. The approach is based on game theoretical thinking. Philosophical considerations dealing with notions of cognition - basically truth and belief - lie behind. Quantitative elements are introduced via a concept of description effort. An interpretation of Tsallis Entropy is indicated.

Double Scaling in the Relaxation Time in the β -Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lvov, Yuri V.; Onorato, Miguel

2018-04-01

We consider the original β -Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou system; numerical simulations and theoretical arguments suggest that, for a finite number of masses, a statistical equilibrium state is reached independently of the initial energy of the system. Using ensemble averages over initial conditions characterized by different Fourier random phases, we numerically estimate the time scale of equipartition and we find that for very small nonlinearity it matches the prediction based on exact wave-wave resonant interaction theory. We derive a simple formula for the nonlinear frequency broadening and show that when the phenomenon of overlap of frequencies takes place, a different scaling for the thermalization time scale is observed. Our result supports the idea that the Chirikov overlap criterion identifies a transition region between two different relaxation time scalings.

Local Voltage Control in Distribution Networks: A Game-Theoretic Perspective

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhou, Xinyang; Tian, Jie; Chen, Lijun

Inverter-based voltage regulation is gaining importance to alleviate emerging reliability and power-quality concerns related to distribution systems with high penetration of photovoltaic (PV) systems. This paper seeks contribution in the domain of reactive power compensation by establishing stability of local Volt/VAr controllers. In lieu of the approximate linear surrogate used in the existing work, the paper establishes existence and uniqueness of an equilibrium point using nonlinear AC power flow model. Key to this end is to consider a nonlinear dynamical system with non-incremental local Volt/VAr control, cast the Volt/VAr dynamics as a game, and leverage the fixed-point theorem as wellmore » as pertinent contraction mapping argument. Numerical examples are provided to complement the analytical results.« less

Local Voltage Control in Distribution Networks: A Game-Theoretic Perspective: Preprint

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhou, Xinyang; Tian, Jie; Chen, Lijun

Inverter-based voltage regulation is gaining importance to alleviate emerging reliability and power-quality concerns related to distribution systems with high penetration of photovoltaic (PV) systems. This paper seeks contribution in the domain of reactive power compensation by establishing stability of local Volt/VAr controllers. In lieu of the approximate linear surrogate used in the existing work, the paper establishes existence and uniqueness of an equilibrium point using nonlinear AC power flow model. Key to this end is to consider a nonlinear dynamical system with non-incremental local Volt/VAr control, cast the Volt/VAr dynamics as a game, and leverage the fixed-point theorem as wellmore » as pertinent contraction mapping argument. Numerical examples are provided to complement the analytical results.« less

Slanted snaking of localized Faraday waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pradenas, Bastián; Araya, Isidora; Clerc, Marcel G.; Falcón, Claudio; Gandhi, Punit; Knobloch, Edgar

2017-06-01

We report on an experimental, theoretical, and numerical study of slanted snaking of spatially localized parametrically excited waves on the surface of a water-surfactant mixture in a Hele-Shaw cell. We demonstrate experimentally the presence of a hysteretic transition to spatially extended parametrically excited surface waves when the acceleration amplitude is varied, as well as the presence of spatially localized waves exhibiting slanted snaking. The latter extend outside the hysteresis loop. We attribute this behavior to the presence of a conserved quantity, the liquid volume trapped within the meniscus, and introduce a universal model based on symmetry arguments, which couples the wave amplitude with such a conserved quantity. The model captures both the observed slanted snaking and the presence of localized waves outside the hysteresis loop, as demonstrated by numerical integration of the model equations.

Advance directives in english and French law: different concepts, different values, different societies.

PubMed

Horn, Ruth Judith

2014-03-01

In Western societies advance directives are widely recognised as important means to extend patient self-determination under circumstances of incapacity. Following other countries, England and France have adopted legislation aiming to clarify the legal status of advance directives. In this paper, I will explore similarities and differences in both sets of legislation, the arguments employed in the respective debates and the socio-political structures on which these differences are based. The comparison highlights how different legislations express different concepts emphasising different values accorded to the duty to respect autonomy and to protect life, and how these differences are informed by different socio-political contexts. Furthermore each country associates different ethical concerns with ADs which raise doubts about whether these directives are a theoretical idea which is hardly applicable in practice.

The Ashley Treatment: Improving Quality of Life or Infringing Dignity and Rights?

PubMed

Harnacke, Caroline

2016-03-01

The 'Ashley treatment' (growth attenuation, removal of the womb and breasts buds of a severely disabled child) has raised much ethical controversy. This article starts from the observation that this debate suffers from a lack of careful philosophical analysis which is essential for an ethical assessment. I focus on two central arguments in the debate, namely an argument defending the treatment based on quality of life and an argument against the treatment based on dignity and rights. My analysis raises doubts as to whether these arguments, as they stand in the debate, are philosophically robust. I reconstruct what form good arguments for and against the treatment should take and which assumptions are needed to defend the according positions. Concerning quality of life (Section 2), I argue that to make a discussion about quality of life possible, it needs to be clear which particular conception of the good life is employed. This has not been sufficiently clear in the debate. I fill this lacuna. Regarding rights and dignity (section 3), I show that there is a remarkable absence of references to general philosophical theories of rights and dignity in the debate about the Ashley treatment. Consequently, this argument against the treatment is not sufficiently developed. I clarify how such an argument should proceed. Such a detailed analysis of arguments is necessary to clear up some confusions and ambiguities in the debate and to shed light on the dilemma that caretakers of severely disabled children face. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Sexuality in institutionalized elderly persons: a systematic review of argument-based ethics literature.

PubMed

Mahieu, Lieslot; Gastmans, Chris

2012-03-01

Admission to a nursing home might challenge the way in which individuals experience their own sexuality, but it does not automatically diminish their need and desire for sexual fulfillment. Despite the fact that sexuality proves to be an intrinsic part of human existence, the sexual expression of geriatric residents remains a sensitive subject for many caregivers and family members. It evokes a variety of ethical issues and concerns, especially when dementia patients are involved. The overall objective of this review was to examine the ethical arguments and concepts about the debate on sexuality within a nursing home environment. We conducted a systematic search for argument-based ethics literature focusing on sexuality in institutionalized elderly people. Twenty-five appropriate studies were identified. A thematic analysis of the included literature led us to distinguish two major groups of ethical arguments: (i) principles and (ii) care. Ethics arguments on sexuality in institutionalized elderly are particularly guided by the principle of respect for autonomy and the concomitant notion of informed consent. Arguments related to care were also apparent within the research literature although they received considerably less attention than the arguments related to the principles of respect for autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence and justice. The lack of clarity in the conceptualization of the arguments referred to in the research literature indicates that there is a pressing need for a better defined, more fundamental philosophical-ethical analysis of the values at stake.

Is Ego Depletion Real? An Analysis of Arguments.

PubMed

Friese, Malte; Loschelder, David D; Gieseler, Karolin; Frankenbach, Julius; Inzlicht, Michael

2018-03-01

An influential line of research suggests that initial bouts of self-control increase the susceptibility to self-control failure (ego depletion effect). Despite seemingly abundant evidence, some researchers have suggested that evidence for ego depletion was the sole result of publication bias and p-hacking, with the true effect being indistinguishable from zero. Here, we examine (a) whether the evidence brought forward against ego depletion will convince a proponent that ego depletion does not exist and (b) whether arguments that could be brought forward in defense of ego depletion will convince a skeptic that ego depletion does exist. We conclude that despite several hundred published studies, the available evidence is inconclusive. Both additional empirical and theoretical works are needed to make a compelling case for either side of the debate. We discuss necessary steps for future work toward this aim.

A Test of Major Assumptions About Behavior Change: A Comprehensive Look at the Effects of Passive and Active HIV-Prevention Interventions Since the Beginning of the Epidemic

PubMed Central

Albarracín, Dolores; Gillette, Jeffrey C.; Earl, Allison N.; Glasman, Laura R.; Durantini, Marta R.; Ho, Moon-Ho

2009-01-01

This meta-analysis tested the major theoretical assumptions about behavior change by examining the outcomes and mediating mechanisms of different preventive strategies in a sample of 354 HIV-prevention interventions and 99 control groups, spanning the past 17 years. There were 2 main conclusions from this extensive review. First, the most effective interventions were those that contained attitudinal arguments, educational information, behavioral skills arguments, and behavioral skills training, whereas the least effective ones were those that attempted to induce fear of HIV. Second, the impact of the interventions and the different strategies behind them was contingent on the gender, age, ethnicity, risk group, and past condom use of the target audience in ways that illuminate the direction of future preventive efforts. PMID:16351327

Cognitive processes in dissociation: comment on Giesbrecht et al. (2008).

PubMed

Bremner, J Douglas

2010-01-01

In their recent review "Cognitive Processes in Dissociation: An Analysis of Core Theoretical Assumptions," published in Psychological Bulletin, Giesbrecht, Lynn, Lilienfeld, and Merckelbach have challenged the widely accepted trauma theory of dissociation, which holds that dissociative symptoms are caused by traumatic stress. In doing so, the authors have outlined a series of links between various constructs--such as fantasy proneness, cognitive failures, absorption, suggestibility, altered information-processing, dissociation, and amnesia--claiming that these linkages lead to the false conclusion that trauma causes dissociation. A review of the literature, however, shows that these are not necessarily related constructs. Careful examination of their arguments reveals no basis for the conclusion that there is no association between trauma and dissociation. The current comment offers a critical review and rebuttal of Giesbrecht et al.'s argument that there is no relationship between trauma and dissociation.

Correlation Between the Effective Neutrino Number and Curvature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Aaron; Archidiacono, M.; Cooray, A.; De Bernardis, F.; Melchiorri, A.; Smidt, J.

2012-01-01

Cosmological data seems to favor models with more than three neutrinos. This poster focuses on recent discussion regarding additional sterile neutrinos and neutrino mass constraints in cosmology. We present a theoretical argument for correlation between the number of effective neutrinos and the curvature of the universe. This naturally arises from simple considerations of distance measurements. For example, with the degree of damping prior to recombination fixed by observation, we find that if we allow for an open universe then the angular diameter distance increases. To counterbalance this effect the sound horizon distance must increase as well which corresponds to decreasing the effective neutrino number. This qualitative argument is confirmed by statistical analysis with CosmoMC adapted to include CMB anisotropy measurements from a variety of experiments. This research was supported by Asantha Cooray at the University of California, Irvine.

The development rubrics skill argued as alternative assessment floating and sinking materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Viyanti; Cari; Sunarno, Widha; Prasetyo, Zuhdan Kun

2017-11-01

The quality of arguing to learners of floating and sinking material can be assessed by using the rubric of an argumentation assessment skill as an alternative assessment. The quality of the argument is measured by the ability of learners to express the claim in a structured manner in order to maintain the claim with supporting data. The purpose of this study was to develop an argument skill rubric based on the preliminary study results which showed a gap between demands and reality related to the students ‘floating and sinking students’ argument skills. This research was conducted in one of State Senior High School Bandar Lampung. The study population is all students of senior high scholl class XI. Research sample was taken by randomly obtained by 20 students. The research used descriptive survey method. Data were obtained through a multiple choice test both grounded and interview. The results were analyzed based on the level of students’ argumentation skills that had met the criteria which developed in the assessment rubric. The results of the data analysis found that the learners are in the range of levels 1 through 3. Based on the data the average learner is at the level of quality argument “high” for component I and the quality of “low” argument for component 2. This indicates learners experience difficulty which making alternative statement supported by reference in accordance with the initial statement submitted. This fact is supported by interviews that learners need a structured strategy to design alternative statements from shared reading sources to support the preliminary statements presented.

The Politics of Place: Official, Intermediate and Community Discourses in Depopulated Rural Areas of Central Spain. The Case of the Riaza River Valley (Segovia, Spain)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paniagua, Angel

2009-01-01

This paper provides theoretical and methodological arguments to study the politics of space in small marginal and depopulated areas of Spain. The case for research is the Riaza river valley in the province of Segovia. Usually the analysis of rural space (and the geographical space in general) provides opposing presentations: vertical, between…

Race and Class in Britain: A Critique of the Statistical Basis for Critical Race Theory in Britain: And Some Political Implications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hill, Dave

2009-01-01

In this paper, the author critiques what he analyses as the misuse of statistics in arguments put forward by some Critical Race Theorists in Britain showing that "Race" "trumps" Class in terms of underachievement at 16+ exams in England and Wales. At a theoretical level, using Marxist work the author argues for a notion of…

On the causes of compositional order in the Ni sub c Pt sub (1-c) alloys

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gyorffy, B.L.; Pinski, F.J.; Ginatempo, B.

1991-01-01

We review, briefly, the arguments which gave rise to the current controversy concerning the origin of compositional order in Ni{sub c}Pt{sub 1-c} alloys. We note that strain fluctuations play an important role in determining the state of compositional order in this system and outline a theoretical framework that takes account of them. 29 refs., 4 figs.

An Exploration of Naquib Al-Attas' Theory of Islamic Education as "Ta'Dib" as an 'Indigenous' Educational Philosophy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ahmed, Farah

2018-01-01

This paper explores the 'indigenous' philosophy of education of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, a Malay-Muslim scholar who's theoretical work culminated in the establishment of a counter-colonial higher education institution. Through presenting al-Attas' life and philosophy and by exploring the arguments of his critics, I aim to shed light on the…

Developing an Initial Learning Progression for the Use of Evidence in Decision-Making Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bravo-Torija, Beatriz; Jiménez-Aleixandre, María-Pilar

2018-01-01

This paper outlines an initial learning progression for the use of evidence to support scientific arguments in the context of decision-making. Use of evidence is a central feature of knowledge evaluation and, therefore, of argumentation. The proposal is based on the literature on argumentation and use of evidence in decision-making contexts. The…

Using History and Philosophy of Science to Promote Students' Argumentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Archila, Pablo Antonio

2015-01-01

This article describes the effect of a teaching-learning sequence (TLS) based on the discovery of oxygen in promoting students' argumentation. It examines the written and oral arguments produced by 63 high school students (24 females and 39 males, 16-17 years old) in France during a complete TLS supervised by the same teacher. The data used in…

The Impact of a Classroom Intervention on Grade 10 Students' Argumentation Skills, Informal Reasoning, and Conceptual Understanding of Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Venville, Grady J.; Dawson, Vaille M.

2010-01-01

The literature provides confounding information with regard to questions about whether students in high school can engage in meaningful argumentation about socio-scientific issues and whether this process improves their conceptual understanding of science. The purpose of this research was to explore the impact of classroom-based argumentation on…

Process of Argumentation in High School Biology Class: A Qualitative Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramli, M.; Rakhmawati, E.; Hendarto, P.; Winarni

2017-02-01

Argumentation skill can be nurtured by designing a lesson in which students are provided with the opportunity to argue. This research aims to analyse argumentation process in biology class. The participants were students of three biology classes from different high schools in Surakarta Indonesia. One of the classroom was taught by a student teacher, and the rest were instructed by the assigned teachers. Through a classroom observation, oral activities were noted, audio-recorded and video-taped. Coding was done based on the existence of claiming-reasoning-evidence (CRE) process by McNeill and Krajcik. Data was analysed qualitatively focusing on the role of teachers to initiate questioning to support argumentation process. The lesson design of three were also analysed. The result shows that pedagogical skill of teachers to support argumentation process, such as skill to ask, answer, and respond to students’ question and statements need to be trained intensively. Most of the argumentation found were only claiming, without reasoning and evidence. Teachers have to change the routine of mostly posing open-ended questions to students, and giving directly a correct answer to students’ questions. Knowledge and skills to encourage student to follow inquiry-based learning have to be acquired by teachers.

Students' meaning making in classroom discussions: the importance of peer interaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rudsberg, Karin; Östman, Leif; Aaro Östman, Elisabeth

2017-09-01

The aim is to investigate how encounters with peers affect an individual's meaning making in argumentation about socio-scientific issues, and how the individual's meaning making influences the argumentation at the collective level. The analysis is conducted using the analytical method "transactional argumentation analysis" (TAA) which enables in situ studies. TAA combines a transactional perspective on meaning making based on John Dewey's pragmatic philosophy with an argument analysis based on Toulmin's argument pattern. Here TAA is developed further to enable analysis that in detail clarifies the dynamic interplay between the individual and the collective—the intra- and the inter-personal dimensions—and the result of this interplay in terms of meaning making and learning. The empirical material in this study consists of a video-recorded lesson in a Swedish upper secondary school. The results show that the analysed student is influenced by peers when construing arguments, and thereby acts on others' reasoning when making meaning. Further, the results show that most of the additions made by the analysed student are taken further by peers in the subsequent discussion. This study shows how an individual's earlier experiences, knowledge and thinking contribute to the collective meaning making in the classroom.

Examining the Value of a Scaffolded Critique Framework to Promote Argumentative and Explanatory Writings Within an Argument-Based Inquiry Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jang, Jeong-yoon; Hand, Brian

2017-12-01

This study investigated the value of using a scaffolded critique framework to promote two different types of writing—argumentative writing and explanatory writing—with different purposes within an argument-based inquiry approach known as the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach. A quasi-experimental design with sixth and seventh grade students taught by two teachers was used. A total of 170 students participated in the study, with 87 in the control group (four classes) and 83 in the treatment group (four classes). All students used the SWH templates as an argumentative writing to guide their written work and completed these templates during the SWH investigations of each unit. After completing the SWH investigations, both groups of students were asked to complete the summary writing task as an explanatory writing at the end of each unit. All students' writing samples were scored using analytical frameworks developed for the study. The results indicated that the treatment group performed significantly better on the explanatory writing task than the control group. In addition, the results of the partial correlation suggested that there is a very strong significantly positive relationship between the argumentative writing and the explanatory writing.

Summary of Recent Developments in Primordial Nucleosynthesis.

PubMed

Schramm, D N

1993-06-01

This paper summarizes the recent observational and theoretical results on Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. In particular, it is shown that the new Pop II (6)Li results strongly support the argument that the Spite Plateau lithium is a good estimate of the primordial value. The (6)Li is consistent with the Be and Be found in Pop II stars, assuming those elements are cosmic ray produced. The HST (2)D value tightens the (2)D arguments and the observation of the (3)He in planetary nebula strengthens the (3)He +(2)D argument as a lower bound on Ωb. The new low metalicity (4)He determinations slightly raise the best primordial (4)He number and thus make a better fit and avoid a potential problem. The quark-hadron inspired inhomogeneous calculations now unanimously agree that only relatively small variations in Ωb are possible vis-à-vis the homogeneous model; hence, the robustness of Ωb∼ 0.05 is now apparent. A comparison with the ROSAT cluster data is also shown to be consistent with the standard BBN model. Ωb∼ 1 seems to be definitely excluded, so, if Ω= 1, as some recent observations may hint, then non-baryonic dark matter is required.

Formal Foundations for Hierarchical Safety Cases

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Denney, Ewen; Pai, Ganesh; Whiteside, Iain

2015-01-01

Safety cases are increasingly being required in many safety-critical domains to assure, using structured argumentation and evidence, that a system is acceptably safe. However, comprehensive system-wide safety arguments present appreciable challenges to develop, understand, evaluate, and manage, partly due to the volume of information that they aggregate, such as the results of hazard analysis, requirements analysis, testing, formal verification, and other engineering activities. Previously, we have proposed hierarchical safety cases, hicases, to aid the comprehension of safety case argument structures. In this paper, we build on a formal notion of safety case to formalise the use of hierarchy as a structuring technique, and show that hicases satisfy several desirable properties. Our aim is to provide a formal, theoretical foundation for safety cases. In particular, we believe that tools for high assurance systems should be granted similar assurance to the systems to which they are applied. To this end, we formally specify and prove the correctness of key operations for constructing and managing hicases, which gives the specification for implementing hicases in AdvoCATE, our toolset for safety case automation. We motivate and explain the theory with the help of a simple running example, extracted from a real safety case and developed using AdvoCATE.

Inference and the Introductory Statistics Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pfannkuch, Maxine; Regan, Matt; Wild, Chris; Budgett, Stephanie; Forbes, Sharleen; Harraway, John; Parsonage, Ross

2011-01-01

This article sets out some of the rationale and arguments for making major changes to the teaching and learning of statistical inference in introductory courses at our universities by changing from a norm-based, mathematical approach to more conceptually accessible computer-based approaches. The core problem of the inferential argument with its…

Intersection of argumentation and the use of multiple representations in the context of socioscientific issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Namdar, Bahadir; Shen, Ji

2016-05-01

Using multiple representations and argumentation are two fundamental processes in science. With the advancements of information communication technologies, these two processes are blended more so than ever before. However, little is known about how these two processes interact with each other in student learning. Hence, we conducted a design-based study in order to distill the relationship between these two processes. Specifically, we designed a learning unit on nuclear energy and implemented it with a group of preservice middle school teachers. The participants used a web-based knowledge organization platform that incorporated three representational modes: textual, concept map, and pictorial. The participants organized their knowledge on nuclear energy by searching, sorting, clustering information through the use of these representational modes and argued about the nuclear energy issue. We found that the use of multiple representations and argumentation interacted with each other in a complex way. Based on our findings, we argue that the complexity can be unfolded in two aspects: (a) the use of multiple representations mediates argumentation in different forms and for different purposes; (b) the type of argumentation that leads to refinement of the use of multiple representations is often non-mediated and drawn from personal experience.

Supporting Communication and Argumentation in Urban Science Education: Hip-Hop, the Battle, and the Cypher

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Emdin, Christopher

2011-01-01

This paper is based on an exploration of communication and argumentation in urban science classrooms, and provides a description of the role that Hip-hop based education plays in supporting these major components of science education. The paper is intended to both support, and critique conventional uses of hip-hop based education, and provide…

Does prior domain-specific content knowledge influence students' recall of arguments surrounding interdisciplinary topics?

PubMed

Schmidt, Hiemke K; Rothgangel, Martin; Grube, Dietmar

2017-12-01

Awareness of various arguments can help interactants present opinions, stress points, and build counterarguments during discussions. At school, some topics are taught in a way that students learn to accumulate knowledge and gather arguments, and later employ them during debates. Prior knowledge may facilitate recalling information on well structured, fact-based topics, but does it facilitate recalling arguments during discussions on complex, interdisciplinary topics? We assessed the prior knowledge in domains related to a bioethical topic of 277 students from Germany (approximately 15 years old), their interest in the topic, and their general knowledge. The students read a text with arguments for and against prenatal diagnostics and tried to recall the arguments one week later and again six weeks later. Prior knowledge in various domains related to the topic individually and separately helped students recall the arguments. These relationships were independent of students' interest in the topic and their general knowledge. Copyright © 2017 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Geomorphology as science: the role of theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rhoads, Bruce L.; Thorn, Colin E.

1993-04-01

Because geomorphology is a science, it is permeated by theory. Overt recognition of this actuality is frequently resisted by geomorphologists. Earth history does not represent an alternative to earth science, it is an essential component of earth science. In its broadest sense science seeks to discover new knowledge through a two-stage activity involving the creation and justification of ideas (theory). Deduction is generally regarded as the only logically-consistent method of justifying ideas. The creation of ideas is a much more controversial topic. Some methodologists deem it beyond logic; certainly deductive arguments, which are nothing more than formal, logical expressions of theory, play no role in the conception of new ideas. Many earth scientists generate possible explanations of observed phenomena based on abductive reasoning. Others advocate reliance on purported forms of "pure" induction, such as serendipity and intuition, in which observations assume primacy over theory. Besides lacking consistency and educability, the latter posture is flawed because it mistakenly implies that becoming well-versed in theory is irrelevant to or impedes scientific discovery. Irrational or subjective factors play a role in the creation of ideas, but it is erroneous to claim that these factors are divorced from theory. Science is first and foremost a cognitive activity; thus, the primacy of observations in science is a myth. All observations are theory-laden in the sense that the act of observation inherently involves interpretation and classification, both of which can only occur within the context of theoretical preconceptions. Even discoveries based on unexpected observations require the fortunate investigator to recognize the theoretical importance of what is seen or measured. The most useful view of geomorphology as a science is one in which theory is seen as central, but fragile, and in which theory and observation are viewed symbiotically with theory providing the generative force and observation providing a vital policing role. Much of the current debate in geomorphology centers around differences in characteristics of theory, type of scientific arguments, and metaphysical perspectives among investigators working at different temporal scales. Full recognition and understanding of these differences are essential for developing a unified approach to the science of geomorphology.

Analysis of the logic and framing of a tobacco industry campaign opposing standardised packaging legislation in New Zealand.

PubMed

Waa, Andrew Morehu; Hoek, Janet; Edwards, Richard; Maclaurin, James

2017-11-01

The tobacco industry routinely opposes tobacco control policies, often using a standard repertoire of arguments. Following proposals to introduce standardised packaging in New Zealand (NZ), British American Tobacco New Zealand (BATNZ) launched the 'Agree-Disagree' mass media campaign, which coincided with the NZ government's standardised packaging consultations. This study examined the logic of the arguments presented and rhetorical strategies employed in the campaign. We analysed each advertisement to identify key messages, arguments and rhetorical devices, then examined the arguments' structure and assessed their logical soundness and validity. All advertisements attempted to frame BATNZ as reasonable, and each contained flawed arguments that were either unsound or based on logical fallacies. Flawed arguments included misrepresenting the intent of the proposed legislation (straw man), claiming standardised packaging would harm all NZ brands (false dilemma), warning NZ not to adopt standardised packaging because of its Australian origins (an unsound argument) or using vague premises as a basis for claiming negative outcomes (equivocation). BATNZ's Agree-Disagree campaign relied on unsound arguments, logical fallacies and rhetorical devices. Given the industry's frequent recourse to these tactics, we propose strategies based on our study findings that can be used to assist the tobacco control community to counter industry opposition to standardised packaging. Greater recognition of logical fallacies and rhetorical devices employed by the tobacco industry will help maintain focus on the health benefits proposed policies will deliver. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Theoretical Loss and Gambling Intensity (Revisited): A Response to Braverman et al. (2013).

PubMed

Auer, Michael; Griffiths, Mark D

2015-09-01

In this paper, we provide a brief response to Braverman et al. (J Gambl Stud. doi: 10.1007/s10899-013-9428-z , 2013b) critique of our 'Theoretical Loss' metric as a measure of monetary gambling intensity (Auer and Griffiths in J Gambl Stud. doi: 10.1007/s10899-013-9376-7 , 2013a; Auer et al. in Gaming Law Rev Econ 16:269-273, 2012). We argue that 'gambling intensity' and 'gambling involvement' are essentially the same construct as descriptors of monetary gambling activity. Additionally, we acknowledge that playing duration (i.e., the amount of time—as opposed to money—actually spent gambling) is clearly another important indicator of gambling involvement-something that we have consistently noted in our previous studies including our empirical studies on gambling using behavioural tracking data. Braverman and colleagues claim that the concept of Theoretical Loss is nullified when statistical analysis focuses solely on one game type as the house edge is constant across all games. In fact, they state, the correlation between total amount wagered and Theoretical Loss is perfect. Unfortunately, this is incorrect. To disprove the claim made, we demonstrate that in sports betting (i.e., a single game type), the amount wagered does not reflect monetary gambling involvement using actual payout percentage data (based on 52,500 independent bets provided to us by an online European bookmaker). After reviewing the arguments presented by Braverman and colleagues, we are still of the view that when it comes to purely monetary measures of 'gambling intensity', the Theoretical Loss metric is a more robust and accurate measure than other financial proxy measures such as 'amount wagered' (i.e., bet size) as a measure of what players are prepared to financially risk while gambling.

Argumentation to Foster Pre-Service Science Teachers' Knowledge, Competency, and Attitude on the Domains of Chemical Literacy of Acids and Bases

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cigdemoglu, C.; Arslan, H. O.; Cam, A.

2017-01-01

Argumentative practices have the potential to contribute to scientific literacy. However, these practices are not widely incorporated in science classrooms and so their effect on the domains of literacy is still not revealed. Therefore, this study proposes to reveal the effect of argumentation on the three domains of chemical literacy related to…

Palliative Sedation for Existential Suffering: A Systematic Review of Argument-Based Ethics Literature.

PubMed

Rodrigues, Paulo; Crokaert, Jasper; Gastmans, Chris

2018-06-01

Although unanimity exists on using palliative sedation (PS) for controlling refractory physical suffering in end-of-life situations, using it for controlling refractory existential suffering (PS-ES) is controversial. Complicating the debate is that definitions and terminology for existential suffering are unclear, ambiguous, and imprecise, leading to a lack of consensus for clinical practice. To systematically identify, describe, analyze, and discuss ethical arguments and concepts underpinning the argument-based bioethics literature on PS-ES. We conducted a systematic search of the argument-based bioethics literature in PubMed, CINAHL, Embase ® , The Philosopher's Index, PsycINFO ® , PsycARTICLES ® , Scopus, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Pascal-Francis, and Cairn. We included articles published in peer-reviewed journals till December 31, 2016, written in English or French, which focused on ethical arguments related to PS-ES. We used Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies protocol, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, and The Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven for data extraction and synthesis of themes. We identified 18 articles that met the inclusion criteria. Our analysis revealed mind-body dualism, existential suffering, refractoriness, terminal condition, and imminent death as relevant concepts in the ethical debate on PS-ES. The ethical principles of double effect, proportionality, and the four principles of biomedical ethics were used in argumentations in the PS-ES debate. There is a clear need to better define the terminology used in discussions of PS-ES and to ground ethical arguments in a more effective way. Anthropological presuppositions such as mind-body dualism underpin the debate and need to be more clearly elucidated using an interdisciplinary approach. Copyright © 2018 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Enhancing the quality of argumentation in school science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Osborne, Jonathan; Erduran, Sibel; Simon, Shirley

2004-12-01

The research reported in this study focuses on the design and evaluation of learning environments that support the teaching and learning of argumentation in a scientific context. The research took place over 2 years, between 1999 and 2001, in junior high schools in the greater London area. The research was conducted in two phases. In phase 1, working with a group of 12 science teachers, the main emphasis was to develop sets of materials and strategies to support argumentation in the classroom, and to support and assess teachers' development with teaching argumentation. Data were collected by video- and audio-recording the teachers' attempts to implement these lessons at the beginning and end of the year. During this phase, analytical tools for evaluating the quality of argumentation were developed based on Toulmin's argument pattern. Analysis of the data shows that there was significant development in the majority of teachers use of argumentation across the year. Results indicate that the pattern of use of argumentation is teacher-specific, as is the nature of the change. In phase 2 of the project, the focus of this paper, teachers taught the experimental groups a minimum of nine lessons which involved socioscientific or scientific argumentation. In addition, these teachers taught similar lessons to a comparison group at the beginning and end of the year. The purpose of this research was to assess the progression in student capabilities with argumentation. For this purpose, data were collected from 33 lessons by video-taping two groups of four students in each class engaging in argumentation. Using a framework for evaluating the nature of the discourse and its quality developed from Toulmin's argument pattern, the findings show that there was improvement in the quality of students' argumentation. This research presents new methodological developments for work in this field.

Knowledge mobilisation in healthcare: a critical review of health sector and generic management literature.

PubMed

Ferlie, Ewan; Crilly, Tessa; Jashapara, Ashok; Peckham, Anna

2012-04-01

The health policy domain has displayed increasing interest in questions of knowledge management and knowledge mobilisation within healthcare organisations. We analyse here the findings of a critical review of generic management and health-related literatures, covering the period 2000-2008. Using 29 pre-selected journals, supplemented by a search of selected electronic databases, we map twelve substantive domains classified into four broad groups: taxonomic and philosophical (e.g. different types of knowledge); theoretical discourse (e.g. critical organisational studies); disciplinary fields (e.g. organisational learning and Information Systems/Information Technology); and organisational processes and structures (e.g. organisational form). We explore cross-overs and gaps between these traditionally separate literature streams. We found that health sector literature has absorbed some generic concepts, notably Communities of Practice, but has not yet deployed the performance-oriented perspective of the Resource Based View (RBV) of the Firm. The generic literature uses healthcare sites to develop critical analyses of power and control in knowledge management, rooted in neo-Marxist/labour process and Foucauldian approaches. The review generates three theoretically grounded statements to inform future enquiry, by: (a) importing the RBV stream; (b) developing the critical organisational studies perspective further; and (c) exploring the theoretical argument that networks and other alternative organisational forms facilitate knowledge sharing. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

For the Sake of Argument: An Approach to Teaching Evidence-Based Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friedrich, Linda; Bear, Rachel; Fox, Tom

2018-01-01

The National Writing Project's (NWP) College, Career, and Community Writers Program (C3WP) aims to improve young people's ability to write thoughtful, evidence-based arguments. In an era where public discourse has become increasingly polarized, and "echo chambers" of narrow views populate people's social media feeds, teaching students to…

Identifying Core Elements of Argument-Based Inquiry in Primary Mathematics Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fielding-Wells, Jill

2015-01-01

Having students address mathematical inquiry problems that are ill-structured and ambiguous offers potential for them to develop a focus on mathematical evidence and reasoning. However, students may not necessarily focus on these aspects when responding to such problems. Argument-Based Inquiry is one way to guide students in this direction. This…

Enhancing Retrieval with Hyperlinks: A General Model Based on Propositional Argumentation Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Picard, Justin; Savoy, Jacques

2003-01-01

Discusses the use of hyperlinks for improving information retrieval on the World Wide Web and proposes a general model for using hyperlinks based on Probabilistic Argumentation Systems. Topics include propositional logic, knowledge, and uncertainty; assumptions; using hyperlinks to modify document score and rank; and estimating the popularity of a…

Inquiry-Based Argumentation in Primary Mathematics: Reflecting on Evidence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fielding-Wells, Jill

2013-01-01

Argumentation in mathematics teaching has potential to move students beyond tacit understanding of mathematical concepts and procedures towards articulation and justification of their ideas; a practice in which evidence is central. Design-based research was used to examine the nature of evidence used by a class of primary students through levels…

Inquiry Based-Computational Experiment, Acquisition of Threshold Concepts and Argumentation in Science and Mathematics Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Psycharis, Sarantos

2016-01-01

Computational experiment approach considers models as the fundamental instructional units of Inquiry Based Science and Mathematics Education (IBSE) and STEM Education, where the model take the place of the "classical" experimental set-up and simulation replaces the experiment. Argumentation in IBSE and STEM education is related to the…

Socioscientific Argumentation: The effects of content knowledge and morality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadler, Troy D.; Donnelly, Lisa A.

2006-10-01

Broad support exists within the science education community for the incorporation of socioscientific issues (SSI) and argumentation in the science curriculum. This study investigates how content knowledge and morality contribute to the quality of SSI argumentation among high school students. We employed a mixed-methods approach: 56 participants completed tests of content knowledge and moral reasoning as well as interviews, related to SSI topics, which were scored based on a rubric for argumentation quality. Multiple regression analyses revealed no statistically significant relationships among content knowledge, moral reasoning, and argumentation quality. Qualitative analyses of the interview transcripts supported the quantitative results in that participants very infrequently revealed patterns of content knowledge application. However, most of the participants did perceive the SSI as moral problems. We propose a “Threshold Model of Knowledge Transfer” to account for the relationship between content knowledge and argumentation quality. Implications for science education are discussed.

Preservice teachers' discursive approaches to constructing scientific arguments from evidence to claim

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gilles, Brent David

Scientific argumentation has recently become required in K-12 classrooms, but preservice teachers often do not have prior experiences with this practice. The lack of prior experiences has made engaging in argumentation during inquiry-based content courses a priority for science teacher educators because of its importance in science education. Previous research has not examined how preservice teachers construct arguments in classroom interactions. A discourse analysis of twenty-one preservice teachers was conducted to study how preservice teachers constructed arguments within small group activities. Specifically, I drew upon discursive psychology (Potter & Wetherell, 1987) and conversation analysis (Sacks, 1972) to consider how preservice teachers' talk functioned to build arguments, as well as how their talk evolved over the course of the four targeted activities. Findings indicated that the preservice teachers oriented towards institutional norms in constructing arguments. These norms shaped the ways that arguments were constructed. The construction of arguments also included negotiating epistemic authority. This authority was used by a member of the group to take up a leadership position, which they used to direct the group's actions. However, there were moments that other group members attempted to take up epistemic stances, which created instances where members used various talk moves (e.g., overlapping speech, ignoring, and holding the conversational floor) to implicitly disagree with each other. As the activities progressed the students spontaneously adopted asynchronous online collaborative tools that seemed to shape their discourse by decreasing conceptually rich talk. The transition from talk to text also coincided with an increased reliance on the teacher, which changed from focusing on expectations of the assignment to how evidence should be organized. Overall, the findings demonstrated how preservice teachers used discourse, specifically talk, to construct arguments. The preservice teachers revealed the institutionality within their talk by orienting towards classroom norms. These norms included mentioning the teacher while discussing project needs and justifying claims. The group leaders imitated the role of a teacher within their group by using regulative talk to facilitate their group discussions. While these experiences will likely benefit the group leader when they start planning argumentation activities as inservice teachers, the other group members are not as likely to be benefited by the hierarchal structure of the groups. The spontaneous adoption of online collaborative tools transitioned their talk to becoming text-based over the last two activities. Finally, an implication of adopting asynchronous online collaborative tools is that there needs to be an emphasis placed on scaffolding student facilitated use of these environments so text-based conversations include conceptually rich talk.

Building a community-based culture of evaluation.

PubMed

Janzen, Rich; Ochocka, Joanna; Turner, Leanne; Cook, Tabitha; Franklin, Michelle; Deichert, Debbie

2017-12-01

In this article we argue for a community-based approach as a means of promoting a culture of evaluation. We do this by linking two bodies of knowledge - the 70-year theoretical tradition of community-based research and the trans-discipline of program evaluation - that are seldom intersected within the evaluation capacity building literature. We use the three hallmarks of a community-based research approach (community-determined; equitable participation; action and change) as a conceptual lens to reflect on a case example of an evaluation capacity building program led by the Ontario Brian Institute. This program involved two community-based groups (Epilepsy Southwestern Ontarioand the South West Alzheimer Society Alliance) who were supported by evaluators from the Centre for Community Based Research to conduct their own internal evaluation. The article provides an overview of a community-based research approach and its link to evaluation. It then describes the featured evaluation capacity building initiative, including reflections by the participating organizations themselves. We end by discussing lessons learned and their implications for future evaluation capacity building. Our main argument is that organizations that strive towards a community-based approach to evaluation are well placed to build and sustain a culture of evaluation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

For your first born child: an ethical defense of the exploitation argument against commercial surrogacy.

PubMed

Osberg, Brendan

2006-01-01

In this essay I explore two arguments against commercial surrogacy, based on commodification and exploitation respectively. I adopt a consequentialist framework and argue that commodification arguments must be grounded in a resultant harm to either child or surrogate, and that a priori arguments which condemn the practice for puritanical reasons cannot form a basis for public law. Furthermore there is no overwhelming evidence of harm caused to either party involved in commercial surrogacy, and hence Canadian law (which forbids the practice) must (and can) be justified on exploitative grounds. Objections raised by Wilkinson based on an 'isolated case' approach are addressed when one takes into account the political implications of public policy. I argue that is precisely these implications that justify laws forbidding commercial surrogacy on the grounds of preventing systematic exploitation.

Prostitution, disability and prohibition.

PubMed

Thomsen, Frej Klem

2015-06-01

Criminalisation of prostitution, and minority rights for disabled persons, are important contemporary political issues. The article examines their intersection by analysing the conditions and arguments for making a legal exception for disabled persons to a general prohibition against purchasing sexual services. It explores the badness of prostitution, focusing on and discussing the argument that prostitution harms prostitutes, considers forms of regulation and the arguments for and against with emphasis on a liberty-based objection to prohibition, and finally presents and analyses three arguments for a legal exception, based on sexual rights, beneficence, and luck egalitarianism, respectively. It concludes that although the general case for and against criminalisation is complicated there is a good case for a legal exception. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Composition-Effects of Context-based Learning Opportunities on Students' Understanding of Energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Podschuweit, Sören; Bernholt, Sascha

2017-05-01

Context-based learning has become a widespread approach in science education. While positive motivational effects of such approaches have been well established empirically, clear results regarding cognitive aspects of students' learning are still missing. In this article, we argue that this circumstance might be mainly rooted in the definition of context itself. Based on this argument, we shift from the issue of if contexts are cognitively beneficial to focus on the question of which composition of contexts is, at least by tendency, more effective than another. Based on theories of conceptual change, we therefore conducted a small-scale intervention study comparing two groups of students learning in different sets of contexts focusing on the same scientific concept—the cross-cutting concept of energy. Results suggest that learning in a more heterogeneous set of contexts eases transfer to new contexts in comparison to learning in a more homogeneous set of contexts. However, a more abstract understanding of the energy concept does not seem to be fostered by either of these approaches. Theoretical as well as practical implications of these finding are discussed.

Phase relations in iron-rich systems and implications for the earth's core

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, William W.; Svendsen, Bob; Ahrens, Thomas J.

1987-01-01

Recent experimental data concerning the properties of iron, iron sulfide, and iron oxide at high pressures are combined with theoretical arguments to constrain the probable behavior of the Fe-rich portions of the Fe-O and Fe-S phase diagrams. Phase diagrams are constructed for the Fe-S-O system at core pressures and temperatures. These properties are used to evaluate the current temperature distribution and composition of the core.

Vortex transmutation.

PubMed

Ferrando, Albert; Zacarés, Mario; García-March, Miguel-Angel; Monsoriu, Juan A; de Córdoba, Pedro Fernández

2005-09-16

Using group theory arguments and numerical simulations, we demonstrate the possibility of changing the vorticity or topological charge of an individual vortex by means of the action of a system possessing a discrete rotational symmetry of finite order. We establish on theoretical grounds a "transmutation pass" determining the conditions for this phenomenon to occur and numerically analyze it in the context of two-dimensional optical lattices. An analogous approach is applicable to the problems of Bose-Einstein condensates in periodic potentials.

Investigating the Shifts in Thai Teachers' Views of Learning and Pedagogical Practices While Adopting an Argument-Based Inquiry Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Promyod, Nattida

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the shift of Thai teachers' views of learning and their pedagogical practices from the traditional approach to be more centered on an argument-based inquiry approach (ABI) in Thai classrooms, where teachers and learners have long been familiar with the lecture-based tradition. Other than examining the…

Mediating subpolitics in US and UK science news.

PubMed

Jensen, Eric

2012-01-01

The development of therapeutic cloning research sparked a scientific controversy pitting patients' hopes for cures against religious and anti-abortion opposition. The present study investigates this controversy by examining the production and content of Anglo-American print media coverage of the branch of embryonic stem cell research known as "therapeutic cloning." Data collection included press articles about therapeutic cloning (n = 5,185) and qualitative interviews with journalists (n = 18). Patient activists and anti-abortion groups emerged as key news sources in this coverage. Significant qualitative differences in the mediation of these subpolitical groups and their arguments for and against therapeutic cloning are identified. Results suggest that the perceived human interest news value of narratives of patient suffering may give patient advocacy groups a privileged position in journalistic coverage. Finally, Ulrich Beck's theoretical arguments about subpolitics are critically applied to the results to elicit further insights.

Cognitive Processes in Dissociation: Comment on Giesbrecht et al. (2008)

PubMed Central

Bremner, J. Douglas

2010-01-01

In “Cognitive Processes in Dissociation: An Analysis of Core Theoretical Assumptions,” published in Psychological Bulletin, Giesbrecht, Lynn, Lilienfeld, and Merckelbach (2008) have challenged the widely accepted trauma theory of dissociation, which holds that dissociative symptoms are caused by traumatic stress. In doing so the authors outline a series of links between various constructs, such as fantasy proneness, cognitive failures, absorption, suggestibility, altered information-processing, dissociation, and amnesia, claiming that these linkages lead to the false conclusion that trauma causes dissociation. A review of the literature, however, shows that these are not necessarily related constructs. Careful examination of their arguments reveals no basis for the conclusion that there is no association between trauma and dissociation. The current comment offers a critical review and rebuttal of the argument of Giesbrecht et al. that there is no relationship between trauma and dissociation. PMID:20063920

Dual-Process Theories of Higher Cognition: Advancing the Debate.

PubMed

Evans, Jonathan St B T; Stanovich, Keith E

2013-05-01

Dual-process and dual-system theories in both cognitive and social psychology have been subjected to a number of recently published criticisms. However, they have been attacked as a category, incorrectly assuming there is a generic version that applies to all. We identify and respond to 5 main lines of argument made by such critics. We agree that some of these arguments have force against some of the theories in the literature but believe them to be overstated. We argue that the dual-processing distinction is supported by much recent evidence in cognitive science. Our preferred theoretical approach is one in which rapid autonomous processes (Type 1) are assumed to yield default responses unless intervened on by distinctive higher order reasoning processes (Type 2). What defines the difference is that Type 2 processing supports hypothetical thinking and load heavily on working memory. © The Author(s) 2013.

RECONCILING AGN-STAR FORMATION, THE SOLTAN ARGUMENT, AND MEIER’S PARADOX

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Garofalo, David; Kim, Matthew I.; Christian, Damian J.

2016-02-01

We provide a theoretical context for understanding the recent work of Kalfountzou et al. showing that star formation is enhanced at lower optical luminosity in radio-loud quasars. Our proposal for coupling the assumption of collimated FRII quasar-jet-induced star formation with lower accretion optical luminosity also explains the observed jet power peak in active galaxies at higher redshift compared to the peak in accretion power, doing so in a way that predicts the existence of a family of radio-quiet active galactic nuclei associated with rapidly spinning supermassive black holes at low redshift, as mounting observations suggest. The relevance of this work liesmore » in its promise to explain the observed cosmological evolution of accretion power, jet power, and star formation in a way that is both compatible with the Soltan argument and resolves the so-called “Meier Paradox.”.« less

The impact of fear appeals on processing and acceptance of action recommendations.

PubMed

de Hoog, Natascha; Stroebe, Wolfgang; de Wit, John B F

2005-01-01

A stage model of processing of fear-arousing communications was tested in an experiment that examined the impact of vulnerability to a severe health risk, the quality of the arguments supporting a protective action recommendation, and the source to which the recommendation was attributed, on processing and acceptance of the recommendation. Argument quality influenced attitudes toward the recommendation (but not intention to act), and this effect was mediated by negative thoughts about the recommendation. Vulnerability influenced intention to act (but not attitudes), and this effect was mediated by perceived threat and positive thoughts about the recommendation. The pattern of findings suggests that although vulnerability to a severe health risk induces biased processing of the recommendation, biased processing is restricted to intentions and does not compromise the evaluation of the recommendation. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Theorizing waste in abortion and fetal ovarian tissue use.

PubMed

Arris, Rachel

2003-01-01

This article explores the theoretical implications of the concept of waste as it specifically relates to arguments in favour of fetal ovarian tissue use as a source of donor eggs. The author begins by discussing medico-scientific constructions of women's reproductive bodies as wasteful. The article explores the works of Drucilla Cornell on bodily borders, Julia Kristeva on abjection, and Mary Douglas on pollution to develop a nuanced understanding of the relations between waste, women's reproductivity, and abortion in North American mainstream and medico-scientific cultures. This layered reading of waste and abortion deconstructs a significant assumption of arguments in favour of fetal ovarian tissue use as ethical--that such tissue is just "waste." The author suggests that theorizing waste this way may contribute to ethical analyses of uses of other reproductive materials (that is, embryos) that are supported, in part, by an assumption that those materials would otherwise be "wasted."

Using Argument-Driven Inquiry to enhance students' argument sophistication when supporting a stance in the context of Socioscientific Issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grooms, Jonathon A.

This quasi-experimental study assesses the extent to which the Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI) instructional model enhances undergraduate students' abilities to generate quality arguments supporting their stance in the context of a Socioscientific Issue (SSI) as compared to students experiencing a traditional style of instruction. Enhancing the quality of undergraduate students' arguments in the context of SSI can serve as an indirect measure of their scientific literacy and their ability to make sound decisions on issues that are inherently scientific but also involve social implications. Data collected in this study suggest that the undergraduate students experiencing the ADI instruction more readily provide rationales in their arguments supporting their decisions regarding two SSI-tasks as compared to a group of undergraduate students experiencing traditional instruction. This improvement in argument quality and gain in scientific literacy was achieved despite the overall lower SSI related content knowledge of the ADI students. Furthermore, the gap between the argument quality of those students with high versus low SSI related content knowledge was closed within the ADI group, while the same gap persisted post-intervention within the traditional instruction students. The role of students' epistemological sophistication was also investigated, which showed that neither instructional strategy was effective at shifting students' epistemological sophistication toward an evaluativist stance. However, the multiplists within the ADI group were able to significantly increase the sophistication of their arguments whereas the traditional students were not. There were no differences between the quality of arguments generated by the evaluativist students with either the treatment or comparison groups. Finally, the nature of the justifications used by the students revealed that the students (both comparison and treatment groups) did not invoke science-based justifications when supporting their stance, despite students' self-reports that scientific content knowledge accounted for the greatest influence on their stance, related to the SSI tasks. The results of this study suggest that the scientific habits of mind the students learned in the context of ADI investigations are transferred to the novel SSI contexts. Implications for the use of argument-based instructional models to enhance the generation of socioscientific arguments and to promote the development of scientific literacy are also discussed.

Looking for a Location: Dissociated Effects of Event-Related Plausibility and Verb-Argument Information on Predictive Processing in Aphasia.

PubMed

Hayes, Rebecca A; Dickey, Michael Walsh; Warren, Tessa

2016-12-01

This study examined the influence of verb-argument information and event-related plausibility on prediction of upcoming event locations in people with aphasia, as well as older and younger, neurotypical adults. It investigated how these types of information interact during anticipatory processing and how the ability to take advantage of the different types of information is affected by aphasia. This study used a modified visual-world task to examine eye movements and offline photo selection. Twelve adults with aphasia (aged 54-82 years) as well as 44 young adults (aged 18-31 years) and 18 older adults (aged 50-71 years) participated. Neurotypical adults used verb argument status and plausibility information to guide both eye gaze (a measure of anticipatory processing) and image selection (a measure of ultimate interpretation). Argument status did not affect the behavior of people with aphasia in either measure. There was only limited evidence of interaction between these 2 factors in eye gaze data. Both event-related plausibility and verb-based argument status contributed to anticipatory processing of upcoming event locations among younger and older neurotypical adults. However, event-related likelihood had a much larger role in the performance of people with aphasia than did verb-based knowledge regarding argument structure.

Tokos and atokion: an examination of natural law reasoning against usury and against contraception.

PubMed

Noonan Jt

1965-01-01

"Natural law," which has been appealed to by catholic theologians in their arguments against both usury and contraception, is examined in this essay. Usury was "tokos" to the Greeks, while what caused contraception was "atokion." Beyond this verbal link, usury and contraception share the bond of having both been condemned as contrary to the natural level of generation. An act of lending is naturally sterile; an act of intercourse naturally fertile. These 2 propositions appeared to be the chief rational support of the absolute prohibition by Catholic theologians of any profit on a loan or of any act preventing intercourse from being fertile. The question arises as to why the argument based on nature seemed so superior; psychological and rhetorical satisfactions would seem to account for the choice. The sacral character of coitus to which the argument finally appeals seems no stronge than the usury argument's appeal to the sacred character of time. The claim that coitus was naturally fertile continued long after acceptance of the marriage of sterile individuals, intercourse during pregnancy, and use of the rhythm method. The argument asserted that contraception was an evil which man could grasp. Values dear to all people were endangered by the practice of contraception, and the argument base on nature stood for this proposition.

The Relationships Between Modelling and Argumentation from the Perspective of the Model of Modelling Diagram

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cardoso Mendonça, Paula Cristina; Justi, Rosária

2013-09-01

Some studies related to the nature of scientific knowledge demonstrate that modelling is an inherently argumentative process. This study aims at discussing the relationship between modelling and argumentation by analysing data collected during the modelling-based teaching of ionic bonding and intermolecular interactions. The teaching activities were planned from the transposition of the main modelling stages that constitute the 'Model of Modelling Diagram' so that students could experience each of such stages. All the lessons were video recorded and their transcriptions supported the elaboration of case studies for each group of students. From the analysis of the case studies, we identified argumentative situations when students performed all of the modelling stages. Our data show that the argumentative situations were related to sense making, articulating and persuasion purposes, and were closely related to the generation of explanations in the modelling processes. They also show that representations are important resources for argumentation. Our results are consistent with some of those already reported in the literature regarding the relationship between modelling and argumentation, but are also divergent when they show that argumentation is not only related to the model evaluation phase.

Argumentation Key to Communicating Climate Change to the Public

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bleicher, R. E.; Lambert, J. L.

2012-12-01

Argumentation plays an important role in how we communicate climate change science to the public and is a key component integrated throughout the Next Generation Science Standards. A scientific argument can be described as a disagreement between explanations with data being used to justify each position. Argumentation is social process where two or more individuals construct and critique arguments (Kuhn & Udell, 2003; Nussbaum, 1997). Sampson, Grooms, and Walker's (2011) developed a framework for understanding the components of a scientific argument. The three components start with a claim (a conjecture, conclusion, explanation, or an answer to a research question). This claim must fit the evidence (observations that show trends over time, relationships between variables or difference between groups). The evidence must be justified with reasoning (explains how the evidence supports the explanation and whey it should count as support). In a scientific argument, or debate, the controversy focuses on how data were collected, what data can or should be included, and what inferences can be made based on a set of evidence. Toulmin's model (1969) also includes rebutting or presenting an alternative explanation supported by counter evidence and reasoning of why the alternative is not the appropriate explanation for the question of the problem. The process of scientific argumentation should involve the construction and critique of scientific arguments, one that involves the consideration of alternative hypotheses (Lawson, 2003). Scientific literacy depends as much on the ability to refute and recognize poor scientific arguments as much as it does on the ability to present an effective argument based on good scientific data (Osborne, 2010). Argument is, therefore, a core feature of science. When students learn to construct a sound scientific argument, they demonstrate critical thinking and a mastery of the science being taught. To present a convincing argument in support of climate change, students must have a sound foundation in the science underlying it. One place to lay this foundation is in the high school science classroom. For students to gain a good conceptual understanding of climate change science, teachers need a sound understanding of climate change and effective resources to teach it to students. Teacher professional development opportunities are required to provide this background as well as establish collaborative curriculum planning opportunities on the school site (Shulman, 2007). Various strategies for and challenges of implementing argumentation with preservice and practicing teachers will be discussed in this session, as well as ways that argumentation skills can help the broader public evaluate claims of climate skeptics. In the field of argumentation theory, Goodwin (2010) has designed a strategy for developing the ability to make effective scientific arguments. The goal is to establish trust even when there is strong disagreement. At the core, a student fully acknowledges the uncertainty involved in the complex science underlying climate change. This has the effect of establishing some degree of trust. In other words, teachers or students trying to explain climate change to others might be perceived as more trustworthy if they openly declare that there are degrees of uncertainty in different aspects of climate change science (American Meteorological Society, 2011).

The effects of a socioscientific issues instructional model in secondary agricultural education on students' content knowledge, scientific reasoning ability, argumentation skills, and views of the nature of science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shoulders, Catherine Woglom

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a socioscientific issues-based instructional model on secondary agricultural education students' content knowledge, scientific reasoning ability, argumentation skills, and views of the nature of science. This study utilized a pre-experimental, single group pretest-posttest design to assess the impacts of a nine-week unit that incorporated a socioscientific issue into instruction on secondary agriculture students' agriscience content knowledge, scientific reasoning ability, argumentation skills, and views of the nature of science. The population for this study was Florida's secondary students enrolled in agricultural education. The accessible population was students enrolled in Agriscience Foundations classes in Florida. A convenience sample of Florida's Agriscience Foundations teachers attending a summer professional development or Chapter Officer Leadership Training session was taken. Paired-samples t tests were conducted to determine the impact the treatment had on students' agriscience content knowledge on distal and proximal assessments, as well as on students' scientific reasoning ability, argumentation skills related to number of argumentation justifications and quality of those justifications, and views of the nature of science. Paired-samples t tests were also conducted to determine whether the treatment yielded results with middle school or high school students. Statistical analysis found significant improvements in students' agriscience content knowledge, scientific reasoning ability, and argumentation skills. High school students' scores resulted in significant improvements in proximal content knowledge assessments and argumentation justification quality. Middle school students' scores resulted in significant improvements in proximal content knowledge assessments and scientific reasoning ability. No significant difference was found between students' views of the nature of science before and after the treatment. These findings indicate that socioscientific issues-based instruction can provide benefits for students in agricultural education. Teacher educators should work with teachers to maximize the learning that can occur through the various aspects of socioscientific issues-based instruction. Curriculum focusing on socioscientific issues-based instruction should be developed for specific courses in agricultural education. Finally, further investigation should be conducted to better understand how the aspects of socioscientific issues-based instruction can be altered to further enhance student learning.

"You must eat the salad because it is nutritious". Argumentative strategies adopted by parents and children in food-related discussions at mealtimes.

PubMed

Bova, Antonio; Arcidiacono, Francesco

2014-02-01

At mealtimes, the evaluation of the appropriate (or not appropriate) behavior concerning the food is often assumed as a topic of discourse. The aim of this study is to single out the argumentative strategies used by parents with their children and by children with their parents in order to convince the other party to eat or not to eat a certain food. Within a data corpus constituted by 30 video-recorded meals of 10 middle to upper-middle-class Swiss and Italian families, we selected a corpus of 77 argumentative discussions between parents and children arisen around a food-related issue. Data are presented through discursive excerpts of argumentative discussions that were found within the data corpus and analyzed through the pragma-dialectical model of critical discussion. The results of this study show that the feeding practices in families with young children during mealtimes are argumentatively co-constructed by participants. In most cases parents put forward arguments based on the quality (e.g., very good, nutritious, salty, or not good) and quantity (e.g., too little, quite enough, or too much) of food to convince their children to eat. Similarly, children put forward arguments based on the quality and quantity of food to convince their parents to change their standpoint, although their view on the issue is the opposite of that of their parents. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Inductive reasoning.

PubMed

Hayes, Brett K; Heit, Evan; Swendsen, Haruka

2010-03-01

Inductive reasoning entails using existing knowledge or observations to make predictions about novel cases. We review recent findings in research on category-based induction as well as theoretical models of these results, including similarity-based models, connectionist networks, an account based on relevance theory, Bayesian models, and other mathematical models. A number of touchstone empirical phenomena that involve taxonomic similarity are described. We also examine phenomena involving more complex background knowledge about premises and conclusions of inductive arguments and the properties referenced. Earlier models are shown to give a good account of similarity-based phenomena but not knowledge-based phenomena. Recent models that aim to account for both similarity-based and knowledge-based phenomena are reviewed and evaluated. Among the most important new directions in induction research are a focus on induction with uncertain premise categories, the modeling of the relationship between inductive and deductive reasoning, and examination of the neural substrates of induction. A common theme in both the well-established and emerging lines of induction research is the need to develop well-articulated and empirically testable formal models of induction. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cross-Milieu Terrorist Collaboration: Using Game Theory to Assess the Risk of a Novel Threat.

PubMed

Ackerman, Gary A; Zhuang, Jun; Weerasuriya, Sitara

2017-02-01

This article uses a game-theoretic approach to analyze the risk of cross-milieu terrorist collaboration-the possibility that, despite marked ideological differences, extremist groups from very different milieus might align to a degree where operational collaboration against Western societies becomes possible. Based upon theoretical insights drawn from a variety of literatures, a bargaining model is constructed that reflects the various benefits and costs for terrorists' collaboration across ideological milieus. Analyzed in both sequential and simultaneous decision-making contexts and through numerical simulations, the model confirms several theoretical arguments. The most important of these is that although likely to be quite rare, successful collaboration across terrorist milieus is indeed feasible in certain circumstances. The model also highlights several structural elements that might play a larger role than previously recognized in the collaboration decision, including that the prospect of nonmaterial gains (amplification of terror and reputational boost) plays at least as important a role in the decision to collaborate as potential increased capabilities does. Numerical simulation further suggests that prospects for successful collaboration over most scenarios (including operational) increase when a large, effective Islamist terrorist organization initiates collaboration with a smaller right-wing group, as compared with the other scenarios considered. Although the small number of historical cases precludes robust statistical validation, the simulation results are supported by existing empirical evidence of collaboration between Islamists and right- or left-wing extremists. The game-theoretic approach, therefore, provides guidance regarding the circumstances under which such an unholy alliance of violent actors is likely to succeed. © 2016 Society for Risk Analysis.

Contact Line Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kreiss, Gunilla; Holmgren, Hanna; Kronbichler, Martin; Ge, Anthony; Brant, Luca

2017-11-01

The conventional no-slip boundary condition leads to a non-integrable stress singularity at a moving contact line. This makes numerical simulations of two-phase flow challenging, especially when capillarity of the contact point is essential for the dynamics of the flow. We will describe a modeling methodology, which is suitable for numerical simulations, and present results from numerical computations. The methodology is based on combining a relation between the apparent contact angle and the contact line velocity, with the similarity solution for Stokes flow at a planar interface. The relation between angle and velocity can be determined by theoretical arguments, or from simulations using a more detailed model. In our approach we have used results from phase field simulations in a small domain, but using a molecular dynamics model should also be possible. In both cases more physics is included and the stress singularity is removed.

From particle condensation to polymer aggregation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Janke, Wolfhard; Zierenberg, Johannes

2018-01-01

We draw an analogy between droplet formation in dilute particle and polymer systems. Our arguments are based on finite-size scaling results from studies of a two-dimensional lattice gas to three-dimensional bead-spring polymers. To set the results in perspective, we compare with in part rigorous theoretical scaling laws for canonical condensation in a supersaturated gas at fixed temperature, and derive corresponding scaling predictions for an undercooled gas at fixed density. The latter allows one to efficiently employ parallel multicanonical simulations and to reach previously not accessible scaling regimes. While the asymptotic scaling can not be observed for the comparably small polymer system sizes, they demonstrate an intermediate scaling regime also observable for particle condensation. Altogether, our extensive results from computer simulations provide clear evidence for the close analogy between particle condensation and polymer aggregation in dilute systems.

How the Hilbert integral theorem inspired flow lines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winston, Roland; Jiang, Lun

2017-09-01

Nonimaging Optics has been shown to achieve the theoretical limits constrained only by thermodynamic principles. The designing principles of nonimaging optics allow a non-conventional way of thinking about and generating new optical devices. Compared to conventional imaging optics which rarely utilizes the framework of thermodynamic arguments, nonimaging optics chooses to map etendue instead of rays. This fundamental shift of design paradigm frees the optics design from ray based designs which heavily relies on error tolerance analysis. Instead, the underlying thermodynamic principles guide the nonimaging design to be naturally constructed for extended light source for illumination, non-tracking concentrators and sensors that require sharp cut-off angles. We argue in this article that such optical devices which has enabled a multitude of applications depends on probabilities, geometric flux field and radiative heat transfer while "optics" in the conventional sense recedes into the background.

Community structure and scale-free collections of Erdős-Rényi graphs.

PubMed

Seshadhri, C; Kolda, Tamara G; Pinar, Ali

2012-05-01

Community structure plays a significant role in the analysis of social networks and similar graphs, yet this structure is little understood and not well captured by most models. We formally define a community to be a subgraph that is internally highly connected and has no deeper substructure. We use tools of combinatorics to show that any such community must contain a dense Erdős-Rényi (ER) subgraph. Based on mathematical arguments, we hypothesize that any graph with a heavy-tailed degree distribution and community structure must contain a scale-free collection of dense ER subgraphs. These theoretical observations corroborate well with empirical evidence. From this, we propose the Block Two-Level Erdős-Rényi (BTER) model, and demonstrate that it accurately captures the observable properties of many real-world social networks.

A Re-Examination of the Argument against Problem-Based Learning in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bryant, Lauren H.

2011-01-01

The primary purpose of this study is to examine Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark's (2006) argument against problem-based learning (PBL) by analyzing research used to support their stance. The secondary purpose is to develop a definition of PBL that helps practitioners use this technique. Seven studies were analyzed to determine whether the PBL…

The Effect of a Graph-Oriented Computer-Assisted Project-Based Learning Environment on Argumentation Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsu, P. -S.; Van Dyke, M.; Chen, Y.; Smith, T. J.

2015-01-01

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to explore how seventh graders in a suburban school in the United States developed argumentation skills and science knowledge in a project-based learning environment that incorporated a graph-oriented, computer-assisted application. A total of 54 students (three classes) comprised this treatment…

The Spatial Concentration of Southern Whites and Argument-Based Lethal Violence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Matthew R.; Shihadeh, Edward S.

2009-01-01

This analysis examines how the spatial concentration of Southern whites is associated with white argument-based lethal violence. Using a well-known measure of spatial segregation (V, the adjusted P* index) among Southern-born whites in U.S. counties in 2000, the results reveal that the spatial concentration of Southern-born whites is only…