Ambiguous Questions Research Articles

The Han’gŭl Crisis and Language Standardization: Clashing Orthographic Identities and the Politics of Cultural Construction

Abstract The first attempt at spelling reform in South Korea took place in the early 1950s as the Korean War (1950–53) drew to a close. The subsequent Han’gŭl Crisis is often interpreted as an example of the authoritarianism of President Syngman Rhee (Yi Sŭngman), yet the event also represents a clash of generations between the supporters of the Unified Orthography of 1933 and the previous spelling standard. During the han’gŭl simplification debates, the legacies of Chu Sigyŏng (1876–1914) and Pak Sŭngbin (1880–1943) reemerged as their followers continued a contentious linguistic debate that stretched back into the colonial period. The event ended as a victory for the Unified Orthography of 1933, but several ambiguous questions remain for further investigation. Ultimately, behind the claims of “scientific rationalism” in the current han’gŭl spelling are the forgotten memories of linguistic activism and the difficulties in uniting divergent linguistic practices in post-Liberation Korean society.

Gestural modality and addressee perspective influence how we reason about time

AbstractA growing body of literature has established that spatiotemporal metaphoric reasoning processes can be affected by the active experience of motion (such as actual motion, fictive motion, and abstract motion). In this study, the effects of metaphoric gestures on spatiotemporal metaphor use and the effects of addressee perspective on comprehension of these gestures are investigated. Participants were asked an ambiguous question that yields different responses depending on which metaphor variant is used. This question was asked with simultaneously produced metaphoric gestures depicting either sagittal or lateral motion and presented to participants either in shared perspective (side by side) or opposing (face to face) perspective. Findings suggest that not only does gesture influence metaphoric reasoning in discourse interpretation, but that addressees reliably interpret gestures from their own perspective, even when it is not shared with the speaker. Furthermore, conversational bystanders similarly adopt the perspective of the addressee in gesture comprehension.

Methodological Features of the Ancient Jurisprudence

The article is devoted to the methodological peculiarities of the ancient jurisprudence. The ancient world is undoubtedly an extremely important period not only in the world history, but also in the history of the development of philosophical knowledge and positive sciences, and therefore in the history of methodology, arising and functioning at the intersection of philosophy and science The methodology is a philosophical discipline, which sets the correct methods, approaches, ways of learning, and also creates necessary tools of scientific research, including those in legal sciences. The key aim of the methodology is an efficient organization and management of knowledge as a purposeful process of receiving and processing of new and reliable scientific facts. Special significance of the ancient period of methodology development is that it is this historical point that laid the foundations of the methodological principle of the matrix of cognitive activity. Undoubtedly, from the objective point of view it is only possible to speak on the elements of scientific knowledge and methodology in the period of the ancient world, as the science of that era could not be used as a smooth and systematic production of scientific knowledge on the basis of a comprehensive study of the reality. However, it is in the ancient times when a methodological basis of juridical science began to emerge, especially due to the theoretical efforts of the Greek thinkers and distinguished Roman jurists. We can certainly talk about cognitive multi-directional efforts of the scholars of ancient societies: Greek thinkers undertook the development of a theoretical side of political legal perspective, and Roman lawyers became widely known through practical activities in the field of State and Law. Roman law, was not only the final stage in the evolution of the ancient law, but it was the outcome of the overall development of legal theory and practice of the ancient world absorbing many important achievements of the legal thought of the greater part of the advanced countries of the ancient world. Thus, this article covers a rather ambiguous question on methodological grounds of theory and jurisprudence of the ancient time.

Formation of adaptive dynamic scenarios in computer educational systems

Considered dynamic scenarios in adaptive educational systems have the following disadvantages: Insufficient analysis of learning estimation classifiers. Little attention is given to estimation of focus attention on the material. To address these issues in the study materials we use the works of other scientists that is devoted to adaptive methods of presentation and testing in educational systems. Process formalization of building a knowledge base is done using semantic networks and an estimation of the minimum and maximum limit of the number of rules is obtained. The minimum number of test questions on the topic to form linear plots is within 3-5 (depending on the topic complexity), the maximum number of questions – 11. Estimation algorithms within adaptive educational courses for learning control are implemented. Requirements to tests are formed as a part of the estimation algorithms, which include: Independent of the tasks . Simplicity and compactness of question formulation. Exclusion of ambiguous question understanding. The complex model of the educational process is developed using information technologies. This model includes presentation of technological, targeted, meaningful and effective system components and their relationships (substantiation of learning objectives, content modules of curriculum, conditions for achieving goals, learning activities of students and teachers, learning results). This model allows to use approaches for building of dynamic scenarios, which include the principles of non-linearity of the plot, a variety of solutions, loose problem solutions, variety of ways to pass educational courses.

Dual behavior of the toroidal magnetic field versus the Rossby wave instability

The Rossby wave instability (RWI) theory has been considered as one of the top topics in astrophysics due to the fact that it deals with some ambiguous questions, such as the angular momentum transport in the poorly ionized regions of the protoplanetary discs. Based on the theoretical and simulation works, two important factors in the study of the RWI are the viscosity and magnetic field, which are directly connected to each other because the large-scale toroidal magnetic fields are produced by the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. Therefore, it is essential to consider more details about the toroidal magnetic field both in the steady state and perturbation state. In this paper, the role of the strength and gradient of the toroidal magnetic field is investigated on the RWI at the dead zone in the regions of bump. The obtained results show that the gradient of the toroidal magnetic field or its strength have a major role in the RWI occurrence, which have received relatively less attention in previous works. Also, the role of the gradient of the toroidal magnetic field in the RWI is important even in the weak magnetic fields. Hence, the obtained results are very different from what we previously expected, and it seems crucial to research and develop this issue in the theoretical and simulation works. This paper can be helpful on the study of the angular momentum transport in the cold accretion discs, such as accretion discs in quiescent dwarf novae or around the white-dwarf primary.

Developmental changes in misinterpretation of garden-path wh-questions in French

This study explores (mis)interpretation of biclausal wh-questions by French-speaking adults and children, aiming to investigate cross-linguistic differences in sentence revision mechanisms. Following previous work in Japanese the ambiguity of wh-questions was manipulated: In ambiguous questions, the fronted wh-phrase could be associated with the first, main-clause verb or the second, embedded-clause verb, while in garden-path questions, an inserted filled-gap prepositional phrase (PP) blocked main-clause attachment. Importantly, French differs from Japanese in that the filled gap arises after the first verb-that is, after the wh-phrase has been interpreted within the main clause. Two story-based comprehension experiments were conducted to probe the effect of word order on revision performance. Adults and children frequently provided main-clause interpretations of ambiguous questions. In filled-gap questions, children displayed relatively acute sensitivity to the filled-gap in wh-argument questions (Experiment 2), but not in wh-adjunct questions (Experiment 1); adults showed surprisingly low sensitivity to it, frequently misinterpreting adjunct and argument questions. Acceptability ratings (Experiment 3) showed that adults systematically prefer in situ questions over wh-fronting questions. We conclude that timing of the error signal influences revision, and that whereas French-speaking children prioritize syntactic cues, adults prioritize distributional information about the optionality of wh-fronting in French.

A Critique of the Claims about Mobile Phones and Kerala Fisherman: The Importance of the Context of Complex Social Systems

AbstractThis paper challenges some fundamental aspects of research and conclusions relating to the use of technology for community development. Views of technology, in this case the mobile phone, as a tool for increased economic welfare are often skewed due to extreme reductionism, ambiguous interview questions and poor data sources. Research of complex social systems or sub‐systems give the wrong answers when reductionist methodologies are used. To demonstrate such shortcomings, the 2007 paper of Robert Jensen serves as an example. His conclusion that mobile phones enable Kerala fishermen to increase their economic welfare is the most cited paper on ICT4D topics, but there are fundamental methodological and logical problems with the claim, while other research came to contradictory conclusions. This critique is presented on many levels: ideological, paradigmatic, methodology, logical, statistical and semantic.

The top trumps of time: factors motivating the resolution of temporal ambiguity

abstractWhat factors motivate our understanding of metaphoric statements about time? English exhibits two deictic space–time metaphors: the Moving Ego metaphor conceptualizes the ego as moving forward through time, while the Moving Time metaphor conceptualizes time as moving forward towards the ego (Clark, 1973). In addition to earlier research investigating spatial influences on temporal reasoning (e.g., Boroditsky & Ramscar, 2002), recent lines of research have provided evidence that a complex of factors, such as personality differences, event valence, lifestyle, and emotional experiences, may also influence people’s perspectives on the movement of events in time – providing new insights on metaphor and its ability to reflect thought and feeling (e.g., Duffy & Feist, 2014; Duffy, Feist, & McCarthy, 2014; Margolies & Crawford, 2008; Richmond, Wilson, & Zinken, 2012). Probing these findings further, two studies were conducted to investigate whether the interpretation of a temporally ambiguous question may arise from an interaction between the valence of the event and aspects of the personality (Experiment 1) and lifestyle (Experiment 2) of the comprehender. The findings we report on shed further light on the complex nature of temporal reasoning. While this involves conceptual metaphor, it also invokes more complex temporal frames of reference (t-FoRs) (Evans, 2013), which are only partially subserved by space-to-time conceptual metaphors.

What Do You Know? A Statutory and Precedential Approach to Corporate Scienter

Every year, hundreds of private lawsuits alleging violations of Section 10(b)’s antifraud provision of the Securities Exchange Act are filed in federal courts. These litigations have a substantial impact on the national economy, with millions of dollars at stake in most lawsuits. While the Supreme Court has clarified many questions of ambiguity within the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA), the Court has not opined on the scienter requirement for claims involving a corporate defendant. A circuit split has thus developed surrounding “corporate scienter.” When permitted, this doctrine allows a plaintiff to meet the PSLRA’s pleading requirement by alleging one person had the requisite state of mind and another person committed the fraudulent act. The corporate scienter doctrine therefore allows the plaintiff to more easily bring a lawsuit against a corporate defendant, leading to the potential for forum shopping and inequitable results among defendants. I examine the current circuit split, which was fractured even more after the Sixth Circuit’s recent creation of a new pleading standard. After examining the current approaches to corporate scienter, I study the text and structure of the PSLRA to argue for a new approach to corporate scienter. My suggested approach would require plaintiffs to demonstrate that an executive officer made or approved a fraudulent statement and that that officer had actual knowledge of the statement’s falsity. Such an approach comports with prior, related case law and the structure of the statute.

The Question of Ambiguity in Tom Stoppard’s Jumpers

The Question of Ambiguity in Tom Stoppard’s Jumpers

Existence of the Term “Museum” in the European Culture of the 18th Century

The article raises the question of ambiguity of the term “museum” in the European culture in the Modern Age. The analyzed material shows that the comprehension of museum in the 18th century was significantly affected by the interpretation which dates back to the ancient prototype - the Musaeum of Alexandria.

Investigating the Relationship between Technical and Legal Factors with Tendency of Villagers to Use E-Banking Services (Case Study: Agricultural Bank Branches in Ilam)

The purpose of this study was to investigate Relationship between Technical and Legal factors with tendency of the villagers to use e-banking services. The Method of this this study is descriptive- correlative. The main data gathering tool in the current study is a made questionnaire which is designed and executed based on the conceptual background of the subject matter and the objectives and hypotheses of the study. Contextual and facial validity of the questionnaire were confirmed by a panel of experts in agricultural training and expansion including the professors at the Islamic Azad University of Ilam and Ilam University and after revising the ambiguous questions based on their points of views the reliability of the questionnaire was tested using Cronbach's Alpha coefficient and based on the obtained value (α=84.4) it is obvious that the questionnaire can finely assess the research variables. The statistical population of this study includes all the customers of rural branches of Agricultural Bank in Ilam Province (N=82885). Among these 120 participants were chosen through sample size determination formula and they were studied using stratified random sampling method. The data analysis task was done using the SPSS software application and it was carried out in two levels; namely descriptive statistics (center-oriented statistics and distribution) and analytical statistics (Spearman's Correlation Coefficient in order to test the correlational hypotheses of the research). In the analytical statistics level the results obtained from calculating Spearman's Correlative Coefficient showed that Technical and Legal factors had a significant impact of the extent of the tendency of the villagers to use e-banking services of the Agricultural Bank at the 99% level.

Against Agamben: Sovereignty and the Void in the Discourse of the Nation in Early Modern China

In Kingdom and Glory, Agamben analyzed the dual perspective of the void, through the metaphor of the empty throne, in the governmental machine in the West. I engage with the ambiguous question of the void with regard to the concept of sovereignty through my reading of two Chinese intellectuals in the late Qing period, Liang Qichao (1872–1929) and Zhang Taiyan (1869–1936). This paper therefore addresses the question of sovereignty and the void in the discourse of nation in early modern China, an issue that is related to the problem of the political economy or the politics of life. I argue that the rhetorical move in Liang Qichao’s argument for the birth of a new nation and new people was to move from the not-having (無) to the there is (有) in support of the formation of a new nation-state and a restricted logic of sovereignty, while Zhan Taiyan’s position was to affirm the dynamitic re-composition of the void by constantly negating the given fixated state, and thus proposing a different and radical vision of nation and full sovereignty of the lives of each and every one of the people who are co-inhabiting in the polis.

Translating and Transforming Care: People With Brain Injury and Caregivers Filling in a Disability Claim Form.

This article examines how the Disability Living Allowance claim form, used in the United Kingdom to allocate £13 billion of disability benefits, translates and transforms disability and care. Twenty-two people with acquired brain injury and their main informal caregivers (n = 44) were video-recorded filling in the disability claim form. Participants disagreed on 26% of the questions, revealing two types of problems. Translation problems arose as participants struggled to provide categorical responses to ambiguous questions and were unable to report contextual variability in care needs or divergences of perception. Transformation problems arose as participants resisted the way in which the form positioned them, forcing them to conceptualize their relationship in terms of dependency and burden. The disability claim form co-opts claimants to translate care and disability into bureaucratically predefined categories, and it transforms the care relationship that it purports to document.

MACHADO DE ASSIS AND BRAZILIAN LITERARY INDEPENDENCE: TOWARD A POSTCOLONIAL NATIONAL AESTHETIC

As a mulatto who was both black and white, yet neither, Machado de Assis developed a keen sensitivity to what Santiago refers to as "o entre-lugar", that is to say, the liminal or in-between space that shapes human existence. Machado gave artistic expression to this phenomenon in a manner that encompassed broader contradictions and questions of multiplicity and ambiguity in terms of Brazil's national literary identity. His writings do not display a national consciousness or brasilidade(Brazilianness) expressed through the use of racial types, external descriptions of local flora, fauna, or idioms, as was the case with the anticolonial writings of many of his contemporaries and successors, which fostered a superficial cultural essentialism. In keeping with Bhabha's conceptualtization of postcolonial thought, Machado searched for a radical nationalism generated within a liminal space that contested the terms and territories of both colonialism and anticolonial nationalism. He sought to achieve this without belonging to a neocoloniality that reduced Brazilian intellectual and cultural production to second-order copies incapable of articulating any originality. Rather, Machado elucidated a mark of differentiated repetition that borrowed from the finest, most enduring exemplars of European literature yet transformed these into something uniquely Brazilian.

The Question of Ambiguity in Mathematics and some of Arising from these Extraordinary Consequences (Elementary Aspect)

This paper proposes a complete elementary without reference to other sources (except for Euler), first proof of the Fermat's Last Theorem. We resolve the question of the ambiguous expansion in the Binomial theorem, Resolved the question of the ambiguity certain infinite sequences of the Euler. Given other versions proof of FLT, We consider and solve the question of not available modern geometric representation of continuous functions without derivatives at any point.

The Libro de los ejemplos del Conde Lucanor and the Panchatantra: Translatio, Power, and Comparison

AbstractThis article compares the Castilian Medieval Libro del Conde Lucanor alongside its eldest predecessor in the storytelling tradition, the Sanskrit Panchatantra, attributed to the Indian sage Viṣṇu Śarma and dated around the eighth century. Observing how the Conde Lucanor and the Panchatantra dwell upon questions of governance, trust, and textual ambiguity makes evident that both works represent the transferring of knowledge as means to support imperial power. The comparison examines the dynamics of auctoritas – concerning authorship – and authority – concerning power – through which Don Juan Manuel appropriated the stories of the Panchatantra and integrated them into his own cultural domain, thus complying with the demands of conquest and colonization at play in the thirteenth and fourteenth‐centuries Christian Kingdom of Castile.

Constructing Culture: A Political Perspective

ABSTRACTArchitecture is generally understood ambiguously: as the balance between “mere” building on the one hand and “artistic” practice on the other. This ambiguity questions the relevance of the cultural aspects of architecture today. This essay develops a cultural perspective upon the field of architecture through a study of the work of the German-American philosopher, Hannah Arendt. Arendt’s writings on works of art and other cultural objects serve to politically challenge both architecture’s artistic practices and “mere” building production. By its inherent durability and contribution to the sensus communis, architecture establishes a stable world in which political life can unfold.

'The Other Side of a Slap in the Face': Judgement and the Ambiguities of Violence in Holocaust Testimony

The Holocaust and the Nazi regime that perpetrated it have long been characterised as paradigmatic frameworks through which to view the subject of (genocidal) violence. Such violence took various forms, from systematic physical harm against the body (individual and en masse) to emotional and psychological trauma through an intentional policy of dehumanisation. However, the fraught issue of the violence of victims toward other victims – which often took place as a result of the racialised hierarchies created by the perpetrators and the various positions of ‘privilege’ allocated to certain prisoners – has attracted minimal critical attention. Drawing on Primo Levi’s concept of the ‘grey zone’, we examine the situations of Jewish prisoners who held such positions, invariably under extreme coercion from Nazi overseers, which raise questions of moral ambiguity, ‘compromise’, and agency in their violence. We take as case studies the testimonies of two Jewish victims who held positions of ‘privilege’ in the Otwock Ghetto and Auschwitz respectively: Calel Perechodnik and Paul Steinberg. Examining their strategies for representing (their own and others’) violence, and the implicit and explicit judgements passed on this behaviour, we argue that engaging with the fundamental problems of judgement and representation in an ethical manner allows for a deeper understanding of violence in the Holocaust. This introduces another potential kind of violence: the violence of representation.

Studying the Responsibility and Authority Limitations of Agent in Islamic Jurisprudence

This research has surveyed limitation of authority of agent and expression of its unknown and ambiguous aspects and answers questions hereof, with the purpose of reviewing power and responsibility limitations of agent by the method of qualitative analysis. Findings are: Responsibility of agent after the death of client, fault of agent and client's damages, limits in which agent in possessions and acts should observe client's interests, excess of granted authorities to the agent, contract of agency, responsibility in agent after death of client and generally agent's authorities. In Shiite jurisprudent opinion agent is considered depositary in the extents of agency contract and has no more responsibility and in the case of excess of the extents of agency, agent is responsible and Civil law also acknowledges this opinion. The extent of agent's authorities also include all authorities about legal procedures unless those which are excepted by client. These authorities include obligations which parties agree in advocacy contract. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n9p583