Cogent Argument Research Articles

Argument Matters: Helping Freshmen Present their Main Arguments

ABSTRACT Most literature courses at the tertiary level require students to write a research paper. However, due to their lack of experience and training in high school, many undergraduates fresh from high school find it difficult to meet the requirements when preparing for this assignment. Based on my experience teaching first-year university students in Hong Kong, this paper discusses students’ difficulties in formulating and presenting cogent arguments for their literature papers and ways to help remedy their problems.

Assessing Therapeutic Potentials of Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don Focusing on Anti-Diabetic, Analgesic and Anti-Diarrheal Activities

Catharanthus roseus, or 'Nayantara' in Bengali, is a perennial flowering herb. This study aimed to evaluate the pharmacological effectiveness of the plant, focusing on its anti-diabetic, peripheral and central analgesic, and antidiarrheal effects. Methanol soluble partition 200 (MSP-200) and 400 (MSP-400) mg/kg body weight were administered for glucose tolerance test (GTT), heat and chemical-induced response tests, sodium thiosulphate induced test, and castor oil induced test, evaluating anti-diabetic, peripheral and central analgesic, and antidiarrheal effects via in-vivo assay in Swiss-Albino mice model. Methanol soluble partition (MSP) at 200 and 400 mg/kg doses significantly reduced the blood glucose levels of mice by 31.00% and 32.97%, respectively (standard 46.24%). In peripheral analgesic activity, MSP-400 (62.82 ± 4.62%) outperformed MSP-200 (50 ± 3.62%) and MSP-200 (p = 0.0001) exhibited statistically significant central analgesic activity. MSP-400 demonstrated potent anti-diarrheal activity (p = 0.0002). The outcomes from this study put forward a cogent argument that C. roseus plant is capable of producing numerous bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids, tannins, etc. which requires systematic phytochemical and pharmacological investigations. Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal 27(2): 215-222, 2024 (July)

Natural selection and evolution: evolving concepts.

Many recent studies in evolutionary biology have expanded and refined definitions of biological evolution and natural selection. Current evolutionary models incorporate different adaptive and non-adaptive processes based on molecular genetic changes and how DNA is modified over time in unicellular species, or in germline versus somatic cells in metazoan species. Cogent arguments can be raised for the view that natural selection should be considered a biological law, consistent with quantitative mathematical equations that describe the fitness of individuals, as well as variations within and among populations. Evolution is an overarching framework that incorporates the laws of natural selection and clarifies why phenotypic variation can increase in prevalence and result in species adaptations. The conceptual framework for biological evolution incorporates many cohesive principles that collectively have a predictive value. This framework will continue to evolve with improvements in high-resolution technologies that enable us to examine both adaptive and non-adaptive changes that drive biological phenotypes.

The Altruism Requirement as Moral Fiction.

It is widely agreed that living kidney donation is permitted but living kidney sales are not. Call this the Received View. One way to support the Received View is to appeal to a particular understanding of the conditions under which living kidney transplantation is permissible. It is often claimed that donors must act altruistically, without the expectation of payment and for the sake of another. Call this the Altruism Requirement. On the conventional interpretation, the Altruism Requirement is a moral fact. It states a legitimate constraint on permissible transplantation and is accepted on the basis of cogent argument. The present paper offers an alternative interpretation. I suggest the Altruism Requirement is a moral fiction-a kind of motivated falsehood. It is false that transplantation requires altruism. But the Requirement serves a purpose. Accepting it allows kidney donation but not kidney sale. It, in short, rationalizes the Received View.

Graduate-level research communication course: Reflections on the first offering

In Fall 2022, I offered a new course on research communication within the Graduate Program in Acoustics at Penn State. With 8 students from Acoustics and Biomedical Engineering, the course was split into three modules of grant writing, paper writing, and outreach. I found the students were reasonably adept at critically reading single papers. They also generally understood the mechanics of writing sentences, although combining sentences into paragraphs, connecting ideas, reducing fluff, and adding emphasis to key points were areas that significantly improved throughout the semester. In the middle of the course, two mock grant review panels were held, which highlighted a need to help students develop strategies to cope with critical feedback. Thus, for the final project, students had the option to either write a journal paper draft or revise their proposal; they also presented orally on their final project. Additionally, communicating with the public and developing outreach activities were included in the course, which culminated in an Acoustics Day at a science center. Overall, I found identifying gaps in the literature using multiple sources and developing a cogent argument on how their proposed work would fill the gap needed the most improvement. [Partially supported by the NSF CAREER:1943937].

Cattaneo–Christov double diffusive non-Newtonian nanofluid flow over a rotating disk of variable thickness influenced by swimming microorganisms and velocity slip condition

This exploration examines the effects of the Cattaneo–Christov double diffusion in the Ostwald-de-Waele nanofluid flow on a rotating disk with varying thicknesses. The incorporation of the impacts of the bioconvection microorganisms increases the stability of the nanofluids. The slip boundary constraint is taken at the disk. The flow system is based on the Buongiorno nanofluid model. The envisioned fluid flow model incorporates heat transmission properties that are affected by nanoparticle volume fraction, Brownian motion, and thermophoresis. The numerical software bvp4c method is affianced. The presented diagrams portray the correlation of the protuberant parameters with the associated profiles given with cogent arguments. It is heeded that higher estimates of the thermal and solutal relaxation parameters dwindled the thermal and mass profiles. Furthermore, the motile microorganism distribution is diminished for larger counts of the Peclet number. A comparison table is also included to justify the truthfulness of the proposed model.

Developing Mental Models for Examining Diversity in Children’s Literature

ABSTRACT Teachers need tools to build mental models of what makes a book diverse, how a book impacts the classroom community, and what contribution it makes within a classroom library. Beyond this, teachers need a resource that will offer cogent arguments and support for their book choices to administrators, parents, and colleagues. This article includes a rubric that can help guide and inform diverse literature selections. We share how we taught preservice teachers to use the rubric in their literature choices. We also provide a discussion of the rubric’s potential in empowering teachers to make purposeful, informed literature selections that reflect and embrace diversity for equitable classroom communities. To examine how the rubric might support the expansion of cultural models and multimodal interpretations of diverse texts, we used the rubric with 20 preservice teachers from one section of an undergraduate children’s literature course. The use of the rubric facilitated the development of mental models of diverse literature in preservice teachers. As these preservice teachers transition into their roles as classroom teachers, these mental models have the potential to actively transform the typical literature selections found in today’s classrooms, leading to more equitable classroom contexts inclusive of all children.

The representations of journalists in Naguib Mahfouz’s novellas: How are they reflected in today’s journalism in Egypt?

This interdisciplinary study explores representations of journalists linking literary criticism with media cultural studies. The researcher examines works from the sixties by Nobel laureate writer and novelist Naguib Mahfouz. While the article concentrates on Mahfouz’s works dealing with journalism, it presents a qualitative analysis of three novellas of his from the sixties: The Thief and the Dogs, The Beggar and A Drift on the Nile. In these works, Mahfouz presents cogent and well-founded arguments on the image of the Egyptian journalists, which manifest itself until now. The article argues that the psychological and social aspects of journalism that Mahfouz delineates are recalled nowadays in the vast, ubiquitous mediascape Egypt inhabits as evidence of the self-perpetuated nature of the masterful Egyptian culture. In this work Norman Fairclough’s model of discourse analysis is employed to survey the roles and characteristics of journalists in a context of power and ideology during President Nasser’s regime and shows not only how they are similar to those of journalists nowadays but also the evolution of journalists under el-Sisi neo-authoritarianism. It also draws on the thoughts of theorists like Lucien Goldmann, mainly the concept of ‘world vision’ to inspect the problem of the identity of Egyptian journalism. The study concludes that these three novels show journalists’ negative image as traitors, subservient to political power, sellers of trivia or full of nihilism. Mahfouz’s representations reflect the outputs of Egyptian media milieu under authoritarian Nasser’s era. The article reflects upon contemporary authoritarian regime in Egypt, discussing the types of media practitioners currently exist who almost repeat the almost-closed cultural circle, only with a complete control of intelligence apparatus.

‘Shah of Shahs’ or ‘Shah of India’? Some Observations on Territoriality and Power in the Mughal Empire (Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries)

Mughal statehood has been a much-debated problem in studies of pre-colonial Indian history. Discussing the character of this state as ‘patrimonial–bureaucratic’, ‘segmentary’, ‘feudal’, ‘centralised’ or ‘absolutist’, scholars have brought to light both valuable source materials and cogent arguments. However, their attention has been often focused primarily on economy, especially the agrarian system, administration, taxation, structure of elites and, more recently, culture. This article is an attempt to reflect on a hitherto less explored sphere, the territoriality of the Mughal state, especially studying the ruling elite’s perception of an association with the lands under its control.

A Unified Interpretation of the Semantics of Relevance Logic

Abstract I introduce a novel and quite intuitive interpretation of the ternary relation that figures in the relational semantics of many relevance logics. Conceptually, my interpretation makes use only of incompatibility and parthood relations, defined over a set of states. In this way, the proposed interpretation—of the ternary relation and the conditional—extends Dunn’s and Restall’s works on negation and the Routley star operator. Therefore, the interpretation is unified, and hence not only intuitive but also parsimonious. Additionally, the interpretation provides us with a cogent argument to the effect that a ternary relation is indispensable, and we cannot merely do with a binary relation.

Balancing Hope and Fear: Muslim Modernists, Democracy, and the Tyranny of the Majority

AbstractDuring the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, many Muslim modernists exhibited mixed records regarding democracy. On the one hand, they articulated cogent arguments that Islam was, at its heart, democratic in nature and worked to counter Islamist claims to the contrary. Some crafted robust visions for Islamic democratic governance. On the other hand, many of the same modernists forged political alliances with military authoritarian regimes. How can we explain this seeming inconsistency between modernist democratic ideals and their not-so-democratic practices? This article argues that this paradoxical pattern stems from a classic dilemma within democratic theory: the tyranny of the majority. After providing a brief history of majoritarian fears in Western political theory, the article investigates two prominent case studies from mid-twentieth-century Pakistan and Indonesia. The first examines Fazlur Rahman’s ties to Ayub Khan’s military regime in 1960s Pakistan, and the second analyzes why a movement of young modernists was willing to collaborate with Suharto’s New Order regime in 1970s Indonesia. Together, the two cases demonstrate that Muslim modernists balance their genuine hopes for an Islamic democratic future with persistent fears of majoritarian tyranny by advocating for constraints on the majority will. While these constraints can be controversial and even authoritarian in nature, they have important parallels in Western democratic thought. Ultimately, this article argues that Muslim modernists’ mixed records are a function of democratic theory itself rather than some Islamic exception to it.

The Fallacy of Misplaced Presumption.

One takes one's word that p when a source vouches for p and one accepts the word of that source. If the source is reliable in this case, p is acceptable. The reliability of the source is a measure of its plausibility. If a source has the relevant competence, credibility, authority, that word is acceptable. Likewise, the word may be acceptable if accompanied by a cogent argument, but presumption may be misplaced. One may recognize a presumption for a statement when such recognition is not justified, the positive version of the fallacy. One may refuse to recognize a presumption for a statement when there really is a presumption for the statement, the negative version of the fallacy. The essay proceeds to explore various dimensions of when it is justified to take a source's word for a claim, and when it is justified to reject a claim from a source. The discussion ranges over considerations of sexism and race, cultural differences, and the relationship of presumptions to fallacies. Also considered is the role of trust in taking someone's word and the factors involved in trusting someone.

Managing Solid Waste In School Environment Through Composting Approach

This study aimed at improving solid waste disposal in schools by using the composting approach. The theory that underpinned this study was Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle (3R) theory, while the necessary data were gathered by using a synthesis and integration approach. The following three research questions were framed to guide the conduct of the study: How important is solid waste management in schools? What pedagogical techniques are most effective for promoting environmental sustainability by teaching composting in schools? What are the challenges involved in the composting process at school? The synthesis and integration approach assisted in integrating concepts from different sources and synthesizing those concepts to create a comprehensive and cogent argument in accordance with emerging themes. It was discovered that solid waste management in schools was particularly crucial since schools produced a lot of rubbish and that waste may affect the environment negatively. Composting is essential to improve school solid waste because it enhances soil health, decreases waste, and encourages sustainable agricultural methods. Three pedagogical techniques that could be utilized to facilitate the teaching and learning of composting in schools have evolved based on the theoretical framework and the literature provided. Project-based learning (PBL), hands-on learning, and inquiry-based learning were some of the new pedagogical strategies. However, some of the challenges with the composting process were identified as follows: difficulty in regulating the moisture level of the compost, keeping the proper balance of carbon and nitrogen in the compost pile, and inability to educate students and staff about the composting process.

Air pollution and respiratory health-Do we really need more evidence?

Air pollution and respiratory health-Do we really need more evidence?

Hemingway’s Widow: The Life and Legacy of Mary Welsh Hemingway by Timothy Christian

Reviewed by: Hemingway’s Widow: The Life and Legacy of Mary Welsh Hemingway by Timothy Christian Hilary K. Justice Hemingway’s Widow: The Life and Legacy of Mary Welsh Hemingway. By Timothy Christian. Pegasus Books, 2022. 506 pp. Hardcover $35.00. As H.R. Stoneback announces in the introduction to Timothy Christian’s Hemingway’s Widow, this is the Mary Hemingway biography Hemingway studies has long needed. Prior to the publication of this volume, the only available full-length biographical was Mary’s autobiography in her own words, How It Was (1976), which requires a weather eye toward willful obfuscation and self-justification. Other biographical treatments of Mary, mostly in biographies of her husband, view her through the lens of the fourth Mrs. Hemingway, in which she first appears full-grown as a war correspondent in London. In Hemingway’s Widow, Christian brilliantly fills this long-empty gap, presenting readers with lucid prose; meticulous research; where warranted, cogent argument; where pertinent, engagement with recent scholarship; and over 50 pages of endnotes. One couldn’t wish for a better-researched, more readable book; Hemingway’s Widow sets a new gold-standard in our understanding of Mary Hemingway’s life and legacy. As important as what Christian’s work does is how it does it. Whatever questions individual readers may bring, Christian addresses the big question, “Why,” in all its major variants: why did she marry him, why did she stay with him, and why did she lie about his suicide? The answers he offers are nuanced, evidence-based, and historicized; they are compelling, yet Christian nearly always leaves ample room for discernment and one’s own judgment in the grey areas. Further, his research is so thorough, his sources so precisely attributed, and his style so clear that Hemingway’s Widow merits a high degree of trust as a scholarly resource, especially if one is unable to travel to relevant archives or to conduct interviews with those who still remember Mary and Ernest Hemingway. The Mary Hemingway who emerges in this work is much more complex than the version she allowed readers to glimpse in her autobiography. Christian provides much new detail, especially about her life before and after Ernest: the dynamics of her family of origin, her adult romantic, sexual, and professional lives (which occasionally overlapped), and her connections with Ernest’s other wives, particularly Hadley. Christian’s work restores her individuality and human dimension to what has been, up to now, a relatively flatter portrait. Mary’s ambition, professional success, and networking savvy all positioned her as an incisive and swift judge of character who had few illusions about Ernest even before their marriage. As their relationship progressed, she [End Page 113] consistently made tough, rational, sometimes inexplicable decisions. Refreshingly, when there is a gap in the documentary record, Christian refrains from imagining or explaining. However much readers might want to know exactly how Mary got from “Hemingway is not worth the trouble” to signing up for a lifetime of it, if Mary doesn’t explain, Christian does not venture. For all Christian’s restraint and insistence on firm grounding in primary documentary sources, Hemingway’s Widow nonetheless both reads and works like literature. Hemingway’s Widow presents Mary’s life in three phases: pre-Ernest, marriage, and widowhood. The pre- and post-marriage sections (14 chapters each) contain the freshest material. The story of the marriage (21 chapters) divides neatly into two sections, pivoting during the safari, just prior to their calamitous plane crashes. Christian’s Mary works on two levels: the shrewd and successful professional (Time magazine’s first female foreign correspondent [32]; her posting was to wartime London) and the private person who assesses her life on her 36th birthday in a mixture of gendered and professional terms: “no children, no fame, no money” (39). When Ernest proposes marriage, Mary thus faces a major dilemma. Although she sees his flaws clearly, becoming “Mrs. Ernest Hemingway” guarantees fame and money and at least the possibility of children. Against her better judgment, she eventually accepts his proposal and would spend the remainder of Ernest’s life making compromise after compromise to uphold the bargain she’s made...

Epidemiologic transition and the double burden of disease in Ghana: What do we know at the neighborhood level?

Many developing countries including Ghana are currently experiencing dual disease burdens emerging from an unprecedented risk overlap that drive their epidemiological transitions. Yet, siloed and disintegrated approaches continue to take precedence in health research and policy programs that drive competition for limited resources to address competing health problems. The objective of this study was to offer empirical evidence in support of a cogent argument for an integrated framework for the study and management of infectious and chronic health conditions in Ghana. We did so by examining the prevalence, determinants, and neighborhoods trajectories of the double burden of disease using data from a cross-sectional neighborhood-based study in Ghana. We fitted multinomial multilevel multivariate models to a sample of 1377 individual surveys and the results presented as odds ratios. Findings show that amidst a rising burden of NCDs, infectious diseases remain the most common health condition and participants in deprived neighborhoods were significantly more likely to report poor health outcomes. Risk factors such as tobacco and alcohol consumption were significantly associated with NCDs and infectious diseases and respondents who reported being diagnosed with NCDs and infectious diseases in the past year were likely to engage in leisure time physical activities and eat healthy. Based on our findings, we recommend health reforms in Ghana and argue for the design and implementation of an integrated framework for the study and management of the double burden of disease in Ghana and similar developing country settings.

In defense of the ICMJE authorship guideline, a rejoinder to Curzer

ABSTRACT Curzer (Curzer 2021. Authorship and justice: Credit and responsibility, Accountability in Research 28:1–22) has constructed cogent and important arguments against the ICMJE authorship criteria from various philosophical perspectives. Here, we provide differing opinions to Curzer’s points, primarily from the perspective of biomedical sciences (for which the ICMJE authorship criteria are originally meant for). We could neither identify nor concur with Curzer’s opinion of a “disconnect” between writer and researcher in contemporary biomedical science publications, or see definitive value in the notion that intellectual and non-intellectual contributors should be equally credited. Furthermore, we note that consequentialist argument for utility, Rawlsian justice, as well as Kantian deontology are all not in disagreement with the ICMJE criteria. In brief, while we find Curzer’s arguments to be participant or people-centric, these are not particularly in line with either the philosophy or the practice of science. We posit that the key concept underlying the ICMJE authorship criteria, in which authorship entails a coupling of intellectual credit to accountability, should remain a cornerstone in the practice of scientific research.

Armies of Arabia: Military Politics and Effectiveness in the Gulf

Armies of Arabia: Military Politics and Effectiveness in the Gulf

EFFECT OF BEHAVIORAL BIASES ON INVESTOR PREFERENCES OF TAX SAVING INSTRUMENTS

The concept of rationality, has been studied in many theories till now but a new challenge in the field has emerged, Behavioral biases. The world today has recognized the relevance of behaviorism in decision making. The empirical evidence of stock market investors being influenced by Behaviorism is in abundance, but the database fails to present such information about behavioral impact on tax saving instruments. This study is an attempt to unveil the effect of biases on the part of investors while choosing tax saving instruments and add to the existing knowledge of literature on behavioral finance. A sample survey has been conducted through a structured questionnaire incorporating the convenience sampling technique. The biases selected from the behavior finance literature has been kept limited to Herd Behavior and Over Confidence pertaining to lack of literature. Chi square test has been used for the test of hypothesis. A significant association can be seen among age groups and their tendency to be biased. The findings of the study show an influence of biases in the selection of tax saving avenues which differ on specific demographic terms i.e., Age Group. Hence, a cogent argument can be placed on the relevance of behavior biases in tax saving decisions. KEYWORDS: Behavioral Biases, Herd Behavior, Investment Behavior, Over Confidence, Taxation. JEL Classification Code: D14, E20, H24, P30.

:Disaffected: Emotion, Sedition, and Colonial Law in the Anglosphere

:<i>Disaffected: Emotion, Sedition, and Colonial Law in the Anglosphere</i>