Context Of Beliefs Research Articles

Sulhu as local peacebuilding

ABSTRACT Local peacebuilding surfaced to contest the fundamental premise of the liberal peace paradigm, specifically its hierarchical top-down approach and inadequacy in guaranteeing sustainable peace. However, scholarly works have yet to adequately address the question of who, what, and where ‘the local’ is in local peacebuilding. Drawing on interviews, this study explores Sulhu, a religious norm of mediation and reconciliation rooted in the socio-cultural precepts of Northern Nigeria, to advance the concept of local peacebuilding. In doing so, it examines Sulhu as local peace deployed in the community reintegration of former terrorists in Nigeria. Sulhu broadens theoretical discussions around the ‘ontological’ imprecision in the local peacebuilding discourse by advancing that ‘the local’ in local peacebuilding be understood as contextual beliefs, norms, and practices. This study advances the field of peacebuilding research by answering the question of ‘what is the local’ in local peacebuilding. The article concludes that drawing from cultural precepts such as Sulhu can aid communal rehabilitation and reconciliation in contexts affected by terrorism, conflict, and violence more broadly.

SUSTAINABILITY AND SEMIOTICS IN TRANSCENDENT IN SELECTED CULTURAL SPACES AND BUILT-FORMS OF SOUTHWEST NIGERIA

Sustainability is central to all human endeavours including architecture as a built environment and cultural discipline. Acase study on semiotics and meaning of built-forms and spaces partly usedYorubalanguage built-formlexiconsforidentification, sometimesproper appreciation and interpretation based on the study areas Mutual Contextual Beliefs for transcendent relevance. Semiotics a language of sign and symbols was used to interpretbuilt-forms in the study area to see if their symbolic characteristics were environmentally responsive, energy, efficient, socially inclusive and economically affordable to besustainable architecture.This paper aimed to show how some of the study areascultural built-forms and practices, have transcended past usage into a continued present-day application.Thesustainable cultural qualities,of thesebuilt-forms and spaces, werediscovered in few currently relevant spaces like the impluvium courtyard, the forecourt/balcony and roof-loftetcetera. Semiotic theoretical frameworks theories of Saussure and Pierce, like the semiotic triangle Ecos, denotation and connotation theories, iconic, lexical and symbolic semiotic classifications were deployed. It was found and concluded that somecultural built-forms and spaces were sustainable and fit for contemporary application.

An Analysis of The Speech Acts in Advertisement Slogans

The major challenge the consumers face with the slogans is interpretation. The strategic patterns with which the slogans were designed leave the consumers in a state of quagmire. The work addressed those problems the consumers face in understanding speech acts used in advertisement slogans. The research also explained that advertisement slogans perform some acts. The research emphasized as well that the adequate understanding of the speech acts and intentions of the copywriters is insightful and rewarding and that the meaning abstracted from the acts controls the responses of the consumers. The research analyzed some slogans pinning down the various speech acts which enable the consumers interpret the purposes and the intentions of the advertisers. The qualitative content analysis with the descriptive survey method which enabled them inferred and generalized the finding of the study was adopted. The Mutual Contextual Beliefs as a pragmatic theory was adopted and it was found out that context and speaker’s intention play vital roles in conveying messages from advertisers to the audience. And that the meaning abstracted from the acts control the responses of the consumer unconsciously. It was recommended that consumers should watch out for the acts or functions inherent in every slogan as to clear certain confusion that arises from inadequate interpretations. We then concluded that some pragmatic and semantic squabbles facing advertisement can also be addressed through an adequate interpretation of the speech acts inherent in the slogans. Moreso, an adequate understanding of the various speech acts by the consumers as employed by the copywriters enable the consumers to make the appropriate choices.

Temporal stability of Bayesian belief updating in perceptual decision-making.

Bayesian inference suggests that perception is inferred from a weighted integration of prior contextual beliefs with current sensory evidence (likelihood) about the world around us. The perceived precision or uncertainty associated with prior and likelihood information is used to guide perceptual decision-making, such that more weight is placed on the source of information with greater precision. This provides a framework for understanding a spectrum of clinical transdiagnostic symptoms associated with aberrant perception, as well as individual differences in the general population. While behavioral paradigms are commonly used to characterize individual differences in perception as a stable characteristic, measurement reliability in these behavioral tasks is rarely assessed. To remedy this gap, we empirically evaluate the reliability of a perceptual decision-making task that quantifies individual differences in Bayesian belief updating in terms of the relative precision weighting afforded to prior and likelihood information (i.e., sensory weight). We analyzed data from participants (n = 37) who performed this task twice. We found that the precision afforded to prior and likelihood information showed high internal consistency and good test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.73, 95% CI [0.53, 0.85]) when averaged across participants, as well as at the individual level using hierarchical modeling. Our results provide support for the assumption that Bayesian belief updating operates as a stable characteristic in perceptual decision-making. We discuss the utility and applicability of reliable perceptual decision-making paradigms as a measure of individual differences in the general population, as well as a diagnostic tool in psychiatric research.

‘Pregnancy no bi disease’: Contextual beliefs in antenatal classes in selected Nigerian hospitals

This paper examines how language is used to show shared beliefs between caregivers and pregnant women in antenatal classes in the Nigerian context, which hitherto suffers neglect. The data consist of tape recordings and observational notes taken during antenatal classes in selected hospitals in Lokoja, Nigeria. The study adopted a top-down analytic approach using Odebunmi’s model of contextual beliefs, supported by van Dijk’s epistemic context model, and Fetzer and Fischer’s lexical markers model. The analysis shows three categories of shared knowledge: a. state of pregnancy and postnatal care b. sexual relationships and spice lexemes c. traditional child care and superstitions. Shared knowledge of the state of pregnancy and postnatal care manifests in pregnancy misconceptions, nutrition during pregnancy and postnatal care orientations highlighted by lexical markers such as recoverable knowledge connector and joint attention builder. Shared knowledge of sexual relations and spice lexemes reflect sexual communication and native spices using metaphorization and proximal deictic lexical markers. Grandmothers’ involvement and insistence on using traditional methods and superstitions frame shared knowledge of traditional child care and superstitions through belief affirmative and self-reformulation markers. Analysis of the shared beliefs shows how caregivers represent pregnant women’s mental knowledge in interactions as well as how pregnant women interject beliefs for clarification and validity. This way, both participants demonstrate how contextual beliefs facilitate communicative processes and meaningful understanding in their interactions.

Context-awareness for information correction and reasoning in evidence theory

The notion of context awareness and the challenge of reasoning with partially reliable sources are two important aspects within Information Fusion. Context is the information relevant to, but not directly affecting, the problem at hand and can be broadly categorised into either context-for or context-of, referring either to the information related to some situation or to the environment induced by some situation, respectively. In evidence theory, the Behaviour-Based Correction (BBC) model generalises reasoning with partially reliable sources as well as contextual belief correction. In this paper, we propose a model for contextual reasoning framed into evidence theory, which captures both the notions of context-for and context-of. We rephrase the BBC model to explicitly account for variation of metaknowledge regarding source behaviour, and subsequently include within it the variables defining the context-for the problem and the context-for the source. The benefit is two-fold: on the one hand, the explicit inclusion of context in the reasoning provides a better insight into the problem and on the other hand, it can improve the expressiveness of the model. This is illustrated on a case of maritime surveillance involving a missing vessel, where it is shown that this model is not only more expressive than the simple fusion of sources model but also more interpretable.

A Semiotic Perspective of the House Concept in Yoruba Architecture

Housing is a necessity of life that cuts across all peoples in all places worldwide. Ensuring good living and solving homelessness are fundamental issues in the United Nations charter and a sustainable developmental goal (SDG). Houses communicate the culture of the builder-occupants as a non-verbal language. However, the meaning of house concepts and their importance in Yoruba architecture is unclear and well known in contemporary architecture. Despite not being iconic and monumental, their built-forms have symbolic functional, morphological, and sustainable qualities. This paper investigated the importance of the house to Yoruba culture by identifying the critical usable space across the house plans and their symbolic importance for adoption in contemporary architecture. This study was carried out using the archaeological method to x-ray the building plans, while a Semiotic approach was adopted to interpret sign systems’ science, often in cultural contexts. A qualitative research design was conducted using observation, interview, and focus group discussions across southwest Nigeria’s study area. With the peoples’ Mutual Contextual Beliefs (MCBs) cognisance, the study showed that words are there for only what exists. For interpretations, the study of Yoruba building terms showed the house; culturally more than mere shelter as in the English term ‘… a roof over my head’. The Yoruba word for the home; ile showed the house to be multi-dimensionally important, that phenomenon like; family (idile), heaven (ajule-orun) and the earth (ile-aye) all derived from it, to be seen as its bigger cosmological modules. Eight discovered housing typologies, with commonalities of basic rectangular shape, courtyards, large family lobby in-between rooms and family lobby (oruwa) are highlighted. In conclusion, the southwest Nigeria Yoruba-speaking people’s housing concept and practice are richer than the eye meets.

Euphemism and contextual beliefs in gender-related issues in Helon Habila’s Measuring Time

This study examined how euphemism and contextual beliefs are deplored in discourse to characterise gender issues in Helon Habila’s Measuring Time in order to determine the contextual beliefs associated with such euphemistic expressions. Euphemism and contextual beliefs are essential in understanding the ways by which literary writers depict social issues through lexical and stylistic choices. The study adopts aspects of politeness theory, and the contextual beliefs (CBs) model. Excerpts from the novel that are related to widowhood/widowerhood experiences are subjected to lexical and discourse analyses. Two CBs are categorised as widowhood/widowerhood issues in the novel: Shared Knowledge of Patriarchal Laxity (SKPL) and Shared Knowledge of Loneliness/Companionship Search (SKL/CS). These CBs projected the euphemistic expressions with different underlying structures for widowhood and widowerhood practices respectively. The study found that euphemism and contexts are correlated because context could influence the interpretation of euphemism or restrict its application. Evidently, euphemism and contextual beliefs transform into a significant whole which novelists use in the gendered construction of widowhood/widowerhood.

PRAGMATIC ISSUES ON MODERN ADVERTISEMENT SLOGANS

In this paper, the pragmatic issues in both print and electronic media were examined. We focused on the non-linguistic elements in targeting message. We also considered how linguistic elements interfere with non-linguistic ones in communicating message. The paper investigated some crucial pragmatic issues in modern advertisement slogan. We discovered the role of both linguistic and non-linguistic elements in conveying messages from the advertisers to their audience. We also found out that context play a vital role in the choice of language use in advertising. We discovered a drastic semantic distortion or obstacle in modern advertisement slogan as a result of some pragmatic loopholes inherent in advertisement such as ambiguities, anomalies and deifications. It was also found out that advertisers do objectify experience at the expense of their customers. We concluded that there are some pragmatic squabbles facing advertisement. Our data was collected through bill boards, graffiti news papers, magazines etc. And the work was framed on Bach and Harnish (1979) theory of mutual contextual belief.

Pragmatic Analysis of Language Use of Nigerian Army on Parade Ground

In any society, it is generally believed that peaceful co-existence hinges on effective communication and understanding of the peculiarities of each section in the society. The generation of meaning is therefore a sine qua non of mutual relationships in a communication situation. This study examines the use of language in the daily routines of the Nigerian Army. It makes use of pragmatic tools to interpret the utterances and the symbolic actions that take place during parade exercises in the Nigerian Army. The study is empirical and the analysis is guided by Austin’s Speech Act theory, supported with Searle’s Indirect Speech Act and Bach and Harnish’s Intention and Inference. The data analyzed in the study were recorded during a parade in a Nigerian Army Division at Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. Participant observation was also employed. The study reveals that context, mutual contextual beliefs and non-verbal communication are prominent pragmatic tools in the language of the Nigerian Army during parades. It was found that activities on the parade ground are carried out using both verbal and non-verbal means of communication. Symbols, dress and appearance are significant, non-verbal features in the Nigerian Army. The study also revealed that regular use of authority in the military mirrors the illocutionary force of command; therefore, the language is more often than not forceful rather than persuasive. As such ‘alerting’ ‘informing’ and ‘commanding’ acts are prominent acts in parade language.

Illusion of control affects ERP amplitude reductions for auditory outcomes of self‐generated actions

The reduction of neural responses to self-generated stimuli compared to external stimuli is thought to result from the matching of motor-based sensory predictions and sensory reafferences and to serve the identification of changes in the environment as caused by oneself. The amplitude of the auditory event-related potential (ERP) component N1 seems to closely reflect this matching process, while the later positive component (P2/ P3a) has been associated with judgments of agency, which are also sensitive to contextual top-down information. In this study, we examined the effect of perceived control over sound production on the processing of self-generated and external stimuli, as reflected in these components. We used a new version of a classic two-button choice task to induce different degrees of the illusion of control (IoC) and recorded ERPs for the processing of self-generated and external sounds in a subsequent task. N1 amplitudes were reduced for self-generated compared to external sounds, but not significantly affected by IoC. P2/3a amplitudes were affected by IoC: We found reduced P2/3a amplitudes after a high compared to a low IoC induction training, but only for self-generated, not for external sounds. These findings suggest that prior contextual belief information induced by an IoC affects later processing as reflected in the P2/P3a, possibly for the formation of agency judgments, while early processing reflecting motor-based predictions is not affected.

THE PRAGMATIC USE OF VERISIMILITUDE IN SELECTED INTERACTIONS BETWEEN TERMINALLY-ILL PATIENTS AND THEIR CAREGIVERS

Concealment, an act of intentionally withholding information for some purposes, is considered to be often employed by caregivers to veil the terminal status of the patients. This paper therefore investigates the pragmatics of concealment in interactions between terminally-ill patients and their caregivers as it relates to psychotherapeutic process; thereby complementing existing studies which have largely captured attitudes, strategies and structures of such discourses. Seven interactions, capturing cancer, heart disease and kidney failure, were collected through tape-recording and participants’ observation at University College Hospital, Ibadan, between February and August, 2016. These were transcribed and analysed using convergence aspect of Gile’s Communication Accommodation Theory. Findings show that concealment in this discourse pragmatically configures psychotherapeutic context which bifurcates into palliative psychotherapy and cognitive-behavioural therapy. Palliative psychotherapy, through shared situational knowledge and mutual contextual belief, raises hope of recovery and dislodges fear of death. Cognitive-behavioural therapy, through shared cultural knowledge, facilitates compliance and support in the healing process. The aforementioned findings resonate that the use of concealment in therapeutic discourse psychologically changes the underlying thoughts that contribute to mental depression and modifies the problematic behaviours that result from these thoughts

Predicting Goal-directed Human Attention Using Inverse Reinforcement Learning.

Human gaze behavior prediction is important for behavioral vision and for computer vision applications. Most models mainly focus on predicting free-viewing behavior using saliency maps, but do not generalize to goal-directed behavior, such as when a person searches for a visual target object. We propose the first inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) model to learn the internal reward function and policy used by humans during visual search. We modeled the viewer's internal belief states as dynamic contextual belief maps of object locations. These maps were learned and then used to predict behavioral scanpaths for multiple target categories. To train and evaluate our IRL model we created COCO-Search18, which is now the largest dataset of high-quality search fixations in existence. COCO-Search18 has 10 participants searching for each of 18 target-object categories in 6202 images, making about 300,000 goal-directed fixations. When trained and evaluated on COCO-Search18, the IRL model outperformed baseline models in predicting search fixation scanpaths, both in terms of similarity to human search behavior and search efficiency. Finally, reward maps recovered by the IRL model reveal distinctive target-dependent patterns of object prioritization, which we interpret as a learned object context.

Law, Culture, and Fear: A Qualitative Study of Health Professionals’ Perceptions of Narcotic Use Related to Cancer Pain

Studies have shown barriers to appropriate narcotic use in the Middle East have negatively impacted patient outcomes. This study aimed to explore health professionals’ perspectives regarding opioid use for cancer patients in Qatar. Eight focus groups were conducted with physicians, pharmacists, and nurses. An eight-question topic guide framed discussions and targeted contextual barriers and cultural beliefs. Focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was used to identify the following themes: narcotic use process, patient-related factors, and healthcare professional-related factors. Laws and regulations were identified as major barriers to appropriate narcotic access, prescribing, and administration. Government-imposed restrictions on permitted dispensed quantities and associated paperwork impeded continuity of patient care and pain relief. The influence of a patient’s culture underpinned patient-related barriers, including fear of addiction and family members discouraging opioid use. Fear of prescribing for patient addiction and accusation of inappropriate prescribing by authorities were identified as health professional-related barriers. Facilitators included patient and provider education, as well as the availability of specialized teams to assess and treat cancer-related pain. Findings show narcotic utilization is not simply influenced by a single factor or subset of factors but by a multitude of factors that can be both independent and interrelated.

Examining Policy Preferences for Prostitution Regulation Among American Males: The Influence of Contextual Beliefs

The arguments for criminalizing prostitution surround public concerns—moral order, public health, and safety. For this reason, an understanding of attitudes about the nature and consequences of the practice, particularly among American males, the presumed consumers of sex-related exchanges, is needed. Specifically, how do contextual beliefs about the nature of prostitution (e.g., negative health effects, victimization risk, age of entry) shape policy preferences regarding prostitution? Data from a nationally representative survey developed to solicit sensitive information are utilized to assess these attitudes among a large sample of American men ( N = 2,525). Results show that paradoxically most men approve of legalizing commercial sex exchange, even while believing the practice harms prostitutes by increasing victimization risk and reducing their overall well-being. Multivariate analysis indicates divides in opinion regarding legalization support. Implications are discussed.

A Sociolinguistic Consideration of Intermediation in Greeting Discourse among the Yo?ru?ba of South West Nigeria

Existing studies on Yoru?ba? greeting forms dwell on the appropriateness of their use, with respect to time of the year, event, condition, occupation, vocation, context, politeness and content. The studies portray greetings as discourse between two people or parties who are capable of exchanging pleasantries. None of the existing works has discussed intermediation in greeting discourse among the Yoru?ba? people such that greetings that are directed to the second person(s) such as toddlers, extremely sick persons, kings and the bereaved are answered on their behalf by a third party. This paper examines intermediation and the rationale in greeting discourse among the Yoru?ba? people. The data for this study were drawn from participant observation, Yoru?ba? literature texts, and Yoru?ba? home movies. The Mutual Contextual Beliefs Theory of Pragmatics as proposed by Bach and Harnish (1979) was adopted for the data analysis. The study established, among other things, that greetings are sacrosanct in Yoru?ba? culture and the answer/reply is obligatory, irrespective of the state, status, circumstance and condition of the person(s) being greeted. It is also shown that intermediation in greeting discourse could be for politeness, incapacitation, authority and educating the young ones.

POLITENESS PRINCIPLES AND FACE ACTS AMONG ENGLISH AND YORUBA INTERACTANTS

The contact of English with the multilingual Nigerian environment has led to different variations in the use and usage of the language in the Nigerian social context. In the same vein, the use of the language in the Nigerian socio-cultural context has resulted in a fillip, not only in the employment of the indigenized variety of the language, but also in the growth and the utilization of the face-acts and politeness principles among Nigerian interactants. It has been discovered through this research that the politeness and face-acts phenomena have become commonplace among participants of varied social, regional and occupational backgrounds. This paper has hence been used to analyze the politeness principles and face acts in the Nigerian English and Yoruba usages. Sampled data were gathered through the participant’s observation and oral interview. The sampled data were analysed ,using Brown and Levinson (1978, 1987) politeness principles expanded by Thomas (1995, 2000) and Bach and Harnih’s(1979)mutual contextual belief as theoretical framework .

Survivors’ Sociocultural Status in Mwenga: A Comparison of the Issue before and after Rape

This article discusses psychosocial challenges faced by women survivors of rape in their families and communities based on the interpretation of rape as a sexual taboo and held beliefs that automatic transgression of taboo, through unwanted sexual contact, defiles and endangers survivors and those who associate with them. This article raises awareness on these challenges and provides contextualized useful knowledge for professionals in helping the relationship with survivors and for gender relations policy makers. Built on results from a doctoral qualitative, grounded theory-based research, the article presents survivors’ stories from women who suffered rape and therapists who provided multidisciplinary services to them. Researchers have found that rape is widely believed to be a sexual taboo in Mwenga and other rural areas from the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The results suggest that efforts to support healing and social integration of survivors can be well supported by taking into consideration the contextual belief system around sexual defilement as this plays a significant role in post rape relations for survivors in their families and communities.

Contextual Beliefs in a Nigerian Quasi-Judicial Public Hearing

This study examines the contextual beliefs held by interactants in the 2008 quasi-judicial public hearing on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja Administration in Nigeria, using Odebunmi’s (2006) model of context. The data for the study includes forty video recordings of the 2008 quasi-judicial public hearing on the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja Administration in Nigeria. The findings indicate that the shared contextual beliefs in the public hearing are based on shared knowledge of the public hearing aims and procedure, legal codes regarding landed property, government involvement and knowledge of Abuja metropolis.

What a Smile Means: Contextual Beliefs and Facial Emotion Expressions in a Non-verbal Zero-Sum Game.

Research into the authenticity of facial emotion expressions often focuses on the physical properties of the face while paying little attention to the role of beliefs in emotion perception. Further, the literature most often investigates how people express a pre-determined emotion rather than what facial emotion expressions people strategically choose to express. To fill these gaps, this paper proposes a non-verbal zero-sum game – the Face X Game – to assess the role of contextual beliefs and strategic displays of facial emotion expression in interpersonal interactions. This new research paradigm was used in a series of three studies, where two participants are asked to play the role of the sender (individual expressing emotional information on his/her face) or the observer (individual interpreting the meaning of that expression). Study 1 examines the outcome of the game with reference to the sex of the pair, where senders won more frequently when the pair was comprised of at least one female. Study 2 examines the strategic display of facial emotion expressions. The outcome of the game was again contingent upon the sex of the pair. Among female pairs, senders won the game more frequently, replicating the pattern of results from study 1. We also demonstrate that senders who strategically express an emotion incongruent with the valence of the event (e.g., smile after seeing a negative event) are able to mislead observers, who tend to hold a congruent belief about the meaning of the emotion expression. If sending an incongruent signal helps to explain why female senders win more frequently, it logically follows that female observers were more prone to hold a congruent, and therefore inaccurate, belief. This prospect implies that while female senders are willing and/or capable of displaying fake smiles, paired-female observers are not taking this into account. Study 3 investigates the role of contextual factors by manipulating female observers’ beliefs. When prompted to think in an incongruent manner, these observers significantly improve their performance in the game. These findings emphasize the role that contextual factors play in emotion perception—observers’ beliefs do indeed affect their judgments of facial emotion expressions.