Contrasting Views Research Articles

Motives and Perceptions of Cannabis Use among a Sample of Employed Graduates in Malaysia: A Qualitative Study

ObjectiveCannabis use is criminalized in Malaysia under existing drug laws, despite the prevailing contrasting views towards cannabis regulation. We sought to determine the motives for using cannabis, perceptions regarding the risks of using it, and the legal ramifications related to its use among employed graduates in Malaysia. DesignTwenty-three employed graduates were recruited through snow-ball sampling for this qualitative study. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed based on the respondents’ testimonies. ResultsThe majority were females (52%, n=12/23), and Malay (57%, n=13/23). Nearly 87% (n=20/23) were single (including one divorcee). The respondents’ mean age was 30.9 years (SD=5.2), and the mean age at which cannabis was first used was 20.5 years (SD=3.1). The majority used cannabis for recreational (60%, n=16/23), and medicinal (30%) purposes. Cannabis use was associated with perceived positive effects and the belief that it is a safe substance. It was also regarded to be safer than conventional pharmacotherapy in treating self-disclosed psychological symptoms. The few who wanted but had difficulty abstaining from cannabis use avoided seeking treatment due to the fear of prejudice from treatment providers. Users also felt that drug laws are being applied unevenly to favour the well-connected. In general, users want a more liberalized approach to cannabis use. ConclusionsThe use of cannabis among educated, employed individuals persists because they remain functional and appear to be unharmed by extended use. They are either unconcerned or unaware of the negative side of cannabis use. Making them aware of the negatives in an intelligent and fact-based manner will help them make informed decisions.

철강 공급 네트워크에서 구조적 공백과 네트워크 폐쇄의 기업 운영성과에 대한 영향

In this study, we extends the debate surrounding contrasting views on network closure and structural hole, one of the main issues of social network theory, to supply chain network. In particular, we empirically unveil the relationship between operational performances of individual firms and two views based on structural positions(closure and hole) of the firms through the lens of supply chain network. To do so, based on physical flow data of a representative steel company of Korea, network density and constraints indices derived from social network analysis are used as proxy for network closure and structural hole respectively. Moreover, super efficiency as measured by data envelopment analysis with multiple inputs and outputs is adopted to represent each firm’s overall operational performance. Finally, main and interaction effects are tested by using generalized linear model, considering basic data characteristics and distributions. The results show that network closure has a negative effect and structural hole has a positive effect on operational performance. And also there is an interaction effect between two structural position indices.

Gaining Mathematical Understanding: The Effects of Creative Mathematical Reasoning and Cognitive Proficiency.

In the field of mathematics education, one of the main questions remaining under debate is whether students’ development of mathematical reasoning and problem-solving is aided more by solving tasks with given instructions or by solving them without instructions. It has been argued, that providing little or no instruction for a mathematical task generates a mathematical struggle, which can facilitate learning. This view in contrast, tasks in which routine procedures can be applied can lead to mechanical repetition with little or no conceptual understanding. This study contrasts Creative Mathematical Reasoning (CMR), in which students must construct the mathematical method, with Algorithmic Reasoning (AR), in which predetermined methods and procedures on how to solve the task are given. Moreover, measures of fluid intelligence and working memory capacity are included in the analyses alongside the students’ math tracks. The results show that practicing with CMR tasks was superior to practicing with AR tasks in terms of students’ performance on practiced test tasks and transfer test tasks. Cognitive proficiency was shown to have an effect on students’ learning for both CMR and AR learning conditions. However, math tracks (advanced versus a more basic level) showed no significant effect. It is argued that going beyond step-by-step textbook solutions is essential and that students need to be presented with mathematical activities involving a struggle. In the CMR approach, students must focus on the relevant information in order to solve the task, and the characteristics of CMR tasks can guide students to the structural features that are critical for aiding comprehension.

A solar history of acedia in the Latin Middle Ages and its intersection with melancholy in Henry Suso

ABSTRACT The midday demon, who attacked the solitary monk with vicious temptations – above all, that of acedia – is a conventional motif in late antique and medieval ascetic literature. At the noon hour, the demonic assault was vigorous and ranging. But medieval spiritual writers like Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153) and Richard of Saint Victor (d. 1173) also described noontime as the high point of mystical experience. Both notions hark back to biblical statements made in the Psalms and Song of Songs and were elaborated by medieval thinkers through exegetical rumination. This paper studies the propinquity of these two notions in the symbolism and vocabulary of medieval spiritual writers, and in so doing documents the biblical and monastic contribution to unfolding ideas about melancholy. As examined in Saturn and Melancholy pathological melancholy would traditionally refer to the complex of symptoms associated with sloth and sadness that beleaguered the uprooted and antisocial ascetic. But after the introduction of the Aristotelian problem to Latin writers, a contrasting view appeared in the early thirteenth century, which held melancholy for a benediction of mystical or theophanic frenzy. This paper unmoors melancholy from its classical sources and, beginning from the ambivalence of the noonday motif, argues that the traditional literature of mystics and ascetics prepared for this remarkable shift.

Spontaneous inferential processing while reading interleaved expository texts enables learners to discover the underlying regularities

AbstractRecent studies on text sequencing found learning advantages of interleaving over blocking in terms of high‐level inferences. We conducted a 2 × 2 × 2 mixed factorial experiment with college students (n = 117) by manipulating text sequence (interleaved vs. blocked) and self‐questioning activity while reading (spontaneous vs. prompted) between subjects and testing delay (immediately vs. 1‐week delay) within subjects. Results revealed that students are spontaneously engaged in self‐questioning and inferential processing while reading an interleaved text. Students who were spontaneously engaged while reading an interleaved text outperformed their counterparts in all other conditions in the immediate and delayed test on comparative reasoning, inductive reasoning, and memorization of factual details. The learning advantages were mediated by inductive inferences made while reading an interleaved text. Results support the discriminative contrast view that readers are encouraged to discover the underlying regularities when differences and similarities among categories are accentuated by their juxtaposition.

Fully automated contrast and non-contrast cardiac view detection in echocardiography a multi-centre, multi-vendor study

Abstract Background Correctly identifying views acquired in a 2D echocardiographic examination is paramount to post-processing and quantification steps often performed as part of most clinical workflows. In many exams, particularly in stress echocardiography, microbubble contrast is used which greatly affects the appearance of the cardiac views. Here we present a bespoke, fully automated convolutional neural network (CNN) which identifies apical 2, 3, and 4 chamber, and short axis (SAX) views acquired with and without contrast. The CNN was tested in a completely independent, external dataset with the data acquired in a different country than that used to train the neural network. Methods Training data comprised of 2D echocardiograms was taken from 1014 subjects from a prospective multisite, multi-vendor, UK trial with the number of frames in each view greater than 17,500. Prior to view classification model training, images were processed using standard techniques to ensure homogenous and normalised image inputs to the training pipeline. A bespoke CNN was built using the minimum number of convolutional layers required with batch normalisation, and including dropout for reducing overfitting. Before processing, the data was split into 90% for model training (211,958 frames), and 10% used as a validation dataset (23,946 frames). Image frames from different subjects were separated out entirely amongst the training and validation datasets. Further, a separate trial dataset of 240 studies acquired in the USA was used as an independent test dataset (39,401 frames). Results Figure 1 shows the confusion matrices for both validation data (left) and independent test data (right), with an overall accuracy of 96% and 95% for the validation and test datasets respectively. The accuracy for the non-contrast cardiac views of >99% exceeds that seen in other works. The combined datasets included images acquired across ultrasound manufacturers and models from 12 clinical sites. Conclusion We have developed a CNN capable of automatically accurately identifying all relevant cardiac views used in “real world” echo exams, including views acquired with contrast. Use of the CNN in a routine clinical workflow could improve efficiency of quantification steps performed after image acquisition. This was tested on an independent dataset acquired in a different country to that used to train the model and was found to perform similarly thus indicating the generalisability of the model. Figure 1. Confusion matrices Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: Private company. Main funding source(s): Ultromics Ltd.

Contrasting views on women and individual water rights: A case study in South Africa

Contrasting views on women and individual water rights: A case study in South Africa

The gay rights backlash: Contrasting views from the United States and Latin America

This essay examines the conditions that enable a ‘gay rights backlash’ through a comparison of the United States and Latin America. The United States, the cradle of the contemporary gay rights movement, is the paradigmatic example of a gay rights backlash. By contrast, Latin America, the most Catholic of regions, introduced gay rights at a faster pace than the United States without much in the way of a backlash. Collectively, this analysis demonstrates that a gay rights backlash hinges upon organisationally-rich ‘backlashers’ and an environment that is receptive to homophobic messages, a point underscored by the American experience. But the Latin American experience shows that the counter-framing to the backlash can minimise and even blunt the effects of the backlash.

A Contrastive View of Intonation; The Case of English and Persian

Intonation plays an important part in communicating the precise meaning. Despite similarities, there are potentially differences between languages in terms of function-intonation relationships. Adopting a contrastive analysis framework and an intuitive approach, the present study sought to find if there are such differences between Persian and English. English movies as well as the observation notes by the researcher from his years of teaching English constituted the data. Instances of one-to-one correspondences between functions and intonations were abstracted both in English utterances and their Persian equivalents. These were then collated to find the similarities and differences. A number of differences were observed in both neutral and pragmatic use of some intonation patterns. Assuming that the cases of divergence would potentially create problems for L2 learners, only these were highlighted and delineated. Suggestion is made about the necessity of including the findings in the design of L2 course materials.

Role of L1 in L2 Acquisition According to Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis and Error Analysis

In the changed context of a globalized world where English language continues to grow as a second or third language in many parts of the world, acquiring two primary languages simultaneously gains an increasing popularity. In this case, reviewing the influence of L1 on second language acquisition, i.e. language transfer, is of great importance. Though the theory of language transfer has experienced a long time of ups and downs since 1940s, up to now, it is still a central issue in applied linguistic, second language acquisition and language learning. Much of the history of this central concept has been tied in with the varying theoretical perspectives on SLA. The acceptance and/or rejection of language transfer as a viable concept has been related to the acceptance or rejection of the specific theory with which it has been associated. The article aims to compare and contrast views of the role of L1 in L2 acquisition according to Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis and Error Analysis approaches to reinvestigate how the views of L1's contributions to SLA changed in the early approaches.

Reconciling contrasting views on economic complexity

Summarising the complexity of a country’s economy in a single number is the holy grail for scholars engaging in data-based economics. In a field where the Gross Domestic Product remains the preferred indicator for many, economic complexity measures, aiming at uncovering the productive knowledge of countries, have been stirring the pot in the past few years. The commonly used methodologies to measure economic complexity produce contrasting results, undermining their acceptance and applications. Here we show that these methodologies – apparently conflicting on fundamental aspects – can be reconciled by adopting a neat mathematical perspective based on linear-algebra tools within a bipartite-networks framework. The obtained results shed new light on the potential of economic complexity to trace and forecast countries’ innovation potential and to interpret the temporal dynamics of economic growth, possibly paving the way to a micro-foundation of the field.

Crustal architecture and isostatic compensation of the Comorin Ridge, central Indian Ocean: Implications for the breakup of east Gondwana

The Comorin Ridge, located off the southwest margin of Sri Lanka is an important geological feature with significant relevance to understand the breakup of eastern Gondwanaland. Earlier geophysical studies over this ridge provided several contrasting views due to which its origin and nature of emplacement could not be established very well. In this study, an integrated interpretation of bathymetry, gravity, geoid, and ship-borne magnetic data is carried out to bring out a well-constrained evolution model for the ridge. Results of 3-D gravity inversion of Crustal Bouguer anomalies and joint gravity-magnetic modeling indicate that the southern part of the ridge is underlain by 7–12 km thick crust intruded with volcanic rocks and the presence of 13–18 km of anomalously thicker crust below the northern part of the ridge. Further, crustal models, spatial variations in Geoid-Topography Ratio (GTR), and the effective elastic thickness (Te) value obtained in this study suggest a two-stage emplacement model for the evolution of the ridge. The observed lower Te values (7–8 km) in the southern part (0.5°N–3.5°N) and its proximity to the C34ny spreading anomaly suggest its emplacement on the oceanic lithosphere due to Marion plume activity along a fracture zone during ~88–84 Ma. On the other hand, relatively higher Te values (12.5–15 km) in the northern part (3.5°N–6.5°N) with absence seafloor-spreading magnetic anomalies suggests that it could be a marginal basement high formed at the continent-ocean boundary (COB) during the second phase of rifting between India and Sri Lanka (~94 Ma).

A Comprehensive Process for Stakeholder Identification and Engagement in Addressing Wicked Water Resources Problems

Various sectors of stakeholders (urban, agricultural, policymakers, etc.) are frequently engaged in participatory research projects aimed at improving water resources’ sustainability. However, a process for comprehensive and integrative identification, classification, and engagement of all types of water stakeholders for a region or river basin, especially in a transboundary context, is missing for water resources research projects. Our objective was to develop a systematic approach to identifying and classifying water stakeholders, and engage them in a discussion of water futures, as a foundation for a participatory modeling research project to address the wicked water resource problems of the Middle Rio Grande basin on the U.S./Mexico border. This part of the Rio Grande basin can be characterized as having limited and dwindling supplies of water, increasing demands for water from multiple sectors, and a segmented governance system spanning two U.S. states and two countries. These challenges are being exacerbated by climate change; a transitioning agriculture to more water demanding, high value crops; urbanization; and growing demand for environmental services. Moving forward, a core question for this region is how can water be managed so that the three competing sectors—agricultural, urban, and environmental—can realize a sustainable future in this challenged water system? We identified the major water-using sectors who represent competing demands as including agricultural, municipal, self-supplied industrial users, environmental, and a sector we labeled “social justice”, comprised of individuals who lack access to potable water, or who represent groups who advocate for access to water. We included stakeholders from both the U.S. and Mexico, which is seldom done, who share transboundary water resources in the region. We hosted a series of stakeholder dialogues and obtained results that identified and described their vision for the future of water; challenges to be overcome; and important research questions that could be addressed using participatory modeling approaches. Four broad themes common to multiple sectors emerged: (1) quantity, drought, and scarcity; (2) quality/salinization; (3) urbanization; and (4) conservation and sustainability. Each sector expressed distinctive views regarding the future of water. Agricultural stakeholders, in particular, had strong feelings of ownership of water rights as part of land ownership and a concomitant sense of threat to those water rights emanating from dwindling supplies and competing demands. The contribution of this work is a methodology for identifying, classifying, and engaging all types of stakeholders in the context of a research project, enabling us to compare and contrast views of different types of stakeholders. Heretofore, this has been accomplished in “bits and pieces”, but never comprehensively and holistically.

流行「後」の流行語（２）「ペレストロイカ」「セクハラ」の流通実態 - 死後化と定着との対照から -

"死語・廃語"의 유통에 대한 기술은 어휘과 미디어의 상관 관계를 밝히는데 도움이 된다. 이 가정을 기반으로, 본고에서는 오타니(2018a)의 "페레스트로이카(재건, 재편)"와오타니(2015b)의 "세쿠하라(성희롱)"를 대상으로 재조사를 실시하였다. 양적조사에서는 Web-OYA의 잡지 기사 제목을 언어 자료로 하고, KH Coder를 활용하였다. 그리고 개별 사례에 대해서는 비판적 담화 분석 방법을 활용한 질적조사를 실시하였다. 양적・질적조사 결과, 두 표현의 유통에 [대칭성(対称性)]의 요인을 비롯해 유행어 유통상의 [미디어-일상생활] 사이의 이중성 및 상용화에 따른 "명분화(마쓰이(2013))"등을 확인할 수 있었다.

Book review: Laure Lansari, A Contrastive View of Discourse Markers: Discourse Markers of Saying in English and French

Book review: Laure Lansari, <i>A Contrastive View of Discourse Markers: Discourse Markers of Saying in English and French</i>

Modeling Microbial Interactions across Nutritional Environments using Maximum Entropy

Microbial communities have exponential capacity for complexity. (In principle, among k species, each of (2∧k - 1) subsets (every pair, triplet, or larger group up to size k) could modulate the consortium's macroscopic dynamics.) Indeed, recent studies on synthetic communities have argued that high-dimensional (many-species) interactions dominate communal function. Here we explore a contrasting view. Despite the combinatorial potential for multiscale interactions, two features of microbial social life—localized diffusion of intercellular signals and prevalent evolutionary incentives for trophic specialization—provide some physical grounds for relatively low-dimensional behavior. We show how a commonly-used null model used to interpret consortial function can misidentify low-order dynamics as high-dimensional. As an alternative, we develop a mechanism-free model of microbial interactions based on the principle of maximum entropy. The model encodes the effects of potential species interactions via correlated random variables governed by a probability distribution informed by measurements. Our model is statistically-coherent, mathematically-flexible, and compatible with (though not limited to) plausible dynamics of bacterial growth. We test the model using data on microbial growth across carbon sources from a recent droplet microfluidics technology that enables wide sampling over the space of microbial compositions. Over hundreds of synthetic small-scale synthetic communities, our model better generalizes over carbon sources in capturing more nonlinear structure of interactions relative to a set of alternative models. The model's failures identify intriguing ecological behavior. These results highlight the potential predictability of some microbial ecosystems from limited measurements. These ideas also show a framework to identify genuinely emergent interactions in a statistically-principled fashion.

Critical feminist history of psychology versus sociology of scientific knowledge: Contrasting views of women scientists?

Critical feminist history of psychology versus sociology of scientific knowledge: Contrasting views of women scientists?

The functions of an asylum: an analysis of male and female admissions to Essex County Asylum in 1904.

Contrasting historical views represent the asylum as a manifestation of humanitarian and therapeutic progress or as an institution of social control designed to bolster the capitalist economic order. More extreme critics suggest it was used to incarcerate people exhibiting only political or social deviance. Case notes of 200 consecutive male and female admissions to the Essex County Asylum in 1904 were inspected. The nature of presentations was classified in contemporary terms into broad categories of disorder. Outcomes were identified and differences between men and women were explored. We found no evidence that patients were admitted without signs of significant mental and behavioural disturbance. In total, 44% of admissions had signs of an organic condition, and these were more frequent among men. Women were admitted at a faster rate and were 1.6 times more likely to have mania or a psychotic disorder. Overall, 45.5% of patients were discharged, with 62% of patients with non-organic disorders discharged recovered or improved. Evidence partially supports both views of the asylum. In line with other studies, there is no evidence that the asylum was used to incarcerate people who did not show significant signs of disorder, but it did provide care and containment for those who could not be accommodated elsewhere, including many with organic conditions. The asylum also had a therapeutic orientation, however, and encouraged discharge where possible. In contrast to some other studies, women were more likely to be institutionalised than men, possibly reflecting their greater economic dependency.

Verbzweitsätze aus kontrastiver Sicht (Deutsch-Italienisch): Das topologische Modell zur Verbstellung

The present paper focuses on the syntactic description of verb-second-sentences from a contrastive view (German-Italian). The study is based upon a corpus of texts written by Italian native speakers of the course German Language for Tourism at the University of Pisa. This paper is composed of two parts: the first one aims at pointing out the main grammatical structural differences between Italian and German declarative sentences as far as the position of the verb is concerned; the second one shows the results gained by analysing the corpus of written texts referring to the position of the verb in declarative sentences in order to provide a successful methodological approach to verb-second-sentences in the didactics of German as foreign language

Contrasting views on co-management of indigenous natural and cultural heritage – Case of Laponia World Heritage site, Sweden

Abstract This article discusses the evaluation of the management of the Laponia World Heritage site (Laponia WHS) in northern Sweden. After inscription on the World Heritage list in 1996, difficulties emerged in establishing a common understanding about the involvement of various stakeholders into the site’s management model, the key point of contention being the influence of the representatives from indigenous Sami people and how that should be organised. In 2011, the management organisation led by Laponiatjuottjudus (the Sami name for the Laponia WHS management organisation) was established and implemented. This organisation gave Sami representatives a majority in the Laponia steering board and the position as chairperson in the board. This marked a remarkable shift in the Swedish national management system of land in not only handing over a state decision-making power to the local level but also to representatives of the indigenous population. The evaluation of the management model presented by Laponiatjuottjudus resulted in a number of responses from several stakeholders participating in a consultation process. These responses, from stakeholders with conflicting positions in relation to the issue described above, are the subject of this study. The analysis of these data collected reveals the existence of four major approaches or narratives to the Laponia WHS, with narratives connected to nature, the indigenous population and local governance, the economic effects of the existing system, and lastly the local community narrative. The study concludes that present management of Laponia WHS, the Laponiatjuottjudus, is a unique attempt to widen the management and planning process that partly interferes with the existing national planning model. At the same time, the analysis reveals that the Sami demands for influence over land management in the north still faces major challenges connected to its colonial legacy.