Sound Reasoning Research Articles

Geography's Quantitative Revolutions: Edward A. Ackerman and the Cold War Origins of Big Data by Elvin Wyly

Reviewed by: Geography's Quantitative Revolutions: Edward A. Ackerman and the Cold War Origins of Big Data by Elvin Wyly Russell S. Kirby Geography's Quantitative Revolutions: Edward A. Ackerman and the Cold War Origins of Big Data. Elvin Wyly. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2019. Pp. xx+171, notes, index. $99.99, hardcover, ISBN 978-1-949199-08-6. $22.99, paperback, ISBN 978-1-949199-09-3. This slender monograph uses the career and writings of Edward Ackerman as a mirror to reflect on the evolution of the discipline of geography from the mid-twentieth century to the present, with some speculations into the future. Using Ackerman's work to center the discourse, Elvin Wyly weaves a narrative that links the origins of geography's quantitative revolution to the cadre of geographers involved in intelligence efforts in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II and its transition aft er the war to the Central Intelligence Agency (better known to Americans as the CIA). While this is to some extent an oversimplification, those geographers involved in the OSS played an important role in amplifying the use of mathematical [End Page 191] modeling and hypothesis testing in a wide array of topics in human geography. Along the way, Wyly's discourse examines elements of the debate concerning the nature of geography from the perspective of Hartshorne to geography as a quantitative spatial science informed by general systems theory. He then extends this to the emerging science of big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, all the while centering Ackerman as a pivotal figure in what was a more gradual transition over decades. The monograph consists of six chapters. The first chapter uses Ackerman's address as honorary president of the Association of American Geographers in 1963, titled "Where Is a Research Frontier," as a point of embarkation for a detailed discussion of geography's scientific revolutions that continue to the present day. The second chapter chronicles and contextualizes Ackerman's career to the early 1960s, touching on his critical roles at OSS, Harvard University in the 1940s, and the Carnegie Institute of Washington. From the 1940s to the early 1960s, Ackerman was an essential figure in the early stages of geography's transition as a quantitative science, through both his research and writing and his leadership roles in the national scientific community. The narrative quickly dives into the history of philosophy of science in the next chapter, as the author examines the underpinnings of some of Ackerman's arguments from the perspective of Kant, viewed through the lens of Hartshorne. Ackerman argued for a "systematic geography" and sought to align geography with general systems theory. Several pages are devoted to discussing a controversy around a comprehensive report Ackerman spearheaded on Japanese Natural Resources in 1949–50, in which some conclusions were deemed in our present parlance as being "politically incorrect," though based on sound scientific reasoning. In the words of the title of the next chapter, Ackerman became in some ways a "militant neo-Kantian" in seeking to impose a systems perspective on the discipline of geography. Wyly develops this line of thought in a lengthy chapter that shows how Ackerman's thinking began with insights from the philosophy of Kant, articulated by Hartshorne. Ackerman transformed these into a worldview that supported the delineation of scientific laws governing the spatial organization of human activity within a logical positivist framework. [End Page 192] While the chapter's focus on Ackerman's career in the context of the mid-twentieth century evolution of academic geography in the US may be of most interest to historical geographers, readers should pay special attention to chapter 5, "The New Evolution of Geographic Thought." In this chapter Wyly makes a strong connection between Ackerman's new frontier of systems theory for geography, and the interconnected web of internet, telecommunications, apps, marketing, social networking, and sharing of information and misinformation. The result is not a fully nuanced view—there is no mention of humanist or phenomenological approaches in geographic thinking or research, nor are its leading proponents referenced. Even so, Wyly gives geographers more than enough to digest and reflect on concerning the current...

ترجيحات الشيخ ثناء الله بانی بتی في تفسير سورة الفاتحة دراسة تطبيقية نموذجية

The topic of this research is “Preferences of Qazi Sana Ullah Pani patti in Tafseer of Surah al Fatiha, and these preferences are taken from his famous book of tafseer, named: “Tafseer al Mazhari. Qazi Sana Ullah Pani Patti is one of the most eminent scholars of Tafseer in sub-continent. He belongs to the progeny of Usman R.A. He was born in PaniPat and got his early education there. Then he travelled to Dehli for higher education of that time. His teachers include: Abdul Raheem al Umari al Dehlvi, Muhammad Abid al Sinami, Sheikh janjan al Dehlvi. Among his famous books are followings: Al Tafseer al Mazhari, Mabsoot, Al saif al Maslool, Irshad ul Talibeen, Tazkira tul Mota, Haqeeqa tul Islam, and many other books. In this research I will discuss preferences of Qazi Sana Ullah with reference to two major types of Tafeer i.e Tafseer bil riwayyah (narration) and Tafseer bil dirayyah (sound reasoning).

موقف ابن تیمیة من الفلسفة

في هذا البحث سلطت الضوء على موقف ابن تيمية من الفلسفة من خلال موقفه من الفلسفة الطبيعية والأخلاقية، وبينت فيه اهتمام ابن تيمية المبکر في الفلسفة، کما بينت نقد ابن تيمية للفلسفة، وإنصافهم فيما أصابوا فيه، وبينت تفضيله لعلمي الحساب والهندسة على الفلسفة. کما بينت موقف ابن تيمية من النقل وهو النص المعصوم عن الله ورسوله، ورده لفرية التعارض بين العقل والنقل، وبينته نظريته في توافق العقل الصريح مع النقل الصحيح، کما بينت موقف ابن تيمية من العقل وأن العقل خلق الله والشرع أمره سبحانه وتعالى ولا تعارض بين الخلق والأمر، کما بينت موقفه من المنطق الأرسطي، وکيف أنه أول من نقد المنطق الأرسطي مع بيان أوجه النقد التي وجهها له. The presentresearch paper sheds light on Ibn Taymiyyah’s attitude towards philosophy through studying his approaches to natural philosophy and ethical philosophy. The study shows Ibn Taymiyyah’s early interest in philosophy, his criticism of philosophers, and his appreciation of their opinions when they are right. It also shows his interest in mathematics and engineering in preference to philosophy. It also indicates his attitude towards quoting texts, i.e. the infallible texts of the Qur᾿ān and the sayings of Allah's Messenger, his refutation of the false claim about contradiction between reasoning and quoting, and his theory about harmony between sound reasoning and accurate quoting. Ibn Taymiyyah stipulates that reason is Allah’s creation and that the Islamic law is His ordinance, Glory be to Him; and that there is no conflict between His creation and His ordinance. The study also illustrates Ibn Taymiyyah’s attitude towards the Aristotelian logic, as he was the first to criticize Aristotle’s logic, and it shows the facets of his criticism of it.

Revisiting Miller's pyramid in medical education: the gap between traditional assessment and diagnostic reasoning.

Revisiting Miller's pyramid in medical education: the gap between traditional assessment and diagnostic reasoning.

Translating Science Into Practice: The Perspective of the Doha 2019 IAAF World Championships in the Heat.

Hot and humid ambient conditions may play a major role during the endurance events of the 2019 IAAF world championships, the 2020 summer Olympics and many other sports events. Here, various countermeasures with scientific evidence are put in perspective of their practical application. This manuscript is not a comprehensive review, but rather a set of applied recommendations built upon sound scientific reasoning and experience with elite athletes. The primary recommendation for an athlete who will be competing in the heat, will be to train in the heat. This acclimatization phase should last for 2 weeks and be programmed to accommodate the taper and travel requirements. Despite extensive laboratory-based research, hydration strategies within athletics are generally dictated by the race characteristics. The main opportunities for hydration are during the preparation and recovery phases. In competition, depending on thirst, feeling, and energy requirements, water may be ingested or poured. The athletes should also adapt their warm-up routines to the environmental conditions, as it may do more harm than good. Avoiding harm includes limiting unnecessary heat exposure before the event, warming-up with cooling aids such as ice-vest or cold/iced drinks, and avoiding clothing or accessories limiting sweat evaporation. From a medical perspective, exertional heat stroke should be considered immediately when an athlete collapses or struggles during exercise in the heat with central nervous system disorders. Once a rectal temperature >40.5°C is confirmed, cooling (via cold water immersion) should be undertaken as soon as possible (cool first/transport second).

Treatment Over Objection—Moral Reasons for Reluctance

Clinical ethics dilemmas often emerge at the intersection between the preferences of patients or their families and what physicians think best promotes patients’ interests. The standard ethics guidance attempts to resolve these kinds of dilemmas by means of a 3-part stepwise progression of decision-making criteria. First, when patients possess “decision-making capacity”—when their treatment preferences reflect relatively sound reasoning and an understanding of their clinical situation—they are usually permitted to select suboptimal treatments.

Neck pain in South Africa: An overview of the prevalence, assessment and management for the contemporary clinician.

BackgroundNeck pain is a prevalent condition and is associated with high levels of disability and pain. The long-term prognosis can be poor, and therefore effective management in the acute stage is important.ObjectivesTo provide an overview of the prevalence of neck pain and physiotherapy management and to provide evidence-informed recommendations for clinical practice within a South African context.MethodThe literature was reviewed considering prevalence, risk factors and examination. Management recommendations were derived from the highest levels of evidence of clinical practice guidelines, systematic reviews and randomised clinical trials.ResultsNeck pain is classified into four grades, and three trajectories of recovery have been identified. Although the incidence of neck pain globally is high, in the South African context the majority of the population have limited access to physiotherapy management. Sound clinical reasoning is important in the assessment and decision-making process for management. Exercise, and mobilisation or manipulation are effective treatment options in the management of most types of neck pain. Other physical modalities such as needling, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, laser and intermittent traction may be used as an adjunct to management.ConclusionThe burden of neck pain globally is high; however, there is a lack of information on current practice, prevalence and burden of neck pain in the South African context. Sound evidence-informed clinical reasoning to inform a working diagnosis and to enable patient-centred management is important.Clinical implicationsA thorough assessment is essential to gather information to formulate hypotheses regarding diagnosis and prognosis for neck pain. Exercise, and mobilisation or manipulation are effective management options.

Getting Past the Rules and to the WHY: Causal Mechanistic Arguments When Judging the Plausibility of Organic Reaction Mechanisms

Citizens in all roles need to be able to construct causal explanations of scientific phenomena and engage in coherent argumentation, supported by evidence and sound reasoning. These skills are needed in many contexts, from making everyday decisions to addressing complex global issues. One goal of instruction in this area is to get past assessment questions that can be answered using only memorized rules (e.g., SN1 reactions are favored with tertiary halide substrates), toward answers that require reasoning with evidence (why is an SN1 pathway favored under certain conditions?). Previous work has suggested that these reasoning skills may not be effectively taught, practiced, or learned in organic chemistry courses or directly assessed on exams. In this study, we explored students’ ability to construct scientific arguments using evidence in the context of organic reaction mechanisms, specifically when comparing two proposed reaction mechanisms, making a claim as to which was most plausible, and providing reasoning. We used a qualitative coding scheme to analyze (1) the features and concepts students discussed in their arguments on exams, including the concept of granularity, (2) the connections (links) made between features and concepts, (3) the modes of reasoning revealed in the arguments, and (4) how the ideas and claims were explicitly compared. We found that ∼60% of arguments with correct claims established causal relationships between the relative stability of the carbocation intermediates and the relative activation energy barriers to the formation of these intermediates. However, the vast majority of students did not go to sufficient granularity to meet the expectations in the course, which they could have done by invoking Hammond’s postulate and hyperconjugation in their arguments. Incorrect claims were often supported by causal arguments but these arguments were incorrectly based on drawing a causal relationship between the relative steric hindrance of the starting materials and activation energy. Over 60% of students provided a linear causal mechanistic argument to justify their claim, independent of whether their claims were correct. Over 90% of arguments at least partially compared key concepts explicitly, with over 20% doing so completely. The findings suggest that the majority of students in this study understood the need to provide cause-and-effect relationships to justify their answer, beyond identifying reaction features and their effects; however, students may have struggled to identify which features of those molecules were relevant.

Sound Reasoning: Why Accent Bias Matters for Democratic Theory

Accent bias, namely, an unwarranted prejudice toward interlocutors based on the sound of their speech, is a subtle yet powerful feature in the political life of language. This is especially so in d...

Developmental frontal brain activation differences in overcoming heuristic bias

Since reasoning is often biased by intuitive heuristics, the development of sound reasoning has long been postulated to depend on successful bias monitoring and inhibition. The present fMRI study aimed to identify neural correlates of developmental changes in these processes. A group of adults and young adolescents were presented with ratio-bias problems in which an intuitively cued heuristic response could be incongruent (conflict item) or congruent (no-conflict item) with the correct response. Results showed that successfully avoiding biased responding on conflict items across both age groups was associated with increased activation in Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) and the right Lateral Prefrontal Cortex (LPFC) regions of interest. Critically, the right LPFC activation decreased with age. Biased responding did not result in right LPFC or ACC modulation and failed to show any developmental activation changes. We discuss implications for ongoing debates on the nature of heuristic bias and its development.

Korean Law School and Civil Procedure in 2019

In 2009 Korean New Law School System was adopted with a deep anxiety because most universities did not prepare for new educational system until then. Especially, we could not have time enough to make new lecture materials and to decide how to teach students. Many people argues that teachers in law school should change their lecture method and curriculum so as to educate prospective global standard lawyers efficiently. They also insist that professors of law school should teach practice fields such as the Korean Judicial Research and Training Institute(KJRTI) established by the Korean Government. However, law school is not a training institute but just educational graduate school of law. Furthermore, we teach graduate students who have studied diverse majors in undergraduate colleges unlike KJRTI, and then they should be educated in law from the beginning level. Therefore, we have to emphasize theory education rather than practice in civil procedure subject and other subjects although we should teach theory and practice coincidently in law school. The author thinks that we should educate law school students so as to think like a lawyer. Then what is the “hink like a lawyer”? There are five elements to thinking like a lawyer: judgment capacity, legal reasoning capacity, communication capacity, comprehension of professional norms and responsibilities and leadership. Each of these components has both knowledge and skills aspects. Now the purpose of law school can be more clearly stated: to teach prospective lawyers the knowledge and skills necessary to exercise sound judgment, develop sound legal reasoning capacity, communicate effectively, cooperate with colleagues and function at all times in accordance with professional norms and responsibilities. Now we stand here in the beginning of 2019. Ten years have passed since the new law school system begun. What was changed since then? And what happened in civil procedure subject and field? The author thinks that not changed furthermore even worse especially in civil procedure field. The lecture style had not changed and bar exam style got worse. In order to achieve our original goal in law school, a civil procedure subject should have a important role in law school because it has acted as a mediator between the legal theory and practice. First of all, we have to change curriculum so as to teach civil procedure-related subjects such as Civil Enforcement, Bankruptcy law, Arbitration and International litigation as well as civil procedure. And also we have to change teaching method so as to make a interactive classroom environment that thinking like a lawyer demands. The problem method based on the Socratic method could be the best teaching method to coincide with the purpose of law school.

The Smart System 1: evidence for the intuitive nature of correct responding on the bat-and-ball problem

Influential work on reasoning and decision-making has popularised the idea that sound reasoning requires correction of fast, intuitive thought processes by slower and more demanding deliberation. We present seven studies that question this corrective view of human thinking. We focused on the very problem that has been widely featured as the paradigmatic illustration of the corrective view, the well-known bat-and-ball problem. A two-response paradigm in which people were required to give an initial response under time pressure and cognitive load allowed us to identify the presumed intuitive response that preceded the final response given after deliberation. Across our studies, we observe that correct final responses are often non-corrective in nature. Many reasoners who manage to answer the bat-and-ball problem correctly after deliberation already solved it correctly when they reasoned under conditions that minimised deliberation in the initial response phase. This suggests that sound bat-and-ball reasoners do not necessarily need to deliberate to correct their intuitions; their intuitions are often already correct. Pace the corrective view, findings suggest that in these cases, they deliberate to verify correct intuitive insights.

An Analysis of the Implications of Modernity on Humanity: Developing an Epistemological Framework

The paper seeks to explore the hidden assumptions that are imbedded in a modern, atheistic, naturalistic philosophical outlook, and the conclusions of which are often overlooked. Particularly, the authors highlight that a philosophically naturalistic outlook leads to untenable conclusions regarding human morality, volition, and subjective conscious experience. The analysis finds that a modern approach, if taken to its logical conclusion, would leave humanity bereft of meaning. The authors argue that the naturalistic approach requires leaps of faith regarding human cognitive capacities, as it assumes sound reasoning without justification to such a premise. The authors conclude that religious grounding, specifically an Islamic conceptual framework, is necessary to account for consciousness, logic, and morality, while the abandonment of this tradition along with the metaphysical foundation it provides leaves the modern man struggling to justify rationality, moral arguments, and even basic articulation with which he rejects faith in God. Thus, the authors conclude that modernity, while commended for its advancements in the sciences, must not lose the metaphysical underpinnings upon which it is founded.

From bioequivalence to biosimilars: How much do regulators dare?

The main advantage of an abbreviated licensing pathway is the possibility of extrapolating efficacy and safety data from an original medicinal product to a subsequent "copy" version, thereby reducing the clinical development programme in particular. For small-molecule chemically synthesized generics, such an abbreviated licensing pathway was established decades ago, whereas it was only more recently implemented for similar biological medicinal products, so-called biosimilars. Clinicians and patients have repeatedly expressed concerns about the efficacy and safety of biosimilars, especially in 'extrapolated' indications for which no own clinical data have been generated. Generic drugs usually contain well-defined active ingredients whose "identity" with that of the originator, the so-called reference product, is easily verifiable. Biological substances are generally more complex and difficult to characterize. They are produced in living organisms and therefore naturally exhibit some intrinsic variability, i.e. microheterogeneity. Since the chosen expression system and the manufacturing conditions influence the quality characteristics of a biological substance, mostly its posttranslational modifications such as the glycosylation pattern, it is unlikely that two independent manufacturing processes can achieve completely identical biologicals. A biosimilar, especially if it is a glycoprotein, can therefore, at best, be highly similar to the reference product. It seems that the not-identical-but-(highly)-similar-paradigm for biosimilars is often not well understood and causes confusion. However, while at first glance an abridged approval pathway for biosimilars appears to be daring, it is in fact based on sound scientific reasoning. A biosimilar applicant has to provide a considerably larger package of comparative data than a generic applicant to ensure that the biosimilar can indeed rely, for the purpose of licensing, on the efficacy and safety experience gained with the reference product. While for a generic, the demonstration of similar in vitro dissolution and in vivo bioavailability (so-called 'bioequivalence') is sufficient to conclude therapeutic equivalence with the reference product, for a biosimilar, comparable physicochemical, biological and functional characteristics as well as efficacy and safety/immunogenicity with the reference product must be demonstrated. In addition, unlike generics, any extrapolation to other indications of the reference product must be scientifically justified. More than 10 years of successful clinical experience with biosimilars in the EU support the credibility of the scientific principles guiding the biosimilar concept. So far, there has been no need for either withdrawal of an approved biosimilar or for additional labelling because of efficacy or safety concerns.

The purpose of orientation and role modelling in the clinical practice environment

Orientation and role modelling are two specific teaching strategies, that when implemented effectively, can have a profound positive impact on learning. Orientating the student to the healthcare facility, the healthcare team and the creation of shared expectations, establishes a positive and supportive environment for learning and socialises the student to the workplace. Indeed, a well-planned orientation can be both effective and inspirational for students. Clinical orientation provides an opportunity to get to know students individually as well as an opportunity to establish the future working climate within the work group. Taking time to orient the learner enables the development of partnerships in learning and can save significant time and angst, particularly when compared to cases where partnerships and shared understandings are not established. It is essential that the clinical teacher take every opportunity during this critical time to establish a positive climate for learning. Ways in which to conduct orientation and establishing effective interpersonal relationships with students will be presented. Similarly, role modelling is a powerful teaching tool for passing on the knowledge, skills, and values of a profession. Student learning from role models occurs through observation and reflection, and is a complex mix of conscious and unconscious activities. Role modelling is said to have three categories; clinical competence, teaching skills and personal qualities. Clinical competence encompasses knowledge and skills, communication with patients, staff and students, and sound clinical reasoning and decision making. A student-centred approach to teaching and learning incorporating effective communication, feedback, and opportunities for reflection is essential to effective role modelling. Personal qualities such as compassion, honesty, and integrity, and effective interpersonal relationships and professionalism are equally important. There is substantial evidence that health professional students are exposed to both good and bad role models. Ways in which to provide positive role modelling will be presented.

Practice Rationale Care Model: The Art and Science of Clinical Reasoning, Decision Making and Judgment in the Nursing Process

Nurses must be enlightened that clinical reasoning, clinical decision making, and clinical judgement are the key elements in providing safe patient care. It must be incorporated and applied all throughout the nursing process. The impact of patients’ positive outcomes relies on how nurses are effective in clinical reasoning and put into action once clinical decision making occurs. Thus, nurses with poor clinical reasoning skills frequently fail to see and notice patient worsening condition, and misguided decision making arises that leads to ineffective patient care and adding patients suffering. Clinical judgment on the other hand denotes on the outcome after the cycle of clinical reasoning. Within this context, nurses apply reflection about their actions from the clinical decision making they made. The process of applying knowledge, skills and expertise in the clinical field through clinical reasoning is the work of art in the nursing profession in promoting patient safety in the course of delivering routine nursing interventions. Nurses must be guided with their sound clinical reasoning to have an optimistic outcome and prevent iatrogenic harm to patients. Nurses must be equipped with knowledge, skills, attitude and values but most importantly prepared to face the bigger picture of responsibility to care for every patient in the clinical field.

Method Sequence and Dominance in Mixed Methods Research: A Case Study of the Social Acceptance of Wind Energy Literature

As more researchers have considered the use of mixed methods, writings have moved away from debates about epistemological incompatibilities and now focus on the (potential) value of increased understanding that comes from combining qualitative and quantitative approaches. Yet, as the level of integration can vary substantially, some designs are said to allow one method or the other to dominate. Although there may be sound reasoning for intentionally allowing one method to dominate, here we investigate one literature as a moment to reflect why, and on the degree to which mixed methods sequence is so bound up with methodological dominance, that calling such studies “mixed” may seem misleading. Like the history of social science more generally, it is quantitative research that is typically given more weight in these studies and academics have noted a few reasons why this may be the case. Few have investigated how research design—and more specifically method sequence—may impact method dominance. Using an emerging mixed methods literature surrounding the social acceptance of wind energy ( N = 34), we study the relationship between the timing of each method (i.e., sequence) and method dominance to see whether qualitative methods in particular are marginalized. Through our Dominance in Mixed Methods Assessment model, we provide evidence that indeed qualitative methods are marginalized and this may be associated with method sequence and other design elements. Moreover, some authors focus solely on one method, giving pause to caution both writers and readers about the use of the term “mixed methods.” The analytical approach is detailed enough to be replicated and detect whether these patterns are repeated in other research domains.

Exploring influences on pharmacists' and students' ethical reasoning in a changing practice landscape in Australia.

Background Practising pharmacists continuously develop their ethical reasoning skills, which evolve with practice experience and exposure to challenging scenarios. Considering the recent expansion of the roles of pharmacists and the paradigm shift in pharmacy practice, it is timely to explore community pharmacists' attitudes regarding the importance of ethics and their ethical reasoning. Objective To explore underlying factors influencing community pharmacists' and pharmacy students' ethical reasoning and attitudes towards pharmacy ethics, ethical reasoning processes and perceived current dilemmas. Setting Practising registered community pharmacists, pharmacists with provisional registration (interns) and final year pharmacy students in Australia. Method Two focus group discussions and two interviews were conducted with 16 Western Australian community pharmacists, interns and students. Participants were purposively selected for gender, background, practice setting, and practice experience. Main outcome measure Emerging themes embracing important influences on community pharmacists', interns' and students' ethical reasoning and perceived current ethical dilemmas and challenges. Results Two major themes embraced participants' ethical reasoning processes and conduct: (1) fundamental underpinning, from personal values and practice exposure, and (2) paradigm influenced, such as the changing healthcare landscape, expansion of roles, management of dilemmas, and competence. Increased frequency and complexity of ethical dilemmas related to role expansion. Rural pharmacists experienced unique ethical dilemmas in relation to practice isolation, privacy and confidentiality. Conclusion Changes in the community pharmacy practice environment has increasingly exposed pharmacists to more complex ethical dilemmas. Pharmacists practising in rural communities experience unique challenges. Structured and sound ethical reasoning skills are essential as pharmacists are faced with contemporary challenges.

Comparing χ2 Tables for Separability of Distribution and Effect: Meta-Tests for Comparing Homogeneity and Goodness of Fit Contingency Test Outcomes

ABSTRACTThis paper describes a series of statistical meta-tests for comparing independent contingency tables for different types of significant difference. Recognizing when an experiment obtains a significantly different result and when it does not is frequently overlooked in research publication. Papers are frequently published citing ‘p values’ or test scores suggesting a ‘stronger effect’ substituting for sound statistical reasoning. This paper sets out a series of tests that together illustrate the correct approach to this question.These meta-tests permit us to evaluate whether experiments have failed to replicate on new data; whether a particular data source or subcorpus obtains a significantly different result than another; or whether changing experimental parameters obtains a stronger effect.The meta-tests are derived mathematically from the χ2 test and the Wilson score interval, and consist of pairwise ‘point’ tests, ‘homogeneity’ tests and ‘goodness of fit’ tests. Meta-tests for comparing tests with one degree of freedom (e.g. ‘2 × 1ʹ and ‘2 × 2ʹ tests) are generalized to those of arbitrary size. Finally, we compare our approach with a competing approach offered by Zar, which, while straightforward to calculate, turns out to be both less powerful and less robust. (Note: A spreadsheet including all the tests in this paper is publicly available at www.ucl.ac.uk/english-usage/statspapers/2x2-x2-separability.xls.)

The misconstrued notion of consent in EU trade mark law

The notion of consent in EU trade mark law comes up in different scenarios. This article examines it in detail in two circumstances - on the one hand, in the context of the doctrine of exhaustion of trade mark rights, and on the other hand, within the requirement to prove genuine use of a trade mark. The standard for proving consent should ideally vary according to the legal basis and the respective specific circumstances. Nevertheless, this article observes that the notion has been directly imported from the exhaustion doctrine into the proof of use cases without any sound and independent reasoning. The particularly strict standard within the exhaustion of rights doctrine is justified since by virtue of proving consent in these circumstances one does indeed extinguish their exclusive trade mark rights. However, this is not the case when it comes to proving consent within the proof use requirement as there establishing consent has the contrary role – that of safeguarding the trade mark proprietor’s right. The article studies the difference in rationale and the global market impact, which would prompt a more relax standard as far as proof of use cases are concerned.