A Weberian Approach to the Ethos of Science

Robert Merton judged his ethos of science as "a limited introduction to a larger problem" in his seminal article. Despite this caution, the ethos has been interpreted, used and criticized as a self-consistent normative structure. As such, critics consider the ethos of science too rudimentary, obsolete or ideological. To overcome these critics, some supporters of the concept propose to revisit or to reconstruct it. This essay is an attempt to satisfy critics and supporters while respecting Merton's legacy. For that purpose, we consider a Weberian paradigm to expand this "limited introduction"

The role of intercultural communicative competence in the development of World Englishes and Lingua Francas

There is a tendency to think of World Englishes in the noun form; as products rather than as processes (implying that one receives both ready-made, controlling the development of neither).Conceptualising World Englishes as processes in which one can participate as an agent raises the question of what skills are needed in their active construction. The author will argue that since culture resides partly in language, the development of intercultural communicative competence (Byram 1997) should play a pivotal role in foreign language education both to preserve cultural and linguistic diversity, facilitating and enhancing intercultural communication in the process. A range of skills considered central to intercultural communicative competence will be presented and illustrated showing how language students can learn to take control over the development not only of language, but of their own identities

Legal Classics: After Deconstructing the Legal Canon

The debate over the canon has gripped the University in recent years. Defenders of the canon argue that canonical texts embody timeless and universal themes, but critics argue that the process of canonization subordinates certain people and viewpoints within society in order to assert the existence of a univocal tradition. Originating primarily in the field of literary criticism, the canon debate recently has emerged in legal theory. Professor Francis J. Mootz argues that the issues raised by the canon debate are relevant to legal scholarship, teaching and practice. After reviewing the extensive commentary on the literary canon, Professor Mootz criticizes the polemical structure of the debate and asserts that an appreciation of classical, as opposed to canonical, texts opens the way for a productive inquiry. He defines a classical text as one that both shapes contemporary concerns and also serves as a point of reference for revising these concerns. Classical texts enable critical perspectives rather than submitting to them, he continues, because they provide the arena for debates about issues of public concern. Using Hadley v. Baxendale as an example of a legal classic, Professor Mootz contends that the power of such a classical text is its ability to shape hotly contested legal debates. Our time . . . seems unpropitious for thinking about the question of the classic, for . . . it seems to be a simple either/or that requires merely a choosing of sides: for or against? back to the classics or away from them? Our time calls not for thinking but a vote. And it may well be too late for thinking about the classic in any case, for the vote is already in, and the nays have it

P-15 Evolution Over Revolution: A Generic Criticism of the Muscle Car’s Past and Present Hierarchy

Since the early 1960’s the Muscle Car has been seen as representative of American cultural idealism; a post-war expression of Americanism through the medium of octane obsession. Muscle Cars are seen abstractly as an embodiment of several cultural principles; however, what physically constitutes this embodiment, the convergence of these features into the ‘soul’ of the muscle car, is broadly the subject of speculation. The ‘soul’, or formative characteristics, will be established through the generic criticism of a cross section of First Generation 1960’s Muscle Cars. Through analysis of physical features and technical specifications, the substantive and stylistic elements necessary for participation in the Muscle Car Genre, as shaped around an organizing principle, will be generically described. This descriptive yardstick will then be applied against modern incarnations of the muscle car to judge if they generically participate in the muscle car genre, as demonstrated by the 1960’s First Generation of their ‘lineage’. Conditions for future participation in the genre will then be established upon the First Generation’s generic characteristics

Optimized Deep Belief Neural Network for Semantic Change Detection in Multi-Temporal Image

Nowadays, a massive quantity of remote sensing images is utilized from tremendous earth observation platforms. For processing a wide range of remote sensing data to be transferred based on knowledge and information of them. Therefore, the necessity for providing the automated technologies to deal with multi-spectral image is done in terms of change detection. Multi-spectral images are associated with plenty of corrupted data like noise and illumination. In order to deal with such issues several techniques are utilized but they are not effective for sensitive noise and feature correlation may be missed. Several machine learning-based techniques are introduced to change detection but it is not effective for obtaining the relevant features. In other hand, the only limited datasets are available in open-source platform; therefore, the development of new proposed model is becoming difficult. In this work, an optimized deep belief neural network model is introduced based on semantic modification finding for multi-spectral images. Initially, input images with noise destruction and contrast normalization approaches are applied. Then to notice the semantic changes present in the image, the Semantic Change Detection Deep Belief Neural Network (SCD-DBN) is introduced. This research focusing on providing a change map based on balancing noise suppression and managing the edge of regions in an appropriate way. The new change detection method can automatically create features for different images and improve search results for changed regions. The projected technique shows a lower missed finding rate in the Semantic Change Detection dataset and a more ideal rate than other approaches

An examination of the verbal behaviour of intergroup discrimination

This thesis examined relationships between psychological flexibility, psychological inflexibility, prejudicial attitudes, and dehumanization across three cross-sectional studies with an additional proposed experimental study. Psychological flexibility refers to mindful attention to the present moment, willing acceptance of private experiences, and engaging in behaviours congruent with one’s freely chosen values. Inflexibility, on the other hand, indicates a tendency to suppress unwanted thoughts and emotions, entanglement with one’s thoughts, and rigid behavioural patterns. Study 1 found limited correlations between inflexibility and sexism, racism, homonegativity, and dehumanization. Study 2 demonstrated more consistent positive associations between inflexibility and prejudice. And Study 3 controlled for right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation, finding inflexibility predicted hostile sexism and racism beyond these factors. While showing some relationships, particularly with sexism and racism, psychological inflexibility did not consistently correlate with varied prejudices across studies. The proposed randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy intervention to reduce sexism through enhanced psychological flexibility. Overall, findings provide mixed support for the utility of flexibility-based skills in addressing complex societal prejudices. Research should continue examining flexibility integrated with socio-cultural approaches to promote equity

The nature and etiology of religious certitude: Implications of the EI framework and beliefs, events, and values inventory

Religious certitude is often associated with conflict between individuals and groups, though the nature of this relationship is still not clear. To further clarify these dynamics, the historical psychology of religion is reviewed and contrasted with current perspectives from social psychology and neuroscience, with an eye towards better understanding the variance within religious expressions and their associated relationships with intergroup conflict. It is hypothesized that religious certainty is related to a difficulty in engaging with contradictory religious perspectives, and that the pull towards certainty is tied to an individual’s unique psychological structure, much of which is developed through the interaction of formative variables over the lifespan. Utilizing data (N=2331) collected during the Forum BEVI Project, a multi-institution, multi-year project coordinated by the Forum on Education Abroad and the International Beliefs and Values Institute, statistical analyses consisting of ANOVAs, regression analyses, and structural equation modeling are used to explore these ideas. Results suggest that a propensity to identify with religious certitude is predictive of one’s beliefs in a number of other areas. Further, individuals who report distressing early life events associated with unmet developmental needs may tend towards belief certainty. However, structural equation modeling highlights the complexity of this relationship, suggesting the importance of accounting for individual differences. Finally, analyses indicate that the variance in levels of certainty within religious groups is greater than the variance between these groups. It is therefore concluded that accounting for levels of religious certainty is more helpful than emphasizing particular religious traditions when seeking to understand intergroup conflict. These findings suggest the value of fostering an agnostic theory of knowledge, and a continuum of belief is proposed to illustrate this concept in relation to religious belief. Towards this end, interventions meant to facilitate intergroup dialogue and understanding while respecting individual theological traditions are highlighted