Uses of arguments from definition in children’s argumentation

The literature on argumentation and education often conveys that children’s argumentation skills are not well developed; therefore, it would be difficult to find argumentation in small children, as well as in primary school classrooms (Kuhn 1991). However, studies focusing on argumentation in less formal contexts (for example the family, see Arcidiacono & Bova 2013) show that there is no need to depart from such a negative stance. If children are given room to pursue their lines of thought (Danish & Enyedy 2015), they often produce sophisticated spontaneous argumentation. In this paper I consider arguments from definition introduced by children as a case in point. To do so, I use a corpus of data, in which small children under the age of six years, discuss with an adult and with peers. Results show two uses of arguments from definition by children: on the one hand, children may introduce a new issue and their standpoint supported by an argument from definition; on the other hand, children may contest or refute an issue that was proposed by an adult and put forward an argument from definition

Adding a temporal dimension to the analysis of argumentative discourse: justified reframing as a means of turning a single-issue discussion into a complex argumentative discussion

This paper seeks to extend existing models of argumentation by considering an important dimension of real-life argumentative discourse: how complex argumentative discussions evolve over time. We define a complex argumentative discussion as a multi-issue discussion, in which the different issues are interrelated in the form of a hierarchy. We claim that justified reframing might be used to transform a single-issue argumentative discussion into a complex argumentative discussion. To illustrate this, we examine the Facebook discourse of the Rhodes Must Fall movement in South Africa. We analyse how reframing is justified by means of arguments, allowing the protagonists to claim as legitimate their reframing of a single issue into a complex argumentative discussion. Our findings complement existing sociological research on social movements by highlighting how their goals are achieved by means of argumentative discourse

Simple fecal flotation is a superior alternative to guadruple Kato Katz smear examination for the detection of hookworm eggs in human stool

Microscopy-based identification of eggs in stool offers simple, reliable and economical options for assessing the prevalence and intensity of hookworm infections, and for monitoring the success of helminth control programs. This study was conducted to evaluate and compare the diagnostic parameters of the Kato-Katz (KK) and simple sodium nitrate flotation technique (SNF) in terms of detection and quantification of hookworm eggs, with PCR as an additional reference test in stool, collected as part of a baseline cross-sectional study in Cambodia.; Fecal samples collected from 205 people in Dong village, Rovieng district, Preah Vihear province, Cambodia were subjected to KK, SNF and PCR for the detection (and in case of microscopy-based methods, quantification) of hookworm eggs in stool. The prevalence of hookworm detected using a combination of three techniques (gold standard) was 61.0%. PCR displayed a highest sensitivity for hookworm detection (92.0%) followed by SNF (44.0%) and quadruple KK smears (36.0%) compared to the gold standard. The overall eggs per gram feces from SNF tended to be higher than for quadruple KK and the SNF proved superior for detecting low egg burdens.; As a reference, PCR demonstrated the higher sensitivity compared to SNF and the quadruple KK method for detection of hookworm in human stool. For microscopic-based quantification, a single SNF proved superior to the quadruple KK for the detection of hookworm eggs in stool, in particular for low egg burdens. In addition, the SNF is cost-effective and easily accessible in resource poor countries

Analysing Implicit Premises Within Children’s Argumentative Inferences

This paper presents preliminary findings of the project “Analysing children’s implicit argumentation”. We propose to reconstruct implicit premises of children’s arguments within adult-children discussions in different settings, using the Argumentum Model of Topics (AMT) for the reconstruction of the inferential configuration of arguments. We show that sources of misunderstandings are more often than not due to misalignments of implicit premises between adults and children; these misalignments concern material premises rather than the inferential-procedural level

Low risk for transmission of zoonotic Giardia duodenalis from dogs to humans in rural Cambodia

A number of epidemiological studies have demonstrated Giardia as prevalent in both humans and dogs worldwide and have postulated the occurrence of anthroponotic, zoonotic and animal-specific cycles of transmission, which may be geographically and regionally unique in its epidemiology. The aim of this study was to utilise molecular tools to determine the prevalence and compare genotypes of Giardia duodenalis infecting humans and dogs living in a previously identified Giardia-endemic village in rural Cambodia in order to ascertain zoonotic transmission risk.; The prevalence of G. duodenalis in humans and dogs was 18.3% (40/218) and 10.6% (10/94) by PCR, respectively. Molecular characterisation of the small subunit of ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene, triose phosphate isomerase (TPI) gene and sub-assemblage characterisation of the glutamate dehydrogenase (gdh) gene placed 27.5% (11/40) of Giardia positive humans into assemblage AII and 72.5% (29/40) into assemblage BIII of G. duodenalis. In dogs, 20.0% (2/10) of Giardia-positive samples were characterised as G. duodenalis assemblage BIII, 40.0% (4/10) as assemblage C and 40.0% (4/10) as mix infection between assemblage C and D.; Overall, just over 2% of dogs harboured potentially zoonotic assemblages of G. duodenalis in the studied communities and hence pose a minimal zoonotic risk for the transmission of Giardia to humans