What’s in a Name? The Use of the Stylistic Device Metonymy as a Strategic Manoeuvre in the Confrontation and Argumentation Stages of a Discussion

In this paper I investigate the role of the rhetorical trope metonymy in arguers’ attempts to reconcile their rhetorical with their dialectical aims in the confrontation stage and argumentation stage of a discussion. I show how different types of metonymies may help to present a party’s position advantageously and to make the strongest case

The Reasonableness of Argumentation from Expert Opinion in Medical Discussions: Institutional Safeguards for the Quality of Shared Decision Making

The ideal of shared decision making starts from the assumption that physicians and patients are able to take a joint decision as to what is the best treatment. However, since medical consultations are to be viewed as discussions between an expert and a layman, in practice it will often be the case that the patient has to rely on the physician’s expertise. In this article we examine the extent to which the Dutch laws, guidelines and professional conventions within the medical domain positively influence the quality of the process of shared decision making, even in cases where the physician makes use of an argument from expert opinion. To this end, we will chart some of the most important institutional safeguards for the quality of medical decisions and analyze how these safeguards relate to the critical questions associated with the argument scheme of argumentation from expert opinion

Dialectical Profiles and Indicators of Argumentative Moves

In this paper the authors give a brief overview of the theoretical background of their research project “Linguistic indicators of argumentative moves.” Starting from the pragma-dialectical ideal model of a critical discussion, they design dialectical profiles for capturing the moves that may or must be made at a particular stage or sub-stage of such a discussion. They explain how these dialectical profiles can be methodically exploited for systematically identifying the verbal expressions that can be indicative of any of these moves in argumentative practice

Unexpected resonant response in [Fe(001)/Cr(001)]_(10) /MgO(001) multilayers in magnetic field

We observed unexpected resonant response in [Fe/Cr]_(10) multilayers epitaxially grown on MgO(100) substrates which exists only when both ac current and dc magnetic field are simultaneously applied. The magnitude of the resonances is determined by the multilayer magnetization proving their intrinsic character. The reduction of interface epitaxy leads to non-linear dependence of the magnitude of resonances on the alternating current density. We speculate that the existence of the interface transition zone could facilitate the subatomic vibrations in thin metallic films and multilayers grown on bulk insulating substrates.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Fibre engineered cementitious materials (FECM) optimization by the use of hybrid polypropylene fibres and supplementary powder addition

Development of Fibre Engineered Cementitious Materials with Self-Healing Capacity (SH-FECM) was an important goal of the recent research programmes conducted in NIRD URBAN-INCERC Cluj-Napoca Branch. Several theoretical and experimental studies were performed in order to improve the composites, considering both, fresh and hardened state properties and also the performance as filling material of the narrow spaces at the beam to column interface within the Hybrid spatial joint model [1]. Present studies are focused in optimising the already developed mixtures regarding several aspects: the self-compacting behaviour of the fresh composites, considering the increased risk of balling effect when using 2% (of volume) of polymeric fibres as disperse reinforcement of the cementitious matrix, bleeding control during and after the mixes sequences by using supplementary powder addition, evaluation of the mixes when using a combination of two distinct types of polypropylene fibres, and development of controlled multiple cracks under loading, etc. The present paper offers the first results regarding the performance of the cement based composites, namely the fresh state self-compacting effect and also the flexural and compressive strengths at 7 and 28 days of age. Initial conclusions when replacing the traditional silica sand as aggregate of initial mixes with regular sand (0/1 mm fraction) are also considered. The Self-Healing potential of the mixes will be evaluated further on, ensuring the complete range of characteristics related to durability improving, repair and maintenance cost reduction and superior structural performance, in the context of the expected features of the sustainable development

A case study on variability management in software product lines: identifying why real-life projects fail

Economies of scale can be seen as some kind of “holy grail” in state of the art literature on the development of sets of related software systems. Software product line methods are often mentioned in this context, due to the variability management aspects they propose, in order to deal with sets of related software systems. They realize the sought-after reusability. Both variability management and software product lines already have a strong presence in theoretical research, but in real-life software product line projects trying to obtain economies of scale still tend to fall short of target. The objective of this paper is to study this gap between theory and reality through a case study in order to see why such gap exists, and to find a way to bridge this gap. Through analysis of the causes of failure identified by the stakeholders in the case study, the underlying problem, which is found to be located in the requirements engineering phase, is crystallized. The identification of a framework describing the problems will provide practitioners with a better focus for future endeavors in the field of software product lines, so that economies of scale can be achieved