Mixing Methodologies

Should research in a particular field follow the traditional or favoured methodologies associated with that field, or, if it is desirable for the empirical methods of research to be mixed, can the same not be said for the theoretical standpoint of the research design? Does mixing methodologies imply that methodologies can be placed on a sliding scale to create a new methodology from combining elements of the old; or does it imply an iterative or cyclical process, using a suitable methodology for the stage in the research? This chapter explores what combining qualitative and quantitative methods actually means in terms of social and educational research and how this can assist in developing a mixed methodological approach suitable for addressing wicked problems faced in education in the rapidly evolving Anthropocene epoch. To address these issues, the chapter proposes a new term for combining methodologies: ‘omniduction,' which encompasses induction, deduction and abduction and utilises each as the research, rather than the researcher, dictates.

Cognitive Dissonance: Affecting Party Orientation and Selective Recall of Political Information

Cognitive dissonance theory posits that inconsistencies between attitudes and behaviors cause an uncomfortable arousal state, and people are motivated to reduce this discomfort by changing attitudes or behaviors to increase consistency. This principle applies to research on political affiliation. Due to dissonance processes, individuals focus less on political information that opposes their views and pay greater attention when it is congruent with their views. This study adds to this research by examining whether political orientation causes a similar pattern of selective attention bias during the recall stage. Participants (117) studied a political article on a social issue representing a viewpoint that was favorable to Democrats. Next, participants recalled as much information as possible by typing the information in a textbox. Using a sliding scale, they also rated how they felt about the article in terms of arousal and affect, and indicated whether the article was neutral, positive, or negative. Democrats were predicted to recall more positive information and more positive affect after reading the article than Republicans. Surprisingly, more Republicans, rather than Democrats, recalled more positive information about the article. Finally, those who scored more conservatively on the political slider also reported more positive affect toward the article. Although contrary to the study hypotheses, these results have implications for our current understanding of selective attention in a political context by showing the bias also occurs at the recall stage. It takes a special effort to be able to think outside the bubble. The purpose of this study is to find what it takes to pop the bubble and change the mindset of political engaged people. Keywords: cognitive dissonance, attentional bias, political orientation, selective recall

Maxillary necrosis by Mucormycosis: A Case Report

A 50-year-old woman with type 2 diabetes was referred to the hospital with a 4-week history of a facial redness that proceeded to significant midface ulceration and bilateral vision loss. Her nasal bridge was completely collapsed, she had naso-palatal ulceration with black eschars on the mucosa, and her fasting blood sugar was significantly increased. Her blood sugar was controlled with soluble insulin through sliding scale, and surgical debridement was performed, which revealed fungal hyphae on histo-pathological assessment. Ketoconazole, an antifungal drug, was commenced immediately. She progressed slowly but steadily after that and her wound became clear with fresh granulation tissue. Keywords: Mucormycosis, Uncontrolled diabetic mellitus

Experience-Specific Dimensions of Consciousness (Observable in Flexible and Spontaneous Action Planning Among Animals)

The multidimensional framework to the study of consciousness, which comes as an alternative to a single sliding scale model, offers a set of experimental paradigms for investigating dimensions of animal consciousness, acknowledging the compelling urge for a novel approach. One of these dimensions investigates whether non-human animals can flexibly and spontaneously plan for a future event, and for future desires, without relying on reinforcement learning. This is a critical question since different intentional structures for action in non-human animals are described as served by different neural mechanisms underpinning the capacity to represent temporal properties. And a lack of appreciation of this variety of intentional structures and neural correlates has led many experts to doubt that animals have access to temporal reasoning and to not recognize temporality as a mark of consciousness, and as a psychological resource for their life. With respect to this, there is a significant body of ethological evidence for planning abilities in non-human animals, too often overlooked, and that instead should be taken into serious account. This could contribute to assigning consciousness profiles, across and within species, that should be tailored according to an implemented and expansive use of the multidimensional framework. This cannot be fully operational in the absence of an additional tag to its dimensions of variations: the experience-specificity of consciousness.

Sex in the Arena

Although popular culture has long perceived the gladiators as the manliest of Romans, posturing before howling crowds of plebeians as the rock stars of their day, the sex of gladiators as constructed by Romans is rather more complicated. This chapter considers the sexualized nuances of the arena, touching on the relative masculinity of gladiators within Roman social and political hierarchy, as well as the sliding scale of virility among the different styles of combat. The phenomenon of women in the arena is explored: were spectacles that were populated by women contestants designed to titillate and persuade in a way that was different from the more standard shows? Instances of spectacularized sex, shows that allegedly featured literal sexual engagement, point to demonstrations of moral and political authority by imperial sponsors; literary descriptions of risqué performances likewise functioned as moralizing critique of imperial powerbrokers. The genre of textual descriptions shaded the message of sexual power as well; Christian martyr acts reworked the suffering of Christian women condemned to the arena, claiming for them authority and agency that was both founded on and defiant of their gender.

349 COVID Induced Acute Ischaemic Limb

The coronavirus pandemic has overwhelmed healthcare systems worldwide, with more than 40 million affected and 1 million deaths. In addition to the typical symptoms, less clinically obvious was the underlying hypercoagulable state, termed COVID-19 associated coagulopathy (CAC). The exact mechanism of CAC is unknown, but it is suspected to involve all three aspects of Virchow’s Triad: endothelial injury, stasis, and a hypercoagulable state. Here we report the case of a woman in her 60’s who was admitted with COVID-19 and developed CAC with subsequent complications. She presented with a 3-day history of fevers, severe shortness of breath, and cough. Past medical history was significant for hypertension, poorly controlled insulin dependant diabetes, and obesity. She was admitted with COVID induced type 2 respiratory failure (pO2 of 5.5 on 15L), DKA (ketones 2.1), AKI (Cr 163), and a hypercoagulable state (D-dimer >20 000). She was intubated and commenced on an insulin sliding scale, therapeutic anticoagulation, and antibiotics. On day 2 she became anuric, with CT-angio demonstrating thrombus extending from renal arteries down to the right popliteal artery. She underwent an embolectomy and 4 compartment fasciotomy and was started on renal replacement therapy. Unfortunately, her leg was not deemed viable, and due to persistent hyperkalaemia required amputation 2 days later. She continued to deteriorate despite maximal multiple organ support and was palliated 15 days later. CAC can have life-threatening sequelae, and patients with COVID-19 infection should be commenced on anticoagulation upon diagnosis.

Prevalence and Determinants of Multimorbidity, Polypharmacy, and Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in the Older Outpatients: Findings from EuroAgeism H2020 ESR7 Project in Ethiopia

Few studies have been conducted on multimorbidity (two or more chronic diseases) and rational geriatric prescribing in Africa. This study examined the prevalence and determinants of multimorbidity, polypharmacy (five or more long-term medications), and potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use according to the 2019 Beers criteria among the older adults attending chronic care clinics from a single institution in Ethiopia. A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 320 randomly selected older adults from 12 March 2020 to 30 August 2020. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the predictor variables. The prevalence of multimorbidity, polypharmacy, and PIM exposure was 59.1%, 24.1%, and 47.2%, respectively. Diuretics (10%), insulin sliding scale (8.8%), amitriptyline (7.8%), and aspirin (6.9%) were among the most frequently prescribed PIMs. Older patients experiencing pain flare-ups were more likely to have multimorbidity (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 1.64, 95% confidence intervals: 1.13–2.39). Persistent anger (AOR: 3.33; 1.71–6.47) and use of mobility aids (AOR: 2.41, 1.35–4.28) were associated with polypharmacy. Moreover, cognitive impairment (AOR: 1.65, 1.15–2.34) and health deterioration (AOR: 1.61, 1.11–2.32) increased the likelihood of PIM exposure. High prevalence of multimorbidity and PIM use was observed in Ethiopia. Several important determinants that can be modified by applying PIM criteria in routine practice were also identified.

Comparison of Hydrocarbon Fiscal Regimes of Some European Oil and Gas Producers and Perspectives for Improvement in the Republic of Croatia

Hydrocarbon exploration and production activities are basic to the functioning of the oil and gas industry, while concession contracts and fees are central concepts in the aforementioned activities. The authors consider several questions regarding these concepts, such as: what is the legislative, institutional, and fiscal framework in certain European countries regarding hydrocarbon exploration and production? What are the major differences between them? Finally, is there room for improvement of the framework in the Republic of Croatia? To answer these questions, the authors contacted some of the relevant institutions and accessed official government gazettes, institution websites, legal aggregators, journal articles, books, and different legal publications regarding the oil and gas industry for several European countries, namely the Kingdom of Norway, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Austria, and the Republic of Croatia. As a result, this paper presents an overview of legislation, institutions, concession contracts, taxes, and fees for each of the aforementioned countries. The authors conclude that the Republic of Croatia could benefit from applying some foreign solutions in its own legislative and fiscal framework, i.e., using a sliding scale for royalty calculation and simplifying some administrative procedures.

Trademark Opposition Proceedings in Switzerland: An Empirical Study of Legal Reasoning

This study is the first empirical analysis of legal reasoning in trademark opposition proceedings in Switzerland. We examine a novel dataset on trademark opposition proceedings brought before the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI). In these proceedings, the likelihood of confusion between two (or more) trademarks is assessed based on the similarity of the trademark signs and the similarity of the goods and services, taking into account a series of additional aspects such as the distinctive character of the opposing trademark and the level of attention of the average consumer when buying the goods and services for which the earlier trademark is registered. Our dataset contains information on 2,453 cases relating to proceedings between June 2002 and August 2018. In particular, we examine which substantive factors drive the outcome of these decisions. Some of our findings call into question the established legal doctrine. For example, our data suggest that the importance of the beginning of words for establishing similarity between word marks is overrated by legal doctrine. Furthermore, our data show no clear influence of the level of attention on the assessment of the likelihood of confusion. Instead, we found striking differences between the success rates of different types of trademarks. In fact, the data reveal a sliding scale with word marks being the most successful trademarks followed by figurative trademarks that contain a word element, and purely figurative trademarks. Based on our empirical findings, we make suggestions on how to improve the legal reasoning when assessing the likelihood of confusion.