HIV Stigma Scale: translation and validation of the short version to the Portuguese population

The objective was to translate, adapt, and analyze the psychometric properties of a shortened version of the HIV Stigma Scale using a sample of 100 HIV+ adults, with a mean age of 49.88 (SD = 12.03) diagnosed for an average of 9.39 (SD = 7.36) years. The psychometric properties of the short version of the Stigma Scale were analyzed through the one-factor structure and the original four-factor structure, showing good fit for this last model. Convergent validity was found to be close to the acceptable for the factors, “concerns about public attitudes” and “negative self-image”, and good for the factors, “disclosure concerns” and “personalized stigma”. The results showed adequate discriminant validity for all factors, coefficient Omega was above .70 for the four factors, showing adequate reliability. This Portuguese version of the Stigma Scale is a good measure to assess the stigma of people living with HIV.FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (57/2016

Feeling the future: A meta-analysis of 90 experiments on the anomalous anticipation of random future events

In 2011, one of the authors (DJB) published a report of nine experiments in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology purporting to demonstrate that an individual\u2019s cognitive and affective responses can be influenced by randomly selected stimulus events that do not occur until after his or her responses have already been made and recorded, a generalized variant of the phenomenon traditionally denoted by the term precognition. To encourage replications, all materials needed to conduct them were made available on request. We here report a meta-analysis of 90 experiments from 33 laboratories in 14 countries which yielded an overall effect greater than 6 sigma, z = 6.40, p = 1.2 7 10 with an effect size (Hedges\u2019 g) of 0.09. A Bayesian analysis yielded a Bayes Factor of 5.1 7 10 , greatly exceeding the criterion value of 100 for \u201cdecisive evidence\u201d in support of the experimental hypothesis. When DJB\u2019s original experiments are excluded, the combined effect size for replications by independent investigators is 0.06, z = 4.16, p = 1.1 7 10 , and the BF value is 3,853, again exceeding the criterion for \u201cdecisive evidence.\u201d The number of potentially unretrieved experiments required to reduce the overall effect size of the complete database to a trivial value of 0.01 is 544, and seven of eight additional statistical tests support the conclusion that the database is not significantly compromised by either selection bias or by intense \u201cp -hacking\u201d\u2014the selective suppression of findings or analyses that failed to yield statistical significance. P-curve analysis, a recently introduced statistical technique, estimates the true effect size of the experiments to be 0.20 for the complete database and 0.24 for the independent replications, virtually identical to the effect size of DJB\u2019s original experiments (0.22) and the closely related \u201cpresentiment\u201d experiments (0.21). We discuss the controversial status of precognition and other anomalous effects collectively known as psi

Asia’s Wicked Environmental Problems

The developing economies of Asia are confronted by serious environmental problems that threaten to undermine future growth, food security, and regional stability. This study considers four major environmental challenges that policymakers across developing Asia will need to address towards 2030: water management, air pollution, deforestation and land degradation, and climate change. We argue that these challenges, each unique in their own way, all exhibit the characteristics of “wicked problems”. As developed in the planning literature, and now applied much more broadly, wicked problems are dynamic, complex, encompass many issues and stakeholders, and evade straightforward, lasting solutions.asia environmental problems; food security; water management; air pollution; deforestation; land degradation; climate change; wicked problems

Educational Considerations, vol. 6(1) Full Issue

Educational Considerations, vol. 6(1) Fall 1978 - Full issu

Machine Learning for the New York City Power Grid

Power companies can benefit from the use of knowledge discovery methods and statistical machine learning for preventive maintenance. We introduce a general process for transforming historical electrical grid data into models that aim to predict the risk of failures for components and systems. These models can be used directly by power companies to assist with prioritization of maintenance and repair work. Specialized versions of this process are used to produce (1) feeder failure rankings, (2) cable, joint, terminator, and transformer rankings, (3) feeder Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) estimates, and (4) manhole events vulnerability rankings. The process in its most general form can handle diverse, noisy, sources that are historical (static), semi-real-time, or real-time, incorporates state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms for prioritization (supervised ranking or MTBF), and includes an evaluation of results via cross-validation and blind test. Above and beyond the ranked lists and MTBF estimates are business management interfaces that allow the prediction capability to be integrated directly into corporate planning and decision support; such interfaces rely on several important properties of our general modeling approach: that machine learning features are meaningful to domain experts, that the processing of data is transparent, and that prediction results are accurate enough to support sound decision making. We discuss the challenges in working with historical electrical grid data that were not designed for predictive purposes. The “rawness” of these data contrasts with the accuracy of the statistical models that can be obtained from the process; these models are sufficiently accurate to assist in maintaining New York City's electrical grid

Mobile Media Distribution in Developing Contexts

There are a growing number of mobile phones being used in developing contexts, such as Africa. A large percentage of these phones have the capability to take photographs and transmit them freely using Bluetooth. In order to provide people with media on their mobile phones public displays are becoming more common. Three problems with current public displays – cost, security and mobility – are discussed and system proposed that uses a mobile phone as a server. Media is displayed on specially designed paper posters, which users can photograph using their mobile phones. The resulting photographs are sent, via Bluetooth, to the server, which analyses them in order to locate a specially designed barcode, representing the media, which is then decoded and the requisite media returned to the user. Two barcoding systems are tested in laboratory conditions, and a binary system is found to perform best. The system is then deployed on a campus transportation system to test the effects of motion. The results show that the system is not yet ready for deployment on moving transport