17,600 research outputs found
An Overview on Fuzzy Modelling of Complex Linguistic Preferences in Decision Making
This work is partially supported by the Spanish National research project TIN2015-66524-P, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Finance Postdoctoral Training (FPDI-2013-18193) and ERDF.Decision makers involved in complex decision making problems usually provide information about their preferences
by eliciting their knowledge with different assessments. Usually, the complexity of these decision problems implies
uncertainty that in many occasions has been successfully modelled by means of linguistic information, mainly based
on fuzzy based linguistic approaches. However, classically these approaches just allow the elicitation of simple
assessments composed by either one label or a modifier with a label. Nevertheless, the necessity of more complex
linguistic expressions for eliciting decision makersâ knowledge has led to some extensions of classical approaches
that allow the construction of expressions and elicitation of preferences in a closer way to human beings cognitive
process. This paper provides an overview of the broadest fuzzy linguistic approaches for modelling complex linguistic
preferences together some challenges that future proposals should achieve to improve complex linguistic modelling
in decision making.Spanish National research project
TIN2015-66524-PSpanish Ministry of Economy and Finance Postdoctoral Training
FPDI-2013-18193European Union (EU
Managing Non-Homogeneous Information and Expertsâ Psychological Behavior in Group Emergency Decision Making
After an emergency event (EE) happens, emergency decision making (EDM) is a common and effective way to deal with the emergency situation, which plays an important role in mitigating its level of harm. In the real world, it is a big challenge for an individual emergency manager (EM) to make a proper and comprehensive decision for coping with an EE. Consequently, many practical EDM problems drive group emergency decision making (GEDM) problems whose main limitations are related to the lack of flexibility in knowledge elicitation, disagreements in the group and the consideration of expertsâ psychological behavior in the decision process. Hence, this paper proposes a novel GEDM approach that allows more flexibility for preference elicitation under uncertainty, provides a consensus process to avoid disagreements and considers expertsâ psychological behavior by using the fuzzy TODIM method based on prospect theory. Eventually, a group decision support system (GDSS) is developed to support the whole GEDM process defined in the proposed method demonstrating its novelty, validity and feasibility.This work was partly supported by the Young Doctoral Dissertation Project of Social Science Planning Project of Fujian Province (Project No. FJ2016C202), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project Nos. 71371053, 61773123), Spanish National Research Project (Project No. TIN2015-66524-P), and Spanish Ministry of Economy and Finance Postdoctoral Fellow (IJCI-2015-23715) and ERDF
Methodological Tools for Linguistic Description and Typology.
International audienc
Uncertainty assessment in climate change scenarios: a methodological proposal for management of forest ecosystem services
The work introduces a method to quantify potential impact of climate change on cultural ecosystem services in forests. The technique of Hesitant Fuzzy Linguistic Term Set is applied to face with the uncertainty due to climate change as well as subjective opinion of forest experts. Two forest management scenario (current practices as well as climate change-oriented silviculture) are investigated for different time horizons. Results highlight the increasing uncertainty on climate change impact evaluation related to longer time horizons. Potential losses connected to current cultural ecosystem services provision are quantified from spatial as well as economic viewpoint. The method is tested for an illustrative example in the Tuscany region - central Italy
Functionally referential signals: a promising paradigm whose time has passed
Finding the evolutionary origins of human language in the communication systems of our closest living relatives has, for the last several decades, been a major goal of many in the field of animal communication generally and primate communication specifically.1â4 The so-called âfunctionally referentialâ signals have long been considered promising in this regard, with apparent parallels with the semantic communication that characterizes language. The once-prominent idea that functionally referential signals are word-like, in that they are arbitrary sounds that refer to phenomena external to the caller, has largely been abandoned.5 However, the idea that these signals may offer the strongest link between primate communication and human language remains widespread, primarily due to the fact the behavior of receivers indicates that such signals enable them to make very specific inferences about their physical or social environment. Here we review the concept of functional reference and discuss modern perspectives that indicate that, although the sophistication of receivers provides some continuity between nonhuman primate and human cognition, this continuity is not unique to functionally referential signals. In fact, because functionally referential signals are, by definition, produced only in specific contexts, receivers are less dependent on the integration of contextual cues with signal features to determine an appropriate response. The processing of functionally referential signals is therefore likely to entail simpler cognitive operations than does that of less context-specific signals. While studies of functional reference have been important in highlighting the relatively sophisticated processes that underlie receiver behavior, we believe that the continued focus on context-specific calls detracts from the potentially more complex processes underlying responses to more unspecific calls. In this sense, we argue that the concept of functional reference, while historically important for the field, has outlived its usefulness and become a red herring in the pursuit of the links between primate communication and human language
Who can tell me what the product actually means, and Kateâs got the right answer-ish, letâs just tweak itâŠâ Follow-up strategies in the U.K primary school classroom: Does teacher gender matter?
© 2019 McDowell J. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Jobs are rarely seen as gender neutral but built on gendered stereotypes as to what they involve, and the gendered characteristics assumed needed to perform them. Despite an increase in the number of women entering âmaleâ workplaces, gendered occupational stereotypes continue to endure as they are so deeply entrenched within community. Furthermore, even with frequent government initiatives, menâs numbers are not increasing in âfemaleâ occupations such as teaching as these jobs persistent to be seen as only suitable for those with âfeminineâ characteristics. Fewer than 15 percent of United Kingdom (U.K.) primary school teachers are male. De-stereotyping this work role is therefore of key importance as we need more qualiïŹed teachers in the U.K. To date, there has been relatively little research into the linguistic behaviour of men working in primary school teaching. To address this gap, this current paper focuses on menâs discursive behaviour in the occupation of teaching in an attempt to begin to de-stereotype this profession through an exploration of how the job is actually performed through language to assess whether teacher gender aïŹects teaching strategies utilised in the classroom. This paper reports on the qualitative ïŹndings from an exploratory case study that examines male and female primary school teachersâ linguistic strategies in teacher-led class instruction. To provide empirical insights into how this work-role practice is performed, this paper focuses on the oral feedback given by the teacher to pupils to examine how they use follow-up strategies. Data collected by 12 teachers across 4 schools in Hertfordshire in the U.K. was explored using Interactional Sociolinguistics and a social constructionist perspective. Results demonstrate both female and male teachers actively constructing a context-dependent teaching identity, with their language breaking stereotypical gendered norms of speaking. The discursive behaviour of these teachers should therefore not be described as âfeminineâ or âmasculineâ, but rather labelled as the discourse of doing âbeingâ a teacher. They are using the unmarked speech styles in this environment as the work role guides, shapes and permeates their discursive choices. Arguably then, gender is not an overriding variable here in being a teacher. These ïŹndings lend support to the current ongoing debate for the imperative need to de-gender how we think about language use, occupations, and the skills and characteristics one is assumed to have simply because of their gender. Men often decide against becoming a primary teacher because they think it is a female profession. We must re-interpret language use as reïŹecting professional identity rather than gender identity. By raising awareness of primary school teachersâ linguistic behaviour, we may start to take steps towards de-gendering the job for only then may we see more men taking up such professional occupations. This research has important implications for U.K government incentives which currently try to recruit men by stressing that they are needed for hegemonic âmasculineâ reasons, which only serves to strengthen gender stereotypes.Peer reviewe
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