The Sorites Paradox in Practical Philosophy

The first part of the chapter surveys some of the main ways in which the Sorites Paradox has figured in arguments in practical philosophy in recent decades, with special attention to arguments where the paradox is used as a basis for criticism. Not coincidentally, the relevant arguments all involve the transitivity of value in some way. The second part of the chapter is more probative, focusing on two main themes. First, I further address the relationship between the Sorites Paradox and the main arguments discussed in the first part, by elucidating in what sense they rely on (something like) tolerance principles. Second, I briefly discuss the prospect of rejecting the respective principles, aiming to show that we can do so for some of the arguments but not for others. The reason is that in the latter cases the principles do not function as independent premises in the reasoning but, rather, follow from certain fundamental features of the relevant scenarios. I also argue that not even adopting what is arguably the most radical way to block the Sorites Paradox – that of weakening the consequence relation – suffices to invalidate these arguments

Some Considerations Regarding the Problem of Multidimensional Utility

The concept of 'utility' is often used in ambiguous ways in economics, from having substantive psychological connotations to being a formal placeholder representing a person's preferences. In the accounts of the early utilitarians, it was a multidimensional measure that has been condensed during the marginalist revolution into the unidimensional measure we know today. But can we compare different pleasures? This paper assesses the evidence from psychology and neurosciences on how to best conceive of utility. It turns out that empirical evidence does not favor a view of multidimensional utility. This does not eliminate the possibility to make a normative argument supporting a multidimensional notion of utility.utility, pleasures, neuroeconomics, multidimensionality of utility

A psychometric modeling approach to fuzzy rating data

Modeling fuzziness and imprecision in human rating data is a crucial problem in many research areas, including applied statistics, behavioral, social, and health sciences. Because of the interplay between cognitive, affective, and contextual factors, the process of answering survey questions is a complex task, which can barely be captured by standard (crisp) rating responses. Fuzzy rating scales have progressively been adopted to overcome some of the limitations of standard rating scales, including their inability to disentangle decision uncertainty from individual responses. The aim of this article is to provide a novel fuzzy scaling procedure which uses Item Response Theory trees (IRTrees) as a psychometric model for the stage-wise latent response process. In so doing, fuzziness of rating data is modeled using the overall rater's pattern of responses instead of being computed using a single-item based approach. This offers a consistent system for interpreting fuzziness in terms of individual-based decision uncertainty. A simulation study and two empirical applications are adopted to assess the characteristics of the proposed model and provide converging results about its effectiveness in modeling fuzziness and imprecision in rating data

Cross-cultural adaptation, reliability and validity of the Fremantle Knee Awareness Questionnaire in Italian subjects with painful knee osteoarthritis

Background and aim: Growing attention is being given to utilising physical function measures to better understand and manage knee osteoarthritis (OA). The Fremantle Knee Awareness Questionnaire (FreKAQ), a self-reported measure of body-perception specific to the knee, has never been validated in Italian patients. The aims of this study were to culturally adapt and validate the Italian version of the FreKAQ (FreKAQ-I), to allow for its use with Italian-speaking patients with painful knee OA. Methods: The FreKAQ-I was developed by means of forward–backward translation, a final review by an expert committee and a test of the pre-final version to evaluate its comprehensibility. The psychometric testing included: internal structural validity by Rasch analysis; construct validity by assessing hypotheses of FreKAQ correlations with the knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score (KOOS), a pain intensity numerical rating scale (PI-NRS), the pain catastrophising scale (PCS), and the Hospital anxiety and depression score (HADS) (Pearson’s correlations); known-group validity by evaluating the ability of FreKAQ scores to discriminate between two groups of participants with different clinical profiles (Mann–Whitney U test); reliability by internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) and test–retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC2.1); and measurement error by calculating the minimum detectable change (MDC). Results: It took one month to develop a consensus-based version of the FreKAQ-I. The questionnaire was administered to 102 subjects with painful knee OA and was well accepted. Internal structural validity confirmed the substantial unidimensionality of the FreKAQ-I: variance explained was 53.3%, the unexplained variance in the first contrast showed an eigenvalue of 1.8, and no local dependence was detected. Construct validity was good as all of the hypotheses were met; correlations: KOOS (rho = 0.38–0.51), PI-NRS (rho = 0.35–0.37), PCS (rho = 0.47) and HADS (Anxiety rho = 0.36; Depression rho = 0.43). Regarding known-groups validity, FreKAQ scores were significantly different between groups of participants demonstrating high and low levels of pain intensity, pain catastrophising, anxiety, depression and the four KOOS subscales (p ≤ 0.004). Internal consistency was acceptable (α = 0.74) and test–retest reliability was excellent (ICC = 0.92, CI 0.87–0.94). The MDC95 was 5.22 scale points. Conclusion: The FreKAQ-I is unidimensional, reliable and valid in Italian patients with painful knee OA. Its use is recommended for clinical and research purposes

Am J Ind Med

ObjectiveTo develop a fatigue assessment scale and test its reliability and validity for commercial construction workers.MethodsUsing a two-phased approach, we first identified items for the development of a Fatigue Assessment Scale for Construction Workers (FASCW) through review of existing scales in the scientific literature, key informant interviews (n=11) and focus groups (3 groups with 6 workers each) with construction workers. The second phase included assessment for the reliability, validity and sensitivity of the new scale using a repeated-measures study design with a convenience sample of construction workers (n=144).ResultsPhase one resulted in a 16-item preliminary scale that after factor analysis yielded a final 10-item scale with two sub-scales (\u201cLethargy\u201d and \u201cBodily Ailment\u201d).. During phase two, the FASCW and its subscales demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency (alpha coefficients were FASCW (0.91), Lethargy (0.86) and Bodily Ailment (0.84)) and acceptable test-retest reliability (Pearson Correlations Coefficients: 0.59\u20130.68; Intraclass Correlation Coefficients: 0.74\u20130.80). Correlation analysis substantiated concurrent and convergent validity. A discriminant analysis demonstrated that the FASCW differentiated between groups with arthritis status and different work hours.ConclusionsThe 10-item FASCW with good reliability and validity is an effective tool for assessing the severity of fatigue among construction workers.20152016-02-01T00:00:00ZK01 OH010485/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United StatesT32 AR055885/AR/NIAMS NIH HHS/United StatesT42 OH008416/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United StatesU60 OH009762/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States25603944PMC4677770871

Análise Dinâmica das Emoções através da Inteligência Artificial

Emotions have been demonstrated to be an important aspect of human intelligence and to play a significant role in human decision-making processes. Emotions are not only feelings but also processes of establishing, maintaining or disrupting the relation between the organism and the environment. In the present paper, several features of social and developmental Psychology are introduced, especially concepts that are related to Theories of Emotions and the Mathematical Tools applied in psychology (i.e., Dynamic Systems and Fuzzy Logic). Later, five models that infer emotions from a single event, in AV-Space, are presented and discussed along with the finding that fuzzy logic can measure human emotional states.Se ha comprobado que las emociones son un aspecto importante en la inteligencia humana y que desempeñan un rol significativo en el proceso humano de toma de decisiones. Las emociones no son solo sentimientos, sino también procesos de establecimiento, mantenimiento o interrupción de la relación existente entre el organismo y el ambiente. En el presente trabajo se describen algunas características de la psicología social y del desarrollo, especialmente los conceptos relacionados con las emociones y las teorías de la emoción, así como las herramientas matemáticas aplicadas en la psicología (i. e., sistemas dinámicos y lógica difusa). Luego se presentan y se discuten cinco modelos que infieren la emoción a partir de un evento, en el espacio Arousal-Valence (A-V), para encontrar que es posible usar la lógica difusa para medir los estados emocionales humanos.Se tem comprovado que as emoções são um aspeto importante na inteligência humana e que desempenha um papel significativo no processo de tomada de decisões humano. As emoções não são só sentimentos, mas também processos de estabelecimento, manutenção ou interrupção da relação existente entre o organismo e o ambiente. No presente trabalho descrevem-se algunas características da psicologia social e do desenvolvimento, especialmente os conceitos relacionados com emoções e as teorias da Emoção e as ferramentas matemáticas aplicadas na Psicologia (i.e., Sistemas dinámicos y Lógica difusa). Após, se apresentam e se discutem cinco modelos que inferem a emoção a partir de um evento, no espaço Arousal-Valence (A-V), encontrando que a lógica difusa pode usar-se para medir os estados emocionais humanos

New methods for discovering local behaviour in mixed databases

Clustering techniques are widely used. There are many applications where it is desired to find automatically groups or hidden information in the data set. Finding a model of the system based in the integration of several local models is placed among other applications. Local model could have many structures; however, a linear structure is the most common one, due to its simplicity. This work aims at finding improvements in several fields, but all them will be applied to this finding of a set of local models in a database. On the one hand, a way of codifying the categorical information into numerical values has been designed, in order to apply a numerical algorithm to the whole data set. On the other hand, a cost index has been developed, which will be optimized globally, to find the parameters of the local clusters that best define the output of the process. Each of the techniques has been applied to several experiments and results show the improvements over the actual techniques.Barceló Rico, F. (2009). New methods for discovering local behaviour in mixed databases. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/12739Archivo delegad

Evaluating mobile health applications as digital therapeutical products

The emergence of new technological advancements and the unprecedented expansion of mobile phone usage has led to the exponential growth of Mobile Health Applications (mHealth apps) development and implementation in the global markets. mHealth apps have created innovative channels to diagnose, treat, monitor, and engage with patients in various healthcare settings, and therefore, it is an important exploration in the fields of information technology, healthcare, and cognitive behavioural sciences. However, a significant portion of mHealth apps has been identified to be developed without scientific or clinical evidence. The objective of implementing the proposed “mHealth App Evaluation Tool” and its validation of the perceived usefulness of the tool from clinicians, mHealth app developers and end-users is to provide a solution for addressing the current gap in evaluating the efficacy of unregulated mHealth apps. An extensive review of the literature from 2010 to 2022 was conducted in three separate phases, gathering and synthesising the core concepts of the mHealth app landscape, proposed frameworks and parameters, the evolution and construction of unidimensional and multidimensional scales and the use of multi-stakeholder participation for a holistic evaluation process. The proposed mHealth app evaluation tool was developed on the foundation of six design drivers: modifiability, scalability, multi-stakeholder involvement, simultaneous management of multiple evaluation projects, ease of use and accessibility. The development of the tool utilised the RestFul API pattern, leveraging Laravel PHP and Vue.js frameworks. The data collection process was completed in two separate phases. The first phase involved the data obtained from the participant’s evaluation of the WYSA app using the proposed mHealth App Evaluation Tool. The system auto-generated an associated average score out of 5 against each evaluation. The second phase involved the data collection during the 30 minutes interview session. Due to the ever-changing nature of software applications, it is inevitable that the elements of mHealth app evaluation will continue to evolve and change over time. What is deemed to be necessary and critical in evaluating mHealth apps today may not be so in years to come. The mHealth App Evaluation tool addresses the need for future criteria modifications, scalability, and the necessity to obtain expert knowledge from multiple stakeholders for a holistic mHealth app evaluation