Ranking Alternatives on the Basis of the Intensity of Dominance and Fuzzy Logic within MAUT

We introduce dominance measuring methods to derive a ranking of alternatives to deal with incomplete information in multi-criteria decision making problems on the basis of Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT). We consider the situation where the alternative performances are represented by uniformly distributed intervals, and there exists imprecision concerning the decision-makers¿ preferences, by means of classes of individual utility functions and imprecise weights represented by weight intervals or fuzzy weights, respectively. An additive multi-attribute utility model is used to evaluate the alternatives under consideration, which is considered a valid approach in most practical cases. The approaches we propose are based on the dominance values between pairs of alternatives that can be computed by linear programming, which are then transformed into dominance intensities from which a dominance intensity measure is derived. The methods proposed are compared with other existing dominance measuring methods and other methodologies by Monte Carlo simulation techniques. The performance is analyzed in terms of two measures of efficacy: hit ratio, the proportion of all cases in which the method selects the same best alternative as in the TRUE ranking, and the Rank-order correlation, which represents how similar the overall rank structures of alternatives are in the TRUE ranking and in the ranking derived from the method. The approaches are illustrated with an example consisting on the selection of intervention strategies to restore an aquatic ecosystem contaminated by radionuclides

Burgos fin de siglo : El dinamismo patronal entre 1898 y 1906

Producción CientíficaLos arios finales del siglo pasado y el comienzo del siguiente presentan sin apenas discontinuidad intactas las estructuras socioprofesional y económica burgalesas, cuya modernización se producirá lentamente durante las primeras décadas del siglo XX (2). Ello no resulta contradictorio con la constatación de una viva participación y respuesta a la cotidianeidad local, regional o nacional, como evidencian el incipiente regionalismo (3) o el comportamiento de las fuerzas productoras, aspecto que seguidamente analizamos

The links among relative financial scarcity, thinking style, fatalism, and well-being

In the present research, we examined the links among relative financial scarcity, thinking style, fatalism, and well-being and their roles in predicting protective behaviors against COVID-19. Study 1 (N = 120) revealed that after an experimental manipulation to induce the perception of relative financial scarcity (versus financial abundance), people who perceived higher relative financial scarcity changed their thinking style to a more concrete mindset. In Study 2 (N = 873), the relative financial abundance–scarcity situation was measured, and the results showed that the greater the perceived relative financial scarcity was, the more concrete the mindset and the lower the sense of well-being. Importantly, we found that individuals who felt poorer but maintained an abstract thinking style reported higher well-being. Study 3 (N = 501) examined the influence of a concrete thinking style in people who perceived that their economic situation had worsened with the pandemic. The results showed that when this vulnerable population presented a more concrete mindset, they reported lower well-being, higher fatalism, and lower protective behavior against COVID-19. Thus, maintaining an abstract mindset promotes higher well-being, lower fatalism, and greater protective behaviors against COVID-19, even under economic difficulties. Because thinking style can be modified, our results encourage the development of new social intervention programs to promote an abstract mindset when people face important challengesMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación, Grant/Award Number: PGC2018-093821-B-I00, FEDER, MICIN

Does poverty promote a different and harmful way of thinking? The links between economic scarcity, concrete construal level and risk behaviors

We tested the relationships between economic scarcity, concrete construal level and risk behaviors. We manipulated the lack of economic resources using a priming task in Studies 1 and 2, and participants reported their real income and completed the BIF scale to measure their construal level in Study 3. Studies 1–3 supported the link between perceived economic scarcity and the concrete construal level. Study 4 demonstrated the mediating role played by the concrete construal level in the influence of economic scarcity on risk behaviors using two opposite priming procedures (scarcity plus abstraction). Study 5, in a real context of economic vulnerability, supported the link between concrete mindset and risk behavioral intentions, while abstraction was associated with fewer risk intentions. Concrete thinking implies focusing on the immediate situation, which might facilitate adaptation to the demanding conditions that characterize scarcity contexts but leaves people without a broad perspective of the future to make safe decisions in situations that involve self-control, such as health-risk behaviors. Because an abstract construal level can be induced, these findings open up challenging ways to improve the conditions in which people in scarcity contexts make some behavioral decisions while we continue working to reduce situations of economic scarcityThis research was funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation in Spain (PGC2018–093821-B-I00, FEDER, MICINN, Carrera and Caballero PIs

Guía metodológica para el personal académico; El espacio europeo de educación superior (EEES)

La presente guía responde a la convocatoria de Proyectos de Innovación y Mejora de la Calidad Docente emitida por la Oficina de Convergencia Europea (OCE) del Vicerrectorado de Desarrollo y Calidad de la Docencia. Su contenido se ajusta también a las líneas de acción que han venido estableciendo el Ministerio de Educación y Cultura (MEC) y el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (del que dependen ahora las Universidades) para avanzar en la integración del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES), así como al Plan de Acción Estratégica para el curso 2006-2007 de la Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología en lo que respecta a la adecuación y mejora de la metodología docente. El Objetivo de dicha metodología es el de atender las dificultades de integración del alumno, diseñando canales de ayuda que favorezcan su rendimiento. Esta guía, dirigida al personal académico, expone, por un lado, de manera sucinta, los principales elementos que dan vida al proyecto del EEES y, por otro, el momento en que se encuentra la Facultad de cara al año 2010, fecha escogida para la entrada en operación de dicho proyecto. En el desarrollo de esta guía han participado el secretario de la Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales, y director del proyecto, Rafael Caballero Sánchez, la vicedecana de Ordenación Académica, Pilar González Martínez, y el investigador Óscar Diego Bautista

¿Yerra el niño o yerra el libro de matemáticas?

Analizando los libros de texto de Matemáticas más utilizados en la Comunidad de Madrid, nos dimos cuenta de que contenían errores matemáticos. A partir de aquí, quisimos someter a revisión este material didáctico. En vista de los resultados obtenidos, concluimos que se hace necesario realizar una investigación más seria y objetiva que nos lleve a identificar errores matemáticos en libros de texto, describirlos, clasificarlos y descubrir las relaciones que pudieran existir entre las distintas clasificaciones que se establezcan, así como su incidencia en el rendimiento académico de los alumnos que los utilizan

The relationships between economic scarcity, concrete mindset and risk behavior: A study of nicaraguan adolescents

Background: Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, with an extremely low human development index (HDI). Fifty-two percent of the Nicaraguan population are children and adolescents under 18 years of age. Nicaraguan adolescents present several risk behaviors (such as teenage pregnancies, consumption of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis). Our study examines the links between risk behaviors, fatalism, real economic scarcity, and concrete construal level for adolescents with low and middle-low socioeconomic status in Nicaragua. Methods: Nicaraguan adolescents (N = 834) from schools located in especially vulnerable areas (low economic status) or in neighborhoods with middle-low social class completed several scales and questions to evaluate fatalism (SFC—social fatalism scale), construal level (BIF) and their past and future risk behaviors (smoking cigarettes, smoking cannabis, unsafe sex, and alcohol consumption). Results: We identified that the poorest individuals who maintained a concrete style of thinking had the highest rates of past and future risk behaviors. This vulnerable group also reported the highest levels of fatalism, i.e., negative attitudes and feelings of helplessness. Encouragingly, the adolescents who were able to maintain an abstract mindset reported healthier past and future habits and lower fatalism, even when they belonged to the lowest social status. In the middle-low economic group, the construal level was not as relevant to maintaining healthy habits, as adolescents reported similar rates of past and future risk behavior at both construal levels. Conclusions: All these results support the importance of considering construal level when studying vulnerable populations and designing risk prevention programs.This research was funded by: FEDER/MUNCYT-MIC (grant number: PGC2018-093821-B-I00) and Andalusian Agency for International Cooperation and Development Project (0DH025/2016). And the APC was funded by PGC2018-093821-B-I0

Ordenación de las alternativas basándose en intervalos de veto y ajuste

En este trabajo se presenta un método de ordenación de alternativas para problemas de toma de decisiones multicriterio en grupo, donde se conoce la importancia relativa de los decisores involucrados y sus preferencias se representan mediante una función de utilidad multiatributo aditiva. Suponemos que los decisores pueden definir un umbral de veto para los distintos criterios. El método propuesto identifica un intervalo de veto y otro de ajuste a partir de los vetos individuales proporcionados por cada decisor para cada uno de los criterios y, a partir de ellos, construye una función de veto, que permitirá vetar aquellas alternativas que tomen valores en la intervalo de veto; y una función de ajuste, que disminuirá la utilidad de las alternativas cuando contengan algún valor en un atributo dentro del intervalo de ajuste. Ambas funciones se incorporan convenientemente en el modelo en utilidad multiatributo aditivo para obtener una ordenación final de las alternativas consideradas

Dominance intensity measure within fuzzy weight oriented MAUT: an application

We introduce a dominance intensity measuring method to derive a ranking of alternatives to deal with incomplete information in multi-criteria decision-making problems on the basis of multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT) and fuzzy sets theory. We consider the situation where there is imprecision concerning decision-makers’ preferences, and imprecise weights are represented by trapezoidal fuzzy weights.The proposed method is based on the dominance values between pairs of alternatives. These values can be computed by linear programming, as an additive multi-attribute utility model is used to rate the alternatives. Dominance values are then transformed into dominance intensity measures, used to rank the alternatives under consideration. Distances between fuzzy numbers based on the generalization of the left and right fuzzy numbers are utilized to account for fuzzy weights. An example concerning the selection of intervention strategies to restore an aquatic ecosystem contaminated by radionuclides illustrates the approach. Monte Carlo simulation techniques have been used to show that the proposed method performs well for different imprecision levels in terms of a hit ratio and a rank-order correlation measure

Veto values in Group Decision Making within MAUT: aggregating complete rankings derived from dominance intensity measures

We consider a groupdecision-making problem within multi-attribute utility theory, in which the relative importance of decisionmakers (DMs) is known and their preferences are represented by means of an additive function. We allow DMs to provide veto values for the attribute under consideration and build veto and adjust functions that are incorporated into the additive model. Veto functions check whether alternative performances are within the respective veto intervals, making the overall utility of the alternative equal to 0, where as adjust functions reduce the utilty of the alternative performance to match the preferences of other DMs. Dominance measuring methods are used to account for imprecise information in the decision-making scenario and to derive a ranking of alternatives for each DM. Specifically, ordinal information about the relative importance of criteria is provided by each DM. Finally, an extension of Kemeny's method is used to aggregate the alternative rankings from the DMs accounting for the irrelative importance