Knowledge and the Importance of Being Right

Some philosophers have recently argued that whether a true belief amounts to knowledge in a specific circumstance depends on features of the subject’s practical situation that are unrelated to the truth of the subject’s belief, such as the costs for the subject of being wrong about whether the believed proposition is true. One of the best-known arguments used to support this view is that it best explains a number of paradigmatic cases, such as the well-known Bank Case, in which a difference in knowledge occurs in subjects differing exclusively with respect to their practical situation. I suggest an alternative explanation of such cases. My explanation has a disjunctive character: on the one hand, it accounts for cases in which the subject is aware of the costs of being wrong in a given situation in terms of the influence of psychological factors on her mechanisms of belief-formation and revision. On the other hand, it accounts for cases in which the subject is ignorant of the costs of being wrong in her situation by imposing a new condition on knowledge. This condition is that one knows that p only if one does not underestimate the importance of being right about whether p. I argue that my explanation has a number of advantages over other invariantist explanations: it accounts for all the relevant cases preserving the semantic significance of our ordinary intuitions, it is compatible with an intellectualist account of knowledge and it escapes several problems affecting competing views

An Integrated Assessment Framework for Water Resources Management: A DSS Tool and a Pilot Study Application

Decision making for the management of water resources is a complex and difficult task. This is due to the complex socio-economic system that involves a large number of interest groups pursuing multiple and conflicting objectives, within an often intricate legislative framework. Several Decision Support Systems have been developed but very few have indeed proved to be effective and truly operational. MULINO (Multisectoral, Integrated and Operational Decision Support System for Sustainable Use of Water Resources at the Catchment Scale) is a project funded under the Fifth Framework Programme of the European Research and the key action line dedicated to operational management schemes and decision support system for sustainable use of water resources. The MULINO DSS (mDSS) integrates hydrological models with multi-criteria decision methods and adopts the DPSIR (Driving Force – Pressure – State – Impact – Response) framework developed by the European Environment Agency. The DPSIR was converted from a static reporting scheme into a dynamic framework for integrated assessment modelling (IAM) and multi-criteria evaluation procedures. This paper presents the methodological framework and the intermediate results of the mDSS tool through its application in a pilot study area located in the Watershed of the Lagoon of Venice.Integrated water resources management, Spatial decision-making, Decision support system, Catchment, Environmental modelling

Evaluation of Urban Improvement on the Islands of the Venice Lagoon: A Spatially-Distributed Hedonic-Hierarchical Approach

This paper presents a model for the evaluation of environmental and urban improvements on the islands of the Venetian lagoon. The model simulates the changes in residential real estate values using a value function integrated in a geographical database which provides spatial distributions of values changes. The fairly weak market signals, fragmented demand and strong externalities, and the scarcity of market data available do not permit the use of econometric models for value appraisal. Appropriate hedonic-hierarchical value functions are calibrated on the basis of a set of indicators of the characteristics of the buildings and the location. Some applications of the model are illustrated simulating two scenarios of future interventions which are actually being discussed or realised and involving the island of Murano, Burano and S. Erasmo in the Venice Lagoon. The interventions considered are: subway beyond the lagoon connecting Murano with Venice and the mainland, and the solution of “high water” problems on Murano, Burano and S. Erasmo.Public work assessment, Property value, Hierarchical analysis

Wnt pathway involvement and its response to treatment in the development of bone damage in different inflammatory and non-inflammatory rheumatic contidions

Inflammatory conditions such as Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) are characterised by impaired bone health, with bone loss occurring both systemically and locally (erosions). Other conditions, such as Diffuse Idiopatic Skeletal Hyperostosis (DISH) are not usually associated with significant systemic inflammation but nonetheless can show signs of impaired bone health, in the form of osteoporosis and bone ectopic neoformation. The Wnt/B-catenin pathway is the master regulator of osteogenesis, and its role has been extensively investigated in the last years. The objective of the presen thesis is to investigate the role of the main Wnt pathway modulators (Dkk-1 and sclerostin) in inflammatory conditions such as RA and polymyalgia rheumatica and the effect of different treatment on their serum levels. Furthermore, the Wnt pathway dysregulation in a non-inflammatory conditions such as DISH will be investigated and discussed

Envejecimiento poblacional y su impacto en las organizaciones : La visión de los profesionales de edad avanzada que continúan trabajando

Simultáneamente al incremento de la esperanza de vida, el ciclo laboral se ha vuelto más corto y flexible en un marco de crisis de los sistemas previsionales. Esta descripción problemática conlleva a la necesidad de un debate sobre la jubilación como derecho y sobre los incentivos/obstáculos organizacionales para promover la permanencia de sus trabajadores mayores. A partir del análisis de entrevistas en profundidad se aborda la continuidad laboral a edades avanzadas, y se indaga sobre las variables organizacionales y personales que son tenidas en cuenta en la decisión de trabajar más allá de la edad jubilatoria por parte de profesionales jubilados o jubilables en el sector públic

Energy and food production with a Systemic Approach"

we suggest a new innovativ approach to sustainable production of energy and food. We also offer concrete policies for addressing a range of problems and difficulties associated with our current production mode

An assessment of the genus Columbella Lamarck, 1799 (Gastropoda: Columbellidae) from eastern Atlantic

Three species of the neogastropod genus Columbella Lamarck, 1799 are recognised from the northeastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. One is the common Mediterranean C. rustica (Linnaeus, 1758), with paucispiral protoconch, extending its range in the Atlantic South to Senegal and North to Portugal. Columbella adansoni Menke, 1853, with multispiral protoconch is restricted to the Macaronesian archipelagoes. A third species, also with multispiral protoconch, from West Africa is recognised through molecular methods, and the name C. xiphitella Duclos, 1840 is employed by correcting the original erroneous locality (“Californie”) to Gabon. Except for protoconch features, no major morphological characters are available to separate the three species; however diagnostic species-level differences in specific positions in the cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) sequences are present between all three species