40 research outputs found
Ethical Issues in Text Mining for Mental Health
A recent systematic review of Machine Learning (ML) approaches to health data, containing over 100 studies, found that the most investigated problem was mental health (Yin et al., 2019). Relatedly, recent estimates suggest that between 165,000 and 325,000 health and wellness apps are now commercially available, with over 10,000 of those designed specifically for mental health (Carlo et al., 2019). In light of these trends, the present chapter has three aims: (1) provide an informative overview of some of the recent work taking place at the intersection of text mining and mental health so that we can (2) highlight and analyze several pressing ethical issues that are arising in this rapidly growing field and (3) suggest productive directions for how these issues might be better addressed within future interdisciplinary work to ensure the responsible development of text mining approaches in psychology generally, and in mental health fields, specifically. In Section 1, we review some of the recent literature on text-mining and mental health in the contexts of traditional experimental settings, social media, and research involving electronic health records. Then, in Section 2, we introduce and discuss ethical concerns that arise before, during, and after research is conducted. Finally, in Section 3, we offer several suggestions about how ethical oversight of text-mining research might be improved to be more responsive to the concerns mapped out in Section 2
Mind the Gaps: Ethical and Epistemic Issues in the Digital Mental Health Response to Covidâ19
Persons or datapoints?: Ethics, artificial intelligence, and the participatory turn in mental health research
This article identifies and examines a tension in mental health researchersâ growing enthusiasm for the use of computational tools powered by advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML). Although there is increasing recognition of the value of participatory methods in science generally and in mental health research specifically, many AI/ML approaches, fueled by an ever-growing number of sensors collecting multimodal data, risk further distancing participants from research processes and rendering them as mere vectors or collections of data points. The imperatives of the âparticipatory turnâ in mental health research may be at odds with the (often unquestioned) assumptions and data collection methods of AI/ML approaches. This article aims to show why this is a problem and how it might be addressed
Answering Dreyfus's Challenge: Toward a Theory of Concepts without Intellectualism
John McDowellâs debates about concepts with Robert Brandom and Hubert Dreyfus over the past two decades reveal key commitments each philosopher makes. McDowell is committed to giving concepts a role in our embodied coping, extending rational form to human experience. Brandom is committed to defining concepts in a way that helps make rationality distinct. And Dreyfus is committed to explaining how rational understanding develops out of lesser abilities we share with human infants and other animals (I call this âDreyfusâs challengeâ). These commitments appear irreconcilable. I argue to the contrary that they are, in principle, reconcilable, provided we give up their shared ârationalistâ commitment to the idea that the rational use of language is necessary for having concepts. First, I exploit Brandom and McDowellâs debate to motivate abandoning the rationalist commitment. Next, I exploit Dreyfus and McDowellâs debate to establish the need for a broader notion of concepts to answer Dreyfusâs challenge. I turn to Elizabeth Campâs broader notion of concepts as spontaneously, systematically recombinable representations, and establish that it lacks resources for distinguishing human rationality. To resolve that weakness, I integrate Campâs notion of concepts with John Haugelandâs theory of objectivity, which does make rationality distinct. Finally, drawing my integration of Camp and Haugeland, I propose a way to answer Dreyfusâs challenge, which I call ârelaxed holism.â The core of relaxed holism is a cumulative, developmental sequence of three related cognitive abilities: representation, concepts, and metacognition. I argue that relaxed holism also reconciles both McDowellâs commitment to giving normatively governed concepts a role in embodied coping, and Brandomâs commitment to defining concepts in a way that helps make rationality distinct
ConvBKI: Real-Time Probabilistic Semantic Mapping Network with Quantifiable Uncertainty
In this paper, we develop a modular neural network for real-time semantic
mapping in uncertain environments, which explicitly updates per-voxel
probabilistic distributions within a neural network layer. Our approach
combines the reliability of classical probabilistic algorithms with the
performance and efficiency of modern neural networks. Although robotic
perception is often divided between modern differentiable methods and classical
explicit methods, a union of both is necessary for real-time and trustworthy
performance. We introduce a novel Convolutional Bayesian Kernel Inference
(ConvBKI) layer which incorporates semantic segmentation predictions online
into a 3D map through a depthwise convolution layer by leveraging conjugate
priors. We compare ConvBKI against state-of-the-art deep learning approaches
and probabilistic algorithms for mapping to evaluate reliability and
performance. We also create a Robot Operating System (ROS) package of ConvBKI
and test it on real-world perceptually challenging off-road driving data.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2209.1066
Crime as Pollution? Theoretical, Definitional and Policy Concerns with Conceptualizing Crime as Pollution
Politics, economics, and spatial organization in two Québécois Cities
In this dissertation I present the results of comparative ethnographic and spatial research carried out in Alma and Saint-Georges, QuĂ©bec between August 2015 and July 2016. I chose these cities as field sites in order to study why two populations of nearly equal size (roughly thirty thousand) and extremely similar demographic, economic and social characteristics voted differently since 1976 on the two most salient political cleavages in QuĂ©bec â the left-right spectrum on economic issues and the question of provincial sovereignty. In the dissertation, I argue three main points. First, the political differences expressed in the voting histories of Alma and Saint-Georges seem to result from the different relationships between government and industrial development in Alma and Saint-Georges. I argue that a majority of people in Alma voted for left-of-centre political parties and for greater provincial sovereignty since 1976 because Alma's economic development was created by international capital that was regulated and planned by provincial authorities. In Saint-Georges, the majority of voters elected right-of-centre political parties and voted for federalism because the city's economic development was largely created by local entrepreneurs and by endogenous sources of capital. The second point I argue is that the relationship between people and their built environments can be used as a material index of political values. Using space syntax methods and Geographic Information Systems, I show that there are measurable spatial differences between Alma and Saint-Georges and explain how these differences reflect the political values of the respective majorities in both cities.The final point I argue is that the political and spatial differences between Alma and Saint-Georges can be considered justifiably cultural. I cover why the culture concept has fallen into disrepute in the discipline of anthropology and argue for its continued relevance. This dissertation could be useful to students and researchers who are interested in voting behaviour, QuĂ©bec politics, anthropological theory, space syntax methods and the relationship between humanity and its built environment.Cette thĂšse prĂ©sente les rĂ©sultats de recherches ethnographiques et spatiales comparatives rĂ©alisĂ©es Ă Alma et Saint-Georges (QuĂ©bec, Canada) entre aoĂ»t 2015 et juillet 2016. Ces villes ont Ă©tĂ© sĂ©lectionnĂ©es afin de comprendre de quelles maniĂšres ces deux populations d'environ trente mille habitants et des caractĂ©ristiques dĂ©mographiques, Ă©conomiques et sociales similaires, ont votĂ© diffĂ©remment depuis 1976 sur les deux clivages politiques les plus saillants au QuĂ©bec: le spectre gauche-droite sur les questions Ă©conomiques et la question de la souverainetĂ© provinciale.Dans cette thĂšse, je discute trois points principaux. PremiĂšrement, je considĂšre les diffĂ©rences politiques exprimĂ©es dans les histoires Ă©lectorales d'Alma et de Saint-Georges rĂ©sultant des diffĂ©rentes relations entre le gouvernement et le dĂ©veloppement industriel Ă Alma et Saint-Georges. Je soutiens que la majoritĂ© des citoyens d'Alma ont votĂ© pour des partis politiques de gauche et pour une plus grande souverainetĂ© provinciale depuis 1976 en rĂ©ponse au dĂ©veloppement Ă©conomique d'Alma crĂ©Ă© par l'appropriation d'un capital international rĂ©glementĂ© et planifiĂ© par les autoritĂ©s provinciales. Ă Saint-Georges, la majoritĂ© des Ă©lecteurs ont plutĂŽt Ă©lu des partis politiques de droite et ont votĂ© pour le fĂ©dĂ©ralisme puisque le dĂ©veloppement Ă©conomique de la ville Ă©tait, en grande partie, crĂ©Ă© par des entrepreneurs locaux et par des sources de capitaux endogĂšnes. En deuxiĂšme lieu, j'argumente que la relation entre les gens et leurs environnements construits peut ĂȘtre utilisĂ©e comme un indice matĂ©riel des valeurs politiques. En utilisant des mĂ©thodes de syntaxe spatiale et des SystĂšmes d'Information GĂ©ographique, je dĂ©montre qu'il existe des diffĂ©rences spatiales mesurables entre Alma et Saint-Georges et j'explique comment ces diffĂ©rences reflĂštent les valeurs politiques des majoritĂ©s respectives dans les deux villes.Finalement, je suggĂšre que les diffĂ©rences politiques et spatiales entre Alma et Saint-Georges soulignent certaines balises culturelles. Ă travers cette perspective, j'interroge le manque de pertinence attribuĂ© au concept de culture dans les dĂ©bats contemporains en anthropologie et je repositionne son importance analytique. Cette thĂšse sera utile pour les Ă©tudiants et les chercheurs qui s'intĂ©ressent au comportement Ă©lectoral, Ă la politique quĂ©bĂ©coise, Ă la thĂ©orie anthropologique, aux mĂ©thodes de syntaxe spatiale et aux relations entre l'humain et l'environnement construit
Tribes and revolution; the 'social factor' in Muammar Gadhafi's Libya and beyond
A revolt against Colonel Muammar Gadhafi's Libyan government began in February of 2011. The conflict lasted for eight months and affected the entire country. Two distinct sides fought for control during those eight months making the conflict a civil war. This master's thesis uses a series of interviews as well as the academic and journalistic literature produced about the Libyan conflict to argue that the war should also be understood as a revolution. Considering the war a revolution introduces a number of puzzles. Firstly, Colonel Gadhafi's position within Libya was officially symbolic in much the same way Great Britain's royalty is in Canada, yet Gadhafi was named as the revolution's primary enemy. Secondly, Libya was officially a popular democracy with no executive administrative branches. A revolution against a political elite was therefore theoretically impossible. Nonetheless, the Libyans I interviewed considered Gadhafi more than the purely symbolic leader of Libya, and felt that Libya was actually closer to a dictatorship than a popular democracy. This thesis investigates the discrepancies between official and unofficial realities in Libya by exploring the role of society in the history of Colonel Gadhafi's government. My analysis is focused by the question, "what role did tribes play in Libya's revolution?" I argue that tribes provided a system for conceptually organizing Libya's society during Colonel Gadhafi's tenure. This conceptual organization of Libya's society is both in evidence and contested by the revolution.Une rĂ©volte contre le gouvernement libyen du colonel Mouammar Kadhafi a commencĂ© en FĂ©vrier 2011. Le conflit a durĂ© huit mois et a affectĂ© l'ensemble du pays. Deux parties distinctes se sont battus pour le contrĂŽle pendant ces huit mois donc ce conflit peut-ĂȘtre considerer une guerre civile. Cette thĂšse utilise une sĂ©rie d'entrevues ainsi que la littĂ©rature acadĂ©mique et journalistique produite sur le conflit libyen de soutenir que la guerre doit aussi ĂȘtre comprise comme une rĂ©volution. Compte tenu de la guerre, une rĂ©volution introduit un certain nombre d'Ă©nigmes. Tout d'abord, la position du colonel Kadhafi en Libye a Ă©tĂ© officiellement symbolique en mĂȘme façon que la royautĂ© de la Grande-Bretagne est au Canada, mais Kadhafi a Ă©tĂ© pensĂ© comme principal ennemi de la rĂ©volution. DeuxiĂšmement, la Libye est officiellement une dĂ©mocratie populaire sans branches administratives exĂ©cutives. Une rĂ©volution contre une Ă©lite politique Ă©tait donc thĂ©oriquement impossible. NĂ©anmoins, les Libyens que j'ai interviewĂ© ont considĂ©rĂ© Kadhafi plus que le leader purement symbolique de la Libye, et a estimĂ© que la Libye Ă©tait en fait plus proche d'une dictature qu'Ă une dĂ©mocratie populaire. Cette thĂšse Ă©tudie les diffĂ©rences entre les rĂ©alitĂ©s officielles et non officielles en Libye, en explorant le rĂŽle de la sociĂ©tĂ© dans l'histoire du gouvernement du colonel Kadhafi. Mon analyse est focalisĂ©e par la question: «Quel est la rĂŽle que les tribus jouaient dans la rĂ©volution de la Libye?" Je soutiens que les tribus ont fourni un systĂšme pour organiser conceptuellement la sociĂ©tĂ© de la Libye au cours du mandat du colonel Kadhafi. Cette organisatio