This machine kills fascists : detecting propaganda with formal models of mass discourse structure (and other ideas)

This dissertation consists of three free-standing chapters, all of which deal with themes in the philosophy of language in general and in pragmatics in particular. Chapter 1 augments an existing model of discourse-level information structure in order to articulate relevance conditions that make the right predictions about the class of utterances I call higher order utterances. The apparatus introduced turns out also to have some utility for the representation of a certain kind of discourse defectiveness. Chapter 2 explores an analogy between communication and knowledge to ultimately advance the thesis that communication is not a uniquely valuable type of signaling event. Chapter 3 draws connections between propaganda and polarization, and then between the measurement of polarization and the tools used in the modeling of discourse structure. The upshot is that tools from formal pragmatics have an application in the characterization, and perhaps ultimately detection, of propaganda.Philosoph

Assessment of knowledge, attitudes and practices about public health nutrition among students of the University of Medicine in Tirana, Albania

Aim: the aim of this survey was twofold: (i): to assess medical students’ knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding nutrition in general, in order to identify their level of competences in the field of nutrition which will be useful in their future role of providers/health care professionals, and; (ii) to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding the discipline of public health nutrition in order to identify the needs for improving the curriculum of this subject in all the branches of the University of Medicine in Tirana. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in June-July 2013 including a representative sample of 347 students at the University of Medicine in Tirana, Albania (61% females and 39% males; overall mean age: 23±2 years; response rate: 87%). A nutritional questionnaire, adopted according to the models used in previous international studies, was used to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices among the university students. Results: Overall, about one third of the students was not satisfied with the quality and quantity of nutritional education and demanded a more scientifically rigorous curriculum. In general, students’ knowledge about infant feeding practices was adequate. However, there were gaps in the students’ knowledge regarding the commencement of breastfeeding, or the duration of exclusive breast-feeding. Furthermore, there was evidence of an insufficient level of knowledge among students regarding diet and nutrition in general and their health impact, especially on development and prevention of chronic diseases. Conclusion: This survey identified significant gaps in the current curriculum of public health nutrition at the University of Medicine in Tirana. Our findings suggest the need for intervention programs to improve both the quantitative and the qualitative aspects of nutrition curricula in all the branches of the University of Medicine Tirana, in accordance with the professional expectations of this teaching institution, as well as the urge for a movement towards a more integrated curriculum and problem-based learning approach

Luck and the Value of Communication

Those in the Gricean tradition take it that successful human communication features an audience who not only arrives at the intended content of the signal, but also recognizes the speaker’s intention that they do so. Some in this tradition have also argued that there are yet further conditions on communicative success, which rule out the possibility of communicating by luck. Supposing that both intention-recognition and some sort of anti-luck condition are correctly included in an analysis of human communication, this article asks what the value of events satisfying these conditions is. I present a puzzle concerning the value of intention-recognition which is analogous to the Meno Problem in epistemology, but ultimately argue that this puzzle is solveable: the signaling-relevant value of intention recognition can be vindicated. However, I argue that the version of this puzzle that concerns the further proposed luck-proofing conditions on communication can not be answered. I argue therefore that communication, as analyzed by many, is no more valuable qua signal than a proper subset of its conditions. Human communication is thennot a uniquely valuable signaling event

Propaganda, Irrationality, and Group Agency

I argue that propaganda does not characteristically interfere with individual rationality, but instead with group agency. Whereas it is often claimed that propaganda involves some sort of incitement to irrationality, I show that this is neither necessary nor sufficient for a case’s being one or propaganda. For instance, some propaganda constitutes evidence of the speaker’s power, or else of the risk and futility of opposing them, and there is nothing irrational about taking such evidence seriously. I outline an alternative account of propaganda inspired by Hannah Arendt, on which propaganda characteristically creates or destroys group agency. One aspiring to control the public should have an interest in both creating and suppressing group agency, I argue, both because groups have capacities that individuals don’t, and because participation in group action can have a transformative effect upon the individual. Finally, I suggest that my characterization of propaganda suggests a vision of resistance to propaganda quite unlike the one that emerges from irrational-belief accounts, on which propaganda cannot be resisted by oneself

Chocolate intake is associated with a lower body mass index in adult men and women in transitional Albania

Aim: In light of the controversial evidence regarding health effects of chocolate intake, we aimed to assess its association with body mass index (BMI) among adult individuals in Albania, a transitional post-communist country in South Eastern Europe which has traditionally employed a Mediterranean dietary pattern.     Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2003-2006 involving a population-based sample of 737 Tirana residents aged 35-74 years (469 men, 268 women; overall response: 70%). Of these, 565 individuals (373 men and 192 women) provided data on chocolate intake and anthropometrics (77% of the sample). A 105-item food frequency questionnaire, including chocolate consumption, was administered to all individuals. Nine categories were used to assess the average frequency of intake of each food item in the past 12 months. In the analysis, chocolate intake was dichotomized into: consumption of <1/month vs. ≥1/month. A physical examination included measurement of weight and height. Furthermore, information on socio-demographic characteristics and classical risk factors was collected. Multivariable-adjusted general linear model was used to calculate the mean BMI values by chocolate intake groupings.   Results: Upon simultaneous adjustment for socio-demographic characteristics, classical risk factors and nutritional factors, there was an inverse association between BMI and chocolate intake in both sexes (sex-pooled mean BMI: 26.1 among participants who consumed chocolate <1/month vs. 27.0 in those with an intake of ≥1/month; P<0.001).   Conclusions: This study points to a beneficial effect of moderate chocolate intake on lowering BMI, which deserves further vigorous investigation and replication in prospective studies in Albania and other populations

Chocolate intake is associated with a lower body mass index in adult men and women in transitional Albania

Aim: In light of the controversial evidence regarding health effects of chocolate intake, we aimed to assess its association with body mass index (BMI) among adult individuals in Albania, a transitional post-communist country in South Eastern Europe which has traditionally employed a Mediterranean dietary pattern.     Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2003-2006 involving a population-based sample of 737 Tirana residents aged 35-74 years (469 men, 268 women; overall response: 70%). Of these, 565 individuals (373 men and 192 women) provided data on chocolate intake and anthropometrics (77% of the sample). A 105-item food frequency questionnaire, including chocolate consumption, was administered to all individuals. Nine categories were used to assess the average frequency of intake of each food item in the past 12 months. In the analysis, chocolate intake was dichotomized into: consumption of <1/month vs. ≥1/month. A physical examination included measurement of weight and height. Furthermore, information on socio-demographic characteristics and classical risk factors was collected. Multivariable-adjusted general linear model was used to calculate the mean BMI values by chocolate intake groupings.   Results: Upon simultaneous adjustment for socio-demographic characteristics, classical risk factors and nutritional factors, there was an inverse association between BMI and chocolate intake in both sexes (sex-pooled mean BMI: 26.1 among participants who consumed chocolate <1/month vs. 27.0 in those with an intake of ≥1/month; P<0.001).   Conclusions: This study points to a beneficial effect of moderate chocolate intake on lowering BMI, which deserves further vigorous investigation and replication in prospective studies in Albania and other populations

Deepfakes, Public Announcements, and Political Mobilization

This paper takes up the question of how videographic public announcements (VPAs)---i.e. videos that a wide swath of the public sees and knows that everyone else can see too--- have functioned to mobilize people politically, and how the presence of deepfakes in our information environment stands to change the dynamics of this mobilization. Existing work by Regina Rini, Don Fallis and others has focused on the ways that deepfakes might interrupt our acquisition of first-order knowledge through videos. But I point out that even where every audience member takes a video to be veridical, where first-order knowledge acquisition is secure, an audience aware of deepfakes in their environment will not acquire higher order knowledge in the way that has erstwhile been characteristic for audiences of VPAs. Engaging with ideas from the literatures on public announcement logic, common knowledge, and convention, I enumerate a variety of ways in which we should expect this absence of higher order knowledge to throw up barriers to political mobilization. I go on to apply my analysis of VPAs to the mechanisms by which an uptick in publicly available videos of police brutality over the last decade, mediated by camera phones and social media, was responsible for the largest mass protests in US history in summer 2020. This makes vivid the stakes of the transformation in our mobilizing environment that I've claimed deepfakes effect: where we lose the common-knowledge-generating effects of VPAs, there are fresh obstacles to this sort of mass mobilization

Precipitation process in VM12 steel after ageing at 650ºC temperature

The material for research was high chromium martensitic VM12 steel. Test pieces were isothermally aged in the air atmosphere at the temperature of 650ºC and at times up to 5000 hours. Changes in the microstructure were observed and recorded by means of highresolution electron microscope JOEL JEM 3010 and scanning electron microscopy JOEL 6610LV. Identification of the precipitates was made using extraction carbon replicas and thin foils with the SAED method. Changes in the morphology of precipitates in VM12 steel have been shown in the form of diagrams. The research aim was to analyze the precipitation processes. The tests were performed on VM12 steel in the as-received condition (after heat treatment) and after 5000 hours of ageing at the temperature of 650ºC