Required mathematical properties and behaviors of uncertainty measures on belief intervals

The Dempster–Shafer theory of evidence (DST) has been widely used to handle uncertainty‐based information. It is based on the concept of basic probability assignment (BPA). Belief intervals are easier to manage than a BPA to represent uncertainty‐based information. For this reason, several uncertainty measures for DST recently proposed are based on belief intervals. In this study, we carry out a study about the crucial mathematical properties and behavioral requirements that must be verified by every uncertainty measure on belief intervals. We base on the study previously carried out for uncertainty measures on BPAs. Furthermore, we analyze which of these properties are satisfied by each one of the uncertainty measures on belief intervals proposed so far. Such a comparative analysis shows that, among these measures, the maximum of entropy on the belief intervals is the most suitable one to be employed in practical applications since it is the only one that satisfies all the required mathematical properties and behaviors

Maximum of entropy for belief intervals under Evidence Theory

The Dempster-Shafer Theory (DST) or Evidence Theory has been commonly used to deal with uncertainty. It is based on the basic probability assignment concept (BPA). The upper entropy on the credal set associated with a BPA is the only uncertainty measure in DST that verifies all the necessary mathematical properties and behaviors. Nonetheless, its computation is notably complex. For this reason, many alternatives to this measure have been recently proposed, but they do not satisfy most of the mathematical requirements and present some undesirable behaviors. Belief intervals have been frequently employed to quantify uncertainty in DST in the last years, and they can represent the uncertainty-basedinformation better than a BPA. In this research, we develop a new uncertainty measure that consists of the maximum of entropy on the credal set corresponding to belief intervals for singletons. It verifies all the crucial mathematical requirements and presents good behavior, solving most of the shortcomings found in uncertainty measures proposed recently. Moreover, its calculation is notably easier than the upper entropy on the credal set associated with the BPA. Therefore, our proposed uncertainty measure is more suitable to be used in practical applications.Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad TIN2016-77902-C3-2-PEuropean Union (EU) TEC2015-69496-

Hill-climbing and branch-and-bound algorithms for exact and approximate inference in credal networks

This paper proposes two new algorithms for inference in credal networks. These algorithms enable probability intervals to be obtained for the states of a given query variable. The first algorithm is approximate and uses the hill-climbing technique in the Shenoy–Shafer architecture to propagate in join trees; the second is exact and is a modification of Rocha and Cozman’s branch-and-bound algorithm, but applied to general directed acyclic graphs.TIN2004-06204-C03-0

Atitudes em relação à inclusão de futuros professores de Educação Física

Resumen: Introducción: Conocer las actitudes hacia la inclusión de los maestros es esencial para lograr una educación inclusiva de calidad. Objetivos: El objetivo del presente trabajo es explorar las actitudes hacia la inclusión de los futuros maestros de Educación Física. Métodos: 47 estudiantes de los Grados de Maestro en Educación Infantil y Educación Primaria, ambos con mención en Educación Física, han participado cumplimentando la Escala de Actitudes hacia las necesidades educativas especiales (EANEE). Resultados y discusión: Los resultados indican que la inclusión se percibe como beneficiosa, pero participantes con contacto previo con personas con discapacidad muestran una percepción negativa sobre la formación y competencia del profesorado a la hora de atender a la diversidad en las aulas. Conclusiones: Parece necesaria una mejora en los programas de formación de los futuros maestros para paliar esta percepción de falta de preparación hacia la inclusión educativa.Abstract: Introduction: T Knowledge of attitudes towards inclusion of teachers is essential to achieve a quality inclusive education. Aim: The objective of the present research is to explore the attitudes towards inclusion of the future teachers of Physical Education. Methods: 47 students from Degrees in Early Childhood Education and Primary Education have participated, both with a mention in Physical Education. They completed the questionnaire called Opinions Relative to Integration of Students with Disabilities Scale (ORI). Results & discussion: The results indicate that the inclusion is perceived as beneficial, however, those participants with prior contact with people with disabilities show a negative perception of the teacher's training and competence when dealing with diversity in the classroom. Conclusions: It seems necessary to improve the training programs of future teachers to alleviate this perception of lack of preparation for educational inclusion.Resumo: Introdução: Conhecer as atitudes em relação à inclusão de professores é essencial para alcançar uma educação inclusiva de qualidade. Objectivos: O objetivo deste trabalho é explorar as atitudes em relação à inclusão de futuros professores de Educação Física. Métodos: 47 alunas do Mestrado em Educação Infantil e Ensino Fundamental, ambas com especialização em Educação Física, participaram completando a Escala de Atitudes em relação às necessidades educacionais especiais (EANEE). Resultados e discussão: Os resultados indicam que a inclusão é percebida como benéfica, mas os participantes com contato prévio com pessoas com deficiência mostram uma percepção negativa da formação e competência do professor quando se trata de abordar a diversidade na sala de aula. Conclusões: Parece necessária uma melhoria nos programas de formação dos futuros professores para aliviar essa percepção de falta de preparação para a inclusão educacional

Using decision trees to extract decision rules from police reports on road accidents

The World Health Organization (WHO) considers that traffic accidents are major public health problem worldwide, for this reason safety managers try to identify the main factors affecting the severity as consequence of road accidents. In order to identify these factors, in this paper, Data Mining (DM) techniques such as Decision Trees (DTs), have been used. A dataset of traffic accidents on rural roads in the province of Granada (Spain) have been analyzed. DTs allow certain decision rules to be extracted. These rules could be used in future road safety campaigns and would enable managers to implement certain priority actions.TRYSE Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Granada, Spai

Extracting decision rules from police accident reports through decision trees

Given the current number of road accidents, the aim of many road safety analysts is to identify the main factors that contribute to crash severity. To pinpoint those factors, this paper shows an application that applies some of the methods most commonly used to build decision trees (DTs), which have not been applied to the road safety field before. An analysis of accidents on rural highways in the province of Granada (Spain) between 2003 and 2009 (both inclusive) showed that the methods used to build DTs serve our purpose and may even be complementary. Applying these methods has enabled potentially useful decision rules to be extracted that could be used by road safety analysts. For instance, some of the rules may indicate that women, contrary to men, increase their risk of severity under bad lighting conditions. The rules could be used in road safety campaigns to mitigate specific problems. This would enable managers to implement priority actions based on a classification of accidents by types (depending on their severity). However, the primary importance of this proposal is that other databases not used here (i.e. other infrastructure, roads and countries) could be used to identify unconventional problems in a manner easy for road safety managers to understand, as decision rules.TRYSE Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Granada, Spai