This article examines the operation of “reasonable steps” as a statutory standard for analysis of the availability of the defence of belief in consent in sexual assault cases and concludes that application of section 273.2(b) of the Criminal Code, as presently worded, often undermines the legal validity and correctness of decisions about whether the accused acted with mens rea, a guilty, blameworthy state of mind. When the conduct of an accused who is alleged to have made a mistake about whether (...) a complainant communicated consent is assessed by the hybrid subjective-objective reasonableness standard prescribed by s. 273.2, many decision-makers rely on extra-legal criteria and assumptions grounded on their personal experience and opinion about what is reasonable. In the midst of debate over what the accused knew and what steps were “reasonable” given what the accused knew, the legal definition of consent in section 273.1 is easily over-looked and decision-makers focus on facts that are legally irrelevant and prejudice rational deliberation. -/- That is precisely what we see here; the result is often failure to enforce the law. The author proposes: -/- (a) that section 273.2 be amended to reflect the significant developments achieved in sexual consent jurisprudence since enactment of the provision in 1992; and -/- (b) that, in the interim, the judiciary act with resolve to make full and proper use of the statutory and common law tools that are presently available to determine whether the accused acted with mens rea in relation to the absence of sexual consent. (shrink)

In his book, "Prejudice", Endre Begby offers a novel and engaging account of the epistemology of prejudice which challenges some of the standard assumptions that have so far guided the recent discussion on the topic. One of Begby's central arguments against the standard view of prejudice, according to which a prejudiced person necessarily displays an epistemically culpable resistance to counterevidence, is that, qua stereotype judgments, prejudices can be flexible and rationally maintained upon encountering many disconfirming instances. By expanding on Begby's (...) analysis, I argue that, given the variety of truth conditions for true generic statements, the generic form of stereotype judgements can sometimes make prejudice extremely resistant to encounters with statistical facts about the distribution of the property among members of a certain group. At the same time, I argue that a more careful consideration of the generic form of stereotypes also allows us to recognize that evidence about how many members of the kind instantiate a property is not the only type of evidence which could disconfirm a prejudice. Evidence of no explanatory relation between a kind and a property should also have a direct effect on a prejudicial belief. For this reason, things may not look as dim for the standard view of prejudice in assessing paradigmatic instances of prejudicial beliefs as irrationally resistant to evidence. (shrink)

Consider the case wherein a person refuses to listen to a woman’s testimony of leadership, due to the belief that women are incompetent. This is testimonial injustice. It involves the hearer’s prejudicial belief over the speaker’s socially imagined identity. This injustice creates lasting kinds of harms to one’s epistemic self-respect and freedom, as the hearer gives a decreased credibility level to the speaker. In Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing, Miranda Fricker proposes the virtue of testimonial justice, (...) which aims to restrain identity prejudice from harming speakers. With this, the hearer reflexively identifies her prejudice and corrects or suspends it. In this essay, I argue that employing the cognitive attitude of suspension is counter-effective to the purpose of the virtue. I explain my argument through the following: 1) the relationship of inquiring attitudes (IAs) with the attitude of suspension; and 2) the argumentative function of reason. Through the suspension of prejudice an IA over the prejudice is acquired by the hearer. Consider, “Is my belief that all women are weak, true?” From this, the argumentative function of reason, and confirmation bias, a metacognitive desire to reaffirm and reestablish the prejudice arises. Thus, defeating the purpose of the virtue. As such, I suggest the attitude of acceptance instead, which serves as settled judgement over the prejudice’s truth and need not involve belief. Through it, the hearer does not inquire over the status of the prejudice’s truth, removing the problems presented by suspension of judgement. (shrink)

The study investigated Meta-analysis on the effects of financial status on nutrigenomics and personalized diet in Nigeria. The study was guided by four research questions and three null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. The designs for this study were systematic review and meta-analytic. The study has infinite population. However, 53 studies on the effects of financial status on nutrigenomics and personalized diet in Nigeria were identified. Out of the 53 studies identified, only 31 studies which met the requirements (...) for meta-analysis were used as the sample. The sampling techniques were purposive and snowballing. A pro-forma was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by experts and the internal consistency reliability value of 0.97 was obtained using inter-rater agreement. Data collected with the instrument were analyzed with effect size, average weighted mean Z, Winer combined test and Fisher statistical transformation tables. The findings of the study revealed: moderate effect size on lower and upper financial status on nutrigenomics and personalized diet, small effect size on upper financial status on nutrigenomics and personalized diet, large effect size on lower financial status on nutrigenomics and personalized diet and variation on effect sizes of lower and upper financial status on nutrigenomics and personalized diet and significant effect sizes on upper, lower and consequently on lower and upper financial status on nutrigenomics and personalized diet 464 at Z-critical value of 1.96 at the 0.05 level of significance. (shrink)

Teacher quality, its effect on students’ outcomes, and the association of these with economic growth, is the core of recent discussions in Latin America given the region’s weak results in international learning assessments. This paper investigates whether there is an effect of philosophy on the outcomes of critical reading for students in B.Ed. programs in Colombia. Relying on exact matching combined with propensity score matching with regression adjustment, we use national data from Colombia to show that students in (...) B.Ed. in philosophy outperformed students in other B.Ed. in critical reading test (0.401–0.124 SD), and, importantly, with higher effects observed for students with lower prior academic achievement (0.44 SD). This suggests that philosophy can help to narrow educational outcomes of students whose socioeconomic conditions are disadvantageous, contributing to social justice in education. (shrink)

Chilling Effects occur when the risks surrounding a speech restriction inadvertently deter speech that lies outside the restriction’s official scope. Contrary to the standard interpretation of this phenomenon I show how speech deterrence for individuals can sometimes, instead of suppressing discourse at the group level, intensify it – with results that are still unwelcome, but crucially unlike a ‘chill’. Inadvertent deterrence of speech may, counterintuitively, create a Heating Effect. This proposal gives us a promising explanation of the intensity of (...) public debate on topics for which there is, simultaneously, evidence of people self-censoring, for fear of breaching speech restrictions. It also helps to pinpoint two problems with existing theoretical analyses of the Chilling Effect: (i) in how they construe the relation between individual- and group-level discursive phenomena; and (ii) how they characterize the distinctively wrongful nature of inadvertent speech deterrence. (shrink)

Measuring the effectiveness of medical interventions faces three epistemological challenges: the choice of good measuring instruments, the use of appropriate analytic measures, and the use of a reliable method of extrapolating measures from an experimental context to a more general context. In practice each of these challenges contributes to overestimating the effectiveness of medical interventions. These challenges suggest the need for corrective normative principles. The instruments employed in clinical research should measure patient-relevant and disease-specific parameters, and should not be sensitive (...) to parameters that are only indirectly relevant. Effectiveness always should be measured and reported in absolute terms (using measures such as 'absolute risk reduction'), and only sometimes should effectiveness also be measured and reported in relative terms (using measures such as 'relative risk reduction')-employment of relative measures promotes an informal fallacy akin to the base-rate fallacy, which can be exploited to exaggerate claims of effectiveness. Finally, extrapolating from research settings to clinical settings should more rigorously take into account possible ways in which the intervention in question can fail to be effective in a target population. (shrink)

The “principle of double effect” is a vital tool for moral decision making and is applicable to all areas of medical practice, including (for example) end-of-life care, transplant medicine, and cases of conscientious objection. Both our ultimate and our more immediate intentions are relevant in making and evaluating choices— though side effects must be kept proportionate and can be morally conclusive when linked with some intentions. Intentions help to form the character of doctors, and of human beings generally. While (...) hypocrisy is certainly possible in regard to this form (and other forms) of moral reasoning, double effect reasoning, sincerely practised, remains indispensable in identifying moral problems and solutions. (shrink)

In “Diversifying Effective Altruism’s Longshots in Animal Advocacy”, Matthew C. Halteman acknowledges the value of aspects of the EA method but considers two potential critical concerns. First, it isn’t always clear that effective altruism succeeds in doing the most good, especially where long-shots like foiling misaligned AI or producing meat without animals are concerned. Second, one might worry that investing large sums of money in long-shots like these, even if they do succeed, has the opportunity cost of failing adequately to (...) combat systemic injustice in the shorter term. This chapter explains each of these reservations and goes on to suggest some exciting new initiatives—institution-building in Black veganism, higher education, and religious communities—that could mitigate these reservations, energize and diversify the movement, and remain true to the EA method of supporting underexploited but potentially high-impact causes that produce non-fungible goods otherwise unlikely to be funded. (shrink)

In a series of ten preregistered experiments (N=2043), we investigate the effect of outcome valence on judgments of probability, negligence, and culpability – a phenomenon sometimes labelled moral (and legal) luck. We found that harmful outcomes, when contrasted with neutral outcomes, lead to increased perceived probability of harm ex post, and consequently to increased attribution of negligence and culpability. Rather than simply postulating a hindsight bias (as is common), we employ a variety of empirical means to demonstrate that the (...) outcome-driven asymmetry across perceived probabilities constitutes a systematic cognitive distortion. We then explore three distinct strategies to alleviate the hindsight bias and its downstream effects on mens rea and culpability ascriptions. Not all are successful, but at least some prove promising. They should, we argue, be taken into consideration in criminal jurisprudence, where distortions due to the hindsight bias are likely considerable and deeply disconcerting. (shrink)

La función de los órganos jurisdiccionales nacionales como jueces ordinarios del Derecho de la Unión Europea es una de las cuestiones jurídicas fundamentales del proceso de integración europea. -/- En el ámbito de dicha función, la cuestión prejudicial es un instrumento esencial para garantizar una interpretación y aplicación homogénea del Derecho de la Unión además de coadyuvar a la cooperación entre los jueces nacionales y el Tribunal de Justicia. -/- Vamos a tratar de estudiar este instrumento del planteamiento de (...) la cuestión prejudicial, en particular por parte de los órganos jurisdiccionales españoles, tanto desde el punto de vista europeo como nacional, atendiendo a la jurisprudencia del Tribunal de Justicia y de nuestro Tribunal Constitucional. (shrink)

To be effective, a medical intervention must improve one's health by targeting a disease. The concept of disease, though, is controversial. Among the leading accounts of disease-naturalism, normativism, hybridism, and eliminativism-I defend a version of hybridism. A hybrid account of disease holds that for a state to be a disease that state must both (i) have a constitutive causal basis and (ii) cause harm. The dual requirement of hybridism entails that a medical intervention, to be deemed effective, must target either (...) the constitutive causal basis of a disease or the harms caused by the disease (or ideally both). This provides a theoretical underpinning to the two principle aims of medical treatment: care and cure. (shrink)

Effective altruism sounds so innocuous—who could possibly be opposed to doing good more effectively? Yet it has inspired significant backlash in recent years. This paper addresses some common misconceptions and argues that the core “beneficentric” ideas of effective altruism are both excellent and widely neglected. Reasonable people may disagree on details of implementation, but all should share the basic goals or values underlying effective altruism.

I argue against the Doctrine of Double Effect’s explanation of the moral difference between terror bombing and strategic bombing. I show that the standard thought-experiment of Terror Bomber and Strategic Bomber which dominates this debate is underdetermined in three crucial respects: (1) the non-psychological worlds of Terror Bomber and Strategic Bomber; (2) the psychologies of Terror Bomber and Strategic Bomber; and (3) the structure of the thought-experiment, especially in relation to its similarity with the Trolley Problem. (1) If the (...) two worlds are not identical, then it may be these differences between the two worlds and not the Doctrine of Double Effect to explain the moral difference; (2a) if Terror Bomber and Strategic Bomber have the same causal beliefs, then why does Terror Bomber set out to kill the children? It may then be this unwarranted and immoral choice and not the Doctrine of Double Effect that explains the moral difference; (2b) if the two have different causal beliefs, then we can’t rule out the counterfactual that, had Strategic Bomber had the same beliefs as Terror Bomber, she would have also acted as Terror Bomber did. Finally, (3) the Strategic Bomber scenario could also be constructed so as to be structurally equivalent to the Fat Man scenario in the Trolley Problem: but then the Doctrine of Double Effect would give different answers to two symmetrical cases. (shrink)

Information technology (IT) is continuously making astounding progress in technical efficiency. The time, space, material and energy needed to provide a unit of IT service have decreased by three orders of magnitude since the first personal computer (PC) was sold. However, it seems difficult for society to translate IT’s efficiency progress into progress in terms of individual, organizational or socio-economic goals. In particular it seems to be difficult for individuals to work more efficiently, for organizations to be more productive and (...) for the socio-economic system to be more sustainable by using increasingly efficient IT. This article provides empirical evidence and potential explanations for this problem. Many counterproductive effects of IT can be explained economically by rebound effects. Beyond that, we conclude that the technological determinism adopted by decision-makers is the main obstacle in translating IT’s progress into non-technical goals. (shrink)

Abstract: In this research, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model was developed and tested to predict effect of oxygen consumption of thylakoid membranes (chloroplasts) from spinach after inhibition. A number of factors were identified that may affect of oxygen consumption of thylakoid membranes from spinach. Factors such as curve, herbicide, dose, among others, as input variables for the ANN model. A model based on multi-layer concept topology was developed and trained using the data from some inhibition of photosynthesis in (...) farms. The evaluation of testing the dataset shows that the ANN model is capable of correctly predicting the effect of oxygen consumption of thylakoid membranes (chloroplasts) from spinach after inhibition with 100% accuracy. (shrink)

In assessing the efficacy of academic programs, tracer studies serve as indispensable tools, offering insights into graduates' whereabouts and performance in the workforce. This study focuses on tracing the trajectories of Agusan Colleges Incorporated (ACI) graduates from 2014-2015 to 2017-2018, shedding light on the relevance and effectiveness of the institution's degree programs. It determined the demographic profile, employment characteristics of the graduates, evaluated the curriculum’s usefulness of the skills and the relevance of the courses to their professional lives. The study (...) was anchored on Yorke and Knight's employability theory (2004) and applied the Input, Process, Output (IPO) model. A sample size of 146 participants was considered applied with convenient sampling. Descriptive survey method was used and adapted the CHED tracer study questionnaire with other tracer studies of higher educational institutions. Profile variables and employment characteristics were treated with frequency and percent distribution. Relevance and effectiveness were subjected to weighted mean. The study revealed that a majority of participants were young adult females, with almost equal numbers married and single. Currently, 84% are employed, primarily in teaching, government agencies, and business-related roles, with salaries ranging from 10,000 to 34,000 pesos per month, typically with one to six years of service. The findings highlighted the high utility of teaching, communication, entrepreneurial, and human relations skills in participants' workplaces. Core and professional courses were moderately relevant across most programs, while co-curricular courses showed slight relevance, and extracurricular courses were deemed irrelevant to their professional work. Hence, a curriculum evaluation is proposed and also, to future researchers may conduct another tracer study that would include assessment of employers and the live experiences of the employed graduates. (shrink)

This study investigates the dynamic relationship between knowledge management systems, particularly emphasizing knowledge acquisition and dissemination, and their impact on academic staff's teaching motivation. By employing the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF), data from 676 academic staff at higher education institutions in Vietnam was analyzed, revealing a complex interplay of factors. Notably, positive associations were found between knowledge acquisition, knowledge dissemination, and teaching motivation. However, the interaction effect of knowledge acquisition and knowledge dissemination appeared to be negatively associated with teaching (...) motivation. This suggests the possible existence of a resource curse of knowledge in improving staff’s teaching motivation. It is recommended that the knowledge systems are refined to reduce complexity and that staff are trained with better knowledge processing methods for reducing resource curse risks. (shrink)

Side effects are ubiquitous in medicine and they often play a role in treatment decisions for patients and clinicians alike. Philosophers and health researchers often use side effects to illustrate issues with contemporary medical research and practice. However, technical definitions of ‘side effect’ differ among health authorities. Thus, determining the side effects of an intervention can differ depending on whose definition we assume. Here I review some of the common definitions of side effect and highlight their issues. In (...) response, I offer an account of side effects as jointly (i) unintended and (ii) effects due to the causal capacities or invariances of an intervention. I discuss (i) by examining the intentions or reasons behind therapeutic interventions, and I discuss (ii) by appealing to a manipulationist model of causation. The analysis here highlights that side effects are conceptually distinct from related outcomes like adverse events, adverse drug reactions, and placebo effects. The analysis also allows for reflection on the utility of ‘side effect’ as a technical term in medical research and practice. (shrink)

This paper addresses issues regarding perceptions of surveillance technologies in Europe. It analyses existing studies in order to explore how perceptions of surveillance affect and are affected by the negative effects of surveillance and how perceptions and effectiveness of surveillance technologies relate to each other. The paper identifies 12 negative effects of surveillance including, among others, privacy intrusion, the chilling effect and social exclusion, and classifies them into three groups. It further illustrates the different ways in which perceptions and (...) effectiveness of surveillance interact with each other, distinguishing between perceived security and perceived effectiveness. Finally, the paper advances a methodology to take into account perception issues when designing new surveillance technologies. By doing so, it rejects manipulative measures aiming at improving perceptions only and suggests measures that address the background conditions affecting perceptions. (shrink)

Coastal protection is crucial to human development since the ocean has many values associated with the economy, ecosystem, and culture. However, most ocean protecting efforts are currently ineffective due to the burdens of finance, lack of appropriate management, and international cooperation regimes. For aiding bottom-up initiatives for ocean protection support, this study employed the Mindsponge Theory to examine how the public’s perceived economic and cultural values influence their willingness to support actions to protect the ocean. Analyzing the European-Union-Horizon-2020-funded dataset of (...) 709 respondents from 42 countries, we discovered that perceived economic values have negative effects on the tendency of ocean protection supports (i.e., food, transportation, renewable energy, oil and gas, and recreation). In contrast, certain perceived cultural values can help increase the willingness to do so (i.e., mental well-being and sense of identity). However, the effects of perceived cultural values are only moderately reliable. These findings suggest that designing cultural information delivery campaigns can help promote coastal reserve supports, such as fundraisings and preserving the oceans from the community. (shrink)

One of the main objections against effective altruism is the so-called institutional critique, according to which the EA movement neglects interventions that affect large-scale institutions. Alexander Dietz has recently put forward an interesting version of this critique, based on a theoretical problem affecting act-utilitarianism, which he deems as potentially conclusive against effective altruism. In this article I argue that his critique is not as promising as it seems. I then go on to propose another version of the institutional critique. In (...) contrast to Dietz's version, it targets not the core principles of effective altruism but rather some important methodological assumptions made in EA research, namely diminishing marginal returns and low-hanging fruits. One key conclusion is that it may be time for critics of effective altruism to shift their attention from the theoretical core principles of effective altruism towards the methodological tools actually employed in practice by the EA movement. (shrink)

The global water crisis is being exacerbated by climate change, even in the United States. Recycled water is a feasible alternative to alleviate the water shortage, but it is constrained by humans’ perceptions. The current study examines how residents’ water scarcity awareness and climate change belief influence their willingness to use recycled water directly and indirectly. Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics was employed on a dataset of 1831 residents in Albuquerque, New Mexico, an arid inland region in the US. We (...) discovered that residents’ willingness to use direct recycled potable water is positively affected by their awareness of water scarcity, but the effect is conditional on their belief in the impacts of climate change on the water cycle. Meanwhile, the willingness to use indirect recycled potable water is influenced by water scarcity awareness, and the belief in climate change further enhances this effect. These findings implicate that fighting climate change denialism and informing the public of the water scarcity situation in the region can contribute to the effectiveness and sustainability of long-term water conservation and climate change alleviation efforts. (shrink)

In experimental settings, scientists often “make” new things, in which case the aim is to intervene in order to produce experimental objects and processes—characterized as ‘effects’. In this discussion, I illuminate an important performative function in measurement and experimentation in general: intervention-based experimental production (IEP). I argue that even though the goal of IEP is the production of new effects, it can be informative for causal details in scientific representations. Specifically, IEP can be informative about causal relations in: regularities under (...) study; ‘intervention systems’, which are measurement/experimental systems; and new technological systems. (shrink)

Three accounts of effective realism (ER) have been advanced to solve three problems for scientific realism: Fraser and Vickers (forthcoming) develop a version of ER about non-relativistic quantum mechanics that they argue is compatible with all the main realist versions (‘interpretations’) of quantum mechanics avoiding the problem of underdetermination among them; Williams (2019) and Fraser (2020b) propose ER about quantum field theory as a response to the problems facing realist interpretations; Robertson and Wilson (forthcoming) propose ER to deal with the (...) dubious ontological status of the entities belonging to superseded theories. This paper argues for the unification of these proposals based on realism about modal structure and the idea of scale relativity of ontology developed by ontic structural realists. This solves problems some or all the accounts of ER face, especially that of making explicit in what way they are realist. Furthermore, we respond to a recent critique that has been raised against the ontic structural realist account of quantum mechanics that we employ. (shrink)

Disintegration is the most important step for drug bioavailability because after, the disintegration process, the ingredients of solid dosage forms dissolve and become bioavailable. Generally, the tablets and capsules should be taken with a glass of water otherwise the manufacturer gives instructions to use the proper beverage. Several drugs are taken with different forms of beverages to ensure easy swallowing of the tablet, masking the bad taste of the drug and overcoming the drug aftertaste, these beverages can influence the disintegration (...) of the solid dosage form. The most common cold beverages consumed by the Libyan population are juice, milk, and Coca-Cola. These beverages are consumed without awareness of the possible effect of these beverages on drugs, especially over-the-counter drugs such as analgesic, antipyretic, and anti-inflammatory drugs that are taken without a prescription. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of three beverages, namely: orange juice, milk, and Coca-Cola on the disintegration time of four over-the-counter-drugs: Panadol, Congestal, Brufen, and Reality Extra using disintegration test of drugs in 0.1 N HCL and in hybrid medium prepared by combination of 150 ml 0.1 N HCL and 550 ml of beverage to simulate in vivo condition. The findings show that the orange juice significantly increases the disintegration time of all the investigated drugs. Coca-Cola significantly increases the disintegration time of Reality Extra, and slightly increases the disintegration time of Brufen, Congestal, and Panadol and the full-fat milk significantly increases the disintegration time of Reality Extra and Panadol while slightly increasing the disintegration time for Brufen and Congestal. It is concluded that commonly used beverages affect the disintegration time of the examined over-the-counter drugs. Patients should be advised to take these medications without beverages which may delay the disintegration and the onset of action of the drug. (shrink)

Disintegration is the most important step for drug bioavailability because after, the disintegration process, the ingredients of solid dosage forms dissolve and become bioavailable. Generally, the tablets and capsules should be taken with a glass of water otherwise the manufacturer gives instructions to use the proper beverage. Several drugs are taken with different forms of beverages to ensure easy swallowing of the tablet, masking the bad taste of the drug and overcoming the drug aftertaste, these beverages can influence the disintegration (...) of the solid dosage form. The most common cold beverages consumed by the Libyan population are juice, milk, and Coca-Cola. These beverages are consumed without awareness of the possible effect of these beverages on drugs, especially over-the-counter drugs such as analgesic, antipyretic, and anti-inflammatory drugs that are taken without a prescription. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of three beverages, namely: orange juice, milk, and Coca-Cola on the disintegration time of four over-the-counter-drugs: Panadol, Congestal, Brufen, and Reality Extra using disintegration test of drugs in 0.1 N HCL and in hybrid medium prepared by combination of 150 ml 0.1 N HCL and 550 ml of beverage to simulate in vivo condition. The findings show that the orange juice significantly increases the disintegration time of all the investigated drugs. Coca-Cola significantly increases the disintegration time of Reality Extra, and slightly increases the disintegration time of Brufen, Congestal, and Panadol and the full-fat milk significantly increases the disintegration time of Reality Extra and Panadol while slightly increasing the disintegration time for Brufen and Congestal. It is concluded that commonly used beverages affect the disintegration time of the examined over-the-counter drugs. Patients should be advised to take these medications without beverages which may delay the disintegration and the onset of action of the drug. (shrink)

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a relatively new, experimental treatment for patients suffering from treatment-refractory Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The effects of treatment are typically assessed with psychopathological scales that measure the amount of symptoms. However, clinical experience indicates that the effects of DBS are not limited to symptoms only: patients for instance report changes in perception, feeling stronger and more confident, and doing things unreflectively. Our aim is to get a better overview of the whole variety of changes that (...) OCD patients experience during DBS treatment. For that purpose we conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 18 OCD patients. In this paper, we present the results from this qualitative study.We list the changes grouped in four domains: with regard to (a) person, (b) (social) world, (c)characteristics of person-world interactions, and (d) existential stance. We subsequently provide an interpretation of these results. In particular, we suggest that many of these changes can be seen as different expressions of the same process; namely that the experience of anxiety and tension gives way to an increased basic trust and increased reliance on one’s abilities. We then discuss the clinical implications of our findings, especially with regard to properly informing patients of what they can expect from treatment, the usefulness of including CBT in treatment, and the limitations of current measures of treatment success. We end by making several concrete suggestions for further research. (shrink)

Effective altruists either believe they ought to be, or strive to be, doing the most good they can. Since they’re human, however, effective altruists are invariably fallible. In numerous situations, even the most committed EAs would fail to live up to the ideal they set for themselves. This fact raises a central question about how to understand effective altruism. How should one’s future prospective failures at doing the most good possible affect the current choices one makes as an effective altruist? (...) This question is important to answer not only because every effective altruist will face this question due to typical human akrasia, but also because how the question is answered will determine just how demanding effective altruism can be. I argue that no matter how effective altruists answer this question, they will have to take on some commitments seemingly antithetical to their movement. More precisely, I argue that effective altruism is subject to a dilemma. Effective altruists’, at times, implicit actualist assumptions (i) commit them to conclusions seemingly antithetical to what typical effective altruists actually believe, as well as the spirit of the movement and (ii) undermine effective altruists’ arguments against moral offsetting and giving to charities close to the heart. Yet, effective altruists’, at times, implicit possibilist assumptions (iii) also commit them to conclusions seemingly antithetical to what typical effective altruists actually believe, as well as the spirit of the movement and (iv) undermine typical responses to demandingness worries for the normative conception of effective altruism. I argue that the best way out of the dilemma is to accept hybridism, though even hybridism won’t preserve every commitment of effective altruism. (shrink)

This study investigated the effectiveness of utilizing induced magnetism on the seed germination of radish (Raphanussativus) in terms of growth rate, growth speed, shoot growth, and overall development. This study utilized two groups that consisted of an experimental group where induced magnetism was present one control group where there was an absence of induced magnetism in the seed germination of Radish (Raphanus sativus). Moreover, this study aimed to determine the significant difference between the two in terms growth rate, growth speed, (...) shoot growth, and overall development. Both groups had the same amount of radish (Raphanus sativus) seeds planted in a rectangular wooden container with the same amount of measurement and soil content. This study used an experimental research design by utilizing the functions of an Electromagnetic Induction Device (EID) comprised of a 12v motor battery, light bulb, coiled wire, and switch. The EID was turned on for 10 minutes every day where the electric volts generated by the 12v motor battery were transported through the coiled wire and distributed to the metallic iron screen surrounding the area of the experimental group. The data gathered during the 12-day observation of the growth of radish (Raphanus sativus) were tabulated, analyzed, and evaluated using mean tests, standard deviation, and T-test. Based on the result and analyses of the gathered data, it was found that the experimental group, the one with the presence of induced magnetism, surpassed the control group in terms of growth speed, shoot growth, and overall seed development. However, it was also revealed that in terms of growth rate, there is no significant difference between the control group and experimental group. Therefore, the utilization of Induced Magnetism on the seed germination of radish (Raphanus sativus) is effective in terms of growth speed, shoot growth, and overall development. (shrink)

Poorly saturated colors are closer to a pure grey than strongly saturated ones and, therefore, appear less “colorful”. Color saturation is effectively manipulated in the visual arts for balancing conflicting sensations and moods and for inducing the perception of relative distance in the pictorial plane. While perceptual science has proven quite clearly that the luminance contrast of any hue acts as a self-sufficient cue to relative depth in visual images, the role of color saturation in such figure-ground organization has remained (...) unclear. We presented configurations of colored inducers on grey ‘test’ backgrounds to human observers. Luminance and saturation of the inducers was uniform on each trial, but varied across trials. We ran two separate experimental tasks. In the relative background brightness task, perceptual judgments indicated whether the apparent brightness of the grey test background contrasted with, assimilated to, or appeared equal (no effect) to that of a comparison background with the same luminance contrast. Contrast polarity and its interaction with color saturation affected response proportions for contrast, assimilation and no effect. In the figure-ground task, perceptual judgments indicated whether the inducers appeared to lie in front of, behind, or in the same depth with the background. Strongly saturated inducers produced significantly larger proportions of foreground effects indicating that these inducers stand out as figure against the background. Weakly saturated inducers produced significantly larger proportions of background effects, indicating that these inducers are perceived as lying behind the backgrounds. We infer that color saturation modulates figure-ground organization, both directly by determining relative inducer depth, and indirectly, and in interaction with contrast polarity, by affecting apparent background brightness. The results point towards a hitherto undocumented functional role of color saturation in the genesis of form, and in particular figure-ground percepts in the absence of chromatostereopsis. (shrink)

Suppose that a patient is receiving treatment options from her doctor. In one case, the doctor says, “the surgery has a 90% survival rate.” Now, suppose the doctor instead said, “the procedure has a 10% mortality rate.” Predictably, the patient is more likely to consent on the first description and more likely to dissent on the second. This is an example of a framing effect. A framing effect occurs when “the description of [logically-equivalent] options in terms of gains (...) (positive frame) rather than losses (negative frame) elicits systematically different choices.” Framing effects are ubiquitous, but they are particularly troublesome in medicine. Many worry that there is tension between valuing informed consent and using framing effects in clinical settings. In this paper, I answer this question: if an individual is subject to a framing effect when she gives her consent, does this undermine the validity of her consent? I argue that framing effects do not undermine consent in general. (shrink)

There is a critical need to understand the effect of changing assessment methods on demonstrated competencies in teacher education. This study examined how the transition from online to in-person testing affects the measured teaching competencies of students who completed a Competency-Based Enhancement (CBE) program, aiming to identify factors contributing to performance differences and strategies for adaptation. Using a one-group pre-test-post-test design, the study involved 669 graduating teacher education students at Pangasinan State University. Participants completed online pre-tests and in-person post-tests, (...) with data analyzed through paired samples t-tests, multiple regression, and ANCOVA. Findings revealed a significant decline in post-test scores despite CBE participation, suggesting a substantial effect of the testing modality change. The change in the testing environment emerged as the most significant predictor of score differences, while student engagement levels were positively associated with minor score decreases. These results underscore the need for adaptive assessment strategies in competency-based education programs. While limited to a single institution, this study recommends implementing a scaffolded approach to assessment transitions and enhancing student support services to mitigate adverse effects on performance across different testing modalities. (shrink)

Whereas there is extensive documentation that attribute framing influences the content of peoples thought, we generally know less about how it affects the processes assumed to precede those thoughts. While existing explanations for attribute framing effects rely completely on valence-based associative processing, the results obtained in the present study are also consistent with the notion that negative framing stimulates more effortful and thorough information processing than positive framing. Specifically, results from a simulated business decision-making experiment showed that decision makers receiving (...) negatively framed information had significantly better recall than those receiving positively framed information. Furthermore, decision makers in the negative framing condition were less confident than decision makers in the positively framed condition. Finally, compared to a no-framing condition, decision makers receiving positive framing deviated significantly more in evaluation than decision makers receiving negative framing did. (shrink)

The effective altruism movement (EA) is one of the most influential philosophically savvy movements to emerge in recent years. Effective Altruism has historically been dedicated to finding out what charitable giving is the most overall-effective, that is, the most effective at promoting or maximizing the impartial good. But some members of EA want the movement to be more inclusive, allowing its members to give in the way that most effectively promotes their values, even when doing so isn’t overall-effective. When we (...) examine what it means to give according to one’s values, I argue, we will see that this is both inconsistent with what EA is like now and inconsistent with its central philosophical commitment to an objective standard that can be used to critically analyze one’s giving. While EA is not merely synonymous with act utilitarianism, it cannot be much more inclusive than it is right now. (shrink)

Purpose:The research aims to see the effect of using digital books based on the RANDAI learning model on students' problem-solving skills and information literacy in biology learning. -/- Theoritical Framework: The integration of local wisdom will make the material more contextual so that learning becomes more meaningful. Digital books that are integrated with local wisdom can be concretized through digital books based on the RANDAI learning model. -/- Methodology:The study was conducted at a secondary school in the province of (...) West Sumatra, Indonesia. The learning applied in this study uses the theoretical framework of the RANDAI model (Reciting, Analyzing the problem, Narrating the solution, Doing the solution, Assessing the solution, and Implementing the solution) which is problem-based learning integrated with local wisdom. Data collection was carried out through a test referring to Polya's problem-solving skills while for information literacy using a questionnaire referring to the Association of College and Research Library indicators. Data were analyzed using a parametric t-test and n-gain analysis. -/- Result and discussion: This study found that problem-solving skills and information literacy through learning with the RANDAI learning model assisted by digital books can promote students' problem-solving skills in science learning. -/- Conclusion: the RANDAI learning model with the help of digital books has an effect on the problem-solving abilities and information literacy of high school students. (shrink)

Studying the folk concept of intentional action, Knobe (2003a) discovered a puzzling asymmetry: most people consider some bad side effects as intentional while they consider some good side effects as unintentional. In this study, we extend these findings with new experiments. The first experiment shows that the very same effect can be found in ascriptions of intentionality in the case of means for action. The second and third experiments show that means are nevertheless generally judged more intentional than side (...) effects, and that people do take into account the structure of the action when ascribing intentionality. We then discuss a number of hypotheses that can account for these data, using reactions times from our first experiment. (shrink)

Effective Altruism is a social movement which encourages people to do as much good as they can when helping others, given limited money, time, effort, and other resources. This paper first identifies a minimal philosophical view that underpins this movement, and then argues that there is an analogous minimal philosophical view which might underpin Effective Justice, a possible social movement that would encourage promoting justice most effectively, given limited resources. The latter minimal view reflects an insight about justice, and our (...) non-diminishing moral reason to promote more of it, that surprisingly has gone largely unnoticed and undiscussed. The Effective Altruism movement has led many to reconsider how best to help others, but relatively little attention has been paid to the differences in degrees of cost-effectiveness of activities designed to decrease injustice. This paper therefore not only furthers philosophical understanding of justice, but has potentially major practical implications. (shrink)

An argument map visually represents the structure of an argument, outlining its informal logical connections and informing judgments as to its worthiness. Argument mapping can be augmented with dedicated software that aids the mapping process. Empirical evidence suggests that semester‐length subjects using argument mapping along with dedicated software can produce remarkable increases in students’ critical thinking abilities. Introducing such specialised subjects, however, is often practically and politically difficult. This study ascertains student perceptions of the use of argument mapping in two (...) large, regular, semester‐length classes in a Business and Economics Faculty at the University of Melbourne. Unlike the semester‐length expert‐led trials in prior research, in our study only one expert‐led session was conducted at the beginning of the semester and followed by class practice. Survey results conducted at the end of the semester, show that, with reservations, even this minimalist, ‘one‐shot inoculation’ of argument mapping is effective in terms of students’ perceptions of improvements in their critical thinking skills. (shrink)

This study addresses the issue of maintaining nutritional quality amidst financial hardship faced by families in Plateau State, Nigeria. Surveys research designed was used for the study. The study covers 3 local government areas in Plateau State, ensuring diverse representation. The sample size of 400 families residing in Plateau State was used. Questionnaire was used to collect data for the study which capture the demographic information, dietary habits, household budget allocation for food, and perceptions of nutritional value. Mean and standard (...) deviation was used to present result for the findings. The findings of the study revealed that that there should be cost-effective meal planning strategies in promoting healthy eating habits. Also, socioeconomic factors impact cost-effective meal planning in promoting healthy eating habits. Based on the findings, stakeholders, policymakers, and community organizations should implement interventions that support cost-effective meal planning, enhance nutritional literacy, and alleviate financial burdens on families in Plateau State. This study may empower families to make informed dietary choices and achieve better health outcomes despite economic constraints. (shrink)

Clinical microbiology serves as a partner to clinicians in the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. Antibiotics are prescribed empirically before the availability of antimicrobial susceptibility testing data, especially when the patient's medical status could deteriorate by suspending the treatment. To investigate the impact of antimicrobial susceptibility testing on the management of outpatients with suspected bacterial infection in Libyan patients, a cross-sectional prospective study concluded on microbial microdroplet culture by including outpatients with suspected bacterial infection, who have done antimicrobial susceptibility (...) testing. Thus, 53 Libyan patients with urinary tract infections and 14 Libyan patients with skin infections were included in this study. Before the availability of antimicrobial susceptibility testing data, 25 patients were appropriately treated while 42 patients were inappropriately treated. After the availability of antimicrobial susceptibility testing data, the number of appropriately treated patients increased to 57 patients. Thus, antimicrobial susceptibility testing improved the management of 41 patients by discontinuing an unnecessary antibiotic in four patients, starting necessary antibiotic therapy in 18 patients, and changing to more appropriate antibiotic in 19 patients. However, the antimicrobial susceptibility testing has no impact on the management of 24 patients and has led to the worsening of the management of two patients. The effect of antimicrobial susceptibility testing of antibiotic de-escalation was assessed in 35 patients; however, antibiotic de-escalation occurred in six patients. Thus, data of antimicrobial susceptibility testing has improved the management of Libyan outpatients with bacterial infection but their role in antibiotic de-escalation was slight. (shrink)

This study evaluated the effectiveness of four game-based activities (GBAs) in teaching ecosystems to Grade 7 Biology students. Involving 69 students (34 control, 35 experimental), the quasi-experimental study used a mixed-methods approach. The researcher utilized a static-group comparison design for the quantitative phase and a thematic analysis for the qualitative phase. Quantitative analysis revealed significant improvements in the experimental group's social skills (p<0.05; Cohen’s d = 0.63) and conceptual understanding (p<0.05; Cohen’s d = 0.86). Descriptive statistical analysis also suggests that (...) GBAs can foster positive attitudes toward using GBAs and learning. Qualitative data from journal entries and teacher-observer interviews highlighted enhanced communication, collaboration, confidence, and participation among students using GBAs. The study also recognized the interconnection between conceptual understanding, social skills, and attitude toward learning, not just as pedagogical tools but also as practical tools in improving students’ affective domain, creating a safe environment beneficial for the learning process in general. (shrink)

As the international momentum of the school effectiveness movement continues, its exponents remain largely impervious to criticism. This paper argues that while they may not readily align themselves with the individualistic aspects of Conservative social philosophy, their methodology necessarily secretes an atomised social ontology. The charge of ideological commitment rests on the fact that the essentially positivist epistemology employed by school effectiveness researchers presupposes an ontology of closed systems and atomistic events. Thus any notion of the structuring of life-chances is (...) automatically ruled out of court. The reciprocity of social ontology and methodology is explored in order to account for the myopia of the school effectiveness movement. (shrink)

The concepts of placebos and placebo effects refer to extremely diverse phenomena. I recommend dissolving the concepts of placebos and placebo effects into loosely related groups of specific mechanisms, including (potentially among others) expectation-fulfillment, classical conditioning, and attentional-somatic feedback loops. If this approach is on the right track, it has three main implications for the ethics of informed consent. First, because of the expectation-fulfillment mechanism, the process of informing cannot be considered independently from the potential effects of treatment. Obtaining informed (...) consent influences the effects of treatment. This provides support for the authorized concealment and authorized deception paradigms, and perhaps even for outright deceptive placebo use. Second, doctors may easily fail to consider the potential benefits of conditioning, leading them to misjudge the trade-off between beneficence and autonomy. Third, how attentional-somatic feedback loops play out depends not only on the content of the informing process but also on its framing. This suggests a role for libertarian paternalism in clinical practice. (shrink)

In the last decades, many changes have occurred in scientific publishing, including online publication, data repositories, file formats and standards. The role played by computers in this process rekindled the argument on forms of technical determinism. This paper addresses this old debate by exploring the case of publishing processes in prehistoric archaeology during the second part of the twentieth century, prior to the wide-scale adoption of computers. It investigates the case of a collective and international attempt to standardize the typological (...) analysis of prehistoric lithic objects, coined typologie analytique by Georges Laplace and developed by a group of French, Italian, and Spanish researchers. The aim of this paper is to: 1) present a general bibliometric scenario of prehistoric archaeology publishing in continental Europe; 2) report on the little-known typologie analytique method in archaeology, using publications, archives, and interviews; 3) show how the publication of scientific production was shaped by social (editorial policies, support networks) and material (typography features and publication formats) constraints; and 4) highlight how actors founded resources to control and counterbalance these effects, namely by changing and improving publishing formats. (shrink)

Much recent philosophy of physics has investigated the process of symmetry breaking. Here, I critically assess the alleged symmetry restoration at the fundamental scale. I draw attention to the contingency that gauge symmetries exhibit, that is, the fact that they have been chosen from an infinite space of possibilities. I appeal to this feature of group theory to argue that any metaphysical account of fundamental laws that expects symmetry restoration up to the fundamental level is not fully satisfactory. This is (...) a symmetry argument in line with Curie’s first principle. Further, I argue that this same feature of group theory helps to explain the ‘unreasonable’ effectiveness of mathematics in physics, and that it reduces the philosophical significance that has been attributed to the objectivity of gauge symmetries. (shrink)

I argue that the empirical literature on priming effects does not warrant nor suggest the conclusion, drawn by prominent psychologists such as J. A. Bargh, that we have no free will or less free will than we might think. I focus on a particular experiment by Bargh – the ‘elderly’ stereotype case in which subjects that have been primed with words that remind them of the stereotype of the elderly walk on average slower out of the experiment’s room than control (...) subjects – and I show that we cannot say that subjects cannot help walking slower or that they are not free in doing do. I then illustrate how these cases can be reconciled and normalized within a Davidsonian theory of action to show that, in walking slower, subjects are acting intentionally. My argument applies across various experiments, including those of goal priming. In the final section I argue that the only cases in which priming effects are efficacious are so-called Buridan cases. (shrink)

This research aims to determine the effectiveness of the self-directed learning model and the discovery learning model assisted by focusky media on the historical analysis abilities and learning outcomes of students in history subjects. This type of research is a quasi-experiment with a sample size of 65 students at SMA Negeri 1 Bangorejo. The results of the t-test of historical analysis ability and learning outcomes, it shows that there is a significant difference with the difference in the average posttest score (...) for historical analysis ability 2.733 and the difference in the average posttest score for learning outcomes 3.059. Then, the historical analysis effectiveness test, it shows a medium category of 0.050, while the learning outcomes show a medium category of 0.053. This shows that experiment class 1 is better than experiment class 2 and the self-directed learning model has proven to be effective in improving historical analysis skills and learning outcomes. (shrink)

The current study tries to verify the effectiveness of a training program in increasing Crowdfunding awareness. The sample was (50) students in CIS, who were purposively selected and distributed equally into a treatment and control group. The researchers designed the study tools (a training program to increase Crowdfunding awareness). The study findings revealed the existence of statistically significant differences between the treatment and control groups in favor of the former. Furthermore, there were statistically significant differences between the pre and the (...) post measures of the treatment group in favor of the post measures. Furthermore the current study is unique by the virtue of its nature, scope and way of implied investigation, as it is the first study for Crowdfunding training program in Arabic world. (shrink)

It is often suggested that we are equipped with a set of cognitive tools that help us to filter out unreliable testimony. But are these tools effective? I answer this question in two steps. Firstly, I argue that they are not real-time effective. The process of filtering, which takes place simultaneously with or right after language comprehension, does not prevent a particular hearer on a particular occasion from forming beliefs based on false testimony. Secondly, I argue that they are long-term (...) effective. Some hearers sometimes detect false testimony, which increases speakers’ incentives for honesty and stabilizes the practice of human communication in which deception is risky and costly. In short, filtering prevents us from forming a large number of beliefs based on false testimony, not by turning each of us into a high-functioning polygraph but by turning the social environment of human communication into one in which such polygraphs are not required. Finally, I argue that these considerations support strong anti-reductionism about testimonial entitlement. (shrink)