Difficult Conceptual Problems Research Articles

The Accuracy Trap: The Values and Meaning of Algorithmic Mapping, from Mineral Extraction to Climate Change

Abstract For specialists and non-specialists alike, maps are one of the central ways that the environment becomes visible and comprehensible. Since the 1960s, both the practice and the values of environmental mapping have been transformed by new algorithmic methods for turning point-by-point measurements into a smooth cartographic image, especially when visualising the invisible geographies of pollution, climate change, and underground resources. The resulting maps are now ubiquitous. This article argues that algorithmic methods - especially those created by a small group of French mining engineers and installed widely in software by the 1990s - shifted the values and meaning of environmental mapping away from a traditional concern with qualitative realism to a new emphasis on quantitative accuracy . This was a shift not just in the goals of mapping but in the kind of environment that maps ultimately construct. The prioritisation of accuracy should therefore not be seen as a straightforward improvement, as its associated values raise difficult conceptual problems, both historical and historiographic, about scale, expertise and the role of human judgement in the creation of environmental fact. Historicising the techniques and meanings of mapping is especially important as environmental historians consider new geospatial methods - including algorithmic methods - in their own work.

The Enigma of “In, With, and Under”: A Response to the Great Dane

With more energy than a supernova, theologian Niels Henrik Gregersen creatively and expansively explores the most difficult conceptual problems surrounding God's relationship to the world. Eschewin...

Conceptual, Methodological, and Ethical Problems in Communicating Uncertainty in Clinical Evidence

The communication of uncertainty in clinical evidence is an important endeavor that poses difficult conceptual, methodological, and ethical problems. Conceptual problems include logical paradoxes in the meaning of probability and "ambiguity"--second-order uncertainty arising from the lack of reliability, credibility, or adequacy of probability information. Methodological problems include questions about optimal methods for representing fundamental uncertainties and for communicating these uncertainties in clinical practice. Ethical problems include questions about whether communicating uncertainty enhances or diminishes patient autonomy and produces net benefits or harms. This article reviews the limited but growing literature on these problems and efforts to address them and identifies key areas of focus for future research. It is argued that the critical need moving forward is for greater conceptual clarity and consistent representational methods that make the meaning of various uncertainties understandable, and for clinical interventions to support patients in coping with uncertainty in decision making.

Measuring the Value of Micro-Enterprises

This paper explains the strategy that the Bank of Italy has developed for estimating the net worth of nonfinancial quasi-corporations, in order to fill the gap in the national FA. This strategy is mainly based on survey data from the Bank of Italy Survey on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW), which contains questions on households' equity holdings in all types of businesses. It also makes use of banking statistics and other financial statistics. Using micro data on micro-enterprises for the estimation of macro statistics presents some difficult conceptual and practical problems. We discuss, among other things, issues of definition, the treatment of nonreporting behaviour, as well as the compatibility of estimated totals with independent macroeconomic information. According to our estimates, in 2004 the value of micro-enterprises ranged between 180-190 billions euro. Including such a value in national financial accounts has increased households' total wealth by 2-7 percent.

FRBRizing OCLC's WorldCat

SUMMARY The identification of works according to IFLA's report on Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records offers challenges when applied to very large collections of bibliographic records. The authors describe an algorithm that identifies sets of works and discuss the experience of applying the algorithm to OCLC's WorldCat. Analysis found four main types of works: augmented, revised, aggregate, and translated works. Each of these offers challenges for proper identification and collocation. Quite apart from algorithmic implementation, difficult conceptual problems were encountered in applying the FRBR model to aggregate works.

A framework for good practice in interagency interventions with cases of self‐neglect

Self-neglect is probably more common than has generally been thought and gives rise to a number of difficult conceptual, identification and intervention problems for health and social care workers. These patient management issues are compounded by the lack of any evidence-base for practice which nurses can draw on when faced with managing people who self-neglect. Nurses working with self-neglecters operate in an interdisciplinary context which includes professional groups, such as environmental health officers, who do not normally figure within health and social care teams. In the absence of such an evidence-base, a pragmatic solution in the form of a framework for interagency practice has been proposed. The background underpinning this framework, including a research study of housing in self-neglect and interagency responses, is briefly outlined in this paper.

Quantum Gravity in 2 + 1 Dimensions: The Case of a Closed Universe.

In three spacetime dimensions, general relativity drastically simplifies, becoming a “topological” theory with no propagating local degrees of freedom. Nevertheless, many of the difficult conceptual problems of quantizing gravity are still present. In this review, I summarize the rather large body of work that has gone towards quantizing (2 + 1)-dimensional vacuum gravity in the setting of a spatially closed universe.

Extended Simples

I argue that the assumptions that physically basic things are either mereologically atomic, or that they are continuous and there are no atoms, both face difficult conceptual problems. Both views tend to presuppose a largely unquestioned assumption, that things have parts corresponding to the geometric parts of the regions they occupy. To avoid these problems I propose a third view, that physically simple things occupy a finite volume without themselves having parts. This view is examined enough to tease out some of its consequences and show that it withstands the obvious questions it faces. I conclude by mentioning some precedents for this view in Democritus, Kant, and Whitehead, with close variants in Boscovich, Harre and Markosian.

The (In)validity of Self-Construal Scales Revisited

This paper offers a critical rejoinder in the discussion concerning the viability of self-construal scales. It is our contention that the existing data reported in our previous article (Levine et al., 2003) and elsewhere are more than sufficient to justify the conclusion that self-report scales purporting to measure interdependent and independent self-construals as 2 orthogonal constructs lack validity. The arguments to the contrary offered by Gudykunst and Lee (2003) and Kim and Raja (2003) are disputed. Additional data (N = 1,013) show that neither age, occupation, sample size, standardization, nor a 2nd-order structure can account for the problems we documented previously. Although we see potential utility in the self-construal construct, we believe that the 3 primary scales fail to meet reasonable and accepted social scientific standards. Difficult conceptual problems will need to be solved prior to the development of new and improved measures.

The (In)validity of Self-Construal Scales Revisited

This paper offers a critical rejoinder in the discussion concerning the viability of self-construal scales. It is our contention that the existing data reported in our previous article (Levine et al., 2003) and elsewhere are more than sufficient to justify the conclusion that self-report scales purporting to measure interdependent and independent self-construals as 2 orthogonal constructs lack validity. The arguments to the contrary offered by Gudykunst and Lee (2003) and Kim and Raja (2003) are disputed. Additional data (N = 1,013) show that neither age, occupation, sample size, standardization, nor a 2nd-order structure can account for the problems we documented previously. Although we see potential utility in the self-construal construct, we believe that the 3 primary scales fail to meet reasonable and accepted social scientific standards. Difficult conceptual problems will need to be solved prior to the development of new and improved measures.

Tough times for dualists

AbstractImages of mindmarks a new era in human cognitive neuroscience. Despite the difficult conceptual problems associated with using group-averaged data and paired subtractions, human PET images converge well with existing data from other areas of cognitive neuroscience while opening up new theoretical and experimental possibilities. However, greater attention to individual differences might prove necessary in the study of culturally driven adaptations such as literacy.

Estimates for ELF effects: noise-based thresholds and the number of experimental conditions required for empirical searches.

Interactions between physical fields and biological systems present difficult conceptual problems. Complete biological systems, even isolated cells, are exceedingly complex. This argues against the pursuit of theoretical models, with the possible consequence that only experimental studies should be considered. In contrast, electromagnetic fields are well understood. Further, some subsystems of cells (viz. cell membranes) can be reasonably represented by physical models. This argues for the pursuit of theoretical models which quantitatively describe interactions of electromagnetic fields with that subsystem. Here we consider the hypothesis that electric fields, not magnetic fields, are the source of interactions, From this it follows that the cell membrane is a relevant subsystem, as the membrane is much more resistive than the intra- or extracellular regions. A general class of interactions is considered: electroconformational changes associated with the membrane. Expected results of such as approach include the dependence of the interaction on key parameters (e.g., cell size, field magnitude, frequency, and exposure time), constraints on threshold exposure conditions, and insight into how experiments might be designed. Further, because it is well established that strong and moderate electric fields interact significantly with cells, estimates of the extrapolated interaction for weaker fields can be sought. By employing signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio criteria, theoretical models can also be used to estimate threshold magnitudes. These estimates are particularly relevant to in vitro conditions, for which most biologically generated background fields are absent. Finally, we argue that if theoretical model predictions are unavailable to guide the selection of experimental conditions, an overwhelmingly large number of different conditions will be needed to find, establish, and characterize bioelectromagnetic effects in an empirical search. This is contrasted with well-established chemical dosimetry, which is much simpler. Because of the large number of possible electromagnetic field conditions, we also conclude that in vitro studies, rather than in vivo studies, should be emphasized in studies aimed at discovering and characterizing mechanisms for bioelectromagnetic effects.

Conceptual and methodological problems in studying the effects of interdisciplinary geriatric teams.

Despite the frequent claims of the superiority of interdisciplinary teams over more usual care patterns, systematic studies of the effectiveness of geriatric interdisciplinary teams are rare. Illustrated by a review of recent studies are the difficult conceptual and methodological problems encountered by investigators. Such problems include those of basic research design, construct validity, populations targeted, and outcomes measured. Finally, future research directions are suggested.

Reflection and Prior Work Experience: some problematic issues in relation to adult students in university studies

The focus of this paper is the part-time adult student in university studies. Universities in this country are making tentative moves to increase the numbers of adult students, but, in general, have not thought seriously about the issues involved, particularly the use of adult students' prior work experience. Whilst there is some agreement that this should be utilised there is a danger of a simplistic approach because of the difficult conceptual and practical problems concealed in this desirable aim. First, in terms of access, where prior work experience has been accepted as an alternative to formal admission requirements. the emphasis tends to be on duration and level. This is useful in terms of a sociill policy designed to broaden the base of recruitment but it can present problems by admitting those who lack the necessary conceptual knowledge and study skills. Using the nature and source of the work experience will not help either because, even if these could be objectively specified, information would still be needed about the individual's study and learning potential. The stress, therefore, needs to be on the quality of learning derived from work experience and procedures need to be constructed which facilitate, through reflective activity, the specification of the perceived learning outcomes of work experience. Secondly, it would be contradictory to select students on the basis of experience-derived learning and organise curricula without taking this into account. A central question is whether curricula can be made more 'relevant' to the needs of adult students. Needs are complex and not easily made manifest. There is a danger that needs are interpreted solely on the basis of jobs and occupations and curricula become narrow and trivial. Students need to be able to make something of their experience. Thus a 'deep' approach to learning requires a 'deep' approach to using experience. This can, again, be facilitated through reflective activity. Needs can be made manifrst, learning intentions elicited and experience can become a productive resource in learning. Teachers require a range of skills which are not always part of the repertoire of pedagogical techniques possessed by the average university teacher. Teachers must be able to work experientially with students. The social relationship is also important since it helps to define a structure of authority which may impede operationalisation of curricula based on using prior work experience. Negotiated curricula have been seen as a way forward. But here too, there may be problems since adults need to feel 'empowered', both cognitively and affectively, before they can engage in negotiation. Access and curricula have, therefore, to be considered together and the way forward in both areas might be to emphasise the learning outcomes of prior work experience rather than the experience per se. Reflective activity can play a key role, and mechanisms to operationalise this need to be constructed. The means of broadening access would then more readily provide means of assessing the likelihood of students being able to cope. In the end, however, much depends on the readiness of institutions to adapt from inducting adult students into 'high culture' into providing a variety of flexible access routes and learning opportunities geared to the needs and situation of those students.

An unnecessary neologism in two systems of mediation

The analysis of mediation and other forms of third party intervention requires grappling with difficult conceptual problems, some of which Keith Murnighan discusses in the preceding article. Two such problems are: (a) how to define and describe mediation; and (b) how to develop models of mediation that are applicable across the variety of contexts within which mediation occurs. My purpose in this article is to examine how these problems have been handled in recent discussions of mediation, and then shove- how they relate to Keith Murnighan's new concept, intravention. Several recently proposed distinctions between two systems of mediation have a great deal in common with one another, and with Murnighan's distinction between intravention and mediation. These include Kressel and Pruitt's (1985) distinction between and contractual mediation; Smith's (1986) traditional and internatiolml mediation; Touval's (1986) apolitical and political mediation; Susskind and Madigan's (1984) passive and active mediation; and Kolb's (1986) industrial relations and organizational mediation (a distinction also made by Carnevale, forthcoming). To my mind, Mumighan's intravention concept is a form of emergent mediation, and thus fits very well with recent conceptual work in this field. Murnighan argues that to understand mediation we should not pay attention to how it is practiced. Instead, he argues, we should start with dictionary definitions of mediation and intervention and then develop a theoretical framework that follows from these definitions. It is encouraging that Murnighan's conceptual results are similar to the results of those who have paid more attention to how it is practiced.

Existence Values and Normative Economics: Implications for Valuing Water Resources

The definitional issues and conceptual framework of existence value are explored. It is argued that existence value may have two components (1) an economic component that is consistent with utility maximizing behavior and (2) an ethical component that is inconsistent with normative benefit‐cost assumptions. Issues as how to appropriately include a measure of existence value within a utility maximizing framework are also explored. Difficult conceptual problems arise out of this discussion. Caution is suggested to the water resources analyst in including existence value within an economic framework.

The area projects of the Scottish Development Agency

The Scottish Development Agency's area projects are a distinctive approach to local economic development, but taking varying forms. Project agreements have been developed to foster commitment from the partners to integrated programmes of investment and action. Although some see the projects as a surrogate national urban policy, they are not expressly related as such. They can certainly be seen as a development of conventional regional policy. Projects follow a recognisable cycle in pursuing pre-determined targets over a life of between three and five years. Despite the seeming success of the initial projects, full evaluation has to overcome difficult conceptual problems. The area projects, as currently operated and managed by the Scottish Development Agency, represent a distinct and original approach to local economic development. As such they have created considerable interest not only among professional 'Agency watchers' but also from other public bodies both in the UK and overseas. This distinctiveness of approach derives primarily from the, at that time, unique powers conferred upon the Agency by the Scottish Development Agency Act 1975 which, for the first time in Britain, brought together both the 'hardware' and 'software' components of economic development within a single organisation. The 'hardware' powers comprise essentially physical works including land assembly, infrastructure provision, factory and commercial building, environmental works and land renewal. These supply-side activities were not new and had already provided the driving force behind the new town movement in Britain. What was new, however, was the addition of the 'software' elements comprising the facility to make loans, give guarantees, take equity participation and provide a wide range of business development services. The bringing together of both sets of powers, operating on both the supply and demand sides, within a single organisation has provided a powerful set of economic development tools for the Agency. It is the combination of *The views expressed in this article are personal and must not be attributed to the Scottish

Computational and Formulation Considerations in Multiobjective Analysis in Water Resource Planning

The formal representation of large scale water resource planning problems in a multiobiective framework presents difficult conceptual problems in constructing response surfaces as well as computational difficulties in searching for points of good design. This paper first characterizes the nature and complexity of water resource problems and presents a state of the art evaluation of the multiobjective solution techniques employed in their analysis. Then consideration is turned to some important issues in problem formulation i.e. the selection of metrics for evaluating objectives such as environmental concerns and the modeling of physical and social system interaction necessary to predict the outcome of a particular plan in terms of the selected objectives and metrics. Special consideration is given to regional planning problems where modeling efforts to relate economic and social impacts of regional infrastructure development (i.e. transportation and water resources projects) are often on a vastly different scale than models to predict the impact of new projects on the physical environment.

Survey of State Planning Agencies, 1960

Abstract A survey of stale planning activity reveals a striking rise in the number and the importance of planning agencies within the state governments. At least 34 states had enacted state planning legislation by mid-1960; in Hawaii the director of planning is a member of the governor's cabinet; and in at least six slates parts of plans had been completed. The availability of federal aids will probably foster the rise of state planning, raising a large number of difficult conceptual and administrative problems that require prompt attention.

Our Concepts of Controlling Need Re-Thinking

Focuses on the businessmen's ideas concerning the subject of control in management. Personal aspects of control; Evaluation of control procedures; Reason for the difficult conceptual problems posed...