Relevant Alternatives Research Articles

Cluster Analysis in Practice: Dealing with Outliers in Managerial Research

ABSTRACT Context: in recent years, cluster analysis has stimulated researchers to explore new ways to understand data behavior. The computational ease of this method and its ability to generate consistent outputs, even in small datasets, explain that to some extent. However, researchers are often mistaken in holding that clustering is a terrain in which anything goes. The literature shows the opposite: they must be careful, especially regarding the effect of outliers on cluster formation. Objective: in this tutorial paper, we contribute to this discussion by presenting four clustering techniques and their respective advantages and disadvantages in the treatment of outliers. Methods: for that, we worked from a managerial dataset and analyzed it using k-means, PAM, DBSCAN, and FCM techniques. Results: our analyzes indicate that researchers have distinct clustering techniques for dealing with outliers accordingly. Conclusion: we concluded that researchers need to have a more diversified repertoire of clustering techniques. After all, this would give them two relevant empirical alternatives: choose the most appropriate technique for their research objectives or adopt a multi-method approach.

Cryptocurrency, Decentralized Finance, and the Evolution of Exchange: A Transaction Costs Approach

We leverage a transaction costs narrative to provide a theoretically unified presentation of the evolution of exchange, with the latest evolutionary frontier being cryptocurrency and decentralized finance. We show that with each new development in the evolution of money, the new form or medium of exchange must reduce transaction costs relative to relevant alternatives. The development of blockchain and cryptocurrency reduced the cost of transfering currency by removing the need for a trusted third party to intermediate funds while also providing the benefit of anonymity/pseudonymity. Likewise, decentralized finance does not require a third party to intermediate savings and investment and can provide contingent anonymity to borrowers. While these innovations have attracted investment in the economically developed world, they appear to have significantly reduced transaction costs for transactors who might otherwise be defrauded of funds by corrupt governments that extort third parties responsible for intermediating funds.

Banal Skepticism and the Errors of Doubt

Ephecticism is the tendency towards suspension of belief. Epistemology often focuses on the error of believing when one ought to doubt. The converse error—doubting when one ought to believe—is relatively underexplored. This essay examines the errors of undue doubt. I draw on the relevant alternatives framework to diagnose and remedy undue doubts about rape accusations. Doubters tend to invoke standards for belief that are too demanding, for example, and underestimate how farfetched uneliminated error possibilities are. They mistake seeing how incriminating evidence is compatible with innocence for a reason to withhold judgement. Rape accusations help illuminate the causes and normativity of doubt. I propose a novel kind of epistemic injustice, for example, wherein patterns of unwarranted attention to farfetched error possibilities can cause those error possibilities to become relevant. Widespread unreasonable doubt thus renders doubt reasonable and makes it harder to know rape accusations. Finally, I emphasise that doubt is typically a conservative force and I argue that the relevant alternatives framework helps defend against pernicious doubt-mongers.

Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Activities of Essential Oils against Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

The emergence of multidrug resistant microorganisms represents a global challenge due to the lack of new effective antimicrobial agents. In this sense, essential oils (EOs) are an alternative to be considered because of their anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, and antibiofilm biological activities. Therefore, multiple efforts have been made to consider the potential use of EOs in the treatment of infections which are caused by resistant microorganisms. In this study, 15 EOs of both Colombian and introduced aromatic plants were evaluated against pathogenic strains of E. coli O157:H7 and methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in planktonic and sessile states in order to identify relevant and promising alternatives for the treatment of microbial infections. Forty different compounds were identified in the 15 EO with nine of them constituted mainly by oxygenated monoterpenes (OM). EOs from Lippia origanoides, chemotypes thymol, and carvacrol, displayed the highest antibacterial activity against E. coli O157:H7 (MIC50 = 0.9 and 0.3 mg/mL, respectively) and MRSA (MIC50 = 1.2 and 0.6 mg/mL, respectively). These compounds from EOs had also the highest antibiofilm activity (inhibition percentage > 70.3%). Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), changes in the size and morphology of both bacteria were observed when they were exposed to sub-inhibitory concentrations of L. origanoides EO carvacrol chemotype. EOs from L. origanoides, thymol, and carvacrol chemotypes represented a viable alternative for the treatment of microbial infections; however, the Selectivity Index (SI ≤ 3) indicated that it was necessary to study alternatives to reduce its in vitro cytotoxicity.

The Attitudes We Can Have

This article investigates when one can (rationally) have attitudes, and when one cannot. It argues that a comprehensive theory must explain three phenomena. First, being related by descriptions or names to a proposition one has strong reason to believe is true does not guarantee that one can rationally believe that proposition. Second, such descriptions, and so on, do enable individuals to rationally have various non-doxastic attitudes, such as hope and admiration. And third, even for non-doxastic attitudes like that, not just any description will allow it. The article argues that one should think of attitude formation like one does (practical) choices among options. The article motivates this view linguistically, extending “relevant alternatives” theories of the attitudes to both belief and to the other, non-doxastic attitudes. Given a natural principle governing choice, and some important differences between doxastic and non-doxastic “choices,” one can explain these puzzling phenomena.

Freedom and addiction in four discursive registers: A comparative historical study of values in addiction science

Mainstream addiction science is today widely marked by an antinomy between a neurologically determinist understanding of the human brain ‘hijacked’ by the biochemical allure of intoxicants and a liberal voluntarist conception of drug use as a free exercise of choice. Prominent defenders of both discourses strive, ultimately without complete success, to provide accounts that are both universal and value-neutral. This has resulted in a variety of conceptual problems and has undermined the utility of such research for those who seek to therapeutically care for people presumed to suffer from addictions. This article contrasts these two contemporary discourses to two others that played vital historical roles in initiating both scientific and popular concern for addiction. These are the Puritan and civic republican discourses that dominated scholarly discussions of addiction in the early modern era. In each case, the place of values in these discussions is highlighted. By comparing them to their early modern historical antecedents, this article seeks to reflexively explore and develop more intellectually sound and therapeutically relevant alternatives to the troubled attempts at universality and value-neutrality now fettering debates in mainstream addiction science.

Pharmacokinetics and Safety of Intravenous, Intravesical, Rectal, Transdermal, and Vaginal Melatonin in Healthy Female Volunteers: A Cross-Over Study

Introduction: We aimed to investigate the pharmacokinetic properties and safety of melatonin administered by alternative routes of administration. Methods: This study employed a cross-over design in healthy female volunteers. Twenty-five milligrams of melatonin was administered intravenously, intravesically, rectally, transdermally, and vaginally. Blood samples were collected at specified time points up to 24 h following intravenous, intravesical, rectal, and vaginal administration, and up to 48 h following transdermal administration. Plasma melatonin concentrations were determined by radioimmunoassay. Sedation was evaluated by a simple reaction-time test, and sleepiness was assessed by the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale. Adverse events were registered for each route of administration. Results: Ten participants were included. We documented a mean (SD) time to maximal concentration of 51 (29) min for intravesical, 24 (20) min for rectal, 21 (8) h for transdermal, and 147 (56) min for vaginal administration. The mean (SD) elimination half-life was 47 (6) min for intravenous, 58 (7) min for intravesical, 60 (18) min for rectal, 14.6 (11.1) h for transdermal, and 129 (17) min for vaginal administration. The mean (SD) bioavailability was 3.6 (1.9)% for intravesical, 36.0 (28.6)% for rectal, 10.0 (5.7)% for transdermal, and 97.8 (31.7)% for vaginal administration. No significant changes in reaction times were observed following administration of melatonin by any of the administration routes. Increased tiredness was documented following transdermal administration only. No serious adverse effects were documented. Conclusion: Rectally and vaginally administered melatonin may serve as relevant alternatives to standard oral melatonin therapy. Transdermal delivery of melatonin displayed an extended absorption and can be applied if prolonged effects are intended. Intravesical administration displayed, as expected, a very limited bioavailability. Melatonin administered by these routes of administration was safe.

Quality of health economic evaluations submitted to the Italian Medicines Agency: current state and future actions.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the current state of health economic evaluations (HEEs) submitted by pharmaceutical companies to the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) as part of their pricing and reimbursement (P&R) dossiers, and to explore potential future actions in order to enhance their quality. All company dossiers submitted from October 2016 to December 2018 were reviewed to select those containing pharmacoeconomic studies. The general characteristics of HEEs were described and their quality assessed based on a checklist adapted from Philips et al. (Review of guidelines for good practice in decision-analytic modelling in health technology assessment. Health Technol Assess. 2004;8: 1-158). Of the 299 dossiers submitted to AIFA, 105 included one or more pharmacoeconomic studies, of which fifty-three were cost-effectiveness analyses. Overall, the compliance of the HEEs with the quality checklist was highly variable: some studies reached high methodological standards whereas others had serious flaws (mean 59.22 percent, range 19.35-90.32 percent). The main weaknesses were the unjustified exclusion of relevant alternatives, poor description and justification of model data and assumptions, and insufficient exploration of uncertainty and study validity. Non-homogeneity across studies was found in study perspectives, discount rates, methods for costing, estimating quality-adjusted life-years and conducting sensitivity analyses. Based on the results of this study, the recommended actions for increasing the quality of HEEs within reimbursement submissions in Italy are twofold: first, to set methodological standards for conducting and reporting HEEs; second, to strengthen the internal assessment process, also through the acquisition of companies' models and re-evaluation of results. These actions will hopefully provide greater contribution to the evidence-based P&R decision making.

CAMINHOS METODOLÓGICOS POSSÍVEIS NA FORMAÇÃO DOCENTE EM LETRAS: METODOLOGIAS ATIVAS NA DISCIPLINA DE SINTAXE

O artigo tematiza o ensino de Língua Portuguesa (LP) nos cursos de licenciatura, dando ênfase aos conteúdos gramaticais, em uma perspectiva atual, a fim de analisar caminhos metodológicos possíveis para abordagens ativas em torno da disciplina de Sintaxe. Como objetivos específicos, busca-se: (i) apresentar um breve panorama sobre o ensino de gramática na formação do professor de língua portuguesa; (ii) apontar contribuições das metodologias ativas (MAs) para o processo de ensino-aprendizagem; e (iii) apresentar uma proposta didática idealizada com base no uso das MAs como alternativas pedagógicas relevantes e significativas para o trabalho com conteúdos gramaticais em nível superior. Justifica-se esta pesquisa pelas discussões atuais envolvendo o despreparo dos docentes para o trabalho com gramática nas salas de aula e, ainda, pelo destaque que as MAs têm ganhado no contexto educacional. Assim, este trabalho se utiliza de uma metodologia de caráter bibliográfico, contando com o aporte teórico de autores como Antunes (2003), Geraldi (2001), Moran (2018) e Luckesi (2011). Como resultado, apresenta-se a sugestão metodológica visando a sistematizar todas as discussões realizadas ao longo deste estudo.

Kontrollgruppenbildung durch Propensity-Score-Matching: Die Rolle von Primär- und Sekundärdaten − Ergebnisse aus Präventionsstudien

BackgroundThe creation of control groups in the evaluation of statutory health insurances is a key issue. Randomization represents both an ethical and a legal problem with legally guaranteed services. Matching procedures are relevant alternatives in the construction of control groups. Matchings are mostly based on secondary data from statutory health insurances (for example age, gender, cost of illness, days of incapacity to work). In this study, we examined whether matching based on secondary data alone can cause selection bias. MethodsWe used data from three large prevention studies and applied sensitivity analyses to compare the results of propensity score matchings used to create control groups on the basis of secondary data, with those obtained on the basis of both primary and secondary data. Analysis of covariance was used to investigate the impact of potential selection bias on cost effects. ResultsMatchings based on secondary data alone lead to control groups with similar characteristics captured by secondary data. However, the control group participants are significantly healthier (they have, for example, lower levels of pain, lower levels of psychological stress, a higher degree of quality of life) than the patients in intervention groups. This selection bias would lead to a systematic underestimation of the cost reduction produced by preventive interventions. DiscussionPrevention course participants seem to have characteristics that differ from the average population (higher health orientation level, preference for prevention over medical treatment services, etc.) and cannot be captured by secondary data; therefore, matchings based on secondary data alone cause selection bias. ConclusionsIncluding both primary and secondary data reduces the risk of selection bias in matching procedures for prevention studies. The E-value can be used to evaluate the robustness of results with regard to selection bias.

Relevance and risk: How the relevant alternatives framework models the epistemology of risk

The epistemology of risk examines how risks bear on epistemic properties. A common framework for examining the epistemology of risk holds that strength of evidential support is best modelled as numerical probability given the available evidence. In this essay I develop and motivate a rival ‘relevant alternatives’ framework for theorising about the epistemology of risk. I describe three loci for thinking about the epistemology of risk. The first locus concerns consequences of relying on a belief for action, where those consequences are significant if the belief is false. The second locus concerns whether beliefs themselves—regardless of action—can be risky, costly, or harmful. The third locus concerns epistemic risks we confront as social epistemic agents. I aim to motivate the relevant alternatives framework as a fruitful approach to the epistemology of risk. I first articulate a ‘relevant alternatives’ model of the relationship between stakes, evidence, and action. I then employ the relevant alternatives framework to undermine the motivation for moral encroachment. Finally, I argue the relevant alternatives framework illuminates epistemic phenomena such as gaslighting and crying wolf, and I draw on the framework to diagnose the undue skepticism endemic to rape accusations.

Wastewater surveillance for Covid-19: An African perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic has once again highlighted the importance of access to sufficient quantities of safe water and sanitation in public health. In the current COVID-19 pandemic, an early warning wastewater system has been proposed as a platform for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance, and a potentially important public health strategy to combat the disease. This short communication on wastewater surveillance in sub-Saharan Africa highlights challenges, opportunities and alternatives taken into account the local context.

Killing and Rescuing: Why Necessity Must Be Rethought

This article addresses a previously overlooked problem in the ethics of defensive killing. Everyone agrees that defensive killing can only be justified when it is necessary. But necessary for what? That seemingly simple question turns out to be surprisingly difficult to answer. Imagine Attacker is trying to kill Victim, and the only way one could save Victim is by killing Attacker. It would seem that, in such a case, killing is necessary. But now suppose there is some other innocent person, suffering some entirely distinct threat, whose life one could save instead. Is killing still necessary? The seemingly obvious answer is “yes.” Killing is necessary since it is the only means to achieve the goal that stands to justify killing. The problem with this answer is that it presupposes a certain description of that goal as something like “saving Victim’s life” or “saving Victim’s life from Attacker.” Other descriptions are plausible, such as “saving a life.” On that latter description, killing is unnecessary in this case. The problem we are encountering is the problem of finding the right description of the goal of killing. Call this the “description problem.” This article sets out to solve the description problem and arrives at a radical conclusion. In a variety of cases, we should describe the goal of killing in broad terms, without reference to a specific victim or a specific threat. These broad descriptions—such as “saving a life”—make it easier to find relevant alternatives. Killing, it turns out, is much harder to justify than we might otherwise have thought.

Penny for Your Preferences: Leveraging Self-Expression to Encourage Small Prosocial Gifts

Prior approaches that leverage identity to motivate prosocial behavior are often limited to the set of people who already strongly identify with an organization (e.g., prior donors) or by the costs and challenges associated with developing stronger organization-linked identities among a broader audience (e.g., encouraging more people to care). In contrast, this research demonstrates that small prosocial gifts, such as tips or small donations, can be encouraged by framing the act of giving as an opportunity to express identity-relevant preferences—even if such preferences are not explicitly related to prosociality or the organization in need. Rather than simply asking people to give, the “dueling preferences” approach investigated in this research frames the act of giving as a choice between two options (e.g., cats vs. dogs, chocolate vs. vanilla ice cream). Dueling preferences increases prosocial giving by providing potential givers with a greater opportunity for self-expression—an intrinsically desirable opportunity. Seven experiments conducted in the laboratory, online, and in the field support this theorized process while casting doubt on relevant alternatives. This research contributes to work on self-expression and identity and sheds light on how organizations can encourage prosocial behavior.

The lowering of high vowels before [r] in Latin

This paper discusses a putative sound change in the early history of Latin and synchronic alternations apparently related to it. The lowering of short high vowels before the rhotic is problematic on several counts; so much so that serious doubt has been cast on its reality. On the other hand, due to widespread alternations in the morphophonology of Classical Latin it is reasonable to assume that such a lowering operated as a synchronic rule at that stage. A minor asymmetry in the relevant alternations of verbal affixes in infectum-based vs. perfectum-based formations presents an interesting problem to which I suggest two tentative explanations.

Suitability analysis for municipal landfill site selection using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and geospatial technique

One of the most important challenges in solid waste management throughout the world is selection of suitable landfill sites. It is essential for solid waste management, because unscientific dumping and landfilling of waste could negatively impact the environment and human health. This research presents a GIS-based multi-criteria decision support approach for assessing the suitability analysis for landfill site selection in Kolkata Municipal Corporation, India. In highly urbanized areas of Kolkata, there is stress regarding the location of potential landfill sites, because existing waste dumping ground, i.e., Dhapa have no longer space to hold waste after 2 or 3 years. The availability of land is also a major tension than financial assistance in the study area. Therefore, the present study developed a methodological framework for locating suitable landfill candidate sites and selecting the best alternatives. Thus, 20 relevant alternatives were selected and relative weight calculated using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process. The geographic information system was considered to arrange the spatial and aspatial data. The alternatives of all criteria were rated from 1–5 scale indicating lowest to highest suitability for landfill. The weighted linear combination was performed between different criteria for modeling suitable candidate sites. The results revealed that throughout the study area, initially, 16 candidate sites were identified based on geospatial analysis, but out of them, 13 sites cannot be accepted for a landfill site due to current land use, public acceptance, transportation, and local environmental issues. Only three suitable sites can be considered for landfilling, although these are also not completely satisfying the environmental concern. However, landfill site is also essential; otherwise, it will appear as more adverse impact. Therefore, with little compromising with the environmental component, the engineered plan can be designed for the sanitary landfill on specific sites that recommended in this suitability analysis.

Disjunction Triggers Exhaustivity Implicatures in 4- to 5-Year-Olds: Investigating the Role of Access to Alternatives

Abstract Children’s difficulty deriving scalar implicatures has been attributed to a variety of factors including processing limitations, an inability to access scalar alternatives, and pragmatic tolerance. The present research explores the nature of children’s difficulty by investigating a previously unexplored kind of inference—an exhaustivity implicature that is triggered by disjunction. We reasoned that if children are able to draw quantity implicatures but have difficulties accessing alternative lexical expressions from a scale, then they should perform better on exhaustivity implicatures than on scalar implicatures, since the former do not require spontaneously accessing relevant scalar alternatives from the lexicon. We conducted two experiments. Experiment 1 found that 4- to 5-year-olds consistently computed exhaustivity implicatures to a greater extent than scalar implicatures. Experiment 2 demonstrated that children are more likely to compute exhaustivity implicatures with disjunction compared to conjunction. We conclude that children often fail to derive scalar implicatures because (1) they struggle to access scalar alternatives and (2) disjunction (but not conjunction) makes subdomain alternatives particularly salient. Thus, the findings suggest that exhaustivity implicatures can be derived without reference to a scale of alternatives.

Görev Temelli Yeni Bir Stokastik Çok Kriterli Karar Verme Yaklaşımı Önerisi

In real life decision problems, the result is generally obtained by using the opinions of a limited number of experts who have sufficient knowledge and experience on the subject of the decision. In the study, a new Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach was proposed, which enables new views to be obtained by increasing the number of experts in decision-making processes and modeling uncertainty in expert evaluations in a real-life manner. In this context, two different methods, which are based on the The Multi-Objective Optimization by Ratio Analysis (MOORA) Method, are developed using continuous uniform distribution. These approaches are MOORA Ratio and MOORA Reference Point approaches. Continuous uniform distribution was preferred because each value within a certain range had an equal chance of occurrence. This means that each expert opinion is given an equal chance. Accordingly, by using a limited number of experts' opinions, random numbers are generated with continuous uniform distribution; the results of the evaluation of criteria and alternatives can be increased. Each different assessment represents an expert. Random numbers were generated within this range, taking into account the highest and lowest assessments of current experts. The reason for this is to obtain a preliminary assessment of the decision. However, the proposed approach is a task-based approach and decision-makers make use of relevant alternatives before evaluating them. During this use, decision makers are given different practical tasks. The efficiency of performing tasks enables decision-makers to understand the needs of real users and can be evaluated from a different perspective. The task-based MCDM approach is also important in terms of universal design principles and user satisfaction criteria considered in the evaluation of shopping centers in the study. Two different MOORA approaches have been applied in order to evaluate the shopping centers considering universal design principles and user satisfaction criteria and the alternative rankings obtained have been discussed. In addition, these two different approaches were developed to calculate the importance weights of the criteria. The study involves originality in terms of the proposed new approach and the criteria considered in the evaluation of shopping centers.

Nose-to-brain Delivery of Natural Compounds for the Treatment of Central Nervous System Disorders

Several natural compounds have demonstrated potential for the treatment of central nervous system disorders such as ischemic cerebrovascular disease, glioblastoma, neuropathic pain, neurodegenerative diseases, multiple sclerosis and migraine. This is due to their well-known antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, anti-tumor, anti-ischemic and analgesic properties. Nevertheless, many of these molecules have poor aqueous solubility, low bioavailability and extensive gastrointestinal and/or hepatic first-pass metabolism, leading to a quick elimination as well as low serum and tissue concentrations. Thus, the intranasal route emerged as a viable alternative to oral or parenteral administration, by enabling a direct transport into the brain through the olfactory and trigeminal nerves. With this approach, the blood-brain barrier is circumvented and peripheral exposure is reduced, thereby minimizing possible adverse effects. Herein, brain-targeting strategies for nose-to-brain delivery of natural compounds, including flavonoids, cannabinoids, essential oils and terpenes, will be reviewed and discussed. Brain and plasma pharmacokinetics of these molecules will be analyzed and related to their physicochemical characteristics and formulation properties. Natural compounds constitute relevant alternatives for the treatment of brain diseases but often require loading into nanocarrier systems to reach the central nervous system in sufficient concentrations. Future challenges lie in a deeper characterization of their therapeutic mechanisms and in the development of effective, safe and brain-targeted delivery systems for their intranasal administration.

Kidney stones and the opioid epidemic: recent developments and review of the literature.

A public health emergency has been declared in response to rising opioid addiction and opioid-related deaths in the United States. As kidney stones have been identified as an important source of initial and repeated opioid exposures, this review seeks to describe the scope of the problem and report relevant alternatives to opioid analgesia for stones. Recent literature summarizing the extent of opioid use among those with stones is reviewed. A number of opioid-minimizing strategies and analgesic regimens have been proposed and studied. A review of these modifications and alternatives is provided. Both symptomatic renal colic and surgical interventions to address stones may prompt need for analgesia. Reducing prescribed opioids reduces both patient use and risk of diversion. Modifications in surgical technique, administration of local anesthetics, and use of systemic nonopioid analgesics have all been successfully employed.