Predictors of perceived road collision/incident risk among horse users: A survey study from Norway

Although horse users in traffic are a vulnerable road user group, traffic safety problems among them are scantly examined by previous research. The main aim of the present study was to examine the role of some demographic variables, traffic safety attitudes, and level of knowledge about rules and regulations applying to horse use in traffic for predicting perceived road collision/incident risk in a sample of horse users in Norway. An online survey was conducted to collect data from a total of 1733 horse users including horse riders and drivers of horse-drawn sulky, wagon or sled. The respondents accessed the survey via a link put to the website of the Norwegian Horse Centre, which is in contact with many different horse user environments in Norway. The majority of the respondents were female and between the ages of 18–30. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the predictors of the perceived collision/incident risk involving other motor vehicles. Results showed that traffic safety attitudes among horse users were the strongest predictor of the perceived collision/incident risk. In particular, horse users reported a negative attitude towards the other road users (e.g. drivers) indicating that they perceive the other road users’ actions and approaches as the biggest source of risk in road traffic. The level of knowledge about the rules and regulations applying to horse use, especially in walking and cycling lane, was relatively low among the respondents. However, knowledge about rules and regulations did not appear as a strong predictor of the perceived collision/incident risk. Results indicate the need to increase road users, especially drivers’, awareness about the problems and needs of horse users in traffic.     

Community Power Structure Analysis and the Ethical Considerations of “Studying Up”

This narrative outlines our challenges in studying power and power structures within an individual‐level ethical framework. Taking a social ethics perspective, we share the story of our “sticky situation” (Campbell, 2016 ) that transpired during a multi‐year community partnership. We were asked, by our community partners, to help collect interview data without informed consent. As a team of community‐engaged university researchers, we were faced with a seemingly easy ethical situation (no consent, no research) that had unexpectedly complicated and long‐lasting consequences. This experience revealed to us how community‐engaged research and action, under a traditional ethics framework, can often work to protect those in positions of power and offer little to disrupt the status quo. Reflecting on the tension between individual and social ethics, we discuss the limitations of an individual‐level framework, including the definitions for respect for persons, justice, and beneficence, on our ability as a field to understand, critique, and contribute to the dismantling of oppressive power structures.     

Applying Deutsch’s concept of good explanations to artificial intelligence and neuroscience – An initial exploration

Artificial intelligence has made great strides since the deep learning revolution, but AI systems remain incapable of learning principles and rules which allow them to extrapolate outside of their training data to new situations. For inspiration we look to the domain of science, where scientists have been able to develop theories which show remarkable ability to extrapolate and sometimes even predict the existence of phenomena which have never been observed before. According to David Deutsch, this type of extrapolation, which he calls “reach”, is due to scientific theories being hard to vary. In this work we investigate Deutsch’s hard-to-vary principle and how it relates to more formalized principles in deep learning such as the bias-variance trade-off and Occam’s razor. We distinguish internal variability, how much a model/theory can be varied internally while still yielding the same predictions, with external variability, which is how much a model must be varied to predict new, out-of-distribution data. We discuss how to measure internal variability using the notion of the Rashomon set and how to measure external variability using Kolmogorov complexity. We explore what role hard-to-vary explanations play in intelligence by looking at the human brain, the only example of highly general purpose intelligence known. We distinguish two learning systems in the brain – the first operates similar to deep learning and likely underlies most of perception while the second is a more creative system capable of generating hard-to-vary models and explanations of the world. We make contact with Popperian epistemology which suggests that the generation of scientific theories is a not an inductive process but rather an evolutionary process which proceeds through conjecture and refutation. We argue that figuring out how replicate this second system, which is capable of generating hard-to-vary explanations, is a key challenge which needs to be solved in order to realize artificial general intelligence.     

On the Origins of Critical Realism

Critical realism has been used in connection with different epistemological positions. The article reviews its different uses in German, American, and British philosophy and examines its relation to Barbour's introduction of the term in the science and theology debate. The result is that there is a close connection to scientific realism, but not to philosophical critical realism in a narrower sense. Critical realism is a type of realism defining the term in Kant's sense as related to the question of the existence of the tempospatial world. It distinguishes itself as a middle way between naïve realism and other extremes.     

Suffering Injustice: Misrecognition as Moral Injury in Critical Theory

Abstract

It is the persistence of social suffering in a world in which it could be eliminated that for Adorno is the source of the need for critical reflection, for philosophy. Philosophy continues and gains its cultural place because an as yet unbridgeable abyss separates the social potential for the relief of unnecessary human suffering and its emphatic continuance. Philosophy now is the culturally bound repository for the systematic acknowledgement and articulation of the meaning of the expanse of human suffering within technologically advanced societies that are already committed to liberal ideals of freedom and equality.     

(De)colonizing Culture in Community Psychology: Reflections from Critical Social Science

Since its inception, community psychology has been interested in cultural matters relating to issues of diversity and marginalization. However, the field has tended to understand culture as static social markers or as the background for understanding group differences. In this article the authors contend that culture is inseparable from who we are and what we do as social beings. Moreover, culture is continually shaped by socio-historical and political processes intertwined within the globalized history of power. The authors propose a decolonizing standpoint grounded in critical social science to disrupt understandings of cultural matters that marginalize others. This standpoint would move the field toward deeper critical thinking, reflexivity and emancipatory action. The authors present their work to illustrate how they integrate a decolonizing standpoint to community psychology research and teaching. They conclude that community psychology must aim towards intercultural work engaging its political nature from a place of ontological/epistemological/methodological parity.     

Psychological support post-release of humanitarian workers taken hostage: the experience of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

ABSTRACT

Following release, former hostages face many challenges and may struggle to regain control over their lives. Research and evidence on how to effectively address the needs of hostages during their release and afterwards is lacking. The International Committee of the Red Cross has extensive experience in managing hostage situations and has strengthened the practice of care offered to its own affected staff by developing an inter-professional comprehensive seven phase care model adapted to incidents of extended duration with multiple stressors. This includes strong coordination between the different actors involved, combined with long-term peer, social and organisational support, as well as workplace reintegration with guidance by colleagues, and specialised counselling when necessary, to ensure positive outcomes, and minimise permanent sequelae.     

Efficacy of proxy definitions for identification of fatigue/sleep-related crashes: An Australian evaluation

Fatigue/sleepiness is recognised as an important contributory factor in fatal and serious injury road traffic incidents (RTIs), however, identifying fatigue/sleepiness as a causal factor remains an uncertain science. Within Australia attending police officers at a RTI report the causal factors; one option is fatigue/sleepiness. In some Australian jurisdictions police incident databases are subject to post hoc analysis using a proxy definition for fatigue/sleepiness. This secondary analysis identifies further RTIs caused by fatigue/sleepiness not initially identified by attending officers. The current study investigates the efficacy of such proxy definitions for attributing fatigue/sleepiness as a RTI causal factor. Over 1600 Australian drivers were surveyed regarding their experience and involvement in fatigue/sleep-related RTIs and near-misses during the past five years. Driving while fatigued/sleepy had been experienced by the majority of participants (66.0% of participants). Fatigue/sleep-related near misses were reported by 19.1% of participants, with 2.4% being involved in a fatigue/sleep-related RTI. Examination of the characteristics for the most recent event (either a near miss or crash) found that the largest proportion of incidents (28.0%) occurred when commuting to or from work, followed by social activities (25.1%), holiday travel (19.8%), or for work purposes (10.1%). The fatigue/sleep related RTI and near-miss experience of a representative sample of Australian drivers does not reflect the proxy definitions used for fatigue/sleepiness identification. In particular those RTIs that occur in urban areas and at slow speeds may not be identified. While important to have a strategy for identifying fatigue/sleepiness related RTIs proxy measures appear best suited to identifying specific subsets of such RTIs.     

马克思的意识形态批判理论

马克思的意识形态批判理论是历史唯物主义的重要组成部分，也是国内外学术界争论的热点问题，本文探讨的是马克思的意识形态概念，意识形态批判理论的内容：哲学向度和政治经济学向度，以及马克思意识形态批判理论的问题领域。