Prediction Markets: The Practical and Normative Possibilities for the Social Production of Knowledge

Episteme ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Bragues
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Foundation ◽  
Prediction Markets ◽  
Empirical Methods ◽  
Social Production ◽  
Deliberative Process ◽  
Future Event ◽  
Mass Collaboration ◽  
The Social ◽  
Practical Constraints

ABSTRACTThe quest to foretell the future is omnipresent in human affairs. A potential solution to this epistemological conundrum has emerged through mass collaboration. Motored by the Internet, prediction markets allow a multitude of individuals to assume a stake in a security whose value is tied to a future event. The resulting prices offer a continuously updated probability estimate of the event actually taking place. This paper gives a survey of prediction markets, their history, mechanics, uses, and theoretical foundation. We also review the literature surrounding their efficacy. Though there are shortcomings with prediction markets, as well as practical constraints, they hold out the prospect of improving the quality of organizational decisions and increasing the level of participation in the deliberative process. We also note that lessons can be drawn from these markets to guide the epistemological practices of disciplines and inquiries in which empirical methods are difficult to apply.

scholarly journals The Gendering of Cancer Survivorship

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Skinner
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Medical Research ◽  
Cancer Survivorship ◽  
Clinical Studies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Awareness ◽  
Social Production ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

This article examines the relationship between gender and cancer survivorship. I argue that gender is as critical as a category of analysis for understanding cancer survivorship as it is missing from survivorship studies, particularly as concerns the identificatory basis of survivor culture and clinical studies regarding survivors’ quality of life (QOL). This under-studied question of the gendering of survivorship is critical because the consequences of the social production of disease is far-reaching, from the nature of medical research to social awareness, to funding to the well-being of cancer survivors themselves.

Soziologische Gerechtigkeitsanalyse. Überlegungen zur theoretischen Fundierung eines Forschungsfeldes

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Liebig ◽  
Carsten Sauer
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Theoretical Foundation ◽  
Social Production ◽  
Justice Research ◽  
Goal Framing ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
Principle Of Justice ◽  
Individual Justice ◽  
The Individual

AbstractDuring the last years the focus of sociological justice research has been on the measurement of justice attitudes of the people outside the laboratory via large scale and internationally comparative surveys. Within these surveys one attempt has been to identify the social determinants and the consequences of individual justice attitudes. However, the theoretical foundation of this research within exiting sociological theories and concepts has been neglected. Therefore, the sociological justice research is so far not able to provide theoretically sound answers to at least two questions: (1) why do people think justice is important, and (2) what are the reasons for substantively different justice attitudes? By using the theory of social production functions and the goal-framing theory this contribution tries to overcome this shortcoming and suggests an explanation why justice is seen as a desirable goal and why norms of justice are in the very own interest of the individual. Assumptions are derived under which conditions individuals declare themselves in favor of a specific principle of justice to solve conflicts of allocation and distribution. The aim of this paper is to derive theoretically substantive and empirically testable predictions based on a general theory of action and thus to contribute to a stronger theoretical foundation of sociological justice research.

Epistemic and relational conflicts in sharing identical vs. complementary information during cooperative learning

2002 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 139-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Céline Darnon ◽  
Céline Buchs ◽  
Fabrizio Butera
Keyword(s):  
Cooperative Learning ◽  
Social Comparison ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Complementary Information ◽  
Relational Conflict ◽  
The Social ◽  
The University

When interacting on a learning task, which is typical of several academic situations, individuals may experience two different motives: Understanding the problem, or showing their competences. When a conflict (confrontation of divergent propositions) emerges from this interaction, it can be solved either in an epistemic way (focused on the task) or in a relational way (focused on the social comparison of competences). The latter is believed to be detrimental for learning. Moreover, research on cooperative learning shows that when they share identical information, partners are led to compare to each other, and are less encouraged to cooperate than when they share complementary information. An epistemic vs. relational conflict vs. no conflict was provoked in dyads composed by a participant and a confederate, working either on identical or on complementary information (N = 122). Results showed that, if relational and epistemic conflicts both entailed more perceived interactions and divergence than the control group, only relational conflict entailed more perceived comparison activities and a less positive relationship than the control group. Epistemic conflict resulted in a more positive perceived relationship than the control group. As far as performance is concerned, relational conflict led to a worse learning than epistemic conflict, and - after a delay - than the control group. An interaction between the two variables on delayed performance showed that epistemic and relational conflicts were different only when working with complementary information. This study shows the importance of the quality of relationship when sharing information during cooperative learning, a crucial factor to be taken into account when planning educational settings at the university.

A Futures Study on the Quality Of Life from the Point Of View of Iranian Youth

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Sina Saeedy ◽  
Mojtaba Amiri ◽  
Mohammad Mahdi Zolfagharzadeh ◽  
Mohammad Rahim Eyvazi
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Satisfaction With Life ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Futures Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
The University

Quality of life and satisfaction with life as tightly interconnected concepts have become of much importance in the urbanism era. No doubt, it is one of the most important goals of every human society to enhance a citizen’s quality of life and to increase their satisfaction with life. However, there are many signs which demonstrate the low level of life satisfaction of Iranian citizens especially among the youth. Thus, considering the temporal concept of life satisfaction, this research aims to make a futures study in this field. Therefore, using a mixed model and employing research methods from futures studies, life satisfaction among the students of the University of Tehran were measured and their views on this subject investigated. Both quantitative and qualitative data were analysed together in order to test the hypotheses and to address the research questions on the youth discontentment with quality of life. Findings showed that the level of life satisfaction among students is relatively low and their image of the future is not positive and not optimistic. These views were elicited and discussed in the social, economic, political, environmental and technological perspectives. Keywords:  futures studies, quality of life, satisfaction with life, youth

Shall I trust you? From child human-robot interaction to trusting relationships

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cinzia Di Dio ◽  
Federico Manzi ◽  
Giulia Peretti ◽  
Angelo Cangelosi ◽  
Paul L. Harris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Pattern ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Cognitive Correlates ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

Studying trust within human-robot interaction is of great importance given the social relevance of robotic agents in a variety of contexts. We investigated the acquisition, loss and restoration of trust when preschool and school-age children played with either a human or a humanoid robot in-vivo. The relationship between trust and the quality of attachment relationships, Theory of Mind, and executive function skills was also investigated. No differences were found in children’s trust in the play-partner as a function of agency (human or robot). Nevertheless, 3-years-olds showed a trend toward trusting the human more than the robot, while 7-years-olds displayed the reverse behavioral pattern, thus highlighting the developing interplay between affective and cognitive correlates of trust.

Data analysis of social hygiene monitoring in russian regions determining environmental and hygienic safety for population

2020 ◽  
pp. 60-66
Author(s):  
O. Klepikov ◽  
S. Eprintsev ◽  
S. Shekoyan
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Safety ◽  
Environmental Risks ◽  
Priority Pollutants ◽  
Russian Regions ◽  
Social Hygiene ◽  
Atmospheric Air ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Federal Center

Data of the Federal Information Fund for Social Hygiene Monitoring conducted on the basis of the Federal Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor have been analyzed to assess environmental risks, as well as to develop environmental safety system as a factor for sustainable development of the territory in the regions of the Russian Federation. Atmospheric air pollution in Russian regions was evaluated by content of priority pollutants. Ranking of Russian regions according to the quality of drinking water supply was carried out. The possibility of using Federal Information Fund for Social Hygiene Monitoring as an integral part of the model for optimizing the social and environmental conditions of populated areas is estimated.

About Using the Complex Method in Studies of the Quality of Life of the Population of the North Ossetia

2020 ◽  
pp. 36-48
Author(s):  
I. M. Loskutova ◽  
N. G. Romanova
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Standard Of Living ◽  
Complex Method ◽  
The North ◽  
Social Wellbeing ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sociological Studies ◽  
North Ossetia

This article is devoted to the application of an integrated approach in the study of the quality of life of the population of the North Ossetia. Aspects of the specifity of objective and subjective approaches are substantiated. The increasing importance of the concept of “quality of life” in the XXI century is indicated. A review of sociological studies of the level and quality of life in Russia, as well as a range of monographic works on the analyzed issues. The results of empirical sociological studies in 2014 and 2018 (a study of the quality and standard of living of the population of North Ossetia and a study of the social wellbeing of the population of North Ossetia using the methodology developed by Lapin N. I. and Belyaeva L. A.) are presented.

Richard Mackenney, Venice as the Polity of Mercy: Guilds, Confraternities, and the Social Order, c. 1250–c. 1650. Toronto Italian Studies. Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University of Toronto Press, 2019, xiii, 471.

Mediaevistik ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 551-552
Author(s):  
Thomas Willard
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Legal Scholar ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
Italian Studies ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Social ◽  
University Town ◽  
The University

Shakespeare is well known to have set two of his plays in and around Venice: The Merchant of Venice (1596) and The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice (1603). The first is often remembered for its famous speech about “the quality of mercy,” delivered by the female lead Portia in the disguise of a legal scholar from the university town of Padua. The speech helps to spare the life of her new husband’s friend and financial backer against the claims of the Jewish moneylender Shylock. The play has raised questions for Shakespearean scholars about the choice of Venice as an open city where merchants of all nations and faiths would meet on the Rialto while the city’s Senate, composed of leading merchants, worked hard to keep it open to all and especially profitable for its merchants. Those who would like to learn more about the city’s development as a center of trade can learn much from Richard Mackenney’s new book.

The Factors of the Holistic Health Status of Thai Elders in the 21st Century

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manyat Ruchiwit ◽  
Kanjanee Phanphairoj ◽  
Tipsuda Sumneangsanor ◽  
Jinpitcha Mamom
Keyword(s):  
Health Status ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Holistic Health ◽  
Alpha Coefficient ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Stress Prevention ◽  
The Social ◽  
Whole Person

Background: Holistic health is important to life, perhaps especially for elders. Focus should not only be placed on illness or the physical part of their lives, but the whole person should also be considered, emphasizing the connection of their mind, body, and the environment. Objective: The aims of this research were to study the factors of the holistic health status (HHS) of the Thai elderly in the 21st century, and to predict the factors affecting the development of HHS in 3 aspects; physical health status, mental and emotional health status, and the social and environmental health status. Method: The data were collected from 928 Thai elderly aged 60 and over in the central part of Thailand. The research instrument was a questionnaire whose reliability was confirmed using a Cronbach alpha coefficient of .904. Multiple regression analysis was used for predicting the factors of HHS. Results: The results indicated that stress, increased age, gender, and social participation can predict the HHS of Thai elders, and stress can predict each 3 aspects. Therefore, stress prevention activities are very important for enhancing the HHS of Thai elders. Conclusion: The findings of this research can be used to improve the quality of life of elders in the 21st century.

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