Realism and Knowledge First. Interview with Timothy Williamson

The renowned British philosopher Timothy Williamson talks about his philosophical views and main lines of research. Williamson is a metaphysical realist in a broad sense. Fir him there are true or false answers to questions about all aspects of reality. Classical logic is a universal true theory. Knowledge-first epistemology is an alternative to the traditional belief-first epistemology. The former takes the concept of knowledge as a basic concept, explaining other epistemic concepts, including belief, in its terms, whereas the latter does the opposite. Knowledge, not truth, is the fundamental epistemic good. The Gettier problem and the skeptical problem that arise within traditional epistemology are ill posed and therefore cannot be solved. Hybrid epistemological theories do not satisfy the principles of simplicity and beauty and are refuted by counter-examples. Epistemic contextualism is problematic, and relativism violates the semantics of the phenomena being explained. Knowledge does not entail knowledge about knowledge. Knowledge-how is a kind of knowledge-that. The distinction between a priori and a posteriori is superficial, and there are no analytical truths. The concept of qualia is unhelpful for solving the problems related to consciousness. The so-called “hard problem” of consciousness points to an area of conceptual confusions in which we do not know how to reason properly. Speculative metaphysics is quite a respectable enterprise. But progress in metaphysics is not automatic; it requires the right methodology.

Quality of Life among Pediatric Neurocognitive, Speech, and Psychomotor Rehabilitation Professionals during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study on an Italian Sample

Objective: The aim was to estimate the perceived quality of life and its relationship with sociodemographic and professional factors, perception of susceptibility to COVID-19, and stress. Design: It was a longitudinal study. Subjects: Professionals, working in Italian centers for pediatric neurocognitive, speech, and psychomotor rehabilitation. Methods: Participants were interviewed online twice during the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy. The questionnaire included: (i) The measures of health-related quality of life to perform the Summary Index of Unhealthy Days, (ii) modified items from the “Standard questionnaire on risk perception of an infectious disease outbreak” and (iii) the items of the General Health Questionnaire. Results: One hundred and thirty professionals out of 130 participated in the first interview, while only 50 therapists took part in the second interview (dropout rate: 61%). The Summary Index of Unhealthy Days was 8 days at the first interview, and it decreased to 6 days at the second interview; however, the reduction was not significant (F = 3.22; p = 0.079). The multivariable analysis showed that the rehabilitation providers with moderate or severe stress level were more likely to have a negative perception of the quality of life (ORadj = 7.155; 95% CI: 2.8–18.2), and this result was confirmed at the second interview. Conclusions: Our results showed that in a severe public health emergency, the mental health and quality of life of rehabilitation professionals must be a topic of focus to enhance psychological resilience, to prevent burnout and to reduce rehabilitation errors.

Lived experiences of inequalities in the USA: a sense-making perspective

PurposeInequality is an important organizational phenomenon. Scholars have argued that inequalities persistently dwell in the flow of our lives and have a lingering impact. Yet, despite such compelling evidence, research has overlooked how individuals make sense of the inequalities they face inside and outside the organizations. The purpose of this paper was to address these gaps and capture its complexity on individual lived experiences with inequalities.Design/methodology/approachThe present study used Seidman's adapted 2-interview strategy to collect the data. The first interview placed the participant's life history at the center, allowing the participant to share their childhood and adulthood experiences with inequalities inside and outside the organizations. The second interview focused on the concrete details of the participant's present lived experience and their reflections on the meaning of their experiences. In total, the present study relied on 26 interviews with 13 participants.FindingsLived experiences provided an extended-time view and allowed the researcher to explore how study participants perceived, coped and were shaped by inequalities throughout their lives. In addition, the sense-making perspective offered a new lens to study inequalities. Findings underscore the racial, class and gendered dynamics within organizations supporting their intersectional impact and acknowledge the pre-existing societal norms that condition individual actions and choices.Originality/valueThe study presents an “engaged” view of inequality to highlight it as a cumulative and complex experience. The findings help us recognize that participants are immersed in their specific contexts to act, negotiate, empower and make decisions under real-life pressures. Overall, the study pushes the boundaries of inequality research beyond its current episodic treatment.

Do Orthopaedic Residency Programs Have the Least Time Between Invitation and Interview?

ABSTRACT Background The cost and stress of applying to residency programs are increasing. Planning for interviews with limited lead time can cause additional burden to residency applicants. Objective We sought to determine if the specialty of orthopaedics was affording the same lead time between interview invitation and interview dates as its surgical and medical counterparts. Methods Dates for the first interview invitation and last possible interview were gathered for each program in orthopaedic surgery, general surgery, otolaryngology, vascular surgery, plastic surgery, neurological surgery, internal medicine, psychiatry, pediatrics, and family medicine. Interview lead time was calculated for each specialty. Mann–Whitney U and independent sample Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for nonparametric data with P < .05 considered as significant. Results Orthopaedic surgery lead time is significantly different when compared individually and pairwise to other specialties (P < .05 for all comparisons), with a median lead time of 57 days. The next lowest lead time specialty is otolaryngology with a 70-day lead time. The specialty with the longest is pediatrics (median 106 days). Conclusions Residency programs (orthopaedic surgery in particular) vary widely in the amount of lead time given to schedule and attend interviews. The authors propose that interview invitations be extended into mid-October.

Cyber Security: Cyber Fraud on Carding: A Review

This chapter provides one person case study of Mr. Dan DeFilippi who was arrested for master card fraud by the US u. s. SS in December 2004. The episode delves into the psychology of a cybercriminal and also the inside workings of master card fraud. A background context of master card fraud is presented to border the first interview. Slightly on the identification of issues and controversies with reference to carding is then given. Finally, the convicted cybercriminal turned key informant makes advice on how to reduce the growing prevalence of cybercrime. A giant finding is that master card fraud is simply too easy to enact and merchants have to conduct better staff training to catch fraudsters early. With increases in global online acquiring, international carding networks are proliferating, making it hard for enforcement agencies to be “policing” illegal transactions. Big data could have a task to play in analyzing behaviors that expose cybercrime.

Developing Adaptive Serious Games for Children With Specific Learning Difficulties: A Two-phase Usability and Technology Acceptance Study

Background Specific learning difficulties (SpLD) include several disorders such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia, and the children with these SpLD receive special education. However, the studies and the educational material so far focus mainly on one specific disorder. Objective This study’s primary goal is to develop comprehensive training material for different types of SpLD, with five serious games addressing different aspects of the SpLD. The second focus is measuring the impact of adaptive difficulty level adjustment in the children’s and their educators’ usability and technology acceptance perception. Receiving feedback from the children and their educators, and refining the games according to their suggestions have also been essential in this two-phase study. Methods A total of 10 SpLD educators and 23 children with different types of SpLD tested the prototypes of the five serious games (ie, Word game, Memory game, Category game, Space game, and Math game), gave detailed feedback, answered the System Usability Scale and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) questionnaires, and applied think-aloud protocols during game play. Results The games’ standard and adaptive versions were analyzed in terms of average playtime and the number of false answers. Detailed analyses of the interviews, with word clouds and player performances, were also provided. The TAM questionnaires’ average and mean values and box plots of each data acquisition session for the children and the educators were also reported via System Usability Scale and TAM questionnaires. The TAM results of the educators had an average of 8.41 (SD 0.87) out of 10 in the first interview and an average of 8.71 (SD 0.64) out of 10 in the second interview. The children had an average of 9.07 (SD 0.56) out of 10 in the first interview. Conclusions Both the educators and the children with SpLD enjoyed playing the games, gave positive feedback, and suggested new ways for improvement. The results showed that these games provide thorough training material for different types of SpLD with personalized and tailored difficulty systems. The final version of the proposed games will become a part of the special education centers’ supplementary curriculum and training materials, making new enhancements and improvements possible in the future.

Robot Drawings of Children Receiving Preschool Education and Their Opinions on Robots

This study investigated preschool children’s opinions on educational robots using their robot drawings. The study group consisted of 64 five- and six-years old children in an independent kindergarden affiliated to the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) in Ankara province, Turkey and participated in the Preschool Robotics Coding Workshop within the scope of the project titled “TUBITAK 4007 Science in the Footsteps of Cezeri” in the 2018-2019 academic year. For the purpose of this study phenomenology model as a qualitative research approach was adopted and data was collected through visual materials and semi-structured interviews to determine children’s opinions on robots. The data collection process was carried out in an eight-weeks period starting in March 2019 as one week for the acquaintance phase, six weeks for practice, and the last week for a two-day workshop with educational robots. In line with the findings of this research, the mechanical features of the robots were examined, it was determined that there was an increase in the battery drawings in children’s last drawings compared to their first drawings. It was also determined that the children responded to “Who builds the robots?” interview question as factories, scientists, machines, and repairers in the first interview while more than 90% of the children responded as scientists and engineers in the second interview.

Narrating Parents/Guardians’ Experiences: Advocating for Students on Individualized Education Programs

The purpose of this study was to uncover the narratives of parents/guardians with students on IEPs to determine their needs and perceptions about the IEP process. The goal of this study was to answer three research questions: 1) How do parents/guardians’ educational experiences affect their ability to navigate the educational system for their child?, 2) What supports are needed by parents/guardians of students with IEPs to support/advocate for their child’s education?, and 3) What are parents/guardians' self-perceptions about their abilities to advocate for their students on IEPs? The researcher developed a narrative methodology design that involved interviewing participants who are parents or guardians of students currently on IEPs in in kindergarten to sixth grade. Participants in the study were mothers with at least one student on an IEP. They participated in two interviews between February and December 2020. Interviews took place during the COVID-19 pandemic that led to school closures. With the exception of the first interview with Participant 1, all interviews occurred after the school closures. This had some effect on the responses of participants and may have affected the conclusions made. Through the interviews, participants shared their personal school experiences as well as their experiences with the IEP process. The researcher determined the correlation between parents/guardians’ education and their experience with the IEP process, what supports are desired by parents/guardians when working through the IEP process, and what parents/guardians' perceptions of the process are. Parents/guardians’ overall were content with the IEP process as an overall system, but participants did share their struggles with the process and supports they wanted from their students’ schools.