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Effects of Universal Motorcycle Helmet Laws and Speed Limit Laws on Motorcycle Safety
No full textThis study addresses two research questions: (1) Are helmet laws effective at reducing motorcyclist fatalities? (2) Are speed limit laws effective at reducing motorcyclist fatalities? In the 1960s, the federal government required states to enact universal motorcycle helmet laws to qualify for certain highway safety funds. In addition, in the mid-1970s Congress established a national maximum speed limit by withholding highway funds from states that maintained speed limits greater than 55 miles per hour. However, in 1976, Congress revoked federal authority to assess penalties on states for refusing to enact helmet laws. The speed limit requirement was also loosened for rural interstates in 1987 and completely repealed in 1995. The common assumption that helmet laws and speed limit laws provide safety benefits to motorcyclist is empirically tested. The main sources of data are the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the U.S. Census Bureau. Data collected in 2013 for 48 U.S. states are examined using a multiple linear regression model. This study finds that that requiring all riders to wear a helmet and reducing the speed limits will enhance motorcyclist safety. The reinstatement of repealed and reinforcements of weakened helmet laws should be a priority to public officials and anybody concerned by the motorcyclist mortality rate and huge medical and economical costs. Reducing the speed limits in conjunction with education of the riders will also contribute to the lowering the motorcyclist mortality rates. Keywords: Fatality rates; Motorcycle helmet-use laws; Speed-limit laws.http://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2016/1027/thumbnail.jp
Dignity: Impact in Human Interactions
No full textDignity, an ethical value, is a foundational block of professional nursing care. Within the healthcare system dignity can be threatened, promoted, gained, and/or lost. As medical advances have increased lifespans, individuals are now being confronted with an increased threat of age-related illnesses that can threaten personal dignity. Providing evidence-based, best-practice dignity preserving care can improve patient outcomes resulting in both a healthy and increased lifespan. In the quest to identify ways for improving the quality of patient care, the author developed the Dignity Preservation Model (DPM). The model was developed through analysis and application of two models: the Model of Dignity in Illness developed in 2013 by a group of researchers from the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and the Dignity Model developed by psychiatrist Donna Hicks in 2011. The Interpersonal Relations Theory published by a psychiatric nurse, Hildegard Peplau in 1952 was utilized as the theoretical framework for the DPM. While data is not available for the effectiveness of the DPM within a clinical setting to date, the model is grounded in nursing theory, utilizing evidence-based nursing measures for the improvement of patient care outside medical interventions. Gaining a deeper knowledge and understanding of dignity within the nurse-patient relationship can enrich the nursing care provided. Nursing professionals possibly lack a working knowledge of the concept and the DPM may serve as a tool to guide them in the preservation of patient dignity within the healthcare environment. Future research should focus on the effectiveness of the DPM within the clinical setting as a method of expanding best practice nursing knowledge from which best practice patient care can be realized.http://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2016/1000/thumbnail.jp
Social Conformity to Moral Dilemmas
No full textWhile many studies have demonstrated that conformity pressures influence judgments of ambiguous and unambiguous stimuli, few have examined how such pressures influence moral judgments. We examined how conformity pressures (giving public vs. private responses) affect reactions to unambiguous moral dilemmas (dilemmas that the vast majority of people, in general, agree on) and ambiguous moral dilemmas (dilemmas that people tend to be split on). We expected greater conformity to ambiguous moral dilemmas than unambiguous ones, and predicted that perceived difficulty, agreeableness, confidence, and desire-for-correctness would moderate conformity effects.
To test our predictions, we tested sixty undergraduate participants in individual laboratory sessions. The participant waited with two other “participants” (actually accomplices). After completing measures of personality, the three “participants” responded to 12 moral dilemmas using an Asch-like paradigm. Each dilemma was read out loud by the experimenter (e.g., trolley dilemma, crying baby dilemma). Responses were made publically or privately using a 7-point scale (highly impermissible to highly permissible). In the public condition the participant gave his/her response last. In response to the 10 unambiguous moral dilemmas presented, the accomplices responded normatively to four, violated an impermissible norm in response to three, and violated a permissible norm in response to three. In response to the two ambiguous items, the accomplices responded with high permissibility to one and high impermissibility to the other. Participants then completed a post-session questionnaire.
We analyzed our data using analysis of variance procedures. As expected, we obtained a significant public/private x dilemma-type interaction for the ambiguous dilemmas, F (1, 57) = 38.18, p \u3c .001. When expressed privately, responses to the items did not differ (Ms = 3.62 and 3.24); but when expressed publically, responses were significantly influenced by the accomplices’ judgments (M = 2.40 vs. 4.87, for impermissible and permissible judgments, respectively). An equally significant conformity effect was found with the unambiguous dilemmas, F (1, 57) = 37.25, p \u3c .001. These conformity effects were significantly moderated by confidence and perceived difficulty. Participants who expressed greater confidence in their moral stances exhibited less conformity, while those who perceived the dilemmas as more difficult exhibited more conformity.
Our results demonstrate that responses to moral situations, even those that are unambiguous, are significantly influenced by conformity pressures. However, these effects are moderated by confidence and perceived difficulty. Given the pervasiveness of moral systems and judgments, the implications are important and further research warranted.http://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2016/1057/thumbnail.jp
Politics, Parents, Gender, and Religion: IPFW Students’ Attitudes Regarding Censorship
No full textThis study sought to find if conservative IPFW students or students who are parents will be more likely to support the censorship of violent media (video games, movies, music, etc.) than liberal or moderate students or students who do not have children. Data was gathered from 534 students during the fall semester of 2015 by administering a survey on political beliefs regarding social issues (gay marriage, abortion rights, equal pay, etc.), whether or not the respondent was a parent, whether or not the respondent was religious, and the respondent’s gender. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicate that more religious respondents and females are significantly more likely to support censoring violent media, while political affiliation and parental status were not statistically significant predictors of attitudes regarding censorship.http://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2016/1031/thumbnail.jp
Embracing Inference as Action: A Step Towards Human-Level Reasoning
No full textHuman-level AI involves the ability to reason about the beliefs of other agents, even when those other agents have reasoning styles that may be very different than the AI’s. The ability to carry out reasonable inferences in such situations, as well as in situations where an agent must reason about the beliefs of another agent’s beliefs about yet another agent, is under-studied. We show how such reasoning can be carried out in a new variant of the cognitive event calculus we call CECac, by introducing several new powerful features for automated reasoning: First, the implementation of classical logic at the “system-level” and nonclassical logics at the “belief-level”; Second, CECac treats all inferences made by agents as actions. This opens the door for two more additional features: epistemic boxes, which are a sort of frame in which the reasoning of an individual agent can be simulated, and evaluated codelets, which allow our reasoner to carry out operations beyond the limits of many current systems. We explain how these features are achieved and implemented in the MATR reasoning system, and discuss their consequences
Increasing the Success Rate of Groundwater Exploration in Developing Nation Using Geophysical Methods: Case of a Small Community in Nigeria
No full textAbout 35 percent of Nigeria’s population of the more than 180 M relies on groundwater. Due to the lack of an adequate water supply system within Ogun State, many homes result to drilling their own private wells. Most groundwater is sourced from shallow wells (less than 30 m) and is often of poor water quality. The number of borehole failures is also alarming. Several entrepreneurs have seized on the lack of adequate water supply to drill for groundwater. Several of these wells have either failed or are not adequate for the purposed use of the water. There also appears to be no proper coordination of the citing of these wells. To increase the success rates of the boreholes, the use of geophysical methods amongst others is recommended.
This study examines the exploration for groundwater and water quality in Ogun State in Nigeria, using Ota as an example. Ogun State has both significant surface and groundwater resources. However, due to the indiscriminate and lack of proper waste disposal, the vast majority of the surface waters and shallow well waters are impaired making them unsuitable for many users. To access a deeper groundwater source, a geophysical survey was performed to assist in finding a possible location for a borehole. A geophysical survey using the vertical electric sounding (VES) with Schlumberger configuration was carried out. The data shows that there are five layers within the proposed borehole site. Based on the data, it was suggested that a well be placed at a depth between 65-75 m (213-246 ft.). The borehole was drilled to 67m. This depth, from the literature, corresponds to the Abeokuta formation. A pump was installed at 66 m (217 ft.) depth and the first 50 feet of the borehole was grouted to prevent surface water from getting into the hole. A pumping test was performed for about two hours. While this was noteworthy, the data is not made available to any centralized body. No water chemistry was undertaken and more still needs to be done with location and the procurement of groundwater in developing nations
Formalizing Confidence Propagation in Analogico-Inductive Reasoning
No full textAlthough argument by analogy is studied and featured in many computational models, less appreciated is the ability to reason over analogies (RoA); i.e., not only being able to produce inferences in accordance with arguments by analogy, but having the ability to negate analogies, recognize and learn to avoid bad analogies, compare the relative strengths of analogies, reason about them nonmonotonically, evaluate hypothetical analogies, and so on. To do all of these things, one needs the ability to represent analogies (and not just the products of analogies) in such a way that the analogies themselves can be objects of reasoning processes (including analogy). We take a first step toward the full ability to reason over analogies by presenting a formalization, based on the cognitive event calculus, that treats analogical mappings and hypothetical inferences as objects between which confidence can be propagated. We will argue that computational models of analogy (both descriptive and normative) will need to use such a formalization, and then we show that our formalization provides a new way to evaluate analogical arguments