142,626 research outputs found
Life-Space Foam: a Medium for Motivational and Cognitive Dynamics
General stochastic dynamics, developed in a framework of Feynman path
integrals, have been applied to Lewinian field--theoretic psychodynamics,
resulting in the development of a new concept of life--space foam (LSF) as a
natural medium for motivational and cognitive psychodynamics. According to LSF
formalisms, the classic Lewinian life space can be macroscopically represented
as a smooth manifold with steady force-fields and behavioral paths, while at
the microscopic level it is more realistically represented as a collection of
wildly fluctuating force-fields, (loco)motion paths and local geometries (and
topologies with holes). A set of least-action principles is used to model the
smoothness of global, macro-level LSF paths, fields and geometry. To model the
corresponding local, micro-level LSF structures, an adaptive path integral is
used, defining a multi-phase and multi-path (multi-field and multi-geometry)
transition process from intention to goal-driven action. Application examples
of this new approach include (but are not limited to) information processing,
motivational fatigue, learning, memory and decision-making.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figures, elsar
Socio-hydrological modelling: a review asking “why, what and how?”
Interactions between humans and the environment are occurring on a scale that
has never previously been seen; the scale of human interaction with the water
cycle, along with the coupling present between social and hydrological
systems, means that decisions that impact water also impact people. Models
are often used to assist in decision-making regarding hydrological systems,
and so in order for effective decisions to be made regarding water resource
management, these interactions and feedbacks should be accounted for in
models used to analyse systems in which water and humans interact. This paper
reviews literature surrounding aspects of socio-hydrological modelling. It
begins with background information regarding the current state of
socio-hydrology as a discipline, before covering reasons for modelling and
potential applications. Some important concepts that underlie
socio-hydrological modelling efforts are then discussed, including ways of
viewing socio-hydrological systems, space and time in modelling, complexity,
data and model conceptualisation. Several modelling approaches are described,
the stages in their development detailed and their applicability to
socio-hydrological cases discussed. Gaps in research are then highlighted to
guide directions for future research. The review of literature suggests that
the nature of socio-hydrological study, being interdisciplinary, focusing on
complex interactions between human and natural systems, and dealing with long
horizons, is such that modelling will always present a challenge; it is,
however, the task of the modeller to use the wide range of tools afforded to
them to overcome these challenges as much as possible. The focus in
socio-hydrology is on understanding the human–water system in a holistic
sense, which differs from the problem solving focus of other water management
fields, and as such models in socio-hydrology should be developed with a view
to gaining new insight into these dynamics. There is an essential choice that
socio-hydrological modellers face in deciding between representing individual
system processes or viewing the system from a more abstracted level and
modelling it as such; using these different approaches has implications for
model development, applicability and the insight that they are capable of
giving, and so the decision regarding how to model the system requires
thorough consideration of, among other things, the nature of understanding
that is sought
Acetylcholine neuromodulation in normal and abnormal learning and memory: vigilance control in waking, sleep, autism, amnesia, and Alzheimer's disease
This article provides a unified mechanistic neural explanation of how learning, recognition, and cognition break down during Alzheimer's disease, medial temporal amnesia, and autism. It also clarifies whey there are often sleep disturbances during these disorders. A key mechanism is how acetylcholine modules vigilance control in cortical layer
Clustered marginalization of minorities during social transitions induced by co-evolution of behaviour and network structure
Large-scale transitions in societies are associated with both individual
behavioural change and restructuring of the social network. These two factors
have often been considered independently, yet recent advances in social network
research challenge this view. Here we show that common features of societal
marginalization and clustering emerge naturally during transitions in a
co-evolutionary adaptive network model. This is achieved by explicitly
considering the interplay between individual interaction and a dynamic network
structure in behavioural selection. We exemplify this mechanism by simulating
how smoking behaviour and the network structure get reconfigured by changing
social norms. Our results are consistent with empirical findings: The
prevalence of smoking was reduced, remaining smokers were preferentially
connected among each other and formed increasingly marginalised clusters. We
propose that self-amplifying feedbacks between individual behaviour and dynamic
restructuring of the network are main drivers of the transition. This
generative mechanism for co-evolution of individual behaviour and social
network structure may apply to a wide range of examples beyond smoking.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure
Disentangling scale approaches in governance research: comparing monocentric, multilevel, and adaptive governance
The question of how to govern the multiscale problems in today’s network society is an important topic in the fields of public administration, political sciences, and environmental sciences. How scales are defined, studied, and dealt with varies substantially within and across these fields. This paper aims to reduce the existing conceptual confusion regarding scales by disentangling three representative approaches that address both governance and scaling: monocentric governance, multilevel governance, and adaptive governance. It does so by analyzing the differences in (1) underlying views on governing, (2) assumptions about scales, (3) dominant problem definitions regarding scales, and (4) preferred responses for dealing with multiple scales. Finally, this paper identifies research opportunities within and across these approaches
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