Strong Attractors of Hopfield Neural Networks to Model Attachment Types and Behavioural Patterns

Abstract — We study the notion of a strong attractor of a Hopfield neural model as a pattern that has been stored multiple times in the network, and examine its properties using basic mathematical techniques as well as a variety of simulations. It is proposed that strong attractors can be used to model attachment types in developmental psychology as well as behavioural patterns in psychology and psychotherapy. We study the stability and basins of attraction of strong attractors in the presence of other simple attractors and show that they are indeed more stable with a larger basin of attraction compared with simple attractors. We also show that the perturbation of a strong attractor by random noise results in a cluster of attractors near the original strong attractor measured by the Hamming distance. We investigate the stability and basins of attraction of such clusters as the noise increases and establish that the unfolding of the strong attractor, leading to its breakup, goes through three different stages. Finally the relation between strong attractors of different multiplicity and their influence on each other are studied and we show how the impact of a strong attractor can be replaced with that of a new strong attractor. This retraining of the network is proposed as a model of how attachment types and behavioural patterns can undergo change. I

Identifying Prototypical Components in Behaviour Using Clustering Algorithms

Quantitative analysis of animal behaviour is a requirement to understand the task solving strategies of animals and the underlying control mechanisms. The identification of repeatedly occurring behavioural components is thereby a key element of a structured quantitative description. However, the complexity of most behaviours makes the identification of such behavioural components a challenging problem. We propose an automatic and objective approach for determining and evaluating prototypical behavioural components. Behavioural prototypes are identified using clustering algorithms and finally evaluated with respect to their ability to represent the whole behavioural data set. The prototypes allow for a meaningful segmentation of behavioural sequences. We applied our clustering approach to identify prototypical movements of the head of blowflies during cruising flight. The results confirm the previously established saccadic gaze strategy by the set of prototypes being divided into either predominantly translational or rotational movements, respectively. The prototypes reveal additional details about the saccadic and intersaccadic flight sections that could not be unravelled so far. Successful application of the proposed approach to behavioural data shows its ability to automatically identify prototypical behavioural components within a large and noisy database and to evaluate these with respect to their quality and stability. Hence, this approach might be applied to a broad range of behavioural and neural data obtained from different animals and in different contexts

Enabling designers to generate concepts of interactive product behaviours: a mixed reality design approach

To design interactive behaviours for their products designers/makers have to use high fidelity tools like ‘electronic prototyping kits’, involving sensors and programming to incorporate interactions in their products and are dependent on availability of hardware. Not every designer is comfortable using such tools to ideate and test their concept ideas, eventually slowing them down in the process. Thus, there is a need for a design tool that reduces dependence on complex components of such tools while exploring new concepts for product design at an early stage. In this work, we propose a Mixed Reality system that we developed to simulate interactive behaviours of products using designed visual interaction blocks. The system is implemented in three stages: idea generation, creating interactions and revision of interactive behaviours. The implemented virtual scenario showed to elicit high motivation and appeal among users resulting in inventive and creative design experience at the same time. As a result, designers will be able to create and revise their interaction-behavioural design concepts virtually with relative ease, resulting in higher concept generation and their validation

Social Media Advertising Trends in Tourism

Advertising in our days is moving to the social media since consumers are spending more and more time on such platforms that offer very customized information for each user. Facebook, for example, is trying to bring each person the most meaningful content, which means the advertising is ultra-customized based on the user activity and preferences, but this kind of personalisation can easily have an unpleasant side effect. The advertising for touristic destinations can become very complex by using fine-tuned campaigns triggered by user consumption patterns revealed in the digital world. By adding a button like “buy now”, the social media apps can easily integrate important e-commerce features, so the advertising of today is not only about presenting the content but also about instantly buying products and services. This paper highlights the way in which advertising messages emerging social media can quickly have a greatly improved success rate. Research methodology took as its starting point the findings of scientific studies published in the literature, the obtained results being interpreted from the perspective of the authors' personal considerations on the topic of the paper. The conclusions highlight the main trends related to increasing the success rate of advertisements in tourism by using social media and by choosing the most appropriate platforms, advertising methods and buying tools such as augmented and/or virtual reality that allow to experiment in advance a travel package, placing of advertising messages on the platforms with the greatest impact and including the direct purchase options inside the add, so that viewing the message can be immediately followed by the acquisition of the promoted service

Managerial and leadership effectiveness as perceived by managers and non-managerial employees in Mexico

Using the critical incident (CI) technique, concrete examples of effective and ineffective managerial behaviour (CIs) were collected from managers and non-managerial employees within private and public sector organizations situated in the north and southeast regions of Mexico. The CIs were content analysed using open, axial and selective coding to identify a smaller number of thematic categories. A total of 38 ‘manager’ and 35 ‘non-managerial employee’ behavioural categories were identified respectively, of which 82.19% (n = 60) were found to be either convergent or polar opposite in meaning. The findings suggest that what behaviourally differentiates effective managers from ineffective managers is perceived, described and defined by Mexican managers and non-managerial employees in much the same way. The study provides new insights on the issue of perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness in Mexico and is a rare example of indigenous managerial behaviour research in a non-Anglo country

School categorisation learner performance : the power of ethos.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.South African schools and, indeed, across the world, are categorised according to several dimensions. For example, schools within South Africa are categorised, amongst others, in terms of quintile rankings, geography, fee paying and non-fee paying, performing and non-performing schools. These categories are often used in reporting of the outcomes of schools within a country, but very little focus on how these categories influence teaching and learning with the school that accounts for its learner performance. This study takes this vantage point and explores the relationship between school categorisation, school ethos, teaching and learning and learner performance. Through a case study of two schools of different quintile rankings and working within the confines of an interpretivist paradigm, the study attempted to explore the school ethos as experienced by the school leadership and teachers. The examination was conducted by means of observations and interviews. Through a process of purposive sampling the principal, one head of department (HOD) and three level one educators each from two primary schools were chosen. The data was generated with the use of semi- structured interviews and observation. The data gathered was reviewed, coded and organized into themes and sub-themes. Content analysis was used to analyse the data. The research finding emanating from the data showed that school ethos influences what happens within schools. The study also confirmed that poverty, impacts negatively on academic performance. In addressing the needs of the learners from impoverished communities, schools also pay attention to the socio-economic needs of the learners with a view to providing holistic education. The impact of such holistic education is on the ability to deliver the planned curriculum. The teachers are not able to deliver the curriculum as planned, rather they focus on the curriculum as lived within an inclusive ethos, and this focus on the curriculum influences how teaching and learning takes place which ultimately reflects on the learner performances. On the other hand, the study found that in a school where the focus was on teaching the curriculum as planned, the ethos of the school is defined by functionality. Adherence to the school curriculum influenced how the school functioned, how teaching and learning unfolded and how such management processes influenced learner performance in schools. The study, therefore, revealed that school ethos influences teaching and learning within a school and can account for why the learners perform the way they do. The findings of the study has implications for school leaders and the community to understand the nature and role of schools in their communities with a view to providing relevant education to their learners that takes into consideration the realities of their socio-economic situations and align their educational needs with the schools’ focus, that which is guided by its ethos. The study introduced a school-community ecology conceptual model that can be used to guide what happens within schools in terms of teaching, learning, learner performance and school categorisations

Requirement validation with enactable descriptions of use cases.

The validation of stakeholder requirements for a software system is a pivotal activity for any nontrivial software development project. Often, differences in knowledge regarding development issues, and knowledge regarding the problem domain, impede the elaboration of requirements amongst developers and stakeholders. A description technique that provides a user perspective of the system behaviour is likely to enhance shared understanding between the developers and stakeholders. The Unified Modelling Language (UML) use case is such a notation. Use cases describe the behaviour of a system (using natural language) in terms of interactions between the external users and the system. Since the standardisation of the UML by the Object Management Group in 1997, much research has been devoted to use cases. Some researchers have focussed on the provision of writing guidelines for use case specifications whereas others have focussed on the application of formal techniques. This thesis investigates the adequacy of the use case description for the specification and validation of software behaviour. In particular, the thesis argues that whereas the user-system interaction scheme underpins the essence of the use case notation, the UML specification of the use case does not provide a mechanism by which use cases can describe dependencies amongst constituent interaction steps. Clarifying these issues is crucial for validating the adequacy of the specification against stakeholder expectations. This thesis proposes a state-based approach (the Educator approach) to use case specification where constituent events are augmented with pre and post states to express both intra-use case and inter-use case dependencies. Use case events are enacted to visualise implied behaviour, thereby enhancing shared understanding among users and developers. Moreover, enaction provides an early "feel" of the behaviour that would result from the implementation of the specification. The Educator approach and the enaction of descriptions are supported by a prototype environment, the EducatorTool, developed to demonstrate the efficacy and novelty of the approach. To validate the work presented in this thesis an industrial study, involving the specification of realtime control software, is reported. The study involves the analysis of use case specifications of the subsystems prior to the application of the proposed approach, and the analysis of the specification where the approach and tool support are applied. This way, it is possible to determine the efficacy of the Educator approach within an industrial setting

Rethinking mythology in Greek museums through contemporary culture

This thesis investigates the character with which Greek mythology, one of the most durable manifestations of ancient Greek heritage, survives in the perception of contemporary Greeks, and the role that Greek museums do and could play in this. The starting point for this investigation is the appraisal of Greek mythology as an ideological creation of ancient Greece that bears pan-human and diachronie intellectual and cultural potency and, as such, constitutes a significant interpretative tool for the contemporary Greek individual. More specifically, this thesis reconsiders the relationships between Greek mythology, Greek museums and Greek people, using as a bridge contemporary Greek art. It does so in three main chapters, which investigate and analyze different parameters of this nexus of relationships. Greek mythology’s adaptations by contemporary Greek society are also explored in an attempt to establish the dominant contemporary meanings of Greek mythology. Then, the relation of a specific cultural manifestation of contemporary Greek society, that of contemporary art, to Greek mythology is extensively analyzed through a series of interviews that were conducted exclusively for this thesis. In these interviews, contemporary Greek musicians, authors and visual artists speak of the position that Greek mythology possess (or does not possess) in their artistic expression, and discuss the intellectual and cultural significance that Greek myths retain for contemporary society and people. From these investigations, two antithetic poles emerge. On the one hand, there is the trivializing way in which Greek society deals with its myths through their exploitation, for example, for commercial or nationalist purposes. On the other hand, there is the sensitivity with which my interviewees pored over Greek myths, enabling them to emerge full of dynamism, and illuminating them as ever-active negotiators of life and human nature. Thus, contemporary art is identified as a powerful conveyor of mythology’s potency for the contemporary individual. Next, the position of Greek archaeological museums, as major official institutions that do, or could, represent and safeguard Greek mythology is explored and critically assessed. It emerges that Greek museums are rather unconcerned with Greek mythology’s representation and communication and thus, confirm that Greek mythology is a dead and irrelevant representative of a glorious, yet remote and strange, ancient civilization