Role of social environment and social clustering in spread of opinions in co-evolving networks

Taking a pragmatic approach to the processes involved in the phenomena of collective opinion formation, we investigate two specific modifications to the co-evolving network voter model of opinion formation, studied by Holme and Newman [1]. First, we replace the rewiring probability parameter by a distribution of probability of accepting or rejecting opinions between individuals, accounting for the asymmetric influences in relationships among individuals in a social group. Second, we modify the rewiring step by a path-length-based preference for rewiring that reinforces local clustering. We have investigated the influences of these modifications on the outcomes of the simulations of this model. We found that varying the shape of the distribution of probability of accepting or rejecting opinions can lead to the emergence of two qualitatively distinct final states, one having several isolated connected components each in internal consensus leading to the existence of diverse set of opinions and the other having one single dominant connected component with each node within it having the same opinion. Furthermore, and more importantly, we found that the initial clustering in network can also induce similar transitions. Our investigation also brings forward that these transitions are governed by a weak and complex dependence on system size. We found that the networks in the final states of the model have rich structural properties including the small world property for some parameter regimes. [1] P. Holme and M. Newman, Phys. Rev. E 74, 056108 (2006)

Preparing for a Northwest Passage: A Workshop on the Role of New England in Navigating the New Arctic

Preparing for a Northwest Passage: A Workshop on the Role of New England in Navigating the New Arctic (March 25 - 27, 2018 -- The University of New Hampshire) paired two of NSF\u27s 10 Big Ideas: Navigating the New Arctic and Growing Convergence Research at NSF. During this event, participants assessed economic, environmental, and social impacts of Arctic change on New England and established convergence research initiatives to prepare for, adapt to, and respond to these effects. Shipping routes through an ice-free Northwest Passage in combination with modifications to ocean circulation and regional climate patterns linked to Arctic ice melt will affect trade, fisheries, tourism, coastal ecology, air and water quality, animal migration, and demographics not only in the Arctic but also in lower latitude coastal regions such as New England. With profound changes on the horizon, this is a critical opportunity for New England to prepare for uncertain yet inevitable economic and environmental impacts of Arctic change

Élőlények kollektív viselkedésének statisztikus fizikája = Statistical physics of the collective behaviour of organisms

Experiments: We have carried out quantitative experiments on the collective motion of cells as a function of their density. A sharp transition could be observed from the random motility in sparse cultures to the flocking of dense islands of cells. Using ultra light GPS devices developed by us, we have determined the existing hierarchical relations within a flock of 10 homing pigeons. Modelling: From the simulations of our new model of flocking we concluded that the information exchange between particles was maximal at the critical point, in which the interplay of such factors as the level of noise, the tendency to follow the direction and the acceleration of others results in large fluctuations. Analysis: We have proposed a novel link-density based approach to finding overlapping communities in large networks. The algorithm used for the implementation of this technique is very efficient for most real networks, and provides full statistics quickly. Correspondingly, we have developed a by now popular, user-friendly, freely downloadable software for finding overlapping communities. Extending our method to the time-dependent regime, we found that large groups in evolving networks persist for longer if they are capable of dynamically altering their membership, thus, an ability to change the group composition results in better adaptability. We also showed that knowledge of the time commitment of members to a given community can be used for estimating the community's lifetime. Experiments: We have carried out quantitative experiments on the collective motion of cells as a function of their density. A sharp transition could be observed from the random motility in sparse cultures to the flocking of dense islands of cells. Using ultra light GPS devices developed by us, we have determined the existing hierarchical relations within a flock of 10 homing pigeons. Modelling: From the simulations of our new model of flocking we concluded that the information exchange between particles was maximal at the critical point, in which the interplay of such factors as the level of noise, the tendency to follow the direction and the acceleration of others results in large fluctuations. Analysis: We have proposed a novel link-density based approach to finding overlapping communities in large networks. The algorithm used for the implementation of this technique is very efficient for most real networks, and provides full statistics quickly. Correspondingly, we have developed a by now popular, user-friendly, freely downloadable software for finding overlapping communities. Extending our method to the time-dependent regime, we found that large groups in evolving networks persist for longer if they are capable of dynamically altering their membership, thus, an ability to change the group composition results in better adaptability. We also showed that knowledge of the time commitment of members to a given community can be used for estimating the community's lifetime

Developing an ecology of mind in design

The relationship between design and sustainability (DfS) is forever evolving: from the early focus on cleaner production processes and resource efficiencies to more recent endeavours to promote environmentally benign behaviours or to counter the increasing impacts of climate change. The uncomfortable truth though is that the majority of design activity serves market forces at a global scale and at an ever-increasing rate. Despite predictions of resource scarcity – peak oil, peak minerals, peak water – the increase in the linear transit of material through the Global economy rises year on year. Design straddles this production consumption cycle: it conceives of the processes and technologies that shape our artificial world; and it fashions the forms of that artificial world that drive a consumption ideology. Neither position is sustainable. Informed by Sterling’s rigorous exploration of different sustainable education paradigms, this paper reconstructs a design literacy that has the capacity to realize effective transitions for the long-term wellbeing of environment, biodiversity and humankind

The Anatomy of a Scientific Rumor

The announcement of the discovery of a Higgs boson-like particle at CERN will be remembered as one of the milestones of the scientific endeavor of the 21st century. In this paper we present a study of information spreading processes on Twitter before, during and after the announcement of the discovery of a new particle with the features of the elusive Higgs boson on 4th July 2012. We report evidence for non-trivial spatio-temporal patterns in user activities at individual and global level, such as tweeting, re-tweeting and replying to existing tweets. We provide a possible explanation for the observed time-varying dynamics of user activities during the spreading of this scientific "rumor". We model the information spreading in the corresponding network of individuals who posted a tweet related to the Higgs boson discovery. Finally, we show that we are able to reproduce the global behavior of about 500,000 individuals with remarkable accuracy.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure