Extraordinary variability and sharp transitions in a maximally frustrated dynamic network

Using Monte Carlo and analytic techniques, we study a minimal dynamic network involving two populations of nodes, characterized by different preferred degrees. Reminiscent of introverts and extroverts in a population, one set of nodes, labeled \textit{introverts} ($I$), prefers fewer contacts (a lower degree) than the other, labeled \textit{extroverts} ($E$). As a starting point, we consider an \textit{extreme} case, in which an $I$ simply cuts one of its links at random when chosen for updating, while an $E$ adds a link to a random unconnected individual (node). The model has only two control parameters, namely, the number of nodes in each group, $N_{I}$ and $N_{E}$). In the steady state, only the number of crosslinks between the two groups fluctuates, with remarkable properties: Its average ($X$) remains very close to 0 for all $N_{I}>N_{E}$ or near its maximum ($\mathcal{N}\equiv N_{I}N_{E}$) if $N_{I}<N_{E}$. At the transition ($N_{I}=N_{E}$), the fraction $X/\mathcal{N}$ wanders across a substantial part of $[0,1]$, much like a pure random walk. Mapping this system to an Ising model with spin-flip dynamics and unusual long-range interactions, we note that such fluctuations are far greater than those displayed in either first or second order transitions of the latter. Thus, we refer to the case here as an `extraordinary transition.' Thanks to the restoration of detailed balance and the existence of a `Hamiltonian,' several qualitative aspects of these remarkable phenomena can be understood analytically.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in EP

Establishing Local Certification Bodies In Developing and Transition Economies

There are certification bodies from Western countries offering their services all over the world providing efficient, reliable and qualified services. Nevertheless there are good arguments for establishing local certification bodies in developing and transition economies. FiBL has been cooperating with local certification bodies in South-Eastern Europe (Albinspekt in Albania, Balkan Biocert in Bulgaria and Macedonia, Ecoinspect in Romania) and Asia (Biocert in Indonesia, Indocert in India, LibanCert in Lebanon and OFDC in China). These certification bodies are part of the local organic movement either by a multiple ownership reflecting the sector or by involving the sector in committees. The following report describes the opportunities but also the challenges of setting up local organic certification bodies

[Review of] T. M. Singelis, ed. Teaching about Culture, Ethnicity, and Diversity: Exercises and Planned Activities

Professors and students of teacher education can always appreciate theoretical discussions of multicultural education in books and journal articles. Even more useful are concrete examples such as the multicultural lesson plans in Sleeter\u27s Turning on Learning (1998) and the case studiesin Nieto\u27s Affirming Diversity (2000). Teacher-credential students find the lesson plans illustrative and relate to the students\u27 stories in the case studies. Singelis\u27 book Teaching about Culture, Ethnicity, and Diversity goes a step further in providing professors and students with experiences and hands-on activities that should help to enhance the sensitivity of teacher-credential students towards cross-cultural differences and help them to work towards equity and equality

Residues re-open argument on organic standards

The residue contents in organic food is significantly distinguishable from conventionally produced food. While in conventional products residues can often be detected organic food is to a high percentage (95%) free of residues

Comparison between two accreditation criteria: A report on the differences between the IFOAM Accreditation Criteria and ISO 65 (EN 45011)

The paper describes the results of a comparison between two accreditation criteria: the IFOAM Accreditation Criteria and ISO 65 (EN 45011. The comparison does not provide an assessment of each norm, and the format of the comparison makes it difficult to make a quick overview on the major differences. In addition, a summary and an assessment of the variations of both norms are missing. On the other hand, the comparison enables the reader to make their own assessment and as such will be a valuable tool in the discussion and negotiations about recognition of IFOAM Accreditation

Extended Cognition, The New Mechanists’ Mutual Manipulability Criterion, and The Challenge of Trivial Extendedness

Many authors have turned their attention to the notion of constitution to determine whether the hypothesis of extended cognition (EC) is true. One common strategy is to make sense of constitution in terms of the new mechanists’ mutual manipulability account (MM). In this paper I will show that MM is insufficient. The Challenge of Trivial Extendedness arises due to the fact that mechanisms for cognitive behaviors are extended in a way that should not count as verifying EC. This challenge can be met by adding a necessary condition: cognitive constituents satisfy MM and they are what I call behavior unspecific

Saving the mutual manipulability account of constitutive relevance

Constitutive mechanistic explanations are said to refer to mechanisms that constitute the phenomenon-to-be-explained. The most prominent approach of how to understand this constitution relation is Carl Craver’s mutual manipulability approach to constitutive relevance. Recently, the mutual manipulability approach has come under attack (Leuridan 2012; Baumgartner and Gebharter 2015; Romero 2015; Harinen 2014; Casini and Baumgartner 2016). Roughly, it is argued that this approach is inconsistent because it is spelled out in terms of interventionism (which is an approach to causation), whereas constitutive relevance is said to be a non-causal relation. In this paper, I will discuss a strategy of how to resolve this inconsistency, so-called fat-handedness approaches (Baumgartner and Gebharter 2015; Casini and Baumgartner 2016; Romero 2015). I will argue that these approaches are problematic. I will present a novel suggestion of how to consistently define constitutive relevance in terms of interventionism. My approach is based on a causal interpretation of mutual manipulability, where manipulability is interpreted as a causal relation between the mechanism’s components and temporal parts of the phenomenon

IR and the state of nature: the cultural origins of a ruling ideology

This article argues that the modern concept of the state of nature as the defining claim of IR theory was developed in the course of the intercultural/international encounter between the Spaniards and the Amerindian peoples after the discovery of America. The analysis of the Spanish debate at the time demonstrates that the concept of the state of nature was itself the product of a highly charged moral discourse. Its continuous and unreflected use in the discipline of International Relations, where it supposedly describes a precultural, presocial, premoral condition between states, therefore hides the cultural, social and moral meanings the concept carries with it and suppresses a normative discourse of International Relations past and present

Making Sense of Interlevel Causation in Mechanisms from a Metaphysical Perspective

According to the new mechanistic approach, an acting entity is at a lower mechanistic level than another acting entity if and only if the former is a component in the mechanism for the latter. Craver and Bechtel :547–563, 2007. doi:10.1007/s10539-006-9028-8) argue that a consequence of this view is that there cannot be causal interactions between acting entities at different mechanistic levels. Their main reason seems to be what I will call the Metaphysical Argument: things at different levels of a mechanism are related as part and whole; wholes and their parts cannot be related as cause and effect; hence, interlevel causation in mechanisms is impossible. I will analyze this argument in more detail and show under which conditions it is valid. This analysis will reveal that interlevel causation in mechanisms is indeed possible, if we take seriously the idea that the relata of the mechanistic level relation are acting entities and accept a slightly modified notion of a mechanistic level that is highly plausible in the light of the first clarification