Preventing Unintended Harm from Socioecological Interactions

Ecosystems provide an intrinsic and inevitable link between engineering projects and society, and indeed all human activities are embedded in ecological reality. While the ecosystem services framework is a helpful way of exploring and analyzing potential synergies between engineering projects and wider environmental processes, its focus is on benefits to humans generically without any explicit regard to specific stakeholders and the plurality of nonutilitarian ways in which they may appreciate or suffer from a particular ecological system. An ecosystem services assessment therefore carries certain risks if used as a tool for decision-making or auditing, and a broader approach is needed. This chapter goes on to outline a pluralistic evaluation framework as a tool to facilitate accounting for the importance of diverse natural processes in engineering solutions. Pluralistic evaluation is illustrated in several areas (hydrology, atmospheric dynamics, and agroecosystems), and a step-by-step approach is outlined for implementing a pluralistic evaluation

Dynamics of value-tracking in financial markets

The effciency of a modern economy depends on value-tracking: that market prices of key assets broadly track some underlying value. This can be expected if a suffcient weight of market participants are valuation- based traders, buying and selling an asset when its price is, respectively, below and above their well-informed private valuations. Such tracking will never be perfect, and we propose a natural unit of tracking error, the 'deciblack' . We then use a simple discrete-time model to show how large tracking errors can arise if enough market participants are not valuation-based traders, regardless of how much information the valuation-based traders have. Similarly to Lux [17] and others who study subtly different models, we find a threshold above which value-tracking breaks down without any changes in the underlying value of the asset. We propose an estimator of the tracking error and establish its statistical properties. Because financial markets are increasingly dominated by non-valuation-based traders, assessing how much valuation-based investing is required for reasonable value tracking is of urgent practical interest

Scaling in Late Stage Spinodal Decomposition with Quenched Disorder

We study the late stages of spinodal decomposition in a Ginzburg-Landau mean field model with quenched disorder. Random spatial dependence in the coupling constants is introduced to model the quenched disorder. The effect of the disorder on the scaling of the structure factor and on the domain growth is investigated in both the zero temperature limit and at finite temperature. In particular, we find that at zero temperature the domain size, $R(t)$, scales with the amplitude, $A$, of the quenched disorder as $R(t) = A^{-\beta} f(t/A^{-\gamma})$ with $\beta \simeq 1.0$ and $\gamma \simeq 3.0$ in two dimensions. We show that $\beta/\gamma = \alpha$, where $\alpha$ is the Lifshitz-Slyosov exponent. At finite temperature, this simple scaling is not observed and we suggest that the scaling also depends on temperature and $A$. We discuss these results in the context of Monte Carlo and cell dynamical models for phase separation in systems with quenched disorder, and propose that in a Monte Carlo simulation the concentration of impurities, $c$, is related to $A$ by $A \sim c^{1/d}$.Comment: RevTex manuscript 5 pages and 5 figures (obtained upon request via email [email protected]

The low temperature interface between the gas and solid phases of hard spheres with a short-ranged attraction

At low temperature, spheres with a very short-ranged attraction exist as a close-packed solid coexisting with an infinitely dilute gas. We find that the ratio of the interfacial tension between these two phases to the thermal energy diverges as the range of the attraction goes to zero. The large tensions when the interparticle attractions are short-ranged may be why globular proteins only crystallise over a narrow range of conditions.Comment: 6 pages, no figures (v2 has change of notation to agree with that of Stell

Laws in ecology: diverse modes of explanation for a holistic science?

Ecology’s reputation as a holistic and soft science is partly due to widespread misconceptions of its nature as well as shortcomings in its methodology. We show how the pursuit of empirical laws of ecology can foster the emergence of a more unified and predictive ecology based on complementary modes of explanation. Numerical analyses of population dynamics have a distinguished pedigree, spatial analyses successfully generate predictive laws for macroecology and physical analyses are tyically pursued by the ecosystem approach. The most characteristically ecological laws, however, are found in biotic analyses within the ‘functional trait’ paradigm. Holistic credentials for ecology may thus be restored on two bases: its accommodating complementary modes of analysis and explanation, and its having some laws within the least reductionistic mode consistent with its subject matter. These claims, grounded in the aspectual theory of Herman Dooyeweerd, lead to some suggestions for enhancing the versatility and usefulness of ecology – and other sciences – by balancing different research paradigms under a holistic vision

Loving the mess: navigating diversity and conflict in social values for sustainability

This paper concludes a special feature of Sustainability Science that explores a broad range of social value theoretical traditions, such as religious studies, social psychology, indigenous knowledge, economics, sociology, and philosophy. We introduce a novel transdisciplinary conceptual framework that revolves around concepts of ‘lenses’ and ‘tensions’ to help navigate value diversity. First, we consider the notion of lenses: perspectives on value and valuation along diverse dimensions that describe what values focus on, how their sociality is envisioned, and what epistemic and procedural assumptions are made. We characterise fourteen of such dimensions. This provides a foundation for exploration of seven areas of tension, between: (1) the values of individuals vs collectives; (2) values as discrete and held vs embedded and constructed; (3) value as static or changeable; (4) valuation as descriptive vs normative and transformative; (5) social vs relational values; (6) different rationalities and their relation to value integration; (7) degrees of acknowledgment of the role of power in navigating value conflicts. In doing so, we embrace the ‘mess’ of diversity, yet also provide a framework to organise this mess and support and encourage active transdisciplinary collaboration. We identify key research areas where such collaborations can be harnessed for sustainability transformation. Here it is crucial to understand how certain social value lenses are privileged over others and build capacity in decision-making for understanding and drawing on multiple value, epistemic and procedural lenses.Peer reviewe

Polymorphic Cis- and Trans-Regulation of Human Gene Expression

Using genetic and molecular analyses, we identified over 1,000 polymorphic regulators that regulate expression levels of human genes

A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e., a controlling message) compared with no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared with the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing. Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intention to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges