Is there any such thing as a social or behavioural science? : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Philosophy at Massey University

The type of explanation characteristic of science is causal, and it is natural to think that this type of explanation is appropriate for all events, no matter what their nature. It is this global assumption that is questioned in this thesis. Chapter One presents a historical exposition of the development of causal explanation since the time of David Hume. The perennial theme has been the conceptual separability of causally related events and the need to insert an empirical law to deduce one from the other. Karl Popper (the subject of Chapter Two) has also used this deductive feature of causal explanation, and even argues for the unity of science, social and natural, on the strength of it. Throughout this tradition social behaviour is supposedly caused and requires the same kind of explanatory apparatus as any other behaviour. The Wittgensteinian tradition (Chapter Three) opposes any such tradition by emphasizing the importance of normative rules governing human action, as opposed to any causal relations. In particular, the conceptual notion of a 'criterion of identity' is investigated in relation to both the natural and social sciences, and it is concluded that the logic of explanation works very differently in these two disciplines. This is so for two reasons. First, because the criteria of identity for any concept are logically, not contingently, related to that concept; and as the criteria for any action are the surrounding contexts, then those surrounding contexts cannot be the causes of the behaviour concerned in any Humean sense. Second, the criteria of identity are not imposed upon social phenomena from 'without', as is the case in the natural sciences; they are constituted from within, and thus a social science must base the rules it uses upon the criteria belonging to the group being studied rather than the group of researchers studying it. Social scientists cannot then give a causal explanation of human behaviour. But they can explain it by giving reasons; that is, by showing how the behaviour is conceptually related to the context by classifying it under the appropriate logical category. This point is emphasized in an investigation of the so-called 'Rationality Principle' in Chapter Four. Popper asserts that 'rational' behaviour is an 'appropriate' (causal) response to a particular problem situation; 'appropriate' being in accordance with the objective or brute facts. But the Wittgensteinian point remains however, i.e. that the problem which any agent is responding to is conceptually linked to that action and cannot therefore the cause of it. Furthermore, rationality cannot be measured against any Popperian 'objective' or 'brute' facts; rather, rational behaviour is so according to certain human conventions, and these conventions are normative rather than objective in the Popperian sense. Rational behaviour is not then behaviour in accordance with the 'facts', but behaviour in accordance with relative normative criteria of rationality. In conclusion, it is wholly inappropriate to explain human behaviour in terms of 'causes' and 'objective facts'

Examining the Impact of a Consensus Approach to Content Alignment Studies

Although both content alignment and standard-setting procedures rely on content-expert panel judgements, only the latter employs discussion among panel members. This study employed a modified form of the Webb methodology to examine content alignment for twelve tests administered as part of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). This modification required panel members to discuss items for which there was no consensus regarding the item’s depth of knowledge or targeted standard. After the discussion, panel members were allowed to change their original ratings. The number of changes that occurred were analyzed considering the number of items discussed and the size of the panel. Moreover, we evaluated the impact these changes had on the overall judgments of alignment as reported by Webb’s Web Alignment Tool (WAT). Findings suggest that discussion among panel members between rating rounds positively increased agreement among panel members’ ratings but had minimal effects on the overall judgments of content alignment for 11 of the 12 tests evaluated

Top quark electroweak couplings at future lepton colliders

We perform a comparative study of the reach of future $e^+e^-$ collider options for the scale of non-resonant new physics effects in the top quark sector, phrased in the language of higher-dimensional operators. Our focus is on the electroweak top quark pair production process $e^+e^- \to Z^*/\gamma \to t\bar t$, and we study benchmark scenarios at the ILC and CLIC. We find that both are able to constrain mass scales up to the few TeV range in the most sensitive cases, improving by orders of magnitude on the forecasted capabilities of the LHC. We discuss the role played by observables such as forward-backward asymmetries, and making use of different beam polarisation settings, and highlight the possibility of lifting a degeneracy in the allowed parameter space by combining top observables with precision $Z$-pole measurements from LEP1.Comment: v1: 11 pages, 11 figures. v2: References added, Fig. 11 updated. Matches version published in EPJ

Synchronization-Aware and Algorithm-Efficient Chance Constrained Optimal Power Flow

One of the most common control decisions faced by power system operators is the question of how to dispatch generation to meet demand for power. This is a complex optimization problem that includes many nonlinear, non convex constraints as well as inherent uncertainties about future demand for power and available generation. In this paper we develop convex formulations to appropriately model crucial classes of nonlinearities and stochastic effects. We focus on solving a nonlinear optimal power flow (OPF) problem that includes loss of synchrony constraints and models wind-farm caused fluctuations. In particular, we develop (a) a convex formulation of the deterministic phase-difference nonlinear Optimum Power Flow (OPF) problem; and (b) a probabilistic chance constrained OPF for angular stability, thermal overloads and generation limits that is computationally tractable.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Attention and empirical studies of grammar

How is the generation of a grammatical sentence implemented by the human brain? A starting place for such an inquiry lies in linguistic theory. Unfortunately, linguistic theories illuminate only abstract knowledge representations and do not indicate how these representations interact with cognitive architecture to produce discourse. We examine tightly constrained empirical methods to study how grammar interacts with one part of the cognitive architecture, namely attention. Finally, we show that understanding attention as a neural network can link grammatical choice to underlying brain systems. Overall, our commentary supports a multilevel empirical approach that clarifies and expands the connections between cognitive science and linguistics thus advancing the interdisciplinary agenda outlined by Jackendoff

Geometric Analysis of Bifurcation and Symmetry Breaking in a Gross-Pitaevskii equation

Gross-Pitaevskii and nonlinear Hartree equations are equations of nonlinear Schroedinger type, which play an important role in the theory of Bose-Einstein condensation. Recent results of Aschenbacher et. al. [AFGST] demonstrate, for a class of 3- dimensional models, that for large boson number (squared L^2 norm), N, the ground state does not have the symmetry properties as the ground state at small N. We present a detailed global study of the symmetry breaking bifurcation for a 1-dimensional model Gross-Pitaevskii equation, in which the external potential (boson trap) is an attractive double-well, consisting of two attractive Dirac delta functions concentrated at distinct points. Using dynamical systems methods, we present a geometric analysis of the symmetry breaking bifurcation of an asymmetric ground state and the exchange of dynamical stability from the symmetric branch to the asymmetric branch at the bifurcation point.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure

Technical demands of soccer match-play in the English Championship

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of match-play on the performance of technical actions in professional soccer players. Using computerized notational analysis, technical performance was quantified for the outfield players of one team during the 2010/2011 English Championship season. This retrospective study evaluated temporal patterns in the performance of players who completed more than 10 games (n=10). Total possessions and number of ball distributions were lower in the second versus the first half of match-play (10 ± 7%, P=0.010 and 11 ± 8% P=0.009,respectively). Analysis across 15-min intervals revealed reductions during the last 15-min of match-play in the total number of possessions (0:00-14:59 min: 11.8 ± 1.9 vs.75:00-89:59 min: 9.5 ± 1.7, P<0.05) and distributions (0:00-14:59 min: 10.9 ± 2.3 vs.75:00-89:59 min: 8.7 ± 2.1, P<0.05). The number of touches taken per possession, number of challenges, percentage of challenges won, length of forward distributions and percentage success of distributions were all similar between halves and across 15-min intervals. These results demonstrate that match-specific factors reduced total possessions and number of passes in the second half of match-play. Coaching staff could use this information to inform team tactics and technical training sessions

Giving top quark effective operators a boost

We investigate the prospects to systematically improve generic effective field theory-based searches for new physics in the top sector during LHC run 2 as well as the high luminosity phase. In particular, we assess the benefits of high momentum transfer final states on top EFT-fit as a function of systematic uncertainties in comparison with sensitivity expected from fully-resolved analyses focusing on $t\bar t$ production. We find that constraints are typically driven by fully-resolved selections, while boosted top quarks can serve to break degeneracies in the global fit. This demystifies and clarifies the importance of high momentum transfer final states for global fits to new interactions in the top sector from direct measurements.Comment: Published versio