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Measuring category intuitiveness in unconstrained categorization tasks
What makes a category seem natural or intuitive? In this paper, an unsupervised categorization task was employed to examine observer agreement concerning the categorization of nine different stimulus sets. The stimulus sets were designed to capture different intuitions about classification structure. The main empirical index of category intuitiveness was the frequency of the preferred classification, for different stimulus sets. With 169 participants, and a within participants design, with some stimulus sets the most frequent classification was produced over 50 times and with others not more than two or three times. The main empirical finding was that cluster tightness was more important in determining category intuitiveness, than cluster separation. The results were considered in relation to the following models of unsupervised categorization: DIVA, the rational model, the simplicity model, SUSTAIN, an Unsupervised version of the Generalized Context Model (UGCM), and a simple geometric model based on similarity. DIVA, the geometric approach, SUSTAIN, and the UGCM provided good, though not perfect, fits. Overall, the present work highlights several theoretical and practical issues regarding unsupervised categorization and reveals weaknesses in some of the corresponding formal models
From the Forest to the Sea: Lessons in Managing Public Space
<p>In 2004, a report from the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy documented a broad range of ecological problems in U.S. ocean waters, including declining fish stocks, changes in marine biodiversity, coastal habitat loss, and hypoxic "dead zones," as well as related governance problems, such as uncoordinated and contradictory laws, underfunded programs, and conflicts between local, state, and federal priorities. The Commission's recommendations for improvement revolved around the themes of ecosystem-based management, improved agency coordination, and regional flexibility.</p><p>One recommendation in particular stated that, "Congress ... should establish a balanced, ecosystem-based offshore management regime that sets forth guiding principles for the coordination of offshore activities." Five years later, President Obama instructed an interagency taskforce to develop a "framework for effective coastal and marine spatial planning" to help achieve the goals of that recommendation and, in 2012, nine Regional Planning Bodies were established to begin the planning process.</p><p>Not everyone has embraced marine spatial planning (MSP) as a desirable next step in ocean management. Some ocean industries worry that MSP could interfere with economic priorities. New users, such as offshore windfarm developers, fear that extended planning will further delay their activities. Members of Congress have complained that MSP policy lacks adequate legislative underpinnings. Still others worry</p><p>that MSP may be a solution in search of a problem, diverting money and attention away from more immediate ocean challenges. Equally worrisome, the policy research community has yet to provide solid theoretical or historical support for the presumed efficacy of MSP in U.S. ocean waters. In light of the recent, rapid adoption of MSP and the questions surrounding it, more rigorous examination is in order.</p><p>This study contributes to that examination in two ways. First, it places MSP within the broader context of research and practice in fields such as policy analysis, common-pool resource theory, institutional analysis, planning and design, community engagement, and conflict resolution. Second, it looks at the history of U.S. public lands--a public space that has been accommodating multiple uses and conservation for over a century--as a comparative model. </p><p>This approach results in three research questions:</p><p>1) Are U.S. public lands and the U.S. EEZ sufficiently similar, based on characteristics most relevant to policy analysis, that successes and failures in one arena might be relevant to the other?</p><p>2) If so, has over a hundred years of active public land management in the U.S. produced any lessons for success that might be applicable to the more recently developing field of ocean management, particularly with respect to multiple-use planning and management? and</p><p>3) If the settings are similar in meaningful ways, and if lessons can be distilled from public lands management, how might these be transposed, or operationalized to inform the current drive for more integrated ocean management, particularly through the tool of marine spatial planning?</p><p>A critical review and synthesis of U.S. public land studies, particularly regarding the history of the National Forests, comprises one important element of the study. This is supplemented with case studies, site visits, detailed analyses of government documents related to both land and ocean management, and extensive formal and informal interviews with key informants in the National Forest and ocean management communities.</p><p>The study results answer the first two questions in the affirmative and conclude that sustainable, multiple-use management of government-controlled spaces and resources inevitably requires tradeoffs between numerous competing objectives. These tradeoffs can rarely be resolved through objective decision analysis and will rely implicitly or explicitly on value judgments. Using forest history as a model, it appears that the most significant choices to be made by ocean policy makers will revolve around: 1) the scale of problem definition and resolution; 2) the relative emphasis on political, technocratic, judicial, or participatory decision-making; and 3) the extent of flexibility allowed. Specific suggestions are made for how elected officials, agency staff, environmental organizations, industry, and academia can approach ocean management in a way that reflects a variety of interests, advances understanding, and achieves sustainable and productive ocean ecosystems.</p>Dissertatio
A practical approach for putting people in ecosystem-based ocean planning
Marine and coastal ecosystems provide important benefits and services to coastal communities across the globe, but assessing the diversity of social relationships with oceans can prove difficult for conservation scientists and practitioners. This presents barriers to incorporating social dimensions of marine ecosystems into ecosystem-based planning processes, which can in turn affect the success of planning and management initiatives. Following a global assessment of social research and related planning practices in ocean environments, we present a step-by-step approach for natural resource planning practitioners to more systematically incorporate social data into ecosystem-based ocean planning. Our approach includes three sequential steps: (1) develop a typology of ocean-specific human uses that occur within the planning region of interest; (2) characterize the complexity of these uses, including the spatiotemporal variability, intensity, and diversity thereof, as well as associated conflicts and compatibility; and (3) integrate social and ecological information to assess trade-offs necessary for successful implementation of ecosystem-based ocean planning. We conclude by showing how systematic engagement of social data - together with ecological information - can create advantages for practitioners to improve planning and management outcomes
Emotion production of facial expressions: A comparison of deaf and hearing children
© 2021 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. This is the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2021.106113The production of facial expressions is an important skill that allows children to share and adapt emotions during social interactions. While deaf children are reported to show delays in their social and emotion understanding, the way in which they produce facial expressions of emotions has been relatively unexplored. The present study investigated the production of facial expressions of emotions by young congenitally deaf children. Six facial expressions of emotions produced by 5 congenitally deaf children and 5 hearing children (control group) were filmed across three tasks: 1) voluntarily posed expression of emotion 2) responding to social stories 3) intentionally mimicking expressions of emotion. The recorded videos were analysed using a software based of the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), and then judged by adult raters using two different scales: according to the emotion elicited (i.e. accuracy) and the intensity of the emotion produced. Results using both measurement scales showed that all children (deaf and hearing) were able to produce socially recognisable prototypical configuration of facial expressions. However, the deaf children were rated by as adults as expressing their emotions with greater intensity compared to the hearing children. The results suggest deaf children may show more exaggerated facial expressions of emotion, possibly to avoid any ambiguity in communicationPeer reviewe