Consumer attitudes towards the quality and safety of organic and low input foods

A review of scientific literature and analysis of recent qualitative data provides new insights into the dynamics of the demand side of the organic market. Differences between existing, committed and ‘new’ consumers have implications for wider organic research, policy development and marketing strategy, particularly as actual behaviour and product loyalty diverge from the conventional representation of con-sumer characteristics

Gettysburg: Our College\u27s Magazine Winter 2019

From The President Janet Morgan Riggs \u2777 Table of Contents New Multidisciplinary Imaging Suite In Sciences (Alexander Paredes ’20, Prof. Kate Buettner, Prof. Shelli Frey, Prof. Kurt Andresen, Prof. Lucas Thompson) Prof Notes: William D. Bowman (Prof. Bowman) The Making Of An Entrepreneur (Cathie Wood P’15, Caroline Wood ’15, Prof. Drew Murphy ’84, P’20, Betsy Duncan Diehl ’84, P’14, President Janet Morgan Riggs ’77) The 411 (Daria Lo Presti Wallach ’76) Visionary Faculty (Prof. Abdulkareem Said Ramadan, Prof. Christopher Barlett, Prof. Andrew Wilson, Prof. Gary Mullen, Prof. Hakim Williams, Prof. McKinley E. Melton, Prof. Kathy Berenson, Prof. Ryan Kerney) Snapshots (Greg Hoy \u2792, Prof. Kay Etheridge) Big Picture: CUB\u27s New Look Conversations Leading From Within: Janet Morgan Riggs \u2777 Mike Baker Gettysburg College: The Riggs Presidency At A Glance A President\u27s Place Michael J. Birkner ’72, P’10 Tick Tock, What Is The Meaning Of Time? Katelyn Silva, Photos by Miranda Harple (Kristin Largen, Prof James M. Day, Prof. Steven Gimbel, Prof. Ian Isherwood ’00, Prof. Jacquelynne Milingo, President Janet Morgan Riggs ’77) What Students Do: Inviting Difficult Conversations (Tyra Riedemonn ’20) Work That Makes A Difference: Graffiti for Good (Sneha Shrestha ’10) What Makes Gettysburg Great: College Honors 14 Gettysburgians of the Vietnam Era (Sue Colestock Hill ’67, Steve Nelson ’69, Mike Langey ’69) Save the Dates Class Notes In Memory Parting Shot: Stepping Back With Forward Momentum David Brennan ’75, P’00 Reunion Weekend 2019: Everyone\u27s Invitedhttps://cupola.gettysburg.edu/gburgmag/1015/thumbnail.jp

Creativity as Cognitive design \ud The case of mesoscopic variables in Meta-Structures\ud

Creativity is an open problem which has been differently approached by several disciplines since a long time. In this contribution we consider as creative the constructivist design an observer does on the description levels of complex phenomena, such as the self-organized and emergent ones ( e.g., Bènard rollers, Belousov-Zhabotinsky reactions, flocks, swarms, and more radical cognitive and social emergences). We consider this design as related to the Gestaltian creation of a language fit for representing natural processes and the observer in an integrated way. Organised systems, both artificial and most of the natural ones are designed/ modelled according to a logical closed model which masters all the inter-relation between their constitutive elements, and which can be described by an algorithm or a single formal model. We will show there that logical openness and DYSAM (Dynamical Usage of Models) are the proper tools for those phenomena which cannot be described by algorithms or by a single formal model. The strong correlation between emergence and creativity suggests that an open model is the best way to provide a formal definition of creativity. A specific application relates to the possibility to shape the emergence of Collective Behaviours. Different modelling approaches have been introduced, based on symbolic as well as sub-symbolic rules of interaction to simulate collective phenomena by means of computational emergence. Another approach is based on modelling collective phenomena as sequences of Multiple Systems established by percentages of conceptually interchangeable agents taking on the same roles at different times and different roles at the same time. In the Meta-Structures project we propose to use mesoscopic variables as creative design, invention, good continuity and imitation of the description level. In the project we propose to define the coherence of sequences of Multiple Systems by using the values taken on by the dynamic mesoscopic clusters of its constitutive elements, such as the instantaneous number of elements having, in a flock, the same speed, distance from their nearest neighbours, direction and altitude. In Meta-Structures the collective behaviour’s coherence corresponds, for instance, to the scalar values taken by speed, distance, direction and altitude along time, through statistical strategies of interpolation, quasi-periodicity, levels of ergodicity and their reciprocal relationship. In this case the constructivist role of the observer is considered creative as it relates to neither non-linear replication nor transposition of levels of description and models used for artificial systems, like reductionism. Creativity rather lies in inventing new mesoscopic variables able to identify coherent patterns in complex systems. As it is known, mesoscopic variables represent partial macroscopic properties of a system by using some of the microscopic degrees of freedom possessed by composing elements. Such partial usage of microscopic as well as macroscopic properties allows a kind of Gestaltian continuity and imitation between levels of descriptions for mesoscopic modelling. \ud \u

Controlling chaos in a chaotic neural network

The chaotic neural network constructed with chaotic neuron shows the associative memory function, but its memory searching process cannot be stabilized in a stored state because of the chaotic motion of the network. In this paper, a pinning control method focused on the chaotic neural network is proposed. The computer simulation proves that the chaos in the chaotic neural network can be controlled with this method and the states of the network can converge in one of its stored patterns if the control strength and the pinning density are chosen suitable. It is found that in general the threshold of the control strength of a controlled network is smaller at higher pinned density and the chaos of the chaotic neural network can be controlled more easily if the pinning control is added to the variant neurons between the initial pattern and the target pattern

Research - Teaching Integration in Agroecology and Organic Farming

Integration of research and teaching enhances the success of students in both areas, and contributes to preparation of graduates who are capable of handling the complexity of location-specific challenges in farming and food systems. A European Network of Organic Agriculture Teachers (ENOAT) convened a workshop in Italy in 2007 to explore the current state of integration and potentials for further developing this learning strategy in universities. We concluded that integration brings motivation to students and greater relevance to their learning environment, both key issues in providing success in the learning landscape