1,035 research outputs found

    Innovation and cumulative culture through tweaks and leaps in online programming contests

    Get PDF
    E.M. was supported by the John Templeton Foundation Grant #40128 ‘Exploring the Evolutionary Foundations of Cultural Complexity, Creativity, and Trust’ and the University of St Andrews School of Biology. L.R. was supported by the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland (MASTs) pooling initiative funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant reference HR09011).The ability to build progressively on the achievements of earlier generations is central to human uniqueness, but experimental investigations of this cumulative cultural evolution lack real-world complexity. Here, we studied the dynamics of cumulative culture using a large-scale data set from online collaborative programming competitions run over 14 years. We show that, within each contest population, performance increases over time through frequent ‘tweaks’ of the current best entry and rare innovative ‘leaps’ (successful tweak:leap ratio = 16:1), the latter associated with substantially greater variance in performance. Cumulative cultural evolution reduces technological diversity over time, as populations focus on refining high-performance solutions. While individual entries borrow from few sources, iterative copying allows populations to integrate ideas from many sources, demonstrating a new form of collective intelligence. Our results imply that maximising technological progress requires accepting high levels of failure.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

    Flexible learning, rather than inveterate innovation or copying, drives cumulative knowledge gain

    Get PDF
    E.M. was supported by John Templeton Foundation Grant #40128 “Exploring the Evolutionary Foundations of Cultural Complexity, Creativity, and Trust” and the University of St Andrews School of Biology. L.R. was supported by the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland (MASTs) pooling initiative funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant reference HR09011).Human technology is characterized by cumulative cultural knowledge gain, yet researchers have limited knowledge of the mix of copying and innovation that maximizes progress. Here, we analyze a unique large-scale dataset originating from collaborative online programming competitions to investigate, in a setting of real-world complexity, how individual differences in innovation, social-information use, and performance generate technological progress. We find that cumulative knowledge gain is primarily driven by pragmatists, willing to copy, innovate, explore, and take risks flexibly, rather than by pure innovators or habitual copiers. Our study also reveals a key role for prestige in information transfer.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

    Concordance study between the ParaDNAÂź Intelligence Test, a rapid DNA profiling assay, and a conventional STR typing kit (AmpFlSTRÂź SGM PlusÂź).

    Get PDF
    The ParaDNAÂź Intelligence Test enables STR profiling directly from human biological samples and evidence items collected from crime scene in 75min. Designed for non-expert use this system allows DNA information to be available to investigators before it would typically be available from a laboratory. The ParaDNA Intelligence Test system amplifies D3S1358, D8S119, D16S539, D18S1358 and TH01 STR loci and the gender typing locus amelogenin and detects the alleles present with HyBeaconÂź probes. Individual DNA samples from 381 UK Caucasian individuals were analysed using AmpFlSTRÂź SGM PlusÂź and the ParaDNA Intelligence Test with the derived STR profiles compared. Here we describe the high level of concordance demonstrated between the two systems and discuss this with reference to allele frequencies and the discriminatory power offered by the ParaDNA Intelligence Test

    Prospective memory impairment in chronic heart failure

    Get PDF
    Although cognitive deficits are common in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), no study to date has investigated whether these deficits extend to the capacity to execute delayed intentions (prospective memory, PM). This is a surprising omission given the critical role PM plays in correctly implementing many important CHF self-care behaviors. The present study aimed to provide the first empirical assessment of PM function in people with CHF. The key dependent measure was a laboratory measure of PM that closely simulates PM tasks in daily life - Virtual Week. A group comparison design was used, with 30 CHF patients compared to 30 demographically matched controls. Background measures assessing executive functions, working memory, and verbal memory were also administered. The CHF group exhibited significant PM impairment, with difficulties generalizing across different types of PM tasks (event, time, regular, irregular). The CHF group also had moderate deficits on several of the background cognitive measures. Given the level of impairment remained consistent even on tasks that imposed minimal demands on memory for task content, CHF-related difficulties most likely reflects problems with the prospective component. However, exploratory analyses suggest that difficulties with retrospective memory and global cognition (but not executive control), also contribute to the PM difficulties seen in this group. The implications of these data are discussed, and in particular, it is argued that problems with PM may help explain why patient engagement in CHF self-care behaviors is often poor. (JINS, 2015, 21, 1-10)</p

    Prospective memory functioning among ecstasy/polydrug users: evidence from the Cambridge Prospective Memory Test (CAMPROMPT)

    Get PDF
    Rationale: Prospective memory (PM) deficits in recreational drug users have been documented in recent years. However, the assessment of PM has largely been restricted to self-reported measures that fail to capture the distinction between event-based and time-based PM. The aim of the present study is to address this limitation. Objectives: Extending our previous research, we augmented the range laboratory measures of PM by employing the CAMPROMPT test battery to investigate the impact of illicit drug use on prospective remembering in a sample of cannabis only, ecstasy/polydrug and non-users of illicit drugs, separating event and time-based PM performance. We also administered measures of executive function and retrospective memory in order to establish whether ecstasy/polydrug deficits in PM were mediated by group differences in these processes. Results: Ecstasy/polydrug users performed significantly worse on both event and time-based prospective memory tasks in comparison to both cannabis only and non-user groups. Furthermore, it was found that across the whole sample, better retrospective memory and executive functioning was associated with superior PM performance. Nevertheless, this association did not mediate the drug-related effects that were observed. Consistent with our previous study, recreational use of cocaine was linked to PM deficits. Conclusions: PM deficits have again been found among ecstasy/polydrug users, which appear to be unrelated to group differences in executive function and retrospective memory. However, the possibility that these are attributable to cocaine use cannot be excluded

    Participant recruitment to FiCTION, a primary dental care trial – survey of facilitators and barriers

    Get PDF
    Objective To identify reasons behind a lower than expected participant recruitment rate within the FiCTION trial, a multi-centre paediatric primary dental care randomised controlled trial (RCT). Subjects (materials) and methods An online survey, based on a previously published tool, consisting of both quantitative and qualitative responses, completed by staff in dental practices recruiting to FiCTION. Ratings from quantitative responses were aggregated to give overall scores for factors related to participant recruitment. Qualitative responses were independently grouped into themes. Results Thirty-nine anonymous responses were received. Main facilitators related to the support received from the central research team and importance of the research question. The main barriers related to low child eligibility rates and the integration of trial processes within routine workloads. Conclusions These findings have directed strategies for enhancing participant recruitment at existing practices and informed recruitment of further practices. The results help provide a profile of the features required of practices to successfully screen and recruit participants. Future trials in this setting should consider the level of interest in the research question within practices, and ensure trial processes are as streamlined as possible. Research teams should actively support practices with participant recruitment and maintain enthusiasm among the entire practice team

    Community-Led Social Housing Regeneration: From Government-Led Programmes to Community Initiatives

    Get PDF
    Engaging communities in neighbourhood regeneration processes is vital for achieving inclusive cities, particularly when vulnerable groups belong to these communities. In the UK, different governments have implemented diverse strategies, funding schemes and approaches to social housing estates’ regeneration, which have implied various degrees of involvement of the residents in decision-making processes. This paper explores the approaches to community participation in the regeneration of social housing neighbourhoods since 1997—when the New Labour won the general elections—until today. Within this period, it identifies two models: the government-led regeneration scheme New Deal for Communities implemented by the New Labour Government, which provided funding for intervening in deprived areas and which included representatives of the community in the decision-making board; and the Big Society approach implemented by the Coalition Government in the context of austerity, which advocates for a state-enabling approach and has changed the planning system to involve communities in decision-making. The paper explores how these two models have addressed the participation of residents in social housing regeneration. For doing so, it looks at the policy context and case studies in these two periods. The paper concludes that community participation needs easier processes, which do not require such a strong effort from community groups. It also concludes that both funding and support is needed to promote community engagement in regeneration processes, which can, firstly, serve as an incentive to be more actively involved in the regeneration of their neighbourhood, and secondly, do not rely on private investment for the improvement of council estates

    Duality in the Quantum Hall Effect - the Role of Electron Spin

    Get PDF
    At low temperatures the phase diagram for the quantum Hall effect has a powerful symmetry arising from the Law of Corresponding States. This symmetry gives rise to an infinite order discrete group which is a generalisation of Kramers-Wannier duality for the two dimensional Ising model. The duality group, which is a subgroup of the modular group, is analysed and it is argued that there is a quantitative difference between a situation in which the spin splitting of electron energy levels is comparable to the cyclotron energy and one in which the spin splitting is much less than the cyclotron energy. In the former case the group of symmetries is larger than in the latter case. These duality symmetries are used to constrain the scaling functions of the theory and, under an assumption of complex meromorphicity, a unique functional form is obtained for the crossover of the conductivities between Hall states as a function of the external magnetic field. This analytic form is shown to give good agreement with experimental data. The analysis requires a consideration of the way in which longitudinal resistivities are extracted from the experimentally measured longitudinal resistances and a novel method is proposed for determining the correct normalisation for the former.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, typeset in LaTe

    Individual, unit and vocal clan level identity cues in sperm whale codas

    Get PDF
    Fieldwork was supported by Discovery and Equipment grants to H.W. from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. S.G. and L.R. were supported by the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland (MASTs) pooling initiative and their support is gratefully acknowledged. MASTs is funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant reference HR09011) and contributing institutions. S.G. was also supported by an NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship (PGS-M), an NSERC Canadian Graduate Scholarship (CGS-D), the Izaak Killam Memorial Scholarship, the Patrick F. Lett Fund, the Dalhousie’s Presidents Award, and an FNU fellowship for the Danish Council for Independent Research from the Ministry of Higher Education and Science supplemented by a Sapere Aude Research Talent Award.The ‘social complexity hypothesis’ suggests that complex social structure is a driver of diversity in animal communication systems. Sperm whales have a hierarchically structured society in which the largest affiliative structures, the vocal clans, are marked on ocean-basin scales by culturally transmitted dialects of acoustic signals known as ‘codas’. We examined variation in coda repertoires among both individual whales and social units—the basic element of sperm whale society—using data from nine Caribbean social units across six years. Codas were assigned to individuals using photo-identification and acoustic size measurement, and we calculated similarity between repertoires using both continuous and categorical methods. We identified 21 coda types. Two of those (‘1+1+3’ and ‘5R1’) made up 65% of the codas recorded, were shared across all units and have dominated repertoires in this population for at least 30 years. Individuals appear to differ in the way they produce ‘5R1’ but not ‘1+1+3’ coda. Units use distinct 4-click coda types which contribute to making unit repertoires distinctive. Our results support the social complexity hypothesis in a marine species as different patterns of variation between coda types suggest divergent functions, perhaps representing selection for identity signals at several levels of social structure.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
    • 

    corecore