7,145 research outputs found
The influence of persuasion in opinion formation and polarization
We present a model that explores the influence of persuasion in a population
of agents with positive and negative opinion orientations. The opinion of each
agent is represented by an integer number that expresses its level of
agreement on a given issue, from totally against to totally in favor
. Same-orientation agents persuade each other with probability ,
becoming more extreme, while opposite-orientation agents become more moderate
as they reach a compromise with probability . The population initially
evolves to (a) a polarized state for , where opinions' distribution is
peaked at the extreme values , or (b) a centralized state for ,
with most opinions around . When , polarization lasts for a
time that diverges as , where is the population's size. Finally,
an extremist consensus ( or ) is reached in a time that scales as
for
Fluctuations of a surface relaxation model in interacting scale free networks
Isolated complex networks have been studied deeply in the last decades due to
the fact that many real systems can be modeled using these types of structures.
However, it is well known that the behavior of a system not only depends on
itself, but usually also depends on the dynamics of other structures. For this
reason, interacting complex networks and the processes developed on them have
been the focus of study of many researches in the last years. One of the most
studied subjects in this type of structures is the Synchronization problem,
which is important in a wide variety of processes in real systems. In this
manuscript we study the synchronization of two interacting scale-free networks,
in which each node has dependency links with different nodes in the other
network. We map the synchronization problem with an interface growth, by
studying the fluctuations in the steady state of a scalar field defined in both
networks.
We find that as slightly increases from , there is a really
significant decreasing in the fluctuations of the system. However, this
considerable improvement takes place mainly for small values of , when the
interaction between networks becomes stronger there is only a slight change in
the fluctuations. We characterize how the dispersion of the scalar field
depends on the internal degree, and we show that a combination between the
decreasing of this dispersion and the integer nature of our growth model are
the responsible for the behavior of the fluctuations with .Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures and 1 tabl
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Challenging the status quo: women's experiences of opting for a home birth in Andalucia, Spain
Objective
To explore the perceptions, beliefs and attitudes of women who opted for a home birth in Andalusia (Spain).
Background
Home birth is currently an unusual choice among Spanish women. It is not an option covered by the Spanish National Health Service and women who opt for a home birth have to pay for an independent midwife.
Design
A qualitative study with a phenomenological approach was adopted. All participants who took part in this study had chosen to have a home birth and given written consent to take part in the study.
Methods
Data collection was conducted in 2015–16. Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with women who chose a home birth in the last 5 years.
Findings
The sample consisted of thirteen women. Seven themes were created through analysis: 1. Getting informed about home birth; 2. Home birth as a choice, despite feeling unsupported; 3. The best way to have a personalized and a physiological birth; 4. Seeking a healing and empowering experience 5. The need for emotional safety, establishing a relationship and trusting the midwife; 6. Preparing for birth and working on fears; 7. Inequality of access (because of financial implications).
Conclusions
Women opted to plan birth at home because they wanted a personalised birth and control over their decision-making in labour, which they felt would not have been afforded to them in hospital settings. Andalusian maternity care leaders should strive to ensure that all pregnant women receive respectful and high-quality personalised care, by appropriately trained staff, both in the hospital and in the community
Interacting social processes on interconnected networks
We propose and study a model for the interplay between two different
dynamical processes --one for opinion formation and the other for decision
making-- on two interconnected networks and . The opinion dynamics on
network corresponds to that of the M-model, where the state of each agent
can take one of four possible values (), describing its level of
agreement on a given issue. The likelihood to become an extremist ()
or a moderate () is controlled by a reinforcement parameter .
The decision making dynamics on network is akin to that of the
Abrams-Strogatz model, where agents can be either in favor () or against
() the issue. The probability that an agent changes its state is
proportional to the fraction of neighbors that hold the opposite state raised
to a power . Starting from a polarized case scenario in which all agents
of network hold positive orientations while all agents of network have
a negative orientation, we explore the conditions under which one of the
dynamics prevails over the other, imposing its initial orientation. We find
that, for a given value of , the two-network system reaches a consensus
in the positive state (initial state of network ) when the reinforcement
overcomes a crossover value , while a negative consensus happens
for . In the phase space, the system displays a
transition at a critical threshold , from a coexistence of both
orientations for to a dominance of one orientation for
. We develop an analytical mean-field approach that gives an
insight into these regimes and shows that both dynamics are equivalent along
the crossover line .Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure
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