Enacting Productive Dialogue: Addressing the Challenge that Non-Human Cognition Poses to Collaborations Between Enactivism and Heideggerian Phenomenology

This chapter uses one particular proposal for interdisciplinary collaboration – in this case, between early Heideggerian phenomenology and enactivist cognitive science – as an example of how such partnerships may confront and negotiate tensions between the perspectives they bring together. The discussion begins by summarising some of the intersections that render Heideggerian and enactivist thought promising interlocutors for each other. It then moves on to explore how Heideggerian enactivism could respond to the challenge of reconciling the significant differences in the ways that each discourse seeks to apply the structures it claims to uncover

Ultrasonic Attenuation Measurements in Jet-Engine Titanium Alloys

In the inspection of titanium material intended for use in aircraft engines, a number of unusual phenomena are observed, including significant fluctuations of the amplitude and phase of back-surface echoes and of the amplitudes of pulse-echo signals from nominally identical flaws[1]. Practical implications include a broadening of the probability of detection curves and difficulties in determining the ultrasonic attenuation, a parameter used in interpreting flaw response data. Incorrect determination of attenuation can lead to errors in distance-gain corrections and hence in estimates of the magnitude of the flaw response. In this paper, we report experiments designed to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for these signal fluctuations

Marking through molts: An evaluation of visible implant elastomer to permanently mark individuals in a lower termite species

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this recordData availability statement: Data used in this paper are available on Dryad (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.fn2z34tv3). Code for statistical models is available at https://github.com/beckypadget/vie-trials.Advances in individual marking methods have facilitated detailed studies of animal populations and behavior as they allow tracking of individuals through time and space. Hemimetabolous insects, representing a wide range of commonly used model organisms, present a unique challenge to individual marking as they are not only generally small-bodied, but also molt throughout development, meaning that traditional surface marks are not persistent. Visible implant elastomer (VIE) offers a potential solution as small amounts of the inert polymer can be implanted under the skin or cuticle of an animal. VIE has proved useful for individually marking fish, crustaceans, and amphibians in both field and laboratory studies and has recently been successfully trialed in laboratory populations of worms and fly larvae. We trialed VIE in the single-piece nesting termite Zootermopsis angusticollis, a small hemimetabolous insect. We found that there was no effect of VIE on survival and that marks persisted following molting. However, we found some evidence that marked termites performed less allogrooming and trophallaxis than controls, although effect sizes were very small. Our study suggests that VIE is an effective technique for marking small hemimetabolous insects like termites but we advocate that caution is applied, particularly when behavioral observation is important

Relationships Between Ultrasonic Noise and Macrostructure of Titanium Alloys

The complex microstructure of two-phase titanium alloys can produce considerable ultrasonic backscattering noise. The noise introduces problems in detecting small flaws, such as hard-alpha inclusions, by forming a background which can mask the flaw signals. Therefore better understanding of grain noise is required to quantify and increase the detectability of the small flaws. As an aid to understanding the grain noise, an independent scattering model was constructed and studied during last two years by Margetan and Thompson. In that model for the backscattered noise generated by a tone burst, the grain noise is described by following equation (1) N(t)=FOM×M(t) where N(t) is the rms grain noise, FOM is a material characteristic parameter and M is a factor that depends on the detailed description of the experimental configuration as well as the ultrasonic attenuation. The argument, t, is the time delay at which the noise is observed and can be related to a spatial position within the material. Since the model gives an explicit functional form for M, it is possible to use Eq. (1) to infer the FOM from a measurement of N(t).1 Figure 1 presents the results of such a measurement in which the noise was observed, through each of three orthogonal sides of a set of four Ti-6246 specimens, whose history of heat treatment is summarized in Table 1.2 The FOM’s of each of specimens A1, A2 and B2 varied by an order of magnitude, depending on the side of the measurement. However, on specimen C1, which was annealed above the beta transus of 1775 °F, the noise was nearly isotropic. The purpose of this paper is to understand the origin of this anisotropy

Reconstruction of a Piston Transducer Beam Using Multi-Gaussian Beams (MGB) and Its Applications

The modeling of ultrasonic wave propagation has become very important in the field of nondestructive inspection. Any ultrasonic simulation requires computation of the ultrasonic field produced by a transducer, and such computational models have become an important part of any ultrasonic simulator. Furthermore, these simulators require increasingly faster models for computation of the ultrasonic field for a given probe

Closure, causal

In biological systems, closure refers to a holistic feature such that their constitutive processes, operations and transformations (1) depend on each other for their production and maintenance and (2) collectively contribute to determine the conditions at which the whole organization can exist. According to several theoretical biologists, the concept of closure captures one of the central features of biological organization since it constitutes, as well as evolution by natural selection, an emergent and distinctively biological causal regime. In spite of an increasing agreement on its relevance to understand biological systems, no agreement on a unique definition has been reached so far

A Neural Approach to Ordinal Regression for the Preventive Assessment of Developmental Dyslexia

Developmental Dyslexia (DD) is a learning disability related to the acquisition of reading skills that affects about 5% of the population. DD can have an enormous impact on the intellectual and personal development of affected children, so early detection is key to implementing preventive strategies for teaching language. Research has shown that there may be biological underpinnings to DD that affect phoneme processing, and hence these symptoms may be identifiable before reading ability is acquired, allowing for early intervention. In this paper we propose a new methodology to assess the risk of DD before students learn to read. For this purpose, we propose a mixed neural model that calculates risk levels of dyslexia from tests that can be completed at the age of 5 years. Our method first trains an auto-encoder, and then combines the trained encoder with an optimized ordinal regression neural network devised to ensure consistency of predictions. Our experiments show that the system is able to detect unaffected subjects two years before it can assess the risk of DD based mainly on phonological processing, giving a specificity of 0.969 and a correct rate of more than 0.92. In addition, the trained encoder can be used to transform test results into an interpretable subject spatial distribution that facilitates risk assessment and validates methodology.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

A Generalized Model of the Effects of Microstructure on Ultrasonic Backscattering and Flaw Detection

The influence of microstructure on ultrasonic inspection is well known. Familiar examples include the attenuation of ultrasound due to scattering from grain boundaries and the anisotropies in velocity that are associated with preferred grain orientation. Less commonly discussed are the creation of backscattered noise, which can mask flaw signals, and the modification of transducer radiation patterns, e.g. the modulation of the phase fronts in a beam, which can cause fluctuations in signals reflected from surfaces [1]. The latter influence the measurement of attenuation as well as the strength of signals reflected from flaws. The goal of this work is to develop a unified basis for understanding these phenomena, as can be used in the analysis of the performance of ultrasonic flaw detection systems. Of interest are correlations of noise in time as well as the variance of noise signals (about their mean of zero) and reflected signals (about a non-zero mean).</p

Exploitative leaders incite intergroup warfare in a social mammal

This is the final version. Available on open access from the National Academy of Sciences via the DOI in this recordCollective conflicts among humans are widespread, though often highly destructive. A classic explanation for the prevalence of such warfare is leadership by self-serving individuals that reap the benefits of conflict while other members of society pay the costs. Here, we show that leadership of this kind can also explain the evolution of collective violence in certain animal societies. We first extend the classic Hawk-Dove model of the evolution of animal aggression to consider cases in which a subset of individuals within each group may initiate fights in which all group members become involved. We show that leadership of this kind, when combined with inequalities in the payoffs of fighting, can lead to the evolution of severe intergroup aggression, with negative consequences for population mean fitness. We test our model using long-term data from wild banded mongooses, a species characterised by frequent intergroup conflicts that have very different fitness consequences for male and female group members. The data show that aggressive encounters between groups are initiated by females, who gain fitness benefits from mating with extra-group males in the midst of battle, whereas the costs of fighting are borne chiefly by males. In line with the model predictions, the result is unusually severe levels of intergroup violence. Our findings suggest that the decoupling of leaders from the costs that they incite amplifies the destructive nature of intergroup conflict.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC