Nonparametric Bayesian grouping methods for spatial time-series data

We describe an approach for identifying groups of dynamically similar locations in spatial time-series data based on a simple Markov transition model. We give maximum-likelihood, empirical Bayes, and fully Bayesian formulations of the model, and describe exhaustive, greedy, and MCMC-based inference methods. The approach has been employed successfully in several studies to reveal meaningful relationships between environmental patterns and disease dynamics.Comment: 11 pages, no figure

Updating our selves : synthesizing philosophical and neurobiological perspectives on incorporating new information into our worldview

Given the ubiquity and centrality of social and relational influences to the human experience, our conception of self-governance must adequately account for these external influences. The inclusion of socio-historical, externalist (i.e., “relational”) considerations into more traditional internalist (i.e., “individualist”) accounts of autonomy has been an important feature of the debate over personal autonomy in recent years. But the relevant socio-temporal dynamics of autonomy are not only historical in nature. There are also important, and under-examined, future-oriented questions about how we retain autonomy while incorporating new values into the existing set that guides our interaction with the world. In this paper, we examine these questions from two complementary perspectives: philosophy and neuroscience. After contextualizing the philosophical debate, we show the importance to theories of autonomous agency of the capacity to appropriately adapt our values and beliefs, in light of relevant experiences and evidence, to changing circumstances. We present a plausible philosophical account of this process, which we claim is generally applicable to theories about the nature of autonomy, both internalist and externalist alike. We then evaluate this account by providing a model for how the incorporation of values might occur in the brain; one that is inspired by recent theoretical and empirical advances in our understanding of the neural processes by which our beliefs are updated by new information. Finally, we synthesize these two perspectives and discuss how the neurobiology might inform the philosophical discussion

Influence of Dilution upon Cation Exchange Equilibrium

Ion exchange equilibria in batch systems have been examined to see how the distribution of ions between the ion exchanger and the solution depends on the dilution of the solution. The exchanger was Amberlite IR-120. The following exchanges were studied· K +-H+ Mg++-Ca ++ Ca++ -H+ Ba++ -H+ Ce3 +-H+ and La3 + H+. It has been found that dilution of the system causes the ion of higher affinity to pass into the resin phase. This effect is more pronounced for the exchange of ions of unequal charge than for those of the same charge

Perceptions of Undue Influence Shed Light on the Folk Conception of Autonomy

Advances in psychology and neuroscience have elucidated the social aspects of human agency, leading to a broad shift in our thinking about fundamental concepts such as autonomy and responsibility. Here, we address a critical aspect of this inquiry by investigating how people consider the socio-relational nature of their own agency,particularly the influence of others on their perceived control over their decisions and actions. Specifically, in a series of studies using contrastive vignettes, we examine public attitudes about when external influences on everyday decisions are perceived as “undue” – that is, as undermining the control conditions for these decisions to be considered autonomous – vs. when they are perceived as appropriate and even supportive of autonomous decision-making. We found that the influence of preauthorized agents – individuals and institutions with whom we share a worldview –was judged to be less undue than non-preauthorized agents, even after controlling for the familiarity of the agent. These effects persisted irrespective of the extent to which respondents identified as communitarian or individualistic, and were consistent across two distinct scenarios. We also found that external influences that were rational were perceived as less undue than those that were arational. Our study opens new avenues of inquiry into the “folk conception” of autonomy, and we discuss the implications of our findings for the ethics of public policies designed to influence decisions and for information sharing in social networks

Pre-Authorization: A Novel Decision-Making Heuristic That May Promote Autonomy

First paragraphs: While the nature of autonomy has been debated for centuries, recent scholarship has been re-examining our conception(s) of autonomy in light of findings from the behavioral, cognitive, and neural sciences (Felsen and Reiner 2011; Blumenthal-Barby 2016). Blumenthal-Barby’s target article provides us with a timely and helpful framework for thinking about this issue in a systematic way, specifically in relation to the wide range of cognitive biases and heuristics that we employ in our decision making. Building on this, we wish to expand the framework beyond the article’s focus on the threat posed by biases and heuristics by suggesting that it is possible for at least some heuristics to promote autonomy. We hope to demonstrate this point by introducing the conceptual framework for a novel heuristic that we call pre-authorization. Blumenthal-Barby argues that biases and heuristics “pose a serious threat to autonomous decision-making and human agency” and that, consequently, efforts should be made to remove, mitigate, or counter them. While recognizing the autonomy-threatening potential of these ‘fast thinking’ mechanisms, as well as agreeing with the author about the types of cases in which this potential is likely to be actualized, we suggest that it does not capture the full range of interactions that are relevant to a balanced assessment of their impact on autonomy. If, as is widely acknowledged, at least some heuristics are adaptive responses to particular real-world decision-making situations (Gigerenzer 2008), the issue at hand becomes elucidating whether, and under what conditions, the cognitive influence of any particular heuristic is autonomy-threatening, autonomy-preserving, or even autonomy-promoting. Blumenthal-Barby focuses on the first of these categories; and, with respect to the component of absence of controlling or alienating influence, she contends that if the person’s attitude towards the influence is one of feeling controlled or alienated from her decision on account of the workings of a cognitive bias or heuristic, her autonomy is diminishe

Quaternion algebras with the same subfields

G. Prasad and A. Rapinchuk asked if two quaternion division F -algebras that have the same subfields are necessarily isomorphic. The answer is known to be "no" for some very large fields. We prove that the answer is "yes" if F is an extension of a global field K so that F /K is unirational and has zero unramified Brauer group. We also prove a similar result for Pfister forms and give an application to tractable fields

Historical Criminology and the Explanatory Power of the Past

To what extent can the past ‘explain’ the present? This deceptively simple question lies at the heart of historical criminology (research which incorporates historical primary sources while addressing present-day debates and practices in the criminal justice field). This article seeks first to categorise the ways in which criminologists have used historical data thus far, arguing that it is most commonly deployed to ‘problematize’ the contemporary rather than to ‘explain’ it. The article then interrogates the reticence of criminologists to attribute explicative power in relation to the present to historical data. Finally, it proposes the adoption of long time-frame historical research methods, outlining three advantages which would accrue from this: the identification and analysis of historical continuities; a more nuanced, shared understanding of micro/macro change over time in relation to criminal justice; and a method for identifying and analysing instances of historical recurrence, particularly in perceptions and discourses around crime and justice

Reflection factorizations of Singer cycles

Abstract. The number of shortest factorizations into reflections for a Singer cycle inGLn(Fq) is shown to be (q n − 1) n−1. Formulas counting factorizations of any length, and counting those with reflections of fixed conjugacy classes are also given. Résumé. Nous prouvons que le nombre de factorisations de longueur minimale d’un cycle de Singer dans GLn(Fq) comme un produit de réflexions est (q n −1) n−1. Nous présentons aussi des formules donnant le nombre de factorisations de toutes les longueurs ainsi que des formules pour le nombre de factorisations comme produit de réflexions ayant des classes de conjugaison fixes