Social adaptation in multi-agent model of linguistic categorization is affected by network information flow.

PubMed

Zubek, Julian; Denkiewicz, Michał; Barański, Juliusz; Wróblewski, Przemysław; Rączaszek-Leonardi, Joanna; Plewczynski, Dariusz

2017-01-01

This paper explores how information flow properties of a network affect the formation of categories shared between individuals, who are communicating through that network. Our work is based on the established multi-agent model of the emergence of linguistic categories grounded in external environment. We study how network information propagation efficiency and the direction of information flow affect categorization by performing simulations with idealized network topologies optimizing certain network centrality measures. We measure dynamic social adaptation when either network topology or environment is subject to change during the experiment, and the system has to adapt to new conditions. We find that both decentralized network topology efficient in information propagation and the presence of central authority (information flow from the center to peripheries) are beneficial for the formation of global agreement between agents. Systems with central authority cope well with network topology change, but are less robust in the case of environment change. These findings help to understand which network properties affect processes of social adaptation. They are important to inform the debate on the advantages and disadvantages of centralized systems.

AGENT-BASED MODELS IN EMPIRICAL SOCIAL RESEARCH*

PubMed Central

Bruch, Elizabeth; Atwell, Jon

2014-01-01

Agent-based modeling has become increasingly popular in recent years, but there is still no codified set of recommendations or practices for how to use these models within a program of empirical research. This article provides ideas and practical guidelines drawn from sociology, biology, computer science, epidemiology, and statistics. We first discuss the motivations for using agent-based models in both basic science and policy-oriented social research. Next, we provide an overview of methods and strategies for incorporating data on behavior and populations into agent-based models, and review techniques for validating and testing the sensitivity of agent-based models. We close with suggested directions for future research. PMID:25983351

Collective states in social systems with interacting learning agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Semeshenko, Viktoriya; Gordon, Mirta B.; Nadal, Jean-Pierre

2008-08-01

We study the implications of social interactions and individual learning features on consumer demand in a simple market model. We consider a social system of interacting heterogeneous agents with learning abilities. Given a fixed price, agents repeatedly decide whether or not to buy a unit of a good, so as to maximize their expected utilities. This model is close to Random Field Ising Models, where the random field corresponds to the idiosyncratic willingness to pay. We show that the equilibrium reached depends on the nature of the information agents use to estimate their expected utilities. It may be different from the systems’ Nash equilibria.

Screening methods for chemical warfare agents in environmental samples at the Edgewood area of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jakubowski, E.M.; Borland, M.M.; Norris, L.

1995-06-01

The U.S. Army Edgewood Research, Development and Engineering Center, the U.S. Army Aberdeen Proving Ground Support Activity, Directorate of Safety, Health and the Environment and SciTech Services Inc., an independent contractor, have developed an approach for screening environmental samples for the presence of chemical warfare agents. Since 1918, the Edgewood area of Aberdeen Proving Ground has been a research and testing ground for toxic agent compounds. Since these materials are considered highly toxic, screening for their presence in environmental samples is necessary for safe shipment to contract laboratories for testing by EPA guidelines. The screening ensures worker safety and maintainsmore » U.S. Army standards for transportation of materials potentially contaminated with chemical warfare agents. This paper describes the screening methodology.« less

Critical social theory as a grounded process.

PubMed

Fleming, V E; Moloney, J A

1996-09-01

This article reflects upon the research process that uses critical social science as its basis. Some of the common criticisms of critical social science research are rebutted by following the research trail taken by the authors when undertaking their own projects. The similarities and differences of critical social science and the interpretative methodologies are outlined in the selection of study area, the relationship of the researcher and participants, ethical issues, and data collection and analysis. The writers conclude that critical social science research reports that are correctly carried out should be firmly grounded in each of these stages, thereby a foundation for nursing and midwifery practice.

Persistent agents in Axelrod's social dynamics model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reia, Sandro M.; Neves, Ubiraci P. C.

2016-01-01

Axelrod's model of social dynamics has been studied under the effect of external media. Here we study the formation of cultural domains in the model by introducing persistent agents. These are agents whose cultural traits are not allowed to change but may be spread through local neighborhood. In the absence of persistent agents, the system is known to present a transition from a monocultural to a multicultural regime at some critical Q (number of traits). Our results reveal a dependence of critical Q on the occupation probability p of persistent agents and we obtain the phase diagram of the model in the (p,Q) -plane. The critical locus is explained by the competition of two opposite forces named here barrier and bonding effects. Such forces are verified to be caused by non-persistent agents which adhere (adherent agents) to the set of traits of persistent ones. The adherence (concentration of adherent agents) as a function of p is found to decay for constant Q. Furthermore, adherence as a function of Q is found to decay as a power law with constant p.

The Influence of Socializing Agents in the Female Sport-Participation Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higginson, David C.

1985-01-01

Investigated the influence of socializing agents on female athletes (N=587). Made comparisons across life-cycle states and discovered that socializing agent influences changed from being mostly parental at the under-13 life-cycle stage to mostly coach/teacher-oriented during junior and senior high school years. (BH)

Nash Equilibrium of Social-Learning Agents in a Restless Multiarmed Bandit Game.

PubMed

Nakayama, Kazuaki; Hisakado, Masato; Mori, Shintaro

2017-05-16

We study a simple model for social-learning agents in a restless multiarmed bandit (rMAB). The bandit has one good arm that changes to a bad one with a certain probability. Each agent stochastically selects one of the two methods, random search (individual learning) or copying information from other agents (social learning), using which he/she seeks the good arm. Fitness of an agent is the probability to know the good arm in the steady state of the agent system. In this model, we explicitly construct the unique Nash equilibrium state and show that the corresponding strategy for each agent is an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) in the sense of Thomas. It is shown that the fitness of an agent with ESS is superior to that of an asocial learner when the success probability of social learning is greater than a threshold determined from the probability of success of individual learning, the probability of change of state of the rMAB, and the number of agents. The ESS Nash equilibrium is a solution to Rogers' paradox.

The role of potential agents in making spatial perspective taking social

PubMed Central

Clements-Stephens, Amy M.; Vasiljevic, Katarina; Murray, Alexandra J.; Shelton, Amy L.

2013-01-01

A striking relationship between visual spatial perspective taking (VSPT) and social skills has been demonstrated for perspective-taking tasks in which the target of the imagined or inferred perspective is a potential agent, suggesting that the presence of a potential agent may create a social context for the seemingly spatial task of imagining a novel visual perspective. In a series of studies, we set out to investigate how and when a target might be viewed as sufficiently agent-like to incur a social influence on VSPT performance. By varying the perceptual and conceptual features that defined the targets as potential agents, we find that even something as simple as suggesting animacy for a simple wooden block may be sufficient. More critically, we found that experience with one potential agent influenced the performance with subsequent targets, either by inducing or eliminating the influence of social skills on VSPT performance. These carryover effects suggest that the relationship between social skills and VSPT performance is mediated by a complex relationship that includes the task, the target, and the context in which that target is perceived. These findings highlight potential problems that arise when identifying a task as belonging exclusively to a single cognitive domain and stress instead the highly interactive nature of cognitive domains and their susceptibility to cross-domain individual differences. PMID:24046735

What does God know? Supernatural agents' access to socially strategic and non-strategic information.

PubMed

Purzycki, Benjamin G; Finkel, Daniel N; Shaver, John; Wales, Nathan; Cohen, Adam B; Sosis, Richard

2012-07-01

Current evolutionary and cognitive theories of religion posit that supernatural agent concepts emerge from cognitive systems such as theory of mind and social cognition. Some argue that these concepts evolved to maintain social order by minimizing antisocial behavior. If these theories are correct, then people should process information about supernatural agents' socially strategic knowledge more quickly than non-strategic knowledge. Furthermore, agents' knowledge of immoral and uncooperative social behaviors should be especially accessible to people. To examine these hypotheses, we measured response-times to questions about the knowledge attributed to four different agents--God, Santa Claus, a fictional surveillance government, and omniscient but non-interfering aliens--that vary in their omniscience, moral concern, ability to punish, and how supernatural they are. As anticipated, participants respond more quickly to questions about agents' socially strategic knowledge than non-strategic knowledge, but only when agents are able to punish. Copyright © 2012 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Computational Grounded Cognition: a new alliance between grounded cognition and computational modeling

PubMed Central

Pezzulo, Giovanni; Barsalou, Lawrence W.; Cangelosi, Angelo; Fischer, Martin H.; McRae, Ken; Spivey, Michael J.

2013-01-01

Grounded theories assume that there is no central module for cognition. According to this view, all cognitive phenomena, including those considered the province of amodal cognition such as reasoning, numeric, and language processing, are ultimately grounded in (and emerge from) a variety of bodily, affective, perceptual, and motor processes. The development and expression of cognition is constrained by the embodiment of cognitive agents and various contextual factors (physical and social) in which they are immersed. The grounded framework has received numerous empirical confirmations. Still, there are very few explicit computational models that implement grounding in sensory, motor and affective processes as intrinsic to cognition, and demonstrate that grounded theories can mechanistically implement higher cognitive abilities. We propose a new alliance between grounded cognition and computational modeling toward a novel multidisciplinary enterprise: Computational Grounded Cognition. We clarify the defining features of this novel approach and emphasize the importance of using the methodology of Cognitive Robotics, which permits simultaneous consideration of multiple aspects of grounding, embodiment, and situatedness, showing how they constrain the development and expression of cognition. PMID:23346065

Perceptions of Peers as Socialization Agents and Adjustment in Upper Secondary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Studsrod, Ingunn; Bru, Edvin

2011-01-01

The purpose of present study was to explore the perceptions of peers as socialization agents in school adjustment among upper secondary school students. The associations were studied in a sample of 564 Norwegian students. Results showed that perceptions of friends and classmates as socialization agents accounted for unique variances in various…

Reverse engineering a social agent-based hidden markov model--visage.

PubMed

Chen, Hung-Ching Justin; Goldberg, Mark; Magdon-Ismail, Malik; Wallace, William A

2008-12-01

We present a machine learning approach to discover the agent dynamics that drives the evolution of the social groups in a community. We set up the problem by introducing an agent-based hidden Markov model for the agent dynamics: an agent's actions are determined by micro-laws. Nonetheless, We learn the agent dynamics from the observed communications without knowing state transitions. Our approach is to identify the appropriate micro-laws corresponding to an identification of the appropriate parameters in the model. The model identification problem is then formulated as a mixed optimization problem. To solve the problem, we develop a multistage learning process for determining the group structure, the group evolution, and the micro-laws of a community based on the observed set of communications among actors, without knowing the semantic contents. Finally, to test the quality of our approximations and the feasibility of the approach, we present the results of extensive experiments on synthetic data as well as the results on real communities, such as Enron email and Movie newsgroups. Insight into agent dynamics helps us understand the driving forces behind social evolution.

Understanding Green Purchase Behavior: College Students and Socialization Agents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yan, Ruoh-Nan; Xu, Huimin

2010-01-01

Taking the perspective of consumer socialization theory, this study examined the influences of different socialization agents on consumers' purchases of green products. A total of 224 surveys were distributed to students enrolled in a business-related course at a major university in the northeastern United States. The objectives were twofold. The…

Socialization Agents and Activities of Young Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnon, Sara; Shamai, Shmuel; Ilatov, Zinaida

2008-01-01

Research examined the relative importance of peer groups for young adolescents as compared with diverse adult socialization agents--family, school, and community. The factors involved were teenagers' activities, preferences, feelings, and thoughts as to how they spend their leisure time, their preferences for help providers, and their sense of…

Social effects of an anthropomorphic help agent: humans versus computers.

PubMed

David, Prabu; Lu, Tingting; Kline, Susan; Cai, Li

2007-06-01

The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of fairness of a computer-administered quiz as a function of the anthropomorphic features of the help agent offered within the quiz environment. The addition of simple anthropomorphic cues to a computer help agent reduced the perceived friendliness of the agent, perceived intelligence of the agent, and the perceived fairness of the quiz. These differences were observed only for male anthropomorphic cues, but not for female anthropomorphic cues. The results were not explained by the social attraction of the anthropomorphic agents used in the quiz or by gender identification with the agents. Priming of visual cues provides the best account of the data. Practical implications of the study are discussed.

From automata to animate beings: the scope and limits of attributing socialness to artificial agents.

PubMed

Hortensius, Ruud; Cross, Emily S

2018-05-11

Understanding the mechanisms and consequences of attributing socialness to artificial agents has important implications for how we can use technology to lead more productive and fulfilling lives. Here, we integrate recent findings on the factors that shape behavioral and brain mechanisms that support social interactions between humans and artificial agents. We review how visual features of an agent, as well as knowledge factors within the human observer, shape attributions across dimensions of socialness. We explore how anthropomorphism and dehumanization further influence how we perceive and interact with artificial agents. Based on these findings, we argue that the cognitive reconstruction within the human observer is likely to be far more crucial in shaping our interactions with artificial agents than previously thought, while the artificial agent's visual features are possibly of lesser importance. We combine these findings to provide an integrative theoretical account based on the "like me" hypothesis, and discuss the key role played by the Theory-of-Mind network, especially the temporal parietal junction, in the shift from mechanistic to social attributions. We conclude by highlighting outstanding questions on the impact of long-term interactions with artificial agents on the behavioral and brain mechanisms of attributing socialness to these agents. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

The influence of socializing agents in the female sport-participation process.

PubMed

Higginson, D C

1985-01-01

This study investigated the influence of socializing agents on the female athletes who participated in the Empire State Games in Syracuse, New York (N = 587). When comparisons were made across life-cycle states (under-13, junior high, and senior high), it was discovered that statistically significant differences existed (p less than 0.0001). It was apparent that the socializing agent influences changed from being mostly parental at the under-13 life-cycle stage to mostly coach/teacher oriented during junior and senior high school years. No significant differences occurred across the three life-cycle stages when the following items were examined: (a) the number of sports in which the female athletes participated, (b) the number of sports learned by the female athletes, and (c) the amount of sport interest developed. It was concluded that socializing agent influences do exist, but change during different periods in the life cycle.

Social influence, agent heterogeneity and the emergence of the urban informal sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Díaz, César; Moreno-Monroy, Ana I.

2012-02-01

We develop an agent-based computational model in which the urban informal sector acts as a buffer where rural migrants can earn some income while queuing for higher paying modern-sector jobs. In the model, the informal sector emerges as a result of rural-urban migration decisions of heterogeneous agents subject to social influence in the form of neighboring effects of varying strengths. Besides using a multinomial logit choice model that allows for agent idiosyncrasy, explicit agent heterogeneity is introduced in the form of socio-demographic characteristics preferred by modern-sector employers. We find that different combinations of the strength of social influence and the socio-economic composition of the workforce lead to very different urbanization and urban informal sector shares. In particular, moderate levels of social influence and a large proportion of rural inhabitants with preferred socio-demographic characteristics are conducive to a higher urbanization rate and a larger informal sector.

A grounded theory of how social support influences physical activity in adolescent girls

PubMed Central

Fawkner, Samantha

2018-01-01

ABSTRACT Purpose: Adolescent girls are not sufficiently active to achieve health benefits. Social support from friends and family has been positively associated with physical activity in adolescent girls; however it is unclear how social support influences physical activity behaviour. This study aimed to develop a grounded theory of how social support influences physical activity in adolescent girls. Methods: A qualitative, constructivist grounded theory approach was adopted. Individual interviews explored adolescent girls’ perspectives of how significant others’ influenced their physical activity through providing social support, and through modelling physical activity. Results: Participants perceived social support to influence physical activity behaviour through performance improvements, self-efficacy, enjoyment, motivation and by enabling physical activity. Improvements in performance and self-efficacy were also linked to motivation to be active. Girls perceived modelling to influence behaviour through providing opportunities for them to be physically active, and by inspiring them to be active. Conclusion: The grounded theory outlines adolescent girls’ perceptions of how significant others influence their physical activity and provides a framework for future research examining the role of social support on physical activity. PMID:29405881

A grounded theory of how social support influences physical activity in adolescent girls.

PubMed

Laird, Yvonne; Fawkner, Samantha; Niven, Ailsa

2018-12-01

Adolescent girls are not sufficiently active to achieve health benefits. Social support from friends and family has been positively associated with physical activity in adolescent girls; however it is unclear how social support influences physical activity behaviour. This study aimed to develop a grounded theory of how social support influences physical activity in adolescent girls. A qualitative, constructivist grounded theory approach was adopted. Individual interviews explored adolescent girls' perspectives of how significant others' influenced their physical activity through providing social support, and through modelling physical activity. Participants perceived social support to influence physical activity behaviour through performance improvements, self-efficacy, enjoyment, motivation and by enabling physical activity. Improvements in performance and self-efficacy were also linked to motivation to be active. Girls perceived modelling to influence behaviour through providing opportunities for them to be physically active, and by inspiring them to be active. The grounded theory outlines adolescent girls' perceptions of how significant others influence their physical activity and provides a framework for future research examining the role of social support on physical activity.

Social cognitive theory: an agentic perspective.

PubMed

Bandura, A

2001-01-01

The capacity to exercise control over the nature and quality of one's life is the essence of humanness. Human agency is characterized by a number of core features that operate through phenomenal and functional consciousness. These include the temporal extension of agency through intentionality and forethought, self-regulation by self-reactive influence, and self-reflectiveness about one's capabilities, quality of functioning, and the meaning and purpose of one's life pursuits. Personal agency operates within a broad network of sociostructural influences. In these agentic transactions, people are producers as well as products of social systems. Social cognitive theory distinguishes among three modes of agency: direct personal agency, proxy agency that relies on others to act on one's behest to secure desired outcomes, and collective agency exercised through socially coordinative and interdependent effort. Growing transnational embeddedness and interdependence are placing a premium on collective efficacy to exercise control over personal destinies and national life.

An Agent-Based Model of Private Woodland Owner Management Behavior Using Social Interactions, Information Flow, and Peer-To-Peer Networks

PubMed Central

Huff, Emily Silver; Leahy, Jessica E.; Hiebeler, David; Weiskittel, Aaron R.; Noblet, Caroline L.

2015-01-01

Privately owned woodlands are an important source of timber and ecosystem services in North America and worldwide. Impacts of management on these ecosystems and timber supply from these woodlands are difficult to estimate because complex behavioral theory informs the owner’s management decisions. The decision-making environment consists of exogenous market factors, internal cognitive processes, and social interactions with fellow landowners, foresters, and other rural community members. This study seeks to understand how social interactions, information flow, and peer-to-peer networks influence timber harvesting behavior using an agent-based model. This theoretical model includes forested polygons in various states of ‘harvest readiness’ and three types of agents: forest landowners, foresters, and peer leaders (individuals trained in conservation who use peer-to-peer networking). Agent rules, interactions, and characteristics were parameterized with values from existing literature and an empirical survey of forest landowner attitudes, intentions, and demographics. The model demonstrates that as trust in foresters and peer leaders increases, the percentage of the forest that is harvested sustainably increases. Furthermore, peer leaders can serve to increase landowner trust in foresters. Model output and equations will inform forest policy and extension/outreach efforts. The model also serves as an important testing ground for new theories of landowner decision making and behavior. PMID:26562429

Agents of support: psychometric properties of the Cancer Perceived Agents of Social Support (CPASS) questionnaire.

PubMed

Goldzweig, Gil; Hasson-Ohayon, Ilanit; Meirovitz, Amichay; Braun, Michal; Hubert, Ayala; Baider, Lea

2010-11-01

The current study presents the development and the evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Cancer Perceived Agents of Social Support (CPASS). The CPASS is a new self-rating instrument devised in order to enable both cancer patients and their spouses to report on the level of perceived social support they get. The CPASS evaluates the support given by different agents of support (spouse, family, friends and spiritual or religious beliefs) in several dimensions (emotional, cognitive and instrumental). The study sample comprised 662 cancer patients and their spouses recruited during a routine medical evaluation from three major cancer centers in Israel. The participants completed the CPASS and two other standardized instruments: The ENRICH Marital Satisfaction Scale (EMS) and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Principal component analysis confirmed a three-factor structure based upon the agent of support (spouse; friends/family; spiritual/religious beliefs). Cronbach's α coefficients for the agent of support indexes were high (0.80-0.95), while Cronbach's α levels for the kind of support were lower (0.45-0.72). Smallest Space Analysis (SSA) also confirmed the theoretical structure of the CPASS. Pearson correlation coefficients to the other study variables were high and significant. As a whole, the CPASS was found to be a valid tool for the current Israeli sample. Theoretical and practical conclusions and socio-cultural implications are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Localized coherence in two interacting populations of social agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

González-Avella, J. C.; Cosenza, M. G.; San Miguel, M.

2014-04-01

We investigate the emergence of localized coherent behavior in systems consisting of two populations of social agents possessing a condition for non-interacting states, mutually coupled through global interaction fields. We employ two examples of such dynamics: (i) Axelrod’s model for social influence, and (ii) a discrete version of a bounded confidence model for opinion formation. In each case, the global interaction fields correspond to the statistical mode of the states of the agents in each population. In both systems we find localized coherent states for some values of parameters, consisting of one population in a homogeneous state and the other in a disordered state. This situation can be considered as a social analogue to a chimera state arising in two interacting populations of oscillators. In addition, other asymptotic collective behaviors appear in both systems depending on parameter values: a common homogeneous state, where both populations reach the same state; different homogeneous states, where both population reach homogeneous states different from each other; and a disordered state, where both populations reach inhomogeneous states.

Model-Based Knowing: How Do Students Ground Their Understanding About Climate Systems in Agent-Based Computer Models?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Markauskaite, Lina; Kelly, Nick; Jacobson, Michael J.

2017-12-01

This paper gives a grounded cognition account of model-based learning of complex scientific knowledge related to socio-scientific issues, such as climate change. It draws on the results from a study of high school students learning about the carbon cycle through computational agent-based models and investigates two questions: First, how do students ground their understanding about the phenomenon when they learn and solve problems with computer models? Second, what are common sources of mistakes in students' reasoning with computer models? Results show that students ground their understanding in computer models in five ways: direct observation, straight abstraction, generalisation, conceptualisation, and extension. Students also incorporate into their reasoning their knowledge and experiences that extend beyond phenomena represented in the models, such as attitudes about unsustainable carbon emission rates, human agency, external events, and the nature of computational models. The most common difficulties of the students relate to seeing the modelled scientific phenomenon and connecting results from the observations with other experiences and understandings about the phenomenon in the outside world. An important contribution of this study is the constructed coding scheme for establishing different ways of grounding, which helps to understand some challenges that students encounter when they learn about complex phenomena with agent-based computer models.

Robots As Intentional Agents: Using Neuroscientific Methods to Make Robots Appear More Social.

PubMed

Wiese, Eva; Metta, Giorgio; Wykowska, Agnieszka

2017-01-01

Robots are increasingly envisaged as our future cohabitants. However, while considerable progress has been made in recent years in terms of their technological realization, the ability of robots to interact with humans in an intuitive and social way is still quite limited. An important challenge for social robotics is to determine how to design robots that can perceive the user's needs, feelings, and intentions, and adapt to users over a broad range of cognitive abilities. It is conceivable that if robots were able to adequately demonstrate these skills, humans would eventually accept them as social companions. We argue that the best way to achieve this is using a systematic experimental approach based on behavioral and physiological neuroscience methods such as motion/eye-tracking, electroencephalography, or functional near-infrared spectroscopy embedded in interactive human-robot paradigms. This approach requires understanding how humans interact with each other, how they perform tasks together and how they develop feelings of social connection over time, and using these insights to formulate design principles that make social robots attuned to the workings of the human brain. In this review, we put forward the argument that the likelihood of artificial agents being perceived as social companions can be increased by designing them in a way that they are perceived as intentional agents that activate areas in the human brain involved in social-cognitive processing. We first review literature related to social-cognitive processes and mechanisms involved in human-human interactions, and highlight the importance of perceiving others as intentional agents to activate these social brain areas. We then discuss how attribution of intentionality can positively affect human-robot interaction by (a) fostering feelings of social connection, empathy and prosociality, and by (b) enhancing performance on joint human-robot tasks. Lastly, we describe circumstances under which

Robots As Intentional Agents: Using Neuroscientific Methods to Make Robots Appear More Social

PubMed Central

Wiese, Eva; Metta, Giorgio; Wykowska, Agnieszka

2017-01-01

Robots are increasingly envisaged as our future cohabitants. However, while considerable progress has been made in recent years in terms of their technological realization, the ability of robots to interact with humans in an intuitive and social way is still quite limited. An important challenge for social robotics is to determine how to design robots that can perceive the user’s needs, feelings, and intentions, and adapt to users over a broad range of cognitive abilities. It is conceivable that if robots were able to adequately demonstrate these skills, humans would eventually accept them as social companions. We argue that the best way to achieve this is using a systematic experimental approach based on behavioral and physiological neuroscience methods such as motion/eye-tracking, electroencephalography, or functional near-infrared spectroscopy embedded in interactive human–robot paradigms. This approach requires understanding how humans interact with each other, how they perform tasks together and how they develop feelings of social connection over time, and using these insights to formulate design principles that make social robots attuned to the workings of the human brain. In this review, we put forward the argument that the likelihood of artificial agents being perceived as social companions can be increased by designing them in a way that they are perceived as intentional agents that activate areas in the human brain involved in social-cognitive processing. We first review literature related to social-cognitive processes and mechanisms involved in human–human interactions, and highlight the importance of perceiving others as intentional agents to activate these social brain areas. We then discuss how attribution of intentionality can positively affect human–robot interaction by (a) fostering feelings of social connection, empathy and prosociality, and by (b) enhancing performance on joint human–robot tasks. Lastly, we describe circumstances under

An architecture and protocol for communications satellite constellations regarded as multi-agent systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lindley, Craig A.

1995-01-01

This paper presents an architecture for satellites regarded as intercommunicating agents. The architecture is based upon a postmodern paradigm of artificial intelligence in which represented knowledge is regarded as text, inference procedures are regarded as social discourse and decision making conventions and the semantics of representations are grounded in the situated behaviour and activity of agents. A particular protocol is described for agent participation in distributed search and retrieval operations conducted as joint activities.

Agent-Based Modeling of China's Rural-Urban Migration and Social Network Structure.

PubMed

Fu, Zhaohao; Hao, Lingxin

2018-01-15

We analyze China's rural-urban migration and endogenous social network structures using agent-based modeling. The agents from census micro data are located in their rural origin with an empirical-estimated prior propensity to move. The population-scale social network is a hybrid one, combining observed family ties and locations of the origin with a parameter space calibrated from census, survey and aggregate data and sampled using a stepwise Latin Hypercube Sampling method. At monthly intervals, some agents migrate and these migratory acts change the social network by turning within-nonmigrant connections to between-migrant-nonmigrant connections, turning local connections to nonlocal connections, and adding among-migrant connections. In turn, the changing social network structure updates migratory propensities of those well-connected nonmigrants who become more likely to move. These two processes iterate over time. Using a core-periphery method developed from the k -core decomposition method, we identify and quantify the network structural changes and map these changes with the migration acceleration patterns. We conclude that network structural changes are essential for explaining migration acceleration observed in China during the 1995-2000 period.

Agent-based modeling of China's rural-urban migration and social network structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Zhaohao; Hao, Lingxin

2018-01-01

We analyze China's rural-urban migration and endogenous social network structures using agent-based modeling. The agents from census micro data are located in their rural origin with an empirical-estimated prior propensity to move. The population-scale social network is a hybrid one, combining observed family ties and locations of the origin with a parameter space calibrated from census, survey and aggregate data and sampled using a stepwise Latin Hypercube Sampling method. At monthly intervals, some agents migrate and these migratory acts change the social network by turning within-nonmigrant connections to between-migrant-nonmigrant connections, turning local connections to nonlocal connections, and adding among-migrant connections. In turn, the changing social network structure updates migratory propensities of those well-connected nonmigrants who become more likely to move. These two processes iterate over time. Using a core-periphery method developed from the k-core decomposition method, we identify and quantify the network structural changes and map these changes with the migration acceleration patterns. We conclude that network structural changes are essential for explaining migration acceleration observed in China during the 1995-2000 period.

Unsilencing Critical Conversations in Social-Studies Teacher Education Using Agent-Based Modeling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hostetler, Andrew; Sengupta, Pratim; Hollett, Ty

2018-01-01

In this article, we argue that when complex sociopolitical issues such as ethnocentrism and racial segregation are represented as complex, emergent systems using agent-based computational models (in short agent-based models or ABMs), discourse about these representations can disrupt social studies teacher candidates' dispositions of teaching…

Adaptive Agent Modeling of Distributed Language: Investigations on the Effects of Cultural Variation and Internal Action Representations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cangelosi, Angelo

2007-01-01

In this paper we present the "grounded adaptive agent" computational framework for studying the emergence of communication and language. This modeling framework is based on simulations of population of cognitive agents that evolve linguistic capabilities by interacting with their social and physical environment (internal and external symbol…

Foundations of “new” social science: Institutional legitimacy from philosophy, complexity science, postmodernism, and agent-based modeling

PubMed Central

Henrickson, Leslie; McKelvey, Bill

2002-01-01

Since the death of positivism in the 1970s, philosophers have turned their attention to scientific realism, evolutionary epistemology, and the Semantic Conception of Theories. Building on these trends, Campbellian Realism allows social scientists to accept real-world phenomena as criterion variables against which theories may be tested without denying the reality of individual interpretation and social construction. The Semantic Conception reduces the importance of axioms, but reaffirms the role of models and experiments. Philosophers now see models as “autonomous agents” that exert independent influence on the development of a science, in addition to theory and data. The inappropriate molding effects of math models on social behavior modeling are noted. Complexity science offers a “new” normal science epistemology focusing on order creation by self-organizing heterogeneous agents and agent-based models. The more responsible core of postmodernism builds on the idea that agents operate in a constantly changing web of interconnections among other agents. The connectionist agent-based models of complexity science draw on the same conception of social ontology as do postmodernists. These recent developments combine to provide foundations for a “new” social science centered on formal modeling not requiring the mathematical assumptions of agent homogeneity and equilibrium conditions. They give this “new” social science legitimacy in scientific circles that current social science approaches lack. PMID:12011408

Roles of Interpersonal and Media Socialization Agents in Adolescent Self-Reported Health Literacy: A Health Socialization Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paek, Hye-Jin; Reber, Bryan H.; Lariscy, Ruthann W.

2011-01-01

This study proposes a health socialization model and applies it to examine direct, relative and mediating roles of interpersonal and media health socialization agents in predicting adolescent self-reported health literacy. We conducted a paper-and-pencil survey among 452 seventh graders in rural and urban school districts. Our regression analysis…

Bedouin Special-Education Teachers as Agents of Social Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kass, Efrat; Miller, Erez C.

2011-01-01

This study probes the career motives of minority special-education teachers in the Bedouin Arab society of southern Israel. The results, obtained via in-depth interviews of teachers, show that the teachers aspire to become agents of social change in three spheres: In the external sphere, they aim for professional autonomy and independence within…

Model reduction for agent-based social simulation: coarse-graining a civil violence model.

PubMed

Zou, Yu; Fonoberov, Vladimir A; Fonoberova, Maria; Mezic, Igor; Kevrekidis, Ioannis G

2012-06-01

Agent-based modeling (ABM) constitutes a powerful computational tool for the exploration of phenomena involving emergent dynamic behavior in the social sciences. This paper demonstrates a computer-assisted approach that bridges the significant gap between the single-agent microscopic level and the macroscopic (coarse-grained population) level, where fundamental questions must be rationally answered and policies guiding the emergent dynamics devised. Our approach will be illustrated through an agent-based model of civil violence. This spatiotemporally varying ABM incorporates interactions between a heterogeneous population of citizens [active (insurgent), inactive, or jailed] and a population of police officers. Detailed simulations exhibit an equilibrium punctuated by periods of social upheavals. We show how to effectively reduce the agent-based dynamics to a stochastic model with only two coarse-grained degrees of freedom: the number of jailed citizens and the number of active ones. The coarse-grained model captures the ABM dynamics while drastically reducing the computation time (by a factor of approximately 20).

Model reduction for agent-based social simulation: Coarse-graining a civil violence model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zou, Yu; Fonoberov, Vladimir A.; Fonoberova, Maria; Mezic, Igor; Kevrekidis, Ioannis G.

2012-06-01

Agent-based modeling (ABM) constitutes a powerful computational tool for the exploration of phenomena involving emergent dynamic behavior in the social sciences. This paper demonstrates a computer-assisted approach that bridges the significant gap between the single-agent microscopic level and the macroscopic (coarse-grained population) level, where fundamental questions must be rationally answered and policies guiding the emergent dynamics devised. Our approach will be illustrated through an agent-based model of civil violence. This spatiotemporally varying ABM incorporates interactions between a heterogeneous population of citizens [active (insurgent), inactive, or jailed] and a population of police officers. Detailed simulations exhibit an equilibrium punctuated by periods of social upheavals. We show how to effectively reduce the agent-based dynamics to a stochastic model with only two coarse-grained degrees of freedom: the number of jailed citizens and the number of active ones. The coarse-grained model captures the ABM dynamics while drastically reducing the computation time (by a factor of approximately 20).

The Role of Agent and Social Context in Judgments of Freedom of Speech and Religion.

PubMed

Helwig, Charles C

1997-06-01

This study examined children's, adolescents', and college students' judgments of the rights of child and adult agents to freedom of speech and religion in 3 social contexts: the general level of society, the school, and the family. Two hundred forty participants, evenly divided into 5 grade levels (mean ages 6,6, 8,5,10,6,12,4, and 22,7) made judgments of the legitimacy of authority prohibition, rule evaluation, generalizability, and rule violation for all freedom/social context/agent combinations. Concepts of freedom of speech and religion were found to emerge in the early elementary school years, and endorsements of freedoms were increasingly affected by social context and agent with age. College students were less likely than any other age group to affirm children's freedom of religion in the family context. Considerations of the mental competence and maturity of agents and the potential for harm to ensue from acting on freedoms played an important part in the decisions of older, but not younger, participants.

Professional Socialization of Iranian BSN Students: A Grounded Theory Study.

PubMed

Dinmohammadi, Mohammad Reza; Peyrovi, Hamid; Mehrdad, Neda

2017-12-01

Introduction: Professional socialization is a critical aspect of nursing students' development, which begins with entry into the nursing program and continues when their professional practice begins. The aim of this study was to explore the socialization of Iranian BSN students in the nursing profession. Methods: An exploratory qualitative approach utilizing Straussian version of the grounded theory (1998) method was used. Individual in-depth semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 14 participants chosen from two large nursing schools in an urban area through purposive and theoretical sampling. The data were analyzed, using the constant comparative method. Results: Five main categories and eleven subcategories emerged and integrated around one core category. Professional metamorphosis as the core variable was a complex and interrelated process (consisting of three stages: dependence, disintegration, and integration) with dynamic, ongoing, and personal features influenced by professional and extra-professional context. The students assumed a passive role in the initial of their studies. However, during the last year of the educational program, they gradually involved actively in dealing with own personal and professional issues. Conclusion: This study introduced "professional metamorphosis of BSN students" as a substantive grounded theory in the socio-cultural context of the health care system in Iran. During this process, students move from outsider personal position to insider professional position. The nurse educators and administrators may develop effective educational interventions to promote professional socialization of students with an understanding of the promoting and driving forces influencing socialization.

Professional Socialization of Iranian BSN Students: A Grounded Theory Study

PubMed Central

Dinmohammadi, Mohammad Reza; Peyrovi, Hamid; Mehrdad, Neda

2017-01-01

Introduction: Professional socialization is a critical aspect of nursing students’ development, which begins with entry into the nursing program and continues when their professional practice begins. The aim of this study was to explore the socialization of Iranian BSN students in the nursing profession. Methods: An exploratory qualitative approach utilizing Straussian version of the grounded theory (1998) method was used. Individual in-depth semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 14 participants chosen from two large nursing schools in an urban area through purposive and theoretical sampling. The data were analyzed, using the constant comparative method. Results: Five main categories and eleven subcategories emerged and integrated around one core category. Professional metamorphosis as the core variable was a complex and interrelated process (consisting of three stages: dependence, disintegration, and integration) with dynamic, ongoing, and personal features influenced by professional and extra-professional context. The students assumed a passive role in the initial of their studies. However, during the last year of the educational program, they gradually involved actively in dealing with own personal and professional issues. Conclusion: This study introduced "professional metamorphosis of BSN students" as a substantive grounded theory in the socio-cultural context of the health care system in Iran. During this process, students move from outsider personal position to insider professional position. The nurse educators and administrators may develop effective educational interventions to promote professional socialization of students with an understanding of the promoting and driving forces influencing socialization. PMID:29302575

Different impressions of other agents obtained through social interaction uniquely modulate dorsal and ventral pathway activities in the social human brain.

PubMed

Takahashi, Hideyuki; Terada, Kazunori; Morita, Tomoyo; Suzuki, Shinsuke; Haji, Tomoki; Kozima, Hideki; Yoshikawa, Masahiro; Matsumoto, Yoshio; Omori, Takashi; Asada, Minoru; Naito, Eiichi

2014-09-01

Internal (neuronal) representations in the brain are modified by our experiences, and this phenomenon is not unique to sensory and motor systems. Here, we show that different impressions obtained through social interaction with a variety of agents uniquely modulate activity of dorsal and ventral pathways of the brain network that mediates human social behavior. We scanned brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 16 healthy volunteers when they performed a simple matching-pennies game with a human, human-like android, mechanical robot, interactive robot, and a computer. Before playing this game in the scanner, participants experienced social interactions with each opponent separately and scored their initial impressions using two questionnaires. We found that the participants perceived opponents in two mental dimensions: one represented "mind-holderness" in which participants attributed anthropomorphic impressions to some of the opponents that had mental functions, while the other dimension represented "mind-readerness" in which participants characterized opponents as intelligent. Interestingly, this "mind-readerness" dimension correlated to participants frequently changing their game tactic to prevent opponents from envisioning their strategy, and this was corroborated by increased entropy during the game. We also found that the two factors separately modulated activity in distinct social brain regions. Specifically, mind-holderness modulated activity in the dorsal aspect of the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and medial prefrontal and posterior paracingulate cortices, while mind-readerness modulated activity in the ventral aspect of TPJ and the temporal pole. These results clearly demonstrate that activity in social brain networks is modulated through pre-scanning experiences of social interaction with a variety of agents. Furthermore, our findings elucidated the existence of two distinct functional networks in the social human brain

Leveraging social influence to address overweight and obesity using agent-based models: the role of adolescent social networks.

PubMed

Zhang, J; Tong, L; Lamberson, P J; Durazo-Arvizu, R A; Luke, A; Shoham, D A

2015-01-01

The prevalence of adolescent overweight and obesity (hereafter, simply "overweight") in the US has increased over the past several decades. Individually-targeted prevention and treatment strategies targeting individuals have been disappointing, leading some to propose leveraging social networks to improve interventions. We hypothesized that social network dynamics (social marginalization; homophily on body mass index, BMI) and the strength of peer influence would increase or decrease the proportion of network member (agents) becoming overweight over a simulated year, and that peer influence would operate differently in social networks with greater overweight. We built an agent-based model (ABM) using results from R-SIENA. ABMs allow for the exploration of potential interventions using simulated agents. Initial model specifications were drawn from Wave 1 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). We focused on a single saturation school with complete network and BMI data over two waves (n = 624). The model was validated against empirical observations at Wave 2. We focused on overall overweight prevalence after a simulated year. Five experiments were conducted: (1) changing attractiveness of high-BMI agents; (2) changing homophily on BMI; (3) changing the strength of peer influence; (4) shifting the overall BMI distribution; and (5) targeting dietary interventions to highly connected individuals. Increasing peer influence showed a dramatic decrease in the prevalence of overweight; making peer influence negative (i.e., doing the opposite of friends) increased overweight. However, the effect of peer influence varied based on the underlying distribution of BMI; when BMI was increased overall, stronger peer influence increased proportion of overweight. Other interventions, including targeted dieting, had little impact. Peer influence may be a viable target in overweight interventions, but the distribution of body size in the population needs to

Leveraging social influence to address overweight and obesity using agent-based models: the role of adolescent social networks

PubMed Central

Zhang, J; Tong, L; Lamberson, PJ; Durazo, R; Luke, A; Shoham, DA

2014-01-01

The prevalence of adolescent overweight and obesity (hereafter, simply “overweight”) in the US has increased over the past several decades. Individually-targeted prevention and treatment strategies targeting individuals have been disappointing, leading some to propose leveraging social networks to improve interventions. We hypothesized that social network dynamics (social marginalization; homophily on body mass index, BMI) and the strength of peer influence would increase or decrease the proportion of network member (agents) becoming overweight over a simulated year, and that peer influence would operate differently in social networks with greater overweight. We built an agent-based model (ABM) using results from R-SIENA. ABMs allow for the exploration of potential interventions using simulated agents. Initial model specifications were drawn from Wave 1 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). We focused on a single saturation school with complete network and BMI data over two waves (n=624). The model was validated against empirical observations at Wave 2. We focused on overall overweight prevalence after a simulated year. Five experiments were conducted: (1) changing attractiveness of high-BMI agents; (2) changing homophily on BMI; (3) changing the strength of peer influence; (4) shifting the overall BMI distribution; and (5) targeting dietary interventions to highly connected individuals. Increasing peer influence showed a dramatic decrease in the prevalence of overweight; making peer influence negative (ie, doing the opposite of friends) increased overweight. However, the effect of peer influence varied based on the underlying distribution of BMI; when BMI was increased overall, stronger peer influence increased proportion of overweight. Other interventions, including targeted dieting, had little impact. Peer influence may be a viable target in overweight interventions, but the distribution of body size in the population needs to

Optimization-Based Selection of Influential Agents in a Rural Afghan Social Network

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-01

nonlethal targeting model, a nonlinear programming ( NLP ) optimization formulation that identifies the k US agent assignment strategy producing the greatest...leader social network, and 3) the nonlethal targeting model, a nonlinear programming ( NLP ) optimization formulation that identifies the k US agent...NATO Coalition in Afghanistan. 55 for Afghanistan ( [54], [31], [48], [55], [30]). While Arab tribes tend to be more hierarchical, Pashtun tribes are

An agent-based model of centralized institutions, social network technology, and revolution.

PubMed

Makowsky, Michael D; Rubin, Jared

2013-01-01

This paper sheds light on the general mechanisms underlying large-scale social and institutional change. We employ an agent-based model to test the impact of authority centralization and social network technology on preference falsification and institutional change. We find that preference falsification is increasing with centralization and decreasing with social network range. This leads to greater cascades of preference revelation and thus more institutional change in highly centralized societies and this effect is exacerbated at greater social network ranges. An empirical analysis confirms the connections that we find between institutional centralization, social radius, preference falsification, and institutional change.

An Agent-Based Model of Centralized Institutions, Social Network Technology, and Revolution

PubMed Central

Makowsky, Michael D.; Rubin, Jared

2013-01-01

This paper sheds light on the general mechanisms underlying large-scale social and institutional change. We employ an agent-based model to test the impact of authority centralization and social network technology on preference falsification and institutional change. We find that preference falsification is increasing with centralization and decreasing with social network range. This leads to greater cascades of preference revelation and thus more institutional change in highly centralized societies and this effect is exacerbated at greater social network ranges. An empirical analysis confirms the connections that we find between institutional centralization, social radius, preference falsification, and institutional change. PMID:24278280

The School Counselor in Israel: An Agent of Social Justice?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erhard, Rachel Lea; Sinai, Mirit

2012-01-01

In recent years, leaders in the school counseling profession worldwide have been calling on their colleagues to re-examine their role as "agents of social justice" in schools, with a view to promoting equal educational opportunities for all students. This research examines counselors' perceptions of the role, role behaviors, personal…

Agent-based modeling: a new approach for theory building in social psychology.

PubMed

Smith, Eliot R; Conrey, Frederica R

2007-02-01

Most social and psychological phenomena occur not as the result of isolated decisions by individuals but rather as the result of repeated interactions between multiple individuals over time. Yet the theory-building and modeling techniques most commonly used in social psychology are less than ideal for understanding such dynamic and interactive processes. This article describes an alternative approach to theory building, agent-based modeling (ABM), which involves simulation of large numbers of autonomous agents that interact with each other and with a simulated environment and the observation of emergent patterns from their interactions. The authors believe that the ABM approach is better able than prevailing approaches in the field, variable-based modeling (VBM) techniques such as causal modeling, to capture types of complex, dynamic, interactive processes so important in the social world. The article elaborates several important contrasts between ABM and VBM and offers specific recommendations for learning more and applying the ABM approach.

Coordinating complex problem-solving among distributed intelligent agents

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adler, Richard M.

1992-01-01

A process-oriented control model is described for distributed problem solving. The model coordinates the transfer and manipulation of information across independent networked applications, both intelligent and conventional. The model was implemented using SOCIAL, a set of object-oriented tools for distributing computing. Complex sequences of distributed tasks are specified in terms of high level scripts. Scripts are executed by SOCIAL objects called Manager Agents, which realize an intelligent coordination model that routes individual tasks to suitable server applications across the network. These tools are illustrated in a prototype distributed system for decision support of ground operations for NASA's Space Shuttle fleet.

Bilateral amygdala damage impairs the acquisition and use of common ground in social interaction

PubMed Central

Gupta, Rupa; Duff, Melissa C.; Tranel, Daniel

2010-01-01

Objective The development of “common ground,” or mutual knowledge of shared information, is believed to require the ability to update a mental representation of another person’s thoughts and knowledge based on verbal information and nonverbal social and emotional signals, in order to facilitate economical communication. As in other forms of everyday social communication, the development of common ground likely requires the orchestration of multiple cognitive processes supported by various neural systems. Here, we investigate the contribution of the amygdala to these processes. Methods SM, a patient with complete, focal, bilateral amygdala damage and deficits in social and emotional processing, and five healthy comparison participants, each interacted with a familiar partner. We investigated the participants’ ability to develop and use referential labels across twenty-four dynamic, collaborative interactions. Participants verbally directed their partner how to arrange a set of 12 abstract tangrams while separated by a low barrier, allowing them to see each other but hiding their tangrams. Results In contrast to comparison participants, SM exhibited an impaired rate of learning across trials and did not show the typical simplification in the labels generated during the interactions. Detailed analyses of SM’s interactional discourse and social behavior suggested that she has impaired perspective-taking or what can be interpreted as deficient “theory of mind,” manifested in abnormal “language-in-use.” Conclusions These results support the conclusion that the amygdala, a structure critical for social and emotional processing, plays an important role in the acquisition and use of common ground and in social communication more broadly. PMID:21381821

A grounded theory of Internet and social media use by young people who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).

PubMed

Hynan, Amanda; Goldbart, Juliet; Murray, Janice

2015-01-01

This paper presents a conceptual grounded theory for how young people with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), perceive using the Internet and social media. The aims of the research were to understand and contextualise their perceptions of access and use and explore implications for self-representation and social participation; to date literature on this topic is limited. A constructivist grounded theory research approach concurrently collected and analysed interview data from 25 participants (aged 14-24 years) who use AAC and additional sources. A conceptual grounded theory was developed around an emergent core category that showed young people who use AAC have a clear desire to use the Internet and social media. This was underpinned by eight supporting categories: reported use, described support, online challenges, access technology, speech generating device (SGD) issues, self-determination, self-representation and online social ties. The conceptual grounded theory supports understanding of facilitators and challenges to use of the Internet and social media by young people with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy who use AAC. The grounded theory illustrates how the desire to use the Internet and social media is based upon perceived benefits for enriching social relationships and enhancing opportunities for self-representation and self-determination that are synonymous with identified antecedents for community-based social inclusion. Some of the participants are engaging with the Internet and social media through collaborative practice and the implications for how this phenomenon may impact on orthographic literacy and the personal care workforce are raised.

A grounded theory of social participation among older women living with HIV.

PubMed

Siemon, Jennifer S; Blenkhorn, Lisa; Wilkins, Seanne; O'Brien, Kelly K; Solomon, Patricia E

2013-10-01

As adults age with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the role for rehabilitation continues to emerge. Understanding how social participation is affected among women aging with HIV can inform occupational therapy assessment and treatment. Our purpose was to develop a theoretical model that describes the experiences of social participation from the perspective of older women living with HIV. A grounded theory methodological approach was utilized. We conducted interviews with 20 women living with HIV, age 50 or older, to explore various aspects of social participation, including self-care, relationships with others, and access to health and social services. Emergent themes informed the theoretical model. The theoretical model comprises four concepts related to social participation: social engagement, social isolation, contrasting perceptions about factors variably influencing participation, and contextual influences that may enhance or hinder social participation. Women aging with HIV experience social participation as a dynamic process involving social engagement and isolation. Contextual influences may promote and impede social participation.

Preparing School Leaders to Serve as Agents for Social Transformation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Kathleen M.

2010-01-01

The major priorities that should guide leadership education in preparing leaders for their work of leading schools in a democratic society are: (1) Teaching leaders to understand the inequities of society; (2) Teaching leaders to serve as agents for social transformation; and (3) Teaching leaders to help each and every student learn and succeed.…

Teachers as Agents of Sustainable Peace, Social Cohesion and Development: Theory, Practice & Evidence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Novelli, Mario; Sayed, Yusuf

2016-01-01

This paper presents a "peace with social justice" framework for analysing the role of teachers as agents of sustainable peace, social cohesion and development and applies this to research evidence from Pakistan, Uganda, Myanmar and South Africa. The paper draws on evidence from a recently completed UNICEF and ESRC funded project on…

The Socialization of a Novice Teacher of English: Becoming an Agent of Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mesa Villa, Claudia Patricia

2017-01-01

This case study reports the analysis of the induction as a socialization process of a Colombian novice teacher of English. Since critical approaches to socialization highlight the role of novice teachers in critical school transformation during their induction stage, this study aims to disclose the teacher's possibilities of becoming an agent of…

Actionable Capability for Social and Economic Systems (ACSES)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fernandez, Steven J; Brecke, Peter K; Carmichael, Theodore D

The foundation of the Actionable Capability for Social and Economic Systems (ACSES) project is a useful regional-scale social-simulation system. This report is organized into five chapters that describe insights that were gained concerning the five key feasibility questions pertaining to such a system: (1) Should such a simulation system exist, would the current state of data sets or collectible data sets be adequate to support such a system? (2) By comparing different agent-based simulation systems, is it feasible to compare simulation systems and select one appropriate for a given application with agents behaving according to modern social theory rather thanmore » ad hoc rule sets? (3) Provided that a selected simulation system for a region of interest could be constructed, can the simulation system be updated with new and changing conditions so that the universe of potential outcomes are constrained by events on the ground as they evolve? (4) As these results are constrained by evolving events on the ground, is it feasible to still generate surprise and emerging behavior to suggest outcomes from novel courses of action? (5) As these systems may for the first time require large numbers (hundreds of millions) of agents operating with complexities demanded of modern social theories, can results still be generated within actionable decision cycles?« less

Emergent Societal Effects of Crimino-Social Forces in an Animat Agent Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scogings, Chris J.; Hawick, Ken A.

Societal behaviour can be studied at a causal level by perturbing a stable multi-agent model with new microscopic behaviours and observing the statistical response over an ensemble of simulated model systems. We report on the effects of introducing criminal and law-enforcing behaviours into a large scale animat agent model and describe the complex spatial agent patterns and population changes that result. Our well-established predator-prey substrate model provides a background framework against which these new microscopic behaviours can be trialled and investigated. We describe some quantitative results and some surprising conclusions concerning the overall societal health when individually anti-social behaviour is introduced.

Evolutionary Games in Multi-Agent Systems of Weighted Social Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Wen-Bo; Cao, Xian-Bin; Zheng, Hao-Ran; Zhou, Hong; Hu, Mao-Bin

Much empirical evidence has shown realistic networks are weighted. Compared with those on unweighted networks, the dynamics on weighted network often exhibit distinctly different phenomena. In this paper, we investigate the evolutionary game dynamics (prisoner's dilemma game and snowdrift game) on a weighted social network consisted of rational agents and focus on the evolution of cooperation in the system. Simulation results show that the cooperation level is strongly affected by the weighted nature of the network. Moreover, the variation of time series has also been investigated. Our work may be helpful in understanding the cooperative behavior in the social systems.

Teachers as Agents of Change: Promoting Peacebuilding and Social Cohesion in Schools in Rwanda

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rubagiza, Jolly; Umutoni, Jane; Kaleeba, Ali

2016-01-01

Education is seen to play a crucial role in the reconstruction of post-conflict countries, particularly in transforming people's mindsets and rebuilding social relations. In this regard, teachers are often perceived as key agents to bring about this transformative change through their role as agents of peace. This paper seeks to understand how…

What Does God Know? Supernatural Agents' Access to Socially Strategic and Non-Strategic Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Purzycki, Benjamin G.; Finkel, Daniel N.; Shaver, John; Wales, Nathan; Cohen, Adam B.; Sosis, Richard

2012-01-01

Current evolutionary and cognitive theories of religion posit that supernatural agent concepts emerge from cognitive systems such as theory of mind and social cognition. Some argue that these concepts evolved to maintain social order by minimizing antisocial behavior. If these theories are correct, then people should process information about…

Agentic personality as mediator of social capital on developmental outcomes in the transition to adulthood: Evidence from Shanghai, China.

PubMed

Yuan, Rui; Ngai, Steven Sek-yum

2016-01-01

Drawing upon a sample of 1153 young people in Shanghai, China, this study investigates how agentic personality mediates between social capital embedded in a range of social contexts (family, friendship, association, and linking connection) and developmental outcomes during the transition to adulthood. The results of a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis provide a good fit for the sample as a whole. The overall findings support the hypotheses that a higher level of agentic personality, including resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem, is associated with higher levels of developmental outcomes. Agentic personality also mediates the effects of family, friendship, associational, and linking social capital on developmental outcomes. Family social capital is predictive of university students' identity achievement and academic achievement, but not of their mental health. Linking social capital is only predictive of identity achievement. Unexpectedly, friendship social capital and associational social capital are predictive of a lower level of academic achievement and mental health, respectively, despite their positive influences on all three developmental outcomes through their significant effects on agentic personality. The study provides empirical support for the importance of social capital in promoting young people's transition to adulthood. Implications for theory, practice, and policy are also discussed. Copyright © 2015 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of Pedagogical Agent Gestures on Social Acceptance and Learning: Virtual Real Relationships in an Elementary Foreign Language Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Robert; Antonenko, Pavlo

2017-01-01

Pedagogical agents (PAs) are lifelike characters in virtual environments that help facilitate learning through social interactions and the virtual real relationships with the learners. This study explored whether and how PA gesture design impacts learning and agent social acceptance when used with elementary students learning foreign language…

Parent and Adolescent Interaction in Television Advertisements as Consumer Socialization Agents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozmete, Emine

2009-01-01

This study aimed at determining the interaction between parents and adolescents pertaining to television advertisements as a consumer socialization agent and the effects of advertisements on the purchasing decisions of adolescents. The effects of age and sex were also investigated. The sample included 240 high school students in grades 9, 10 and…

We Are (Not) All Bulldogs: Minoritized Peer Socialization Agents' Meaning-Making about Collegiate Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Linley, Jodi L.

2017-01-01

In this study I examined the ways minoritized students who serve as peer socialization agents made meaning of their collegiate contexts in relation to their identities and socialization positions. Using the framework of Critical Race Theory and the concept of a meaning-making filter, I explored the meaning-making of 13 minoritized peer…

Ground-nesting by the chimpanzees of the Nimba Mountains, Guinea: environmentally or socially determined?

PubMed

Koops, Kathelijne; Humle, Tatyana; Sterck, Elisabeth H M; Matsuzawa, Tetsuro

2007-04-01

The chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) of the Nimba Mountains, Guinea, West Africa, commonly make both elaborate ("night") and simple ("day") nests on the ground. In this study we investigated which factors might influence ground-nesting in this population, and tested two ecological hypotheses: 1) climatic conditions, such as high wind speeds at high altitudes, may deter chimpanzees from nesting in trees; and 2) a lack of appropriate arboreal nesting opportunities may drive the chimpanzees to nest on the ground. In addition to testing these two hypotheses, we explored whether ground-nesting is a sex-linked behavior. Data were collected monthly between August 2003 and May 2004 along transects and ad libitum. To identify the sex of ground-nesting individuals, we used DNA extracted from hair samples. The results showed that the occurrence and distribution of ground nests were not affected by climatic conditions or a lack of appropriate nest trees. Support was found for the notion that ground-nesting is a sex-linked behavior, as males were responsible for building all of the elaborate ground nests and most of the simple ground nests sampled. Elaborate ground nests occurred mostly in nest groups associated with tree nests, whereas simple ground nests usually occurred without tree nests in their vicinity. These results suggest that ground-nesting may be socially, rather than ecologically, determined.

Social conditioned place preference in the captive ground squirrel Ictidomys tridecemlineatus: Social reward as a natural phenotype

PubMed Central

Lahvis, Garet P.; Panksepp, Jules B.; Kennedy, Bruce C.; Wilson, Clarinda R.; Merriman, Dana K.

2015-01-01

Social behaviors of wild animals are often considered within an ultimate framework of adaptive benefits versus survival risks. By contrast, studies of laboratory animals more typically focus on affective aspects of behavioral decisions, whether a rodent derives a rewarding experience from social encounter and how this experience might be initiated and maintained by neural circuits. Artificial selection and inbreeding have rendered laboratory animals more affiliative and less aggressive than their wild conspecifics, leaving open the possibility that social reward is an artifact of domestication. We compared social behaviors of wild and captive population of juvenile 13-lined ground squirrels (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus), the latter 2nd and 3rd generation descendents of wild individuals. At an age corresponding to emergence from the burrow, postnatal day 38, captive squirrels engaged in vigorous social approach and play; these juvenile behaviors declined significantly by postnatal day 56. Similarly, young wild squirrels expressed social proximity and play, affiliative interactions declined with summer’s progression and were replaced by agonistic chasing behaviors. Social conditioned place preference testing (conditioned postnatal days 40–50) indicated that adolescent squirrels derived a rewarding experience from social reunion. Our results support the contention that undomesticated rodents have the capacity for social reward and more generally suggest the possibility that positive affective experiences may support group cohesion and social cooperation in the wild. PMID:26147706

Teaching Social Change Agents in Educational Leadership, School and Agency Counseling and Human Service Administration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tripses, Jenny S.; Hatfield, Kevin; Risen, D. Michael

2005-01-01

This article describes the authors' journey as three educational leadership professors implementing a program to improve teaching for social justice. The social change agents they seek to nurture in their graduate program are individuals who are keenly aware of inequities in society and possess the knowledge, skills, and will to make a difference…

Housing, social support and people with schizophrenia: a grounded theory study.

PubMed

Browne, Graeme; Courtney, Mary

2005-04-01

The aim of this study was to develop a substantive grounded theory describing the relationship among housing, social support, and the mental health of people with schizophrenia. To achieve this aim, data were collected from people with schizophrenia living in boarding houses and living in their own home. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 13 people with schizophrenia to explore their experiences and views regarding the impact of their housing on their mental health. Findings indicate a strong desire among all participants to live in their own home. When they do they feel they belong, they feel safe and most importantly they have greater opportunities to make and maintain supportive social relationships.

Incorporating Social Oriented Agent and Interactive Simulation in E-learning: Impact on Learning, Perceptions, Experiences to Non-Native English Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ballera, Melvin; Elssaedi, Mosbah Mohamed

2012-01-01

There is an unrealized potential in the use of socially-oriented pedagogical agent and interactive simulation in e-learning system. In this paper, we investigate the impact of having a socially oriented tutor agent and the incorporation of interactive simulation in e-learning into student performances, perceptions and experiences for non-native…

Getting back to the rough ground: deception and 'social living'.

PubMed

Reddy, Vasudevi

2007-04-29

At the heart of the social intelligence hypothesis is the central role of 'social living'. But living is messy and psychologists generally seek to avoid this mess in the interests of getting clean data and cleaner logical explanations. The study of deception as intelligent action is a good example of the dangers of such avoidance. We still do not have a full picture of the development of deceptive actions in human infants and toddlers or an explanation of why it emerges. This paper applies Byrne & Whiten's functional taxonomy of tactical deception to the social behaviour of human infants and toddlers using data from three previous studies. The data include a variety of acts, such as teasing, pretending, distracting and concealing, which are not typically considered in relation to human deception. This functional analysis shows the onset of non-verbal deceptive acts to be surprisingly early. Infants and toddlers seem to be able to communicate false information (about themselves, about shared meanings and about events) as early as true information. It is argued that the development of deception must be a fundamentally social and communicative process and that if we are to understand why deception emerges at all, the scientist needs to get 'back to the rough ground' as Wittgenstein called it and explore the messy social lives in which it develops.

Socio-inspired ICT. Towards a socially grounded society-ICT symbiosis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferscha, A.; Farrahi, K.; van den Hoven, J.; Hales, D.; Nowak, A.; Lukowicz, P.; Helbing, D.

2012-11-01

Modern ICT (Information and Communication Technology) has developed a vision where the "computer" is no longer associated with the concept of a single device or a network of devices, but rather the entirety of situated services originating in a digital world, which are perceived through the physical world. It is observed that services with explicit user input and output are becoming to be replaced by a computing landscape sensing the physical world via a huge variety of sensors, and controlling it via a plethora of actuators. The nature and appearance of computing devices is changing to be hidden in the fabric of everyday life, invisibly networked, and omnipresent, with applications greatly being based on the notions of context and knowledge. Interaction with such globe spanning, modern ICT systems will presumably be more implicit, at the periphery of human attention, rather than explicit, i.e. at the focus of human attention.Socio-inspired ICT assumes that future, globe scale ICT systems should be viewed as social systems. Such a view challenges research to identify and formalize the principles of interaction and adaptation in social systems, so as to be able to ground future ICT systems on those principles. This position paper therefore is concerned with the intersection of social behaviour and modern ICT, creating or recreating social conventions and social contexts through the use of pervasive, globe-spanning, omnipresent and participative ICT.

Institutional Agents at a Hispanic Serving Institution: Using Social Capital to Empower Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garcia, Gina A.; Ramirez, Jenesis J.

2018-01-01

As enrollment-driven postsecondary institutions, Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) must actively find ways to better "serve" their students. Guided by Stanton-Salazar's social capital framework, this study sought to understand how institutional agents use various forms of capital to develop structures that support and empower…

Education as an Agent of Social Evolution: The Educational Projects of Patrick Geddes in Late-Victorian Scotland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sutherland, Douglas

2009-01-01

This paper examines the educational projects of Patrick Geddes in late-Victorian Scotland. Initially a natural scientist, Geddes drew on an eclectic mix of social theory to develop his own ideas on social evolution. For him education was a vital agent of social change which, he believed, had the potential to develop active citizens whose…

A Grounded Theory of Sexual Minority Women and Transgender Individuals' Social Justice Activism.

PubMed

Hagen, Whitney B; Hoover, Stephanie M; Morrow, Susan L

2018-01-01

Psychosocial benefits of activism include increased empowerment, social connectedness, and resilience. Yet sexual minority women (SMW) and transgender individuals with multiple oppressed statuses and identities are especially prone to oppression-based experiences, even within minority activist communities. This study sought to develop an empirical model to explain the diverse meanings of social justice activism situated in SMW and transgender individuals' social identities, values, and experiences of oppression and privilege. Using a grounded theory design, 20 SMW and transgender individuals participated in initial, follow-up, and feedback interviews. The most frequent demographic identities were queer or bisexual, White, middle-class women with advanced degrees. The results indicated that social justice activism was intensely relational, replete with multiple benefits, yet rife with experiences of oppression from within and outside of activist communities. The empirically derived model shows the complexity of SMW and transgender individuals' experiences, meanings, and benefits of social justice activism.

The social reality of the imaginary audience: a grounded theory approach.

PubMed

Bell, Joanna H; Bromnick, Rachel D

2003-01-01

Traditional approaches to understanding the imaginary audience are challenged in this study. Three hundred sixty-one British schoolchildren (aged 14 and 15 years) were asked to express their worries and concerns, using grounded theory methodology. Qualitative responses were collated and coded according to emerging categories, with "what other people think" identified as the central concern. In particular, the findings are used to critique Elkind's (1967) theory of adolescent egocentrism. Data presented in this study suggest that adolescents worry about what other people think because there are real personal and social consequences. Such concerns are seen as being based in social reality and are not imaginary as Elkind suggested. In conclusion, new methodologies which place young people at the center of the analysis are advocated.

'Sustaining Place' - a grounded theory of how informal carers of people with dementia manage alterations to relationships within their social worlds.

PubMed

Daly, Louise; McCarron, Mary; Higgins, Agnes; McCallion, Philip

2013-02-01

This paper presents a theory explaining the processes used by informal carers of people with dementia to mange alterations to their, and people with dementias' relationships with and places within their social worlds. Informal carers provide the majority of care to people with dementia. A great deal of international informal dementia care research is available, much of which elucidates the content, impacts and consequences of the informal caring role and the coping mechanisms that carers use. However, the socially situated experiences and processes integral to informal caring in dementia have not yet been robustly accounted for. A classic grounded theory approach was used as it is designed for research enquiries that aim to generate theory illustrating social patterns of action used to address an identified problem. Thirty interviews were conducted with 31 participants between 2006-2008. The theory was conceptualised from the data using the concurrent methods of theoretical sampling, constant comparative analysis, memo writing and theoretical sensitivity. Informal carers' main concern was identified as 'Living on the fringes', which was stimulated by dementia-related stigma and living a different life. The theory of 'Sustaining Place' explains the social pattern of actions employed by informal carers to manage this problem on behalf of themselves and the person with dementia. The theory of 'Sustaining Place' identifies an imperative for nurses, other formal carers and society to engage in actions to support and enable social connectedness, social inclusion and citizenship for informal carers and people with dementia. 'Sustaining Place' facilitates enhanced understanding of the complex and socially situated nature of informal dementia care through its portrayal of informal carers as social agents and can be used to guide nurses to better support those who live with dementia. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Socialization agents and activities of young adolescents.

PubMed

Arnon, Sara; Shamai, Shmuel; Ilatov, Zinaida

2008-01-01

Research examined the relative importance of peer groups for young adolescents as compared with diverse adult socialization agents--family, school, and community. The factors involved were teenagers' activities, preferences, feelings, and thoughts as to how they spend their leisure time, their preferences for help providers, and their sense of attachment to their community. These comparisons were made with religious and non-religious youngsters, in both rural and urban communities, and in gender subgroups. Questionnaires were administered to teenagers at secondary schools in a northern peripheral region of Israel. Findings showed the primary importance of peer groups and family in leisure activities and support, and the secondary importance of school and community. No evidence was found of a sharp generation gap. Community could also be significant if its organizations accepted youth as a peer group, and not only individually, on an equal and cooperating basis.

Islamic Religious Leaders in Israel as Social Agents for Change on Health-Related Issues.

PubMed

Cohen-Dar, Michal; Obeid, Samira

2017-12-01

Islamic religious leaders (IRLs) have the potential to influence health education, health promotion, and positive health outcomes among their own communities. This study aims to examine the role and effectiveness of Arab Muslim religious leaders, in Israel, as social agents for change on health-related issues, focusing on reduction in infant mortality, prematurity, and congenital malformations attributed to consanguineous marriage. A self-administrated questionnaire was distributed to 127 IRLs, in 2012, to gain insights into practice, attitudes, and perceptions of IRLs toward their role as social agents for change on health-related issues. The results indicate that two-thirds (58%) of the surveyed IRLs have provided frequent advice on issues related to preventing infant mortality, congenital malformation, and prematurity over the past two years. Most IRLs indicated that they have keen interest in their communities' health matters (97%) and regard dealing with them as part of their job (85%). The study identified three enabling factors that had significant influence on the IRLs' attitude. These influences are: awareness and knowledge of the health issues, the perception that these issues and their impact on the community are part of their responsibility, and the empowerment they felt through the participation in the Ministry of Health (Northern Region Health Office) educational seminar series, in the year 2000. The main conclusion from this study indicates that IRLs are effective social agents for change and that the educational interventions can be a useful and effective strategy to encourage IRLs to cooperate with health providers and promote public health among their own communities.

Reagent removal of manganese from ground water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brayalovsky, G.; Migalaty, E.; Naschetnikova, O.

2017-06-01

The study is aimed at the technology development of treating drinking water from ground waters with high manganese content and oxidizability. Current technologies, physical/chemical mechanisms and factors affecting in ground treatment efficiency are reviewed. Research has been conducted on manganese compound removal from ground waters with high manganese content (5 ppm) and oxidizability. The studies were carried out on granular sorbent industrial ODM-2F filters (0.7-1.5 mm fraction). It was determined that conventional reagent oxidization technologies followed by filtration do not allow us to obtain the manganese content below 0.1 ppm when treating ground waters with high oxidizability. The innovative oxidation-based manganese removal technology with continuous introduction of reaction catalytic agent is suggested. This technology is effective in alkalization up to pH 8.8-9. Potassium permanganate was used as a catalytic agent, sodium hypochlorite was an oxidizer and cauistic soda served an alkalifying agent.

An Agent-Based Epidemic Simulation of Social Behaviors Affecting HIV Transmission among Taiwanese Homosexuals

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Computational simulations are currently used to identify epidemic dynamics, to test potential prevention and intervention strategies, and to study the effects of social behaviors on HIV transmission. The author describes an agent-based epidemic simulation model of a network of individuals who participate in high-risk sexual practices, using number of partners, condom usage, and relationship length to distinguish between high- and low-risk populations. Two new concepts—free links and fixed links—are used to indicate tendencies among individuals who either have large numbers of short-term partners or stay in long-term monogamous relationships. An attempt was made to reproduce epidemic curves of reported HIV cases among male homosexuals in Taiwan prior to using the agent-based model to determine the effects of various policies on epidemic dynamics. Results suggest that when suitable adjustments are made based on available social survey statistics, the model accurately simulates real-world behaviors on a large scale. PMID:25815047

Dogs (Canis familiaris) adjust their social behaviour to the differential role of inanimate interactive agents.

PubMed

Petró, Eszter; Abdai, Judit; Gergely, Anna; Topál, József; Miklósi, Ádám

2016-03-01

Dogs are able to flexibly adjust their social behaviour to situation-specific characteristics of their human partner's behaviour in problem situations. However, dogs do not necessarily detect the specific role played by the human in a particular situation: they may form expectations about their partners' behaviour based on previous experiences with them. Utilising inanimate objects (UMO-unidentified moving object) as interacting agents offers new possibilities for investigating social behaviour, because in this way we can remove or control the influence of previous experience with the partner. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether dogs are able to recognise the different roles of two UMOs and are able to adjust their communicative behaviour towards them. In the learning phase of the experiment, dogs were presented with a two-way food-retrieval problem in which two UMOs, which differed in their physical appearance and abilities, helped the dog obtain a piece of food in their own particular manner. After a short experience with both UMOs, dogs in the test phase faced one of the problems in the presence of both inanimate agents. Overall, dogs displayed similar levels of gazing behaviour towards the UMOs, but in the first test they looked, approached and touched the relevant partner first. This rapid adjustment of social behaviour towards UMOs suggests that dogs may generalise their experiences with humans to unfamiliar agents and are able to select the appropriate partner when facing a problem situation.

Grounded theory.

PubMed

Harris, Tina

2015-04-29

Grounded theory is a popular research approach in health care and the social sciences. This article provides a description of grounded theory methodology and its key components, using examples from published studies to demonstrate practical application. It aims to demystify grounded theory for novice nurse researchers, by explaining what it is, when to use it, why they would want to use it and how to use it. It should enable nurse researchers to decide if grounded theory is an appropriate approach for their research, and to determine the quality of any grounded theory research they read.

Building on the Positive in Children's Lives: A Co-Participatory Study on the Social Construction of Children's Sense of Agency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kumpulainen, Kristiina; Lipponen, Lasse; Hilppö, Jaakko; Mikkola, Anna

2014-01-01

This study is grounded on the argument that agentic experiences and their reflection in supportive social contexts are crucial protective elements mediating children's socio-emotional well-being. Drawing on the socio-cultural perspective, we investigate the ways in which agency is manifested in children's social interactions while they reflect…

Spent coffee ground as a new bulking agent for accelerated biodrying of dewatered sludge.

PubMed

Hao, Zongdi; Yang, Benqin; Jahng, Deokjin

2018-07-01

The feasibility of using spent coffee ground (SCG) as a new bulking agent for biodrying of dewatered sludge (DS) was investigated in comparison with two other frequently-used bulking agents, air-dried sludge (AS) and sawdust (SD). Results showed that the moisture contents (MC) of 16-day DS biodrying with AS (Trial A), SCG (Trial B) and SD (Trial C) decreased from 70.14 wt%, 68.25 wt% and 71.63 wt% to 59.12 wt%, 41.35 wt% and 57.69 wt%, respectively. In case of Trial B, the MC rapidly decreased to 46.16 wt% with the highest water removal (70.87%) within 8 days because of the longest high-temperature period (5.8 days). Further studies indicated that the abundant biodegradable volatile solids (BVS) and high dissolved organic matter (DOM) contents in SCG were the main driving forces for water removal. According to pyrosequencing data, Firmicutes, most of which were recognized as thermophiles, was rapidly enriched on Day 8 and became the dominant phylum in Trial B. Four thermophilic genera, Bacillus, Ureibacillus, Geobacillus and Thermobifida, which can produce thermostable hydrolytic extracellular enzymes, were the most abundant in Trial B, indicating that these thermophilic bacteria evolved during the long high-temperature period enhanced the biodegradation of BVS in SCG. The 8-day biodried product of Trial B was demonstrated to be an excellent solid fuel with low heating value (LHV) of 9284 kJ kg -1 , which was 2.1 and 1.8 times those of biodried products with AS and SD, respectively. Thus SCG was found to be an excellent bulking agent accelerating DS biodrying and producing a solid fuel with a high calorific value. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Agent-based modelling of consumer energy choices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rai, Varun; Henry, Adam Douglas

2016-06-01

Strategies to mitigate global climate change should be grounded in a rigorous understanding of energy systems, particularly the factors that drive energy demand. Agent-based modelling (ABM) is a powerful tool for representing the complexities of energy demand, such as social interactions and spatial constraints. Unlike other approaches for modelling energy demand, ABM is not limited to studying perfectly rational agents or to abstracting micro details into system-level equations. Instead, ABM provides the ability to represent behaviours of energy consumers -- such as individual households -- using a range of theories, and to examine how the interaction of heterogeneous agents at the micro-level produces macro outcomes of importance to the global climate, such as the adoption of low-carbon behaviours and technologies over space and time. We provide an overview of ABM work in the area of consumer energy choices, with a focus on identifying specific ways in which ABM can improve understanding of both fundamental scientific and applied aspects of the demand side of energy to aid the design of better policies and programmes. Future research needs for improving the practice of ABM to better understand energy demand are also discussed.

On agent-based modeling and computational social science.

PubMed

Conte, Rosaria; Paolucci, Mario

2014-01-01

In the first part of the paper, the field of agent-based modeling (ABM) is discussed focusing on the role of generative theories, aiming at explaining phenomena by growing them. After a brief analysis of the major strengths of the field some crucial weaknesses are analyzed. In particular, the generative power of ABM is found to have been underexploited, as the pressure for simple recipes has prevailed and shadowed the application of rich cognitive models. In the second part of the paper, the renewal of interest for Computational Social Science (CSS) is focused upon, and several of its variants, such as deductive, generative, and complex CSS, are identified and described. In the concluding remarks, an interdisciplinary variant, which takes after ABM, reconciling it with the quantitative one, is proposed as a fundamental requirement for a new program of the CSS.

On agent-based modeling and computational social science

PubMed Central

Conte, Rosaria; Paolucci, Mario

2014-01-01

In the first part of the paper, the field of agent-based modeling (ABM) is discussed focusing on the role of generative theories, aiming at explaining phenomena by growing them. After a brief analysis of the major strengths of the field some crucial weaknesses are analyzed. In particular, the generative power of ABM is found to have been underexploited, as the pressure for simple recipes has prevailed and shadowed the application of rich cognitive models. In the second part of the paper, the renewal of interest for Computational Social Science (CSS) is focused upon, and several of its variants, such as deductive, generative, and complex CSS, are identified and described. In the concluding remarks, an interdisciplinary variant, which takes after ABM, reconciling it with the quantitative one, is proposed as a fundamental requirement for a new program of the CSS. PMID:25071642

The Process of Social Identity Development in Adolescent High School Choral Singers: A Grounded Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Elizabeth Cassidy

2014-01-01

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to describe the process of adolescent choral singers' social identity development within three midsized, midwestern high school mixed choirs. Forty-nine interviews were conducted with 36 different participants. Secondary data sources included memoing, observations, and interviews with the choir…

Metareasoning and Social Evaluations in Cognitive Agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinyol, Isaac; Sabater-Mir, Jordi

Reputation mechanisms have been recognized one of the key technologies when designing multi-agent systems. They are specially relevant in complex open environments, becoming a non-centralized mechanism to control interactions among agents. Cognitive agents tackling such complex societies must use reputation information not only for selecting partners to interact with, but also in metareasoning processes to change reasoning rules. This is the focus of this paper. We argue about the necessity to allow, as a cognitive systems designers, certain degree of freedom in the reasoning rules of the agents. We also describes cognitive approaches of agency that support this idea. Furthermore, taking as a base the computational reputation model Repage, and its integration in a BDI architecture, we use the previous ideas to specify metarules and processes to modify at run-time the reasoning paths of the agent. In concrete we propose a metarule to update the link between Repage and the belief base, and a metarule and a process to update an axiom incorporated in the belief logic of the agent. Regarding this last issue we also provide empirical results that show the evolution of agents that use it.

Complex social waves of giant honeybees provoked by a dummy wasp support the special-agent hypothesis.

PubMed

Kastberger, Gerald; Weihmann, Frank; Hoetzl, Thomas

2010-03-01

The social waves in giant honeybees termed as shimmering are more complex than mexican waves. it has been demonstrated1 that shimmering is triggered by special agents at the nest surface. in this paper, we have used a nest that originated by amalgamation of two previously separated nests and stimulated waves by a dummy wasp moved on a miniature cable car. we illustrate the plausibility of the special-agent hypothesis1 also for complex shimmering processes.

Complex social waves of giant honeybees provoked by a dummy wasp support the special-agent hypothesis

PubMed Central

Weihmann, Frank; Hoetzl, Thomas

2010-01-01

The social waves in giant honeybees termed as shimmering are more complex than mexican waves. it has been demonstrated1 that shimmering is triggered by special agents at the nest surface. in this paper, we have used a nest that originated by amalgamation of two previously separated nests and stimulated waves by a dummy wasp moved on a miniature cable car. we illustrate the plausibility of the special-agent hypothesis1 also for complex shimmering processes. PMID:20585516

Network Interventions on Physical Activity in an Afterschool Program: An Agent-Based Social Network Study

PubMed Central

Zhang, Jun; Shoham, David A.; Tesdahl, Eric

2015-01-01

Objectives. We studied simulated interventions that leveraged social networks to increase physical activity in children. Methods. We studied a real-world social network of 81 children (average age = 7.96 years) who lived in low socioeconomic status neighborhoods, and attended public schools and 1 of 2 structured afterschool programs. The sample was ethnically diverse, and 44% were overweight or obese. We used social network analysis and agent-based modeling simulations to test whether implementing a network intervention would increase children’s physical activity. We tested 3 intervention strategies. Results. The intervention that targeted opinion leaders was effective in increasing the average level of physical activity across the entire network. However, the intervention that targeted the most sedentary children was the best at increasing their physical activity levels. Conclusions. Which network intervention to implement depends on whether the goal is to shift the entire distribution of physical activity or to influence those most adversely affected by low physical activity. Agent-based modeling could be an important complement to traditional project planning tools, analogous to sample size and power analyses, to help researchers design more effective interventions for increasing children’s physical activity. PMID:25689202

Advancing complementary and alternative medicine through social network analysis and agent-based modeling.

PubMed

Frantz, Terrill L

2012-01-01

This paper introduces the contemporary perspectives and techniques of social network analysis (SNA) and agent-based modeling (ABM) and advocates applying them to advance various aspects of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). SNA and ABM are invaluable methods for representing, analyzing and projecting complex, relational, social phenomena; they provide both an insightful vantage point and a set of analytic tools that can be useful in a wide range of contexts. Applying these methods in the CAM context can aid the ongoing advances in the CAM field, in both its scientific aspects and in developing broader acceptance in associated stakeholder communities. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Ward social workers' views of what facilitates or hinders collaboration with specialist palliative care team social workers: A grounded theory.

PubMed

Firn, Janice; Preston, Nancy; Walshe, Catherine

2017-07-14

Inpatient, generalist social workers in discharge planning roles work alongside specialist palliative care social workers to care for patients, often resulting in two social workers being concurrently involved in the same patient's care. Previous studies identifying components of effective collaboration, which impacts patient outcomes, care efficiency, professional job satisfaction, and healthcare costs, were conducted with nurses and physicians but not social workers. This study explores ward social workers' perceptions of what facilitates or hinders collaboration with palliative care social workers. Grounded theory was used to explore the research aim. In-depth qualitative interviews with masters trained ward social workers (n = 14) working in six hospitals located in the Midwest, United States were conducted between February 2014 and January 2015. A theoretical model of ward social workers' collaboration with palliative care social workers was developed. The emerging model of collaboration consists of: 1) trust, which is comprised of a) ability, b) benevolence, and c) integrity, 2) information sharing, and 3) role negotiation. Effective collaboration occurs when all elements of the model are present. Collaboration is facilitated when ward social workers' perceptions of trust are high, pertinent information is communicated in a time-sensitive manner, and a flexible approach to roles is taken. The theoretical model of collaboration can inform organisational policy and social work clinical practice guidelines, and may be of use to other healthcare professionals, as improvements in collaboration among healthcare providers may have a positive impact on patient outcomes.

Fostering Social Agency in Multimedia Learning: Examining the Impact of an Animated Agent's Voice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atkinson, Robert K.; Mayer, Richard E.; Merrill, Mary Margaret

2005-01-01

Consistent with social agency theory, we hypothesized that learners who studied a set of worked-out examples involving proportional reasoning narrated by an animated agent with a human voice would perform better on near and far transfer tests and rate the speaker more positively compared to learners who studied the same set of examples narrated by…

Agent tracking: a psycho-historical theory of the identification of living and social agents.

PubMed

Bullot, Nicolas J

To explain agent-identification behaviours, universalist theories in the biological and cognitive sciences have posited mental mechanisms thought to be universal to all humans, such as agent detection and face recognition mechanisms. These universalist theories have paid little attention to how particular sociocultural or historical contexts interact with the psychobiological processes of agent-identification. In contrast to universalist theories, contextualist theories appeal to particular historical and sociocultural contexts for explaining agent-identification. Contextualist theories tend to adopt idiographic methods aimed at recording the heterogeneity of human behaviours across history, space, and cultures. Defenders of the universalist approach tend to criticise idiographic methods because such methods can lead to relativism or may lack generality. To overcome explanatory limitations of proposals that adopt either universalist or contextualist approaches in isolation, I propose a philosophical model that integrates contributions from both traditions: the psycho-historical theory of agent-identification. This theory investigates how the tracking processes that humans use for identifying agents interact with the unique socio-historical contexts that support agent-identification practices. In integrating hypotheses about the history of agents with psychological and epistemological principles regarding agent-identification, the theory can generate novel hypotheses regarding the distinction between recognition-based, heuristic-based, and explanation-based agent-identification.

Mixed Messages: How Primary Agents of Socialization Influence Adolescent Females Who Identify as Multiracial-Bisexual

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

King, Alissa R.

2013-01-01

The goals of this study were to highlight the often stigmatized and invisible identities of six female participants who identify as multiracial/biracial-bisexual/pansexual, focusing on the pre-college context. Findings, using in-depth interviews, indicated that the primary socializing agents within the pre-college context strongly influenced…

Exploring the Role of Social Media and Individual Behaviors in Flood Evacuation Processes: An Agent-Based Modeling Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Erhu; Cai, Ximing; Sun, Zhiyong; Minsker, Barbara

2017-11-01

Flood warnings from various information sources are important for individuals to make evacuation decisions during a flood event. In this study, we develop a general opinion dynamics model to simulate how individuals update their flood hazard awareness when exposed to multiple information sources, including global broadcast, social media, and observations of neighbors' actions. The opinion dynamics model is coupled with a traffic model to simulate the evacuation processes of a residential community with a given transportation network. Through various scenarios, we investigate how social media affect the opinion dynamics and evacuation processes. We find that stronger social media can make evacuation processes more sensitive to the change of global broadcast and neighbor observations, and thus, impose larger uncertainty on evacuation rates (i.e., a large range of evacuation rates corresponding to sources of information). For instance, evacuation rates are lower when social media become more influential and individuals have less trust in global broadcast. Stubborn individuals can significantly affect the opinion dynamics and reduce evacuation rates. In addition, evacuation rates respond to the percentage of stubborn agents in a nonlinear manner, i.e., above a threshold, the impact of stubborn agents will be intensified by stronger social media. These results highlight the role of social media in flood evacuation processes and the need to monitor social media so that misinformation can be corrected in a timely manner. The joint impacts of social media, quality of flood warnings, and transportation capacity on evacuation rates are also discussed.

Multi-Agent Inference in Social Networks: A Finite Population Learning Approach.

PubMed

Fan, Jianqing; Tong, Xin; Zeng, Yao

When people in a society want to make inference about some parameter, each person may want to use data collected by other people. Information (data) exchange in social networks is usually costly, so to make reliable statistical decisions, people need to trade off the benefits and costs of information acquisition. Conflicts of interests and coordination problems will arise in the process. Classical statistics does not consider people's incentives and interactions in the data collection process. To address this imperfection, this work explores multi-agent Bayesian inference problems with a game theoretic social network model. Motivated by our interest in aggregate inference at the societal level, we propose a new concept, finite population learning , to address whether with high probability, a large fraction of people in a given finite population network can make "good" inference. Serving as a foundation, this concept enables us to study the long run trend of aggregate inference quality as population grows.

Multi-Agent Inference in Social Networks: A Finite Population Learning Approach

PubMed Central

Tong, Xin; Zeng, Yao

2016-01-01

When people in a society want to make inference about some parameter, each person may want to use data collected by other people. Information (data) exchange in social networks is usually costly, so to make reliable statistical decisions, people need to trade off the benefits and costs of information acquisition. Conflicts of interests and coordination problems will arise in the process. Classical statistics does not consider people’s incentives and interactions in the data collection process. To address this imperfection, this work explores multi-agent Bayesian inference problems with a game theoretic social network model. Motivated by our interest in aggregate inference at the societal level, we propose a new concept, finite population learning, to address whether with high probability, a large fraction of people in a given finite population network can make “good” inference. Serving as a foundation, this concept enables us to study the long run trend of aggregate inference quality as population grows. PMID:27076691

Sustainable Society Formed by Unselfish Agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kikuchi, Toshiko

It has been pointed out that if the social configuration of the three relations (market, communal and obligatory relations) is not balanced, a market based society as a total system fails. Using multi-agent simulations, this paper shows that a sustainable society is formed when all three relations are integrated and function respectively. When agent trades are based on the market mechanism (i.e., agents act in their own interest and thus only market relations exist), weak agents who cannot perform transactions die. If a compulsory tax is imposed to enable all weak agents to survive (i.e., obligatory relations exist), then the fiscal deficit increases. On the other hand, if agents who have excess income undertake the unselfish action of distributing their surplus to the weak agents (i.e., communal relations exist), then trade volume increases. It is shown that the existence of unselfish agents is necessary for the realization of a sustainable society. However, the survival of all agents is difficult in a communal society. In an artificial society, for all agents survive and fiscal balance to be maintained, all three social relations need to be fully integrated. These results show that adjusting the balance of the three social relations well lead to the realization of a sustainable society.

An agent-based simulation of persistent inequalities in health behavior: Understanding the interdependent roles of segregation, clustering, and social influence.

PubMed

Langellier, Brent A

2016-12-01

Health inequalities are conspicuously persistent through time and often durable even in spite of interventions. In this study, I use agent-based simulation models (ABMs) to understand how the complex interrelationships between residential segregation, social network formation, group-level preferences, and social influence may contribute to this persistence. I use a more-stylized ABM, Bubblegum Village (BV), to understand how initial inequalities in bubblegum-chewing behaviors either endure, increase, or decrease over time given group-level differences in preferences, neighborhood-level barriers or facilitators of bubblegum chewing (e.g., access to bubblegum shops), and agents' preferences for segregation, homophily, and clustering (i.e., the 'tightness' of social networks). I further use BV to understand whether segregation and social network characteristics impact whether the effects of a bubblegum-reduction intervention that is very effective in the short term are durable over time, as well as to identify intervention strategies to reduce attenuation of the intervention effects. In addition to BV, I also present results from an ABM based on the distribution and social characteristics of the population in Philadelphia, PA. This model explores similar questions to BV, but examines racial/ethnic inequalities in soda consumption based on agents' social characteristics and baseline soda consumption probabilities informed by the 2007-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Collectively, the models suggest that residential segregation is a fundamental process for the production and persistence of health inequalities. The other major conclusion of the study is that, for behaviors that are subject to social influence and that cluster within social groups, interventions that are randomly-targeted to individuals with 'bad' behaviors will likely experience a large degree of recidivism to pre-intervention behaviors. In contrast, interventions that target

Socially grounded game strategy enhances bonding and perceived smartness of a humanoid robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barakova, E. I.; De Haas, M.; Kuijpers, W.; Irigoyen, N.; Betancourt, A.

2018-01-01

In search for better technological solutions for education, we adapted a principle from economic game theory, namely that giving a help will promote collaboration and eventually long-term relations between a robot and a child. This principle has been shown to be effective in games between humans and between humans and computer agents. We compared the social and cognitive engagement of children when playing checkers game combined with a social strategy against a robot or against a computer. We found that by combining the social and game strategy the children (average age of 8.3 years) had more empathy and social engagement with the robot since the children did not want to necessarily win against it. This finding is promising for using social strategies for the creation of long-term relations between robots and children and making educational tasks more engaging. An additional outcome of the study was the significant difference in the perception of the children about the difficulty of the game - the game with the robot was seen as more challenging and the robot - as a smarter opponent. This finding might be due to the higher perceived or expected intelligence from the robot, or because of the higher complexity of seeing patterns in three-dimensional world.

From actors to agents in socio-ecological systems models

PubMed Central

Rounsevell, M. D. A.; Robinson, D. T.; Murray-Rust, D.

2012-01-01

The ecosystem service concept has emphasized the role of people within socio-ecological systems (SESs). In this paper, we review and discuss alternative ways of representing people, their behaviour and decision-making processes in SES models using an agent-based modelling (ABM) approach. We also explore how ABM can be empirically grounded using information from social survey. The capacity for ABM to be generalized beyond case studies represents a crucial next step in modelling SESs, although this comes with considerable intellectual challenges. We propose the notion of human functional types, as an analogy of plant functional types, to support the expansion (scaling) of ABM to larger areas. The expansion of scope also implies the need to represent institutional agents in SES models in order to account for alternative governance structures and policy feedbacks. Further development in the coupling of human-environment systems would contribute considerably to better application and use of the ecosystem service concept. PMID:22144388

From actors to agents in socio-ecological systems models.

PubMed

Rounsevell, M D A; Robinson, D T; Murray-Rust, D

2012-01-19

The ecosystem service concept has emphasized the role of people within socio-ecological systems (SESs). In this paper, we review and discuss alternative ways of representing people, their behaviour and decision-making processes in SES models using an agent-based modelling (ABM) approach. We also explore how ABM can be empirically grounded using information from social survey. The capacity for ABM to be generalized beyond case studies represents a crucial next step in modelling SESs, although this comes with considerable intellectual challenges. We propose the notion of human functional types, as an analogy of plant functional types, to support the expansion (scaling) of ABM to larger areas. The expansion of scope also implies the need to represent institutional agents in SES models in order to account for alternative governance structures and policy feedbacks. Further development in the coupling of human-environment systems would contribute considerably to better application and use of the ecosystem service concept.

Multi-Agent Social Simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Noda, Itsuki; Stone, Peter; Yamashita, Tomohisa; Kurumatani, Koichi

While ambient intelligence and smart environments (AISE) technologies are expected to provide large impacts to human lives and social activities, it is generally difficult to show utilities and effects of these technologies on societies. AISE technologies are not only methods to improve performance and functionality of existing services in the society, but also frameworks to introduce new systems and services to the society. For example, no one expected beforehand what Internet or mobile phone brought into out social activities and services, although they changes our social system and patterns of behaviors drastically and emerge new services (and risks, unfortunately). The main reason of this difficulty is that actual effects of IT systems appear when enough number of people in the society use the technologies.

Supporting Teachers in Becoming Agents of Social Cohesion: Professional Development in Post- Apartheid South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mogliacci, Rada Jancic; Raanhuis, Joyce; Howell, Colleen

2016-01-01

Policy and research have been advocating the importance of teachers in achieving equity and teachers are called to act as agents of social justice. This issue remains central to the development of a post-apartheid South Africa, where a need for reconciliation and healing still dominates the society. Such a landscape requires adequate support…

For whom will the Bayesian agents vote?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caticha, Nestor; Cesar, Jonatas; Vicente, Renato

2015-04-01

Within an agent-based model where moral classifications are socially learned, we ask if a population of agents behaves in a way that may be compared with conservative or liberal positions in the real political spectrum. We assume that agents first experience a formative period, in which they adjust their learning style acting as supervised Bayesian adaptive learners. The formative phase is followed by a period of social influence by reinforcement learning. By comparing data generated by the agents with data from a sample of 15000 Moral Foundation questionnaires we found the following. 1. The number of information exchanges in the formative phase correlates positively with statistics identifying liberals in the social influence phase. This is consistent with recent evidence that connects the dopamine receptor D4-7R gene, political orientation and early age social clique size. 2. The learning algorithms that result from the formative phase vary in the way they treat novelty and corroborative information with more conservative-like agents treating it more equally than liberal-like agents. This is consistent with the correlation between political affiliation and the Openness personality trait reported in the literature. 3. Under the increase of a model parameter interpreted as an external pressure, the statistics of liberal agents resemble more those of conservative agents, consistent with reports on the consequences of external threats on measures of conservatism. We also show that in the social influence phase liberal-like agents readapt much faster than conservative-like agents when subjected to changes on the relevant set of moral issues. This suggests a verifiable dynamical criterium for attaching liberal or conservative labels to groups.

Home range, social behavior, and dominance relationships in the African unstriped ground squirrel, Xerus rutilus

USGS Publications Warehouse

O'Shea, Thomas J.

1976-01-01

A field study of home range, social behavior, and dominance relationships in the African unstriped ground squirrel, Xerus rutilus, was conducted in semi-arid bushland near Kibwezi, Kenya. Ground squirrels lived alone or in small groups in isolated burrow systems and had broadly overlapping home ranges. They were neither territorial or colonial. Home ranges were estimated by visual observation of marked animals and those of males were considerably larger (mean=7.01 hectares (ha); n=4) than those of females (mean=1.37 ha; n-6). A continuum of agonistic behavior ranging from threat to combat is described, although actual combat was rarely observed. Sexual behavior includes a stereotypical tail display by adult males. Dominance relationships, based on 542 observed encounters between marked individuals, include a consistent male dominance over females and a fairly constant linear hierarchy among all individuals with shared home ranges. Similarities in the behavior of African ground squirrels and tree squirrels (Sciurus) are discussed.

Agent Technology, Complex Adaptive Systems, and Autonomic Systems: Their Relationships

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Truszkowski, Walt; Rash, James; Rouff, Chistopher; Hincheny, Mike

2004-01-01

To reduce the cost of future spaceflight missions and to perform new science, NASA has been investigating autonomous ground and space flight systems. These goals of cost reduction have been further complicated by nanosatellites for future science data-gathering which will have large communications delays and at times be out of contact with ground control for extended periods of time. This paper describes two prototype agent-based systems, the Lights-out Ground Operations System (LOGOS) and the Agent Concept Testbed (ACT), and their autonomic properties that were developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to demonstrate autonomous operations of future space flight missions. The paper discusses the architecture of the two agent-based systems, operational scenarios of both, and the two systems autonomic properties.

Socializing Agents for Sport and Physical Activities in Teenage Students: Comparative Studies in Samples From Costa Rica, Mexico, and Spain.

PubMed

Ruiz-Juan, Francisco; Baena-Extremera, Antonio; Granero-Gallegos, Antonio

2017-01-01

The aim of this study is to analyze a set of socializing agents for sport and physical activities and to establish their relationship with leisure time sport and physical activities behaviors and practice patterns in samples of teenage students with different sociocultural backgrounds. The sample included 2168 students in their first year of secondary education, 423 of them being from Costa Rica, 408 from Mexico, and 1337 from Spain (1052 male students, 1037 female students, and 79 students who did not specify gender) aged 11-16 years old ( M = 12.49; SD = .81). A validated questionnaire with questions about leisure time sport and physical activities and socializing agents was used. Descriptive, inferential, and multinomial logistic regression analyses were carried out with SPSS 17.0 to compare all three countries. Costa Rica had the most active students, best friends' inactivity, and unsupportive parents being the agents predicting inactivity and a low level of sport and physical activities. Mexico has a high dropout rate and inactive students exceed active ones; no agent predicts inactivity or sport and physical activities pattern. Spain has the highest level of sport and physical activities practice, and parents, siblings, and friends are predicting agents of inactivity together with unsupportive parents and friends.

Intelligent judgements over health risks in a spatial agent-based model.

PubMed

Abdulkareem, Shaheen A; Augustijn, Ellen-Wien; Mustafa, Yaseen T; Filatova, Tatiana

2018-03-20

Millions of people worldwide are exposed to deadly infectious diseases on a regular basis. Breaking news of the Zika outbreak for instance, made it to the main media titles internationally. Perceiving disease risks motivate people to adapt their behavior toward a safer and more protective lifestyle. Computational science is instrumental in exploring patterns of disease spread emerging from many individual decisions and interactions among agents and their environment by means of agent-based models. Yet, current disease models rarely consider simulating dynamics in risk perception and its impact on the adaptive protective behavior. Social sciences offer insights into individual risk perception and corresponding protective actions, while machine learning provides algorithms and methods to capture these learning processes. This article presents an innovative approach to extend agent-based disease models by capturing behavioral aspects of decision-making in a risky context using machine learning techniques. We illustrate it with a case of cholera in Kumasi, Ghana, accounting for spatial and social risk factors that affect intelligent behavior and corresponding disease incidents. The results of computational experiments comparing intelligent with zero-intelligent representations of agents in a spatial disease agent-based model are discussed. We present a spatial disease agent-based model (ABM) with agents' behavior grounded in Protection Motivation Theory. Spatial and temporal patterns of disease diffusion among zero-intelligent agents are compared to those produced by a population of intelligent agents. Two Bayesian Networks (BNs) designed and coded using R and are further integrated with the NetLogo-based Cholera ABM. The first is a one-tier BN1 (only risk perception), the second is a two-tier BN2 (risk and coping behavior). We run three experiments (zero-intelligent agents, BN1 intelligence and BN2 intelligence) and report the results per experiment in terms of

Humans as major geological and geomorphological agents in the Anthropocene: the significance of artificial ground in Great Britain.

PubMed

Price, Simon J; Ford, Jonathan R; Cooper, Anthony H; Neal, Catherine

2011-03-13

Since the first prehistoric people started to dig for stone to make implements, rather than pick up loose material, humans have modified the landscape through excavation of rock and soil, generation of waste and creation of artificial ground. In Great Britain over the past 200 years, people have excavated, moved and built up the equivalent of at least six times the volume of Ben Nevis. It is estimated that the worldwide deliberate annual shift of sediment by human activity is 57,000 Mt (million tonnes) and exceeds that of transport by rivers to the oceans (22,000 Mt) almost by a factor of three. Humans sculpt and transform the landscape through the physical modification of the shape and properties of the ground. As such, humans are geological and geomorphological agents and the dominant factor in landscape evolution through settlement and widespread industrialization and urbanization. The most significant impact of this has been since the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth century, coincident with increased release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The anthropogenic sedimentological record, therefore, provides a marker on which to characterize the Anthropocene.

What Influences Agents to Pursue a Career in Extension?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnold, Shannon; Place, Nick

2010-01-01

The qualitative study reported here explored why agricultural agents pursue an Extension career. A purposive sample was used to select twelve Florida agricultural agents. Interviews investigated positive and negative influences that affected agents' employment decisions. Grounded theory was used as the primary data analysis method (Strauss &…

An Investigation on Social Representations: Inanimate Agent Can Mislead Dogs (Canis familiaris) in a Food Choice Task.

PubMed

Abdai, Judit; Gergely, Anna; Petró, Eszter; Topál, József; Miklósi, Ádám

2015-01-01

The nature of mental representation of others plays a crucial role in social interactions. Dogs present an ideal model species for the investigation of such mental representations because they develop social ties with both conspecifics and heterospecifics. Former studies found that dogs' preference for larger food quantity could be reversed by humans who indicate the smaller quantity. The question is whether this social bias is restricted to human partners. We suggest that after a short positive social experience, an unfamiliar moving inanimate agent (UMO) can also change dogs' choice between two food quantities. We tested four groups of dogs with different partners: In the (1) Helper UMO and (2) Helper UMO Control groups the partner was an interactive remote control car that helped the dog to obtain an otherwise unreachable food. In the (3) Non-helper UMO and (4) Human partner groups dogs had restricted interaction with the remote control car and the unfamiliar human partners. In the Human partner, Helper UMO and Helper UMO Control groups the partners were able to revert dogs' choice for the small amount by indicating the small one, but the Non-helper UMO was not. We suggest that dogs are able to generalize their wide range of experiences with humans to another type of agent as well, based on the recognition of similarities in simple behavioural patterns.

An Investigation on Social Representations: Inanimate Agent Can Mislead Dogs (Canis familiaris) in a Food Choice Task

PubMed Central

Abdai, Judit; Gergely, Anna; Petró, Eszter; Topál, József; Miklósi, Ádám

2015-01-01

The nature of mental representation of others plays a crucial role in social interactions. Dogs present an ideal model species for the investigation of such mental representations because they develop social ties with both conspecifics and heterospecifics. Former studies found that dogs’ preference for larger food quantity could be reversed by humans who indicate the smaller quantity. The question is whether this social bias is restricted to human partners. We suggest that after a short positive social experience, an unfamiliar moving inanimate agent (UMO) can also change dogs’ choice between two food quantities. We tested four groups of dogs with different partners: In the (1) Helper UMO and (2) Helper UMO Control groups the partner was an interactive remote control car that helped the dog to obtain an otherwise unreachable food. In the (3) Non-helper UMO and (4) Human partner groups dogs had restricted interaction with the remote control car and the unfamiliar human partners. In the Human partner, Helper UMO and Helper UMO Control groups the partners were able to revert dogs’ choice for the small amount by indicating the small one, but the Non-helper UMO was not. We suggest that dogs are able to generalize their wide range of experiences with humans to another type of agent as well, based on the recognition of similarities in simple behavioural patterns. PMID:26241747

Getting around the Impasse: A Grounded Approach to Teaching Ethics and Social Responsibility in International Business Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Marc T.; Lok, Peter

1999-01-01

Considers the dilemma of teaching ethics and social responsibility in international business courses with either an ethnocentric absolutist or an unengaged relativistic approach. Suggests a strategy that focuses on a grounded understanding of the elements, processes, and properties of capitalism that would serve as a common understanding upon…

Ground-water flow and the possible effects of remedial actions at J-Field, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hughes, W.B.

1995-01-01

J-Field, located in the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md, has been used since World War II to test and dispose of explosives, chemical warfare agents, and industrial chemicals resulting in ground-water, surface-water, and soil contami- nation. The U.S. Geological Survey finite-difference model was used to better understand ground-water flow at the site and to simulate the effects of remedial actions. A surficial aquifer and a confined aquifer were simulated with the model. A confining unit separates these units and is represented by leakance between the layers. The area modeled is 3.65 mi2; the model was constructed with a variably spaced 40 X 38 grid. The horizontal and lower boundaries of the model are all no-flow boundaries. Steady-state conditions were used. Ground water at the areas under investigation flows from disposal pit areas toward discharge areas in adjacent estuaries or wetlands. Simulations indicate that capping disposal areas with an impermeable cover effectively slows advective ground water flow by 0.7 to 0.5 times. Barriers to lateral ground-water flow were simulated and effectively prevented the movement of ground water toward discharge areas. Extraction wells were simulated as a way to contain ground-water contamination and to extract ground water for treatment. Two wells pumping 5 gallons per minute each at the toxic-materials disposal area and a single well pumping 2.5 gallons per minute at the riot-control-agent disposal area effectively contained contamination at these sites. A combi- nation of barriers to horizontal flow east and south of the toxic-materials disposal area, and a single extraction well pumping at 5 gallons per minute can extract contaminated ground water and prevent pumpage of marsh water.

An Empirical Appraisal of Canadian Doctoral Dissertations Using Grounded Theory: Implications for Social Work Research and Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Braganza, Morgan; Akesson, Bree; Rothwell, David

2017-01-01

Grounded theory is a popular methodological approach in social work research, especially by doctoral students conducting qualitative research. The approach, however, is not always used consistently or as originally designed, compromising the quality of the research. The aim of the current study is to assess the quality of recent Canadian social…

Launch Commit Criteria Monitoring Agent

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Semmel, Glenn S.; Davis, Steven R.; Leucht, Kurt W.; Rowe, Dan A.; Kelly, Andrew O.; Boeloeni, Ladislau

2005-01-01

The Spaceport Processing Systems Branch at NASA Kennedy Space Center has developed and deployed a software agent to monitor the Space Shuttle's ground processing telemetry stream. The application, the Launch Commit Criteria Monitoring Agent, increases situational awareness for system and hardware engineers during Shuttle launch countdown. The agent provides autonomous monitoring of the telemetry stream, automatically alerts system engineers when predefined criteria have been met, identifies limit warnings and violations of launch commit criteria, aids Shuttle engineers through troubleshooting procedures, and provides additional insight to verify appropriate troubleshooting of problems by contractors. The agent has successfully detected launch commit criteria warnings and violations on a simulated playback data stream. Efficiency and safety are improved through increased automation.

The Secret Agent Society Social Skills Program for Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Comparison of Two School Variants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beaumont, Renae; Rotolone, Cassie; Sofronoff, Kate

2015-01-01

School is often considered an ideal setting for child social skills training due to the opportunities it provides for skills teaching, modeling, and practice. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of two variants of the Secret Agent Society social skills program for children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASD) in a…

[Methodological novelties applied to the anthropology of food: agent-based models and social networks analysis].

PubMed

Díaz Córdova, Diego

2016-01-01

The aim of this article is to introduce two methodological strategies that have not often been utilized in the anthropology of food: agent-based models and social networks analysis. In order to illustrate these methods in action, two cases based in materials typical of the anthropology of food are presented. For the first strategy, fieldwork carried out in Quebrada de Humahuaca (province of Jujuy, Argentina) regarding meal recall was used, and for the second, elements of the concept of "domestic consumption strategies" applied by Aguirre were employed. The underlying idea is that, given that eating is recognized as a "total social fact" and, therefore, as a complex phenomenon, the methodological approach must also be characterized by complexity. The greater the number of methods utilized (with the appropriate rigor), the better able we will be to understand the dynamics of feeding in the social environment.

An agent-based model for emotion contagion and competition in online social media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Rui; Xu, Ke; Zhao, Jichang

2018-04-01

Recent studies suggest that human emotions diffuse in not only real-world communities but also online social media. However, a comprehensive model that considers up-to-date findings and multiple online social media mechanisms is still missing. To bridge this vital gap, an agent-based model, which concurrently considers emotion influence and tie strength preferences, is presented to simulate the emotion contagion and competition. Our model well reproduces patterns observed in the empirical data, like anger's preference on weak ties, anger-dominated users' high vitalities and angry tweets' short retweet intervals, and anger's competitiveness in negative events. The comparison with a previously presented baseline model further demonstrates its effectiveness in modeling online emotion contagion. It is also surprisingly revealed by our model that as the ratio of anger approaches joy with a gap less than 12%, anger will eventually dominate the online social media and arrives the collective outrage in the cyber space. The critical gap disclosed here can be indeed warning signals at early stages for outrage control. Our model would shed lights on the study of multiple issues regarding emotion contagion and competition in terms of computer simulations.

31 CFR 10.6 - Enrollment as an enrolled agent or enrolled retirement plan agent.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... or enrolled retirement plan agent's name, prior address, new address, social security number or tax... individuals licensed to practice before the Internal Revenue Service who have a social security number or tax... Internal Revenue Service who have a social security number or tax identification number that ends with the...

Agent Architectures for Compliance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burgemeestre, Brigitte; Hulstijn, Joris; Tan, Yao-Hua

A Normative Multi-Agent System consists of autonomous agents who must comply with social norms. Different kinds of norms make different assumptions about the cognitive architecture of the agents. For example, a principle-based norm assumes that agents can reflect upon the consequences of their actions; a rule-based formulation only assumes that agents can avoid violations. In this paper we present several cognitive agent architectures for self-monitoring and compliance. We show how different assumptions about the cognitive architecture lead to different information needs when assessing compliance. The approach is validated with a case study of horizontal monitoring, an approach to corporate tax auditing recently introduced by the Dutch Customs and Tax Authority.

Integrating Language and Cognition in Grounded Adaptive Agents

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-11-21

a gents w ill b e able t o communicate amo ng th emselves a nd w ith humans w ith the fl exibility and complexity of h uman language. Leonid...Cangelosi A., Hourdakis E . & Tikhanoff V. (2006). Language acquisition and symbol grounding transfer with neural networks and cognitive robots...Hence it is natural to define the following partial similarity measure between object i and concept k ieO ( ) ( )[∏ = − −−= d e keiekeke OSkil 1

A model of collaborative agency and common ground.

PubMed

Kuziemsky, Craig E; Cornett, Janet Alexandra

2013-01-01

As more healthcare delivery is provided via collaborative means there is a need to understand how to design information and communication technologies (ICTs) to support collaboration. Existing research has largely focused on individual aspects of ICT usage and not how they can support the coordination of collaborative activities. In order to understand how we can design ICTs to support collaboration we need to understand how agents, technologies, information and processes integrate while providing collaborative care delivery. Co-agency and common ground have both provided insight about the integration of different entities as part of collaboration practices. However there is still a lack of understanding about how to coordinate the integration of agents, processes and technologies to support collaboration. This paper combines co-agency and common ground to develop a model of collaborative agency and specific categories of common ground to facilitate its coordination.

The role of legitimation in the professional socialization of second-year undergraduate athletic training students.

PubMed

Klossner, Joanne

2008-01-01

Professional socialization during formal educational preparation can help students learn professional roles and can lead to improved organizational socialization as students emerge as members of the occupation's culture. Professional socialization research in athletic training is limited. To present the role of legitimation and how it influences the professional socialization of second-year athletic training students. Modified constructivist grounded theory and case study methods were used for this qualitative study. An accredited undergraduate athletic training education program. Twelve second-year students were selected purposively. The primary sample group (n = 4) was selected according to theoretical sampling guidelines. The remaining students made up the cohort sample (n = 8). Theoretically relevant data were gathered from 14 clinical instructors to clarify emergent student data. Data collection included document examination, observations, and interviews during 1 academic semester. Data were collected and analyzed through constant comparative analysis. Data triangulation, member checking, and peer-review strategies were used to ensure trustworthiness. Legitimation from various socializing agents initiated professional socialization. Students viewed trust and team membership as rewards for role fulfillment. My findings are consistent with the socialization literature that shows how learning a social or professional role, using rewards to facilitate role performance, and building trusting relationships with socializing agents are important aspects of legitimation and, ultimately, professional socialization.

Designing a grounded theory study: some practicalities.

PubMed

McCallin, Antoinette M

2003-01-01

Grounded theory is an interpretative research methodology frequently used by social science researchers seeking to discover the underlying social processes shaping interaction. The methodology is useful to create knowledge about the behavioural patterns of a group. The aim of this paper was to discuss some practical issues that the prospective grounded theory researcher planning a small-scale project may consider. Discussion focuses on the basic premises, choosing a version of grounded theory, the research problem, the purpose of study, the research question and the place of the literature in a study. The specific skills required of the grounded theory researcher are considered and some cautions are exercised. The paper may assist student researchers in a critical care setting and may be of interest to their supervisors and experienced. grounded theory researchers.

An agent-based modelling framework to explore the role of social media and stubborn people on evacuation rates during flooding events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, E.; Cai, X.; Minsker, B. S.; Sun, Z.

2017-12-01

Flood warnings from various information sources are important for individuals to make evacuation decisions during a flood event. In this study, we develop a general opinion dynamics model to simulate how individuals update their flood hazard awareness when exposed to multiple information sources, including global broadcast, social media, and observations of neighbors' actions. The opinion dynamics model is coupled with a traffic model to simulate the evacuation processes of a residential community with a given transportation network. Through various scenarios, we investigate how social media affect the opinion dynamics and evacuation processes. We find that stronger social media can make evacuation processes more sensitive to the change of global broadcast and neighbor observations, and thus, impose larger uncertainty on evacuation rates (i.e., a large range of evacuation rates corresponding to sources of information). For instance, evacuation rates are lower when social media become more influential and individuals have less trust in global broadcast. Stubborn individuals can significantly affect the opinion dynamics and reduce evacuation rates. In addition, evacuation rates respond to the percentage of stubborn agents in a non-linear manner, i.e., above a threshold, the impact of stubborn agents will be intensified by stronger social media. These results highlight the role of social media in flood evacuation processes and the need to monitor social media so that misinformation can be corrected in a timely manner. The joint impacts of social media, quality of flood warnings and transportation capacity on evacuation rates are also discussed.

On the emergence of an ‘intention field’ for socially cohesive agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bouchaud, Jean-Philippe; Borghesi, Christian; Jensen, Pablo

2014-03-01

We argue that when a social convergence mechanism exists and is strong enough, one should expect the emergence of a well-defined ‘field’, i.e. a slowly evolving, local quantity around which individual attributes fluctuate in a finite range. This condensation phenomenon is well illustrated by the Deffuant-Weisbuch opinion model for which we provide a natural extension to allow for spatial heterogeneities. We show analytically and numerically that the resulting dynamics of the emergent field is a noisy diffusion equation that has a slow dynamics. This random diffusion equation reproduces the long-ranged, logarithmic decrease of the correlation of spatial voting patterns empirically found in Borghesi and Bouchaud (2010 Eur. Phys. J. B 75 395) and Borghesi et al (2012 PLoS One 7 e36289). Interestingly enough, we find that when the social cohesion mechanism becomes too weak, cultural cohesion breaks down completely, in the sense that the distribution of intentions/opinions becomes infinitely broad. No emerging field exists in this case. All these analytical findings are confirmed by numerical simulations of an agent-based model.

The effects of social interactions with in-vehicle agents on a driver's anger level, driving performance, situation awareness, and perceived workload.

PubMed

Jeon, Myounghoon; Walker, Bruce N; Gable, Thomas M

2015-09-01

Research has suggested that interaction with an in-vehicle software agent can improve a driver's psychological state and increase road safety. The present study explored the possibility of using an in-vehicle software agent to mitigate effects of driver anger on driving behavior. After either anger or neutral mood induction, 60 undergraduates drove in a simulator with two types of agent intervention. Results showed that both speech-based agents not only enhance driver situation awareness and driving performance, but also reduce their anger level and perceived workload. Regression models show that a driver's anger influences driving performance measures, mediated by situation awareness. The practical implications include design guidelines for the design of social interaction with in-vehicle software agents. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Comparative Evaluation of Firefighting Foam Agents

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-08-01

incorporating these basic concepts under a military specification, are being produced on a world-wide MIL - F - 24385 , Navy (reference 6). basis. The original...Program Office for 24385 (Navy), Fire Extinguishing Aircraft Ground Fire Suppression and Agent, Aqueous- F Ilm-Forming-Foam Rescue, SMF, AGFSkS 71-1...fluoroprotein foams (FPF), and three protein foam (?’ F ) agents. Large-scale fire tests were performed under fixed fire conditions employing air

A Grounded Theory of Adolescent High School Women's Choir Singers' Process of Social Identity Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Elizabeth Cassidy

2018-01-01

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to discover the process of social identity development for adolescent high school women's choir participants. Purposive maximum variation sampling was used to identify three public high school women's choirs where 54 interviews were conducted with 40 different public school singers. Three waves of data…

Joint Chemical Agent Detector (JCAD): the future of chemical agent detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laljer, Charles E.; Owen, Jeffery L.

2002-06-01

The Joint Chemical Agent Detector (JCAD) will provide state of the art chemical warfare agent detection capability to ground vehicle operators. Intelligence sources estimate that over twenty counties have active chemical weapons programs. The spread of chemical weapons to third world nations, coupled with the potential for US involvement in these areas in an operational or support capacity, increases the probability that the Joint Services may encounter chemical agents and toxic industrial materials anywhere in the world. Currently, fielded chemical agent detectors are bulky, labor intensive, and subject to false readings. No legacy detector is sensitive enough to provide detection and warning of the low dose hazards associated with miosis contamination. The JCAD will provide a small, lightweight chemical agent detector for vehicle interiors, aircraft, individual personnel, shipboard, and fixed site locations. The system provides a common detection components across multi-service platforms. This common detector system will allow the Joint Services to use the same operational and support concept for more efficient utilization of resources. The JCAD will detect, identify, quantify, and warn of the presence of chemical agents prior to onset of miosis. Upon detection of chemical agents, the detector will provide local and remote audible and visual alarms to the operators. Advance warning will provide the vehicle crew with the time necessary to protect themselves from the lethal effects of chemical agents. The JCAD will also be capable of being upgraded to protect against future chemical agent threats. The JCAD will provide the vehicle operators with the warning necessary to survive and fight in a chemical warfare agent threat environment.

An embodiment effect in computer-based learning with animated pedagogical agents.

PubMed

Mayer, Richard E; DaPra, C Scott

2012-09-01

How do social cues such as gesturing, facial expression, eye gaze, and human-like movement affect multimedia learning with onscreen agents? To help address this question, students were asked to twice view a 4-min narrated presentation on how solar cells work in which the screen showed an animated pedagogical agent standing to the left of 11 successive slides. Across three experiments, learners performed better on a transfer test when a human-voiced agent displayed human-like gestures, facial expression, eye gaze, and body movement than when the agent did not, yielding an embodiment effect. In Experiment 2 the embodiment effect was found when the agent spoke in a human voice but not in a machine voice. In Experiment 3, the embodiment effect was found both when students were told the onscreen agent was consistent with their choice of agent characteristics and when inconsistent. Students who viewed a highly embodied agent also rated the social attributes of the agent more positively than did students who viewed a nongesturing agent. The results are explained by social agency theory, in which social cues in a multimedia message prime a feeling of social partnership in the learner, which leads to deeper cognitive processing during learning, and results in a more meaningful learning outcome as reflected in transfer test performance.

Application of a Genetic Algorithm and Multi Agent System to Explore Emergent Patterns of Social Rationality and a Distress-Based Model for Deceit in the Workplace

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-06-01

postponed the fulfillment of her own Masters Degree by at least 18 months so that I would have the opportunity to earn mine. She is smart , lovely...GENETIC ALGORITHM AND MULTI AGENT SYSTEM TO EXPLORE EMERGENT PATTERNS OF SOCIAL RATIONALITY AND A DISTRESS-BASED MODEL FOR DECEIT IN THE WORKPLACE...of a Genetic Algorithm and Mutli Agent System to Explore Emergent Patterns of Social Rationality and a Distress-Based Model for Deceit in the

A Comparative Toxidrome Analysis of Human Organophosphate and Nerve Agent Poisonings Using Social Media

PubMed Central

Colman, E

2017-01-01

Here we utilized social media to compare the toxidrome of three lethal chemical exposures worldwide. YouTube videos were the main source from which the data were collected, but published reports and news were also utilized to fill in some gaps. All videos were organized in a database detailing symptoms and severity of each victim, along with demographics such as approximate age and gender. Each symptom was rated as mild, moderate, or severe and corresponding pie graphs for each incident were compared. The videos displayed symptoms ranging from mild to severe cholinergic toxicity and life‐threatening convulsions. Social media may represent an important resource in developing a viable approach to the early detection and identification of chemical exposure, reinforce our preparedness for better antidotes, long‐term follow up, and training about deadly chemical nerve agent attacks. PMID:28238224

Mission Operations with an Autonomous Agent

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pell, Barney; Sawyer, Scott R.; Muscettola, Nicola; Smith, Benjamin; Bernard, Douglas E.

1998-01-01

The Remote Agent (RA) is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system which automates some of the tasks normally reserved for human mission operators and performs these tasks autonomously on-board the spacecraft. These tasks include activity generation, sequencing, spacecraft analysis, and failure recovery. The RA will be demonstrated as a flight experiment on Deep Space One (DSI), the first deep space mission of the NASA's New Millennium Program (NMP). As we moved from prototyping into actual flight code development and teamed with ground operators, we made several major extensions to the RA architecture to address the broader operational context in which PA would be used. These extensions support ground operators and the RA sharing a long-range mission profile with facilities for asynchronous ground updates; support ground operators monitoring and commanding the spacecraft at multiple levels of detail simultaneously; and enable ground operators to provide additional knowledge to the RA, such as parameter updates, model updates, and diagnostic information, without interfering with the activities of the RA or leaving the system in an inconsistent state. The resulting architecture supports incremental autonomy, in which a basic agent can be delivered early and then used in an increasingly autonomous manner over the lifetime of the mission. It also supports variable autonomy, as it enables ground operators to benefit from autonomy when L'@ey want it, but does not inhibit them from obtaining a detailed understanding and exercising tighter control when necessary. These issues are critical to the successful development and operation of autonomous spacecraft.

Dynamics of organizational culture: Individual beliefs vs. social conformity

PubMed Central

Allan, Neil; Johansson, Anders

2017-01-01

The complex nature of organizational culture challenges our ability to infer its underlying dynamics from observational studies. Recent computational studies have adopted a distinctly different view, where plausible mechanisms are proposed to describe a wide range of social phenomena, including the onset and evolution of organizational culture. In this spirit, this work introduces an empirically-grounded, agent-based model which relaxes a set of assumptions that describes past work–(a) omittance of an individual’s strive for achieving cognitive coherence; (b) limited integration of important contextual factors—by utilizing networks of beliefs and incorporating social rank into the dynamics. As a result, we illustrate that: (i) an organization may appear to be increasingly coherent in terms of its organizational culture, yet be composed of individuals with reduced levels of coherence; (ii) the components of social conformity—peer-pressure and social rank—are influential at different aggregation levels. PMID:28665960

Dynamics of organizational culture: Individual beliefs vs. social conformity.

PubMed

Ellinas, Christos; Allan, Neil; Johansson, Anders

2017-01-01

The complex nature of organizational culture challenges our ability to infer its underlying dynamics from observational studies. Recent computational studies have adopted a distinctly different view, where plausible mechanisms are proposed to describe a wide range of social phenomena, including the onset and evolution of organizational culture. In this spirit, this work introduces an empirically-grounded, agent-based model which relaxes a set of assumptions that describes past work-(a) omittance of an individual's strive for achieving cognitive coherence; (b) limited integration of important contextual factors-by utilizing networks of beliefs and incorporating social rank into the dynamics. As a result, we illustrate that: (i) an organization may appear to be increasingly coherent in terms of its organizational culture, yet be composed of individuals with reduced levels of coherence; (ii) the components of social conformity-peer-pressure and social rank-are influential at different aggregation levels.

[Introduction to grounded theory].

PubMed

Wang, Shou-Yu; Windsor, Carol; Yates, Patsy

2012-02-01

Grounded theory, first developed by Glaser and Strauss in the 1960s, was introduced into nursing education as a distinct research methodology in the 1970s. The theory is grounded in a critique of the dominant contemporary approach to social inquiry, which imposed "enduring" theoretical propositions onto study data. Rather than starting from a set theoretical framework, grounded theory relies on researchers distinguishing meaningful constructs from generated data and then identifying an appropriate theory. Grounded theory is thus particularly useful in investigating complex issues and behaviours not previously addressed and concepts and relationships in particular populations or places that are still undeveloped or weakly connected. Grounded theory data analysis processes include open, axial and selective coding levels. The purpose of this article was to explore the grounded theory research process and provide an initial understanding of this methodology.

Agents.

PubMed

Chambers, David W

2002-01-01

Although health care is inherently an economic activity, it is inadequately described as a market process. An alternative, grounded in organizational economic theory, is to view professionals and many others as agents, contracted to advance the best interests of their principals (patients). This view untangles some of the ethical conflicts in dentistry. It also helps identify major controllable costs in dentistry and suggests that dentists can act as a group to increase or decrease agency costs, primarily by controlling the bad actors who damage the value of all dentists.

Socialization Sequences and Student Attitudes Towards Non-Violent Social Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boulding, Elise

Examined is a general model of the socialization process based on Polak's theory of social change which identifies key agents of the process which shape perceptions of the possibility of creative change instead of defensiveness or aggression in situations where old behaviors are inadequate. Six agents of socialization are identified: family,…

Proc. Agent 2004 Conf. on Social Dynamics : Interaction, Reflexivity and Emergence

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

C. M. Macal, D. Sallach, M. J. North, eds.

I'd like to welcome you to the Agent 2004 conference. As most of you are aware, this conference is the fifth in a series of meetings that began in 1999. A conference followed the next year in 2000. The 2001 conference was skipped because of some conflicts with other conferences, and the conferences have proceeded annually since then. We have the proceedings of the previous conferences available here on CDs. One CD has the proceedings from 1999, 2000, and 2002; the other contains last year's proceedings. The purpose of these conferences is to advance the state of the computational socialmore » sciences and to integrate the social sciences with the decision sciences and something that is traditionally known as the management sciences. Those of you in the operations/research area are familiar with the traditional school of modeling simulation that emerged from that scientific area. This conference will bring together a different group of people to talk about the topic of agent-based theories and simulations. This fifth agent conference is one of a group of conferences held annually around the country. Most of you are probably aware of the CASOS Conference held at Carnegie Mellon University, usually in July. UCLA holds the Arrowhead Conference, generally around May. The University of Michigan is now holding a conference as well. Of course everyone is aware of SwarmFest, which has been held annually for about a decade. The Swarm seems to 'swarm' in different locations each year. As you're well aware, this conference is organized into a three-day program. This is the first time we've used three days for the full conference setting. Last year, we held simultaneous sessions, and that didn't work well for most of those who attended. We had complaints from people who missed sessions and papers because of scheduling, so we decided to extend this year's conference by one day. As a result, we now have a program designed to present the papers in a serial sequence rather than

Agent oriented programming

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shoham, Yoav

1994-01-01

The goal of our research is a methodology for creating robust software in distributed and dynamic environments. The approach taken is to endow software objects with explicit information about one another, to have them interact through a commitment mechanism, and to equip them with a speech-acty communication language. System-level applications include software interoperation and compositionality. A government application of specific interest is an infrastructure for coordination among multiple planners. Daily activity applications include personal software assistants, such as programmable email, scheduling, and new group agents. Research topics include definition of mental state of agents, design of agent languages as well as interpreters for those languages, and mechanisms for coordination within agent societies such as artificial social laws and conventions.

Modeling and simulating human teamwork behaviors using intelligent agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Xiaocong; Yen, John

2004-12-01

Among researchers in multi-agent systems there has been growing interest in using intelligent agents to model and simulate human teamwork behaviors. Teamwork modeling is important for training humans in gaining collaborative skills, for supporting humans in making critical decisions by proactively gathering, fusing, and sharing information, and for building coherent teams with both humans and agents working effectively on intelligence-intensive problems. Teamwork modeling is also challenging because the research has spanned diverse disciplines from business management to cognitive science, human discourse, and distributed artificial intelligence. This article presents an extensive, but not exhaustive, list of work in the field, where the taxonomy is organized along two main dimensions: team social structure and social behaviors. Along the dimension of social structure, we consider agent-only teams and mixed human-agent teams. Along the dimension of social behaviors, we consider collaborative behaviors, communicative behaviors, helping behaviors, and the underpinning of effective teamwork-shared mental models. The contribution of this article is that it presents an organizational framework for analyzing a variety of teamwork simulation systems and for further studying simulated teamwork behaviors.

Assessing possible exposures of ground troops to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War: the use of contemporary military records.

PubMed

Young, Alvin L; Cecil, Paul F; Guilmartin, John F

2004-01-01

Potential exposure of ground troops in Vietnam to Agent Orange and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) remains controversial despite the passage of 30 years since the Vietnam War. Because of uncertainty over the serum dioxin levels in ground troops at the end of their service in Vietnam, attempts have been made to develop a methodology for characterizing exposure of ground troops in Vietnam to Agent Orange and other herbicides based upon historical reconstruction from military records. Historical information is often useful in evaluating and modeling exposure, but such information should be reasonably accurate, complete, and reliable. This paper reviews the procedures and supporting historical information related to the spraying of herbicides in Vietnam. The historical information is classified into two categories: procedural information and operational information. Procedural information covered the process and procedures followed in spraying herbicides from US Air Force fixed wing aircraft (Operation RANCH HAND) in Vietnam, and included approval procedures for spray missions, the criteria required to conduct a mission, the control exercised by the Forward Air Controller and the Tactical Air Control Center and the characteristics of the equipment used to apply the herbicides. Operational information includes data from the RANCH HAND Daily Air Activities Reports, which included geographic locations of specific spray missions, the amount of herbicide sprayed by a specific mission, reports of battle damage to spray aircraft, reports of fighter aircraft support for aerial spray missions, and any comments, such as reasons for canceling a mission. Historical information demonstrates that herbicide spray missions were carefully planned and that spraying only occurred when friendly forces were not located in the target area. RANCH HAND spray missions were either not approved or cancelled if approved when there were friendly forces in the area designated for

Racism Here, Racism There, Racism Everywhere: The Racial Realities of Minoritized Peer Socialization Agents at a Historically White Institution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Linley, Jodi L.

2018-01-01

I critically examined the ways racially minoritized college students who served as peer socialization agents (i.e., orientation leaders, tour guides) experienced their campus climate in relation to their racial identities and student ambassador positions. Framed by critical race theory, the counternarratives of 11 racially minoritized peer…

Professional Socialization: A Grounded Theory of the Clinical Reasoning Processes That RNs and LPNs Use to Recognize Delirium.

PubMed

El Hussein, Mohamed; Hirst, Sandra; Osuji, Joseph

2017-08-01

Delirium is an acute disorder of attention and cognition. It affects half of older adults in acute care settings and is a cause of increasing mortality and costs. Registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs) frequently fail to recognize delirium. The goals of this research were to identify the reasoning processes that RNs and LPNs use to recognize delirium, to compare their reasoning processes, and to generate a theory that explains their clinical reasoning processes. Theoretical sampling was employed to elicit data from 28 participants using grounded theory methodology. Theoretical coding culminated in the emergence of Professional Socialization as the substantive theory. Professional Socialization emerged from participants' responses and was based on two social processes, specifically reasoning to uncover and reasoning to report. Professional Socialization makes explicit the similarities and variations in the clinical reasoning processes between RNs and LPNs and highlights their main concerns when interacting with delirious patients.

Agents That Negotiate Proficiently with People

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kraus, Sarit

Negotiation is a process by which interested parties confer with the aim of reaching agreements. The dissemination of technologies such as the Internet has created opportunities for computer agents to negotiate with people, despite being distributed geographically and in time. The inclusion of people presents novel problems for the design of autonomous agent negotiation strategies. People do not adhere to the optimal, monolithic strategies that can be derived analytically, as is the case in settings comprising computer agents alone. Their negotiation behavior is affected by a multitude of social and psychological factors, such as social attributes that influence negotiation deals (e.g., social welfare, inequity aversion) and traits of individual negotiators (e.g., altruism, trustworthiness, helpfulness). Furthermore, culture plays an important role in their decision making and people of varying cultures differ in the way they make offers and fulfill their commitments in negotiation.

Ventromedial prefrontal cortex damage does not impair the development and use of common ground in social interaction: Implications for cognitive theory of mind

PubMed Central

Gupta, Rupa; Tranel, Daniel; Duff, Melissa C.

2011-01-01

During conversation, interactants draw on their shared communicative context and history (“common ground”) to help decide what to say next, tailoring utterances based on their knowledge of what the listener knows. The use of common ground draws on an understanding of the thoughts and feelings of others to create and update a model of what is known by the other person, employing cognitive processes such as theory of mind. We tested the hypothesis that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), a neural region involved in processing and interpreting social and emotional information, would be critical for the development and use of common ground. We studied seven patients with bilateral vmPFC damage and seven age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy comparison participants, each interacting with a familiar partner. Across 24 trials, participants verbally directed their partners how to arrange a set of 12 abstract tangram cards. Our hypothesis was not supported: the vmPFC and healthy comparison groups showed similar development and use of common ground, evident in reduction in time and words used to describe the cards, similar increases in the use of definite references (e.g., the horse), and comparable use of verbal play (playful language) in their interactions. These results argue against the idea that the vmPFC is critical for the development and use of common ground in social interaction. We propose that a cognitive and neuroanatomical bifurcation in theory of mind processes may explain this outcome. The vmPFC may be important for affective theory of mind (the ability to understand another’s feelings); however, the development and use of common ground in social interaction may place higher demands on the ability to understand another’s knowledge, or cognitive theory of mind, which may not require the vmPFC. PMID:22120006

Children as Agents in Socializing Parents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Devor, Geraldine M.

1970-01-01

Data analysis showed that the majority of mothers were conscious of their children's influence, and that there were no significant differences by race or social class but a strong tendency toward social class differences. (Author)

The Effects of Social Cue Principles on Cognitive Load, Situational Interest, Motivation, and Achievement in Pedagogical Agent Multimedia Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Sanghoon

2015-01-01

Animated pedagogical agents have become popular in multimedia learning with combined delivery of verbal and non-verbal forms of information. In order to reduce unnecessary cognitive load caused by such multiple forms of information and also to foster generative cognitive processing, multimedia design principles with social cues are suggested…

Abolishing coinsurance for oral antihyperglycemic agents: effects on social insurance budgets.

PubMed

Athanasakis, Kostas; Skroumpelos, Anastasis G; Tsiantou, Vassiliki; Milona, Katerina; Kyriopoulos, John

2011-02-01

To assess the effects of abolishing coinsurance for oral antihyperglycemic agents (OAAs) on the social insurance fund budget in Greece. A mathematical model estimating the effect of a decrease in patient coinsurance rate on demand for and adherence to OAAs and the subsequent clinical and economic outcomes. Price elasticity of demand for antidiabetic agents was used to estimate quantity demand change as a result of a coinsurance rate decrease and consequent increased adherence to OAAs. Given the inverse relationship between OAA adherence and glycated hemoglobin (A1C) level, the model calculated the mean decrease in A1C level and associated cost savings based on the cost difference between patients with controlled versus uncontrolled A1C levels. A decrease in patient coinsurance rate from 25% to 0% led to an incremental increase in OAA adherence of 30.5% and a mean decrease in A1C level of 0.6%. The A1C level decrease contributed to an 18.5% "shift" of uncontrolled patients to controlled A1C levels (<7%), which in economic terms translated into savings of 324 euro per patient over a 3-year period and an investment return rate of 122.8%. A series of 1-way and 2-way sensitivity analyses were conducted to verify the robustness and validity of the outcomes. The introduction of policies aimed at abolishing coinsurance for OAAs can result in improved patient outcomes and cost savings for the healthcare system.

A Comparative Toxidrome Analysis of Human Organophosphate and Nerve Agent Poisonings Using Social Media.

PubMed

Reddy, D S; Colman, E

2017-05-01

Here we utilized social media to compare the toxidrome of three lethal chemical exposures worldwide. YouTube videos were the main source from which the data were collected, but published reports and news were also utilized to fill in some gaps. All videos were organized in a database detailing symptoms and severity of each victim, along with demographics such as approximate age and gender. Each symptom was rated as mild, moderate, or severe and corresponding pie graphs for each incident were compared. The videos displayed symptoms ranging from mild to severe cholinergic toxicity and life-threatening convulsions. Social media may represent an important resource in developing a viable approach to the early detection and identification of chemical exposure, reinforce our preparedness for better antidotes, long-term follow up, and training about deadly chemical nerve agent attacks. © 2017 The Authors. Clinical and Translational Science published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

Cultural neuroscience of the self: understanding the social grounding of the brain

PubMed Central

Park, Jiyoung

2010-01-01

Cultural neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field of research that investigates interrelations among culture, mind and the brain. Drawing on both the growing body of scientific evidence on cultural variation in psychological processes and the recent development of social and cognitive neuroscience, this emerging field of research aspires to understand how culture as an amalgam of values, meanings, conventions, and artifacts that constitute daily social realities might interact with the mind and its underlying brain pathways of each individual member of the culture. In this article, following a brief review of studies that demonstrate the surprising degree to which brain processes are malleably shaped by cultural tools and practices, the authors discuss cultural variation in brain processes involved in self-representations, cognition, emotion and motivation. They then propose (i) that primary values of culture such as independence and interdependence are reflected in the compositions of cultural tasks (i.e. daily routines designed to accomplish the cultural values) and further (ii) that active and sustained engagement in these tasks yields culturally patterned neural activities of the brain, thereby laying the ground for the embodied construction of the self and identity. Implications for research on culture and the brain are discussed. PMID:20592042

Construct - A Multi-Agent Network Model for the Co-Evolution of Agents and Socio-Cultural Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-05-01

grounded in structuration theory (Giddens, 1984), social information processing theory (Salancik and Pfeffer, 1978) and symbolic interactionism (Manis...and B. N. Meltzer. Symbolic interaction: A reader in social psychology. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. 1978 Mcpherson, J. M. and L. Smith-Lovin

Pooling the ground: understanding and coordination in collective sense making

PubMed Central

Rączaszek-Leonardi, Joanna; Dębska, Agnieszka; Sochanowicz, Adam

2014-01-01

Common ground is most often understood as the sum of mutually known beliefs, knowledge, and suppositions among the participants in a conversation. It explains why participants do not mention things that should be obvious to both. In some accounts of communication, reaching a mutual understanding, i.e., broadening the common ground, is posed as the ultimate goal of linguistic interactions. Yet, congruent with the more pragmatic views of linguistic behavior, in which language is treated as social coordination, understanding each other is not the purpose (or not the sole purpose) of linguistic interactions. This purpose is seen as at least twofold (e.g., Fusaroli et al., 2014): to maintain the systemic character of a conversing dyad and to organize it into a functional synergy in the face of tasks posed for a dyadic system as a whole. It seems that the notion of common ground is not sufficient to address the latter character of interaction. In situated communication, in which meaning is created in a distributed way in the very process of interaction, both common (sameness) and privileged (diversity) information must be pooled task-dependently across participants. In this paper, we analyze the definitions of common and privileged ground and propose a conceptual extension that may facilitate a theoretical account of agents that coordinate via linguistic communication. To illustrate the usefulness of this augmented framework, we apply it to one of the recurrent issues in psycholinguistic research, namely the problem of perspective-taking in dialog, and draw conclusions for the broader problem of audience design. PMID:25426087

Promoting motivation with virtual agents and avatars: role of visual presence and appearance.

PubMed

Baylor, Amy L

2009-12-12

Anthropomorphic virtual agents can serve as powerful technological mediators to impact motivational outcomes such as self-efficacy and attitude change. Such anthropomorphic agents can be designed as simulated social models in the Bandurian sense, providing social influence as virtual 'role models'. Of particular value is the capacity for designing such agents as optimized social models for a target audience and context. Importantly, the visual presence and appearance of such agents can have a major impact on motivation and affect regardless of the underlying technical sophistication. Empirical results of different instantiations of agent presence and appearance are reviewed for both autonomous virtual agents and avatars that represent a user.

Puzzling the Picture Using Grounded Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bennett, Elisabeth E.

2016-01-01

Since the first publication by Glaser and Strauss in 1967, Grounded Theory has become a highly influential research approach in the social sciences. The approach provides techniques and coding strategies for building theory inductively from the "ground up" as concepts within the data earn relevance into an evolving substantive theory.…

[Reservation forms of plague infectious agent in Tuva natural focus].

PubMed

Bazanova, L P; Innokent'eva, T I

2012-01-01

Data characterizing the reservation forms of plague infectious agent in Tuva natural focus are presented in the review. Yersinia pestis was shown to persist most of the year in Citellophilus tesquorum altaicus imago --the main carrier, getting into the animal organism only for a short time. An increased ability to aggregate in autumn and accumulate in clumps of C. tesquorum altaicus females that are more adapted to survive the cold season compared with males promote the persistence of the microorganism. The plague infectious agent in the altered form survives in the organism of females not only the winter period but also longer periods of time that is demonstrated by the facts of detection of it after 646 days of staying in the carrier. Moreover Yersinia pestis can persist for more than 400 days in the substrate of the nest of long-tailed ground squirrel infected by excrements and corpses of plague fleas. The substrate of the nest infected in summer-autumn period of the previous year may determine the primary infection of ground squirrels by plague infectious agent in the next epizootic season. On ground squirrels infected during contact with nest substrate, infection of intact fleas may be possible, and so the initiation of a new cycle of transmission of the infectious agent. Adaptation of the plague infectious agent to unfavorable existence conditions in the carrier is expressed in the changes of its morphology and ultrastructure that is evidenced by the facts of isolation of the infectious agent from corpses of fleas situated in the substrate, in the L-form, as well as results of phase-contrast and electron microscopy of the digestive tract of C. tesquorum altaicus.

An Empirical Agent-Based Model to Simulate the Adoption of Water Reuse Using the Social Amplification of Risk Framework.

PubMed

Kandiah, Venu; Binder, Andrew R; Berglund, Emily Z

2017-10-01

Water reuse can serve as a sustainable alternative water source for urban areas. However, the successful implementation of large-scale water reuse projects depends on community acceptance. Because of the negative perceptions that are traditionally associated with reclaimed water, water reuse is often not considered in the development of urban water management plans. This study develops a simulation model for understanding community opinion dynamics surrounding the issue of water reuse, and how individual perceptions evolve within that context, which can help in the planning and decision-making process. Based on the social amplification of risk framework, our agent-based model simulates consumer perceptions, discussion patterns, and their adoption or rejection of water reuse. The model is based on the "risk publics" model, an empirical approach that uses the concept of belief clusters to explain the adoption of new technology. Each household is represented as an agent, and parameters that define their behavior and attributes are defined from survey data. Community-level parameters-including social groups, relationships, and communication variables, also from survey data-are encoded to simulate the social processes that influence community opinion. The model demonstrates its capabilities to simulate opinion dynamics and consumer adoption of water reuse. In addition, based on empirical data, the model is applied to investigate water reuse behavior in different regions of the United States. Importantly, our results reveal that public opinion dynamics emerge differently based on membership in opinion clusters, frequency of discussion, and the structure of social networks. © 2017 Society for Risk Analysis.

Experience Using Formal Methods for Specifying a Multi-Agent System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rouff, Christopher; Rash, James; Hinchey, Michael; Szczur, Martha R. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

The process and results of using formal methods to specify the Lights Out Ground Operations System (LOGOS) is presented in this paper. LOGOS is a prototype multi-agent system developed to show the feasibility of providing autonomy to satellite ground operations functions at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). After the initial implementation of LOGOS the development team decided to use formal methods to check for race conditions, deadlocks and omissions. The specification exercise revealed several omissions as well as race conditions. After completing the specification, the team concluded that certain tools would have made the specification process easier. This paper gives a sample specification of two of the agents in the LOGOS system and examples of omissions and race conditions found. It concludes with describing an architecture of tools that would better support the future specification of agents and other concurrent systems.

The Role of Legitimation in the Professional Socialization of Second-Year Undergraduate Athletic Training Students

PubMed Central

Klossner, Joanne

2008-01-01

Context: Professional socialization during formal educational preparation can help students learn professional roles and can lead to improved organizational socialization as students emerge as members of the occupation's culture. Professional socialization research in athletic training is limited. Objective: To present the role of legitimation and how it influences the professional socialization of second-year athletic training students. Design: Modified constructivist grounded theory and case study methods were used for this qualitative study. Setting: An accredited undergraduate athletic training education program. Patients or Other Participants: Twelve second-year students were selected purposively. The primary sample group (n  =  4) was selected according to theoretical sampling guidelines. The remaining students made up the cohort sample (n  =  8). Theoretically relevant data were gathered from 14 clinical instructors to clarify emergent student data. Data Collection and Analysis: Data collection included document examination, observations, and interviews during 1 academic semester. Data were collected and analyzed through constant comparative analysis. Data triangulation, member checking, and peer-review strategies were used to ensure trustworthiness. Results: Legitimation from various socializing agents initiated professional socialization. Students viewed trust and team membership as rewards for role fulfillment. Conclusions: My findings are consistent with the socialization literature that shows how learning a social or professional role, using rewards to facilitate role performance, and building trusting relationships with socializing agents are important aspects of legitimation and, ultimately, professional socialization. PMID:18668171

The shaping of social perception by stimulus and knowledge cues to human animacy

PubMed Central

Ramsey, Richard; Liepelt, Roman; Prinz, Wolfgang; Hamilton, Antonia F. de C.

2016-01-01

Although robots are becoming an ever-growing presence in society, we do not hold the same expectations for robots as we do for humans, nor do we treat them the same. As such, the ability to recognize cues to human animacy is fundamental for guiding social interactions. We review literature that demonstrates cortical networks associated with person perception, action observation and mentalizing are sensitive to human animacy information. In addition, we show that most prior research has explored stimulus properties of artificial agents (humanness of appearance or motion), with less investigation into knowledge cues (whether an agent is believed to have human or artificial origins). Therefore, currently little is known about the relationship between stimulus and knowledge cues to human animacy in terms of cognitive and brain mechanisms. Using fMRI, an elaborate belief manipulation, and human and robot avatars, we found that knowledge cues to human animacy modulate engagement of person perception and mentalizing networks, while stimulus cues to human animacy had less impact on social brain networks. These findings demonstrate that self–other similarities are not only grounded in physical features but are also shaped by prior knowledge. More broadly, as artificial agents fulfil increasingly social roles, a challenge for roboticists will be to manage the impact of pre-conceived beliefs while optimizing human-like design. PMID:26644594

The shaping of social perception by stimulus and knowledge cues to human animacy.

PubMed

Cross, Emily S; Ramsey, Richard; Liepelt, Roman; Prinz, Wolfgang; de C Hamilton, Antonia F

2016-01-19

Although robots are becoming an ever-growing presence in society, we do not hold the same expectations for robots as we do for humans, nor do we treat them the same. As such, the ability to recognize cues to human animacy is fundamental for guiding social interactions. We review literature that demonstrates cortical networks associated with person perception, action observation and mentalizing are sensitive to human animacy information. In addition, we show that most prior research has explored stimulus properties of artificial agents (humanness of appearance or motion), with less investigation into knowledge cues (whether an agent is believed to have human or artificial origins). Therefore, currently little is known about the relationship between stimulus and knowledge cues to human animacy in terms of cognitive and brain mechanisms. Using fMRI, an elaborate belief manipulation, and human and robot avatars, we found that knowledge cues to human animacy modulate engagement of person perception and mentalizing networks, while stimulus cues to human animacy had less impact on social brain networks. These findings demonstrate that self-other similarities are not only grounded in physical features but are also shaped by prior knowledge. More broadly, as artificial agents fulfil increasingly social roles, a challenge for roboticists will be to manage the impact of pre-conceived beliefs while optimizing human-like design. © 2015 The Authors.

Knowledge Management in Role Based Agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kır, Hüseyin; Ekinci, Erdem Eser; Dikenelli, Oguz

In multi-agent system literature, the role concept is getting increasingly researched to provide an abstraction to scope beliefs, norms, goals of agents and to shape relationships of the agents in the organization. In this research, we propose a knowledgebase architecture to increase applicability of roles in MAS domain by drawing inspiration from the self concept in the role theory of sociology. The proposed knowledgebase architecture has granulated structure that is dynamically organized according to the agent's identification in a social environment. Thanks to this dynamic structure, agents are enabled to work on consistent knowledge in spite of inevitable conflicts between roles and the agent. The knowledgebase architecture is also implemented and incorporated into the SEAGENT multi-agent system development framework.

Feasibility study of launch vehicle ground cloud neutralization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vanderarend, P. C.; Stoy, S. T.; Kranyecz, T. E.

1976-01-01

The distribution of hydrogen chloride in the cloud was analyzed as a function of launch pad geometry and rate of rise of the vehicle during the first 24 sec of burn in order to define neutralization requirements. Delivery systems of various types were developed in order to bring the proposed chemical agents in close contact with the hydrogen chloride. Approximately one-third of the total neutralizing agent required can be delivered from a ground installed system at the launch pad; concentrated sodium carbonate solution is the preferred choice of agent for this launch pad system. Two-thirds of the neutralization requirement appears to need delivery by aircraft. Only one chemical agent (ammonia) may be reasonably considered for delivery by aircraft, because weight and bulk of all other agents are too large.

Unravelling variation in feeding, social interaction and growth patterns among pigs using an agent-based model.

PubMed

Boumans, Iris J M M; de Boer, Imke J M; Hofstede, Gert Jan; Bokkers, Eddie A M

2018-07-01

Domesticated pigs, Sus scrofa, vary considerably in feeding, social interaction and growth patterns. This variation originates partly from genetic variation that affects physiological factors and partly from behavioural strategies (avoid or approach) in competitive food resource situations. Currently, it is unknown how variation in physiological factors and in behavioural strategies among animals contributes to variation in feeding, social interaction and growth patterns in animals. The aim of this study was to unravel causation of variation in these patterns among pigs. We used an agent-based model to explore the effects of physiological factors and behavioural strategies in pigs on variation in feeding, social interaction and growth patterns. Model results show that variation in feeding, social interaction and growth patterns are caused partly by chance, such as time effects and coincidence of conflicts. Furthermore, results show that seemingly contradictory empirical findings in literature can be explained by variation in pig characteristics (i.e. growth potential, positive feedback, dominance, and coping style). Growth potential mainly affected feeding and growth patterns, whereas positive feedback, dominance and coping style affected feeding patterns, social interaction patterns, as well as growth patterns. Variation in behavioural strategies among pigs can reduce aggression at group level, but also make some pigs more susceptible to social constraints inhibiting them from feeding when they want to, especially low-ranking pigs and pigs with a passive coping style. Variation in feeding patterns, such as feeding rate or meal frequency, can indicate social constraints. Feeding patterns, however, can say something different about social constraints at group versus individual level. A combination of feeding patterns, such as a decreased feed intake, an increased feeding rate, and an increased meal frequency might, therefore, be needed to measure social constraints

Support for the reproductive ground plan hypothesis of social evolution and major QTL for ovary traits of Africanized worker honey bees (Apis mellifera L.)

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The reproductive ground plan hypothesis of social evolution suggests that reproductive controls of a solitary ancestor have been co-opted during social evolution, facilitating the division of labor among social insect workers. Despite substantial empirical support, the generality of this hypothesis is not universally accepted. Thus, we investigated the prediction of particular genes with pleiotropic effects on ovarian traits and social behavior in worker honey bees as a stringent test of the reproductive ground plan hypothesis. We complemented these tests with a comprehensive genome scan for additional quantitative trait loci (QTL) to gain a better understanding of the genetic architecture of the ovary size of honey bee workers, a morphological trait that is significant for understanding social insect caste evolution and general insect biology. Results Back-crossing hybrid European x Africanized honey bee queens to the Africanized parent colony generated two study populations with extraordinarily large worker ovaries. Despite the transgressive ovary phenotypes, several previously mapped QTL for social foraging behavior demonstrated ovary size effects, confirming the prediction of pleiotropic genetic effects on reproductive traits and social behavior. One major QTL for ovary size was detected in each backcross, along with several smaller effects and two QTL for ovary asymmetry. One of the main ovary size QTL coincided with a major QTL for ovary activation, explaining 3/4 of the phenotypic variance, although no simple positive correlation between ovary size and activation was observed. Conclusions Our results provide strong support for the reproductive ground plan hypothesis of evolution in study populations that are independent of the genetic stocks that originally led to the formulation of this hypothesis. As predicted, worker ovary size is genetically linked to multiple correlated traits of the complex division of labor in worker honey bees, known as

[The actual Russian legislation in sphere of turn-over of drug agents and psychotropic substances].

PubMed

Abramov, A Yu; Kosolapova, N V; Mikhaiylova, Yu V

2014-01-01

The drug abuse is a social occurrence. Hence, the social economic methods are the first of all means of combating this evil. At the same time, measures of especially juridical character possess significant value since they develop corresponding legal base for applying another measures. In the Russian Federation, during fifteen years the new policy of public regulation and normative legal base in the area of legal turn-over of drug agents, psychotropic substances and their precursors were developed factually from zero ground. However, the current national legislation is not deprived of some flaws and contradictions. Frequently a uniform practice of interpretation and application of legal rules regulating the controlled turn-over is lacking. On the one hand, this circumstance decreases effectiveness of action of such rules and on the other hand favors development of situations for outflow of pharmaceuticals from legal turn-over to illegal traffic. The becoming of the Russian legislation in the area of turn-over of drug agents, precursors and psychotropic substances relates to the period of late 1990s when the Federal Law No 3 FZ "On drug agents and psychotropic substances" of January 8 1998 was developed and passed by the State Duma of the Russian Federation. The given law completely conforms to principles of legal regulation of turn-over of drug agents and psychotropic substances determined by the Constitution of the Russian Federation (provisions 76, 90, 104, 105) and federal laws ("On the government of the Russian Federation" of December 17 1997, "On the ombudsman in the Russian Federation" of February 26 1997). The main characteristic of legal rules included into given group of sources of law is that they contain regulations of general disposition as basic ones for inferior sources of law. The analysis of basic Federal law No 3 FZ "On drug agents and psychotropic substances" of January 8 1998 makes it possible to conclude that in in Russia the international legal

Software for Automation of Real-Time Agents, Version 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fisher, Forest; Estlin, Tara; Gaines, Daniel; Schaffer, Steve; Chouinard, Caroline; Engelhardt, Barbara; Wilklow, Colette; Mutz, Darren; Knight, Russell; Rabideau, Gregg;

Preparing Students for Future Learning with Teachable Agents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chin, Doris B.; Dohmen, Ilsa M.; Cheng, Britte H.; Oppezzo, Marily A.; Chase, Catherine C.; Schwartz, Daniel L.

2010-01-01

One valuable goal of instructional technologies in K-12 education is to prepare students for future learning. Two classroom studies examined whether Teachable Agents (TA) achieves this goal. TA is an instructional technology that draws on the social metaphor of teaching a computer agent to help students learn. Students teach their agent by…

Fostering Resilience: Protective Agents, Resources, and Mechanisms for Adolescent Refugees’ Psychosocial Well-Being

PubMed Central

Weine, Stevan Merrill; Ware, Norma; Hakizimana, Leonce; Tugenberg, Toni; Currie, Madeleine; Dahnweih, Gonwo; Wagner, Maureen; Polutnik, Chloe; Wulu, Jacqueline

2014-01-01

Background Adolescent refugees face many challenges but also have the potential to become resilient. The purpose of this study was to identify and characterize the protective agents, resources, and mechanisms that promote their psychosocial well-being. Methods Participants included a purposively sampled group of 73 Burundian and Liberian refugee adolescents and their families who had recently resettled in Boston and Chicago. The adolescents, families, and their service providers participated in a two-year longitudinal study using ethnographic methods and grounded theory analysis with Atlas/ti software. A grounded theory model was developed which describes those persons or entities who act to protect adolescents (Protective Agents), their capacities for doing so (Protective Resources), and how they do it (Protective Mechanisms). Protective agents are the individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that can contribute either directly or indirectly to promoting adolescent refugees’ psychosocial well-being. Protective resources are the family and community capacities that can promote psychosocial well-being in adolescent refugees. Protective mechanisms are the processes fostering adolescent refugees’ competencies and behaviors that can promote their psychosocial well-being. Results Eight family and community capacities were identified that appeared to promote psychosocial well-being in the adolescent refugees. These included 1) finances for necessities; 2) English proficiency; 3) social support networks; 4) engaged parenting; 5) family cohesion; 6) cultural adherence and guidance; 7) educational support; and 8) faith and religious involvement. Nine protective mechanisms identified were identified and grouped into three categories: 1) Relational (supporting, connecting, belonging); 2) Informational (informing, preparing), and; 3) Developmental (defending, promoting, adapting). Conclusions To further promote the psychosocial well-being of adolescent refugees

Uses of Agent-Based Modeling for Health Communication: the TELL ME Case Study.

PubMed

Barbrook-Johnson, Peter; Badham, Jennifer; Gilbert, Nigel

2017-08-01

Government communication is an important management tool during a public health crisis, but understanding its impact is difficult. Strategies may be adjusted in reaction to developments on the ground and it is challenging to evaluate the impact of communication separately from other crisis management activities. Agent-based modeling is a well-established research tool in social science to respond to similar challenges. However, there have been few such models in public health. We use the example of the TELL ME agent-based model to consider ways in which a non-predictive policy model can assist policy makers. This model concerns individuals' protective behaviors in response to an epidemic, and the communication that influences such behavior. Drawing on findings from stakeholder workshops and the results of the model itself, we suggest such a model can be useful: (i) as a teaching tool, (ii) to test theory, and (iii) to inform data collection. We also plot a path for development of similar models that could assist with communication planning for epidemics.

Social Communication is an Emerging Target for Pharmacotherapy in Autism Spectrum Disorder - A Review of the Literature on Potential Agents.

PubMed

Baribeau, Danielle A; Anagnostou, Evdokia

2014-02-01

To review the published literature and registered clinical trials on pharmacologic interventions targeting social communication impairment in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A comprehensive search of several databases (PubMed, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Clinical trials.gov) was conducted to identify pharmacologic agents that have been, or will be, tested as treatments for social communication impairment in individuals with ASD. Evidence from basic science research supporting rational drug discovery is surveyed. Data from animal models and early clinical trials suggest that novel and existing compounds, including N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) modulators, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) agonists, metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) antagonists and neuropeptides, may enhance social communication/function in ASD. Results from numerous Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials are expected in the near future. Recent evidence suggests that social communication may be an appropriate target for pharmacologic manipulation. It is hoped that, in combination with behavioural interventions, novel therapeutics may soon be clinically available to help improve social outcomes.

A Brush with Research: Teaching Grounded Theory in the Art and Design Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Compton, Mike; Barrett, Sean

2016-01-01

Grounded Theory is a systematic approach to social research that allows for new concepts and theories to emerge from gathered data, as opposed to relying on either established theory or personal conjecture to interpret social processes. Although Grounded Theory is a well-known method within social science literature, it is relatively unknown in…

A Micro-Level Data-Calibrated Agent-Based Model: The Synergy between Microsimulation and Agent-Based Modeling.

PubMed

Singh, Karandeep; Ahn, Chang-Won; Paik, Euihyun; Bae, Jang Won; Lee, Chun-Hee

2018-01-01

Artificial life (ALife) examines systems related to natural life, its processes, and its evolution, using simulations with computer models, robotics, and biochemistry. In this article, we focus on the computer modeling, or "soft," aspects of ALife and prepare a framework for scientists and modelers to be able to support such experiments. The framework is designed and built to be a parallel as well as distributed agent-based modeling environment, and does not require end users to have expertise in parallel or distributed computing. Furthermore, we use this framework to implement a hybrid model using microsimulation and agent-based modeling techniques to generate an artificial society. We leverage this artificial society to simulate and analyze population dynamics using Korean population census data. The agents in this model derive their decisional behaviors from real data (microsimulation feature) and interact among themselves (agent-based modeling feature) to proceed in the simulation. The behaviors, interactions, and social scenarios of the agents are varied to perform an analysis of population dynamics. We also estimate the future cost of pension policies based on the future population structure of the artificial society. The proposed framework and model demonstrates how ALife techniques can be used by researchers in relation to social issues and policies.

A Revolutionary Approach for the Development of Future Ground Combat System Specifications

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-01

35 B. PHYSICAL PROPERTIES FOR BLUE AGENTS .............................. 38 1. Bradley M2A3 ...available, Wikipedia. B. PHYSICAL PROPERTIES FOR BLUE AGENTS 1. Bradley M2A3 The main ground combat vehicle for the scenario is the Bradley M2A3 ...Total Men Men per Agent MANA Agents 4 x Bradley M2A3 12 3 4 4 x Bradley infantry 28 1 28 Platoon Abrams SEP M1A2 16 4 4 2 x AH64-D attack

Advancing adolescent maternal development: a grounded theory.

PubMed

Atkinson, Leah D; Peden-McAlpine, Cynthia J

2014-01-01

This paper reports a substantive grounded theory called the theory of Advancing Adolescent Maternal Development. A grounded theory approach was used. Thirty public health nurses working with adolescent clients in a state public health nurse home visiting program volunteered to participate in this study. The basic social psychological problem that emerged from the data was incomplete and at risk adolescent maternal development. Social support and public health nursing interventions are central in the problem resolution process which occurs in stages. Study results can be used to inform the nursing care of pregnant and parenting adolescents. © 2014.

7 CFR 400.405 - Agent and loss adjuster responsibilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Agent and loss adjuster responsibilities. 400.405... Regulations; Collection and Storage of Social Security Account Numbers and Employer Identification Numbers § 400.405 Agent and loss adjuster responsibilities. (a) The agent or loss adjuster shall provide his or...

Social Intelligence in a Human-Machine Collaboration System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakajima, Hiroshi; Morishima, Yasunori; Yamada, Ryota; Brave, Scott; Maldonado, Heidy; Nass, Clifford; Kawaji, Shigeyasu

In this information society of today, it is often argued that it is necessary to create a new way of human-machine interaction. In this paper, an agent with social response capabilities has been developed to achieve this goal. There are two kinds of information that is exchanged by two entities: objective and functional information (e.g., facts, requests, states of matters, etc.) and subjective information (e.g., feelings, sense of relationship, etc.). Traditional interactive systems have been designed to handle the former kind of information. In contrast, in this study social agents handling the latter type of information are presented. The current study focuses on sociality of the agent from the view point of Media Equation theory. This article discusses the definition, importance, and benefits of social intelligence as agent technology and argues that social intelligence has a potential to enhance the user's perception of the system, which in turn can lead to improvements of the system's performance. In order to implement social intelligence in the agent, a mind model has been developed to render affective expressions and personality of the agent. The mind model has been implemented in a human-machine collaborative learning system. One differentiating feature of the collaborative learning system is that it has an agent that performs as a co-learner with which the user interacts during the learning session. The mind model controls the social behaviors of the agent, thus making it possible for the user to have more social interactions with the agent. The experiment with the system suggested that a greater degree of learning was achieved when the students worked with the co-learner agent and that the co-learner agent with the mind model that expressed emotions resulted in a more positive attitude toward the system.

Social Cognition Unbound: Insights Into Anthropomorphism and Dehumanization.

PubMed

Waytz, Adam; Epley, Nicholas; Cacioppo, John T

2010-02-01

People conceive of wrathful gods, fickle computers, and selfish genes, attributing human characteristics to a variety of supernatural, technological, and biological agents. This tendency to anthropomorphize nonhuman agents figures prominently in domains ranging from religion to marketing to computer science. Perceiving an agent to be humanlike has important implications for whether the agent is capable of social influence, accountable for its actions, and worthy of moral care and consideration. Three primary factors-elicited agent knowledge, sociality motivation, and effectance motivation-appear to account for a significant amount of variability in anthropomorphism. Identifying these factors that lead people to see nonhuman agents as humanlike also sheds light on the inverse process of dehumanization, whereby people treat human agents as animals or objects. Understanding anthropomorphism can contribute to a more expansive view of social cognition that applies social psychological theory to a wide variety of both human and nonhuman agents.

Social Cognition Unbound: Insights Into Anthropomorphism and Dehumanization

PubMed Central

Waytz, Adam; Epley, Nicholas; Cacioppo, John T.

2014-01-01

People conceive of wrathful gods, fickle computers, and selfish genes, attributing human characteristics to a variety of supernatural, technological, and biological agents. This tendency to anthropomorphize nonhuman agents figures prominently in domains ranging from religion to marketing to computer science. Perceiving an agent to be humanlike has important implications for whether the agent is capable of social influence, accountable for its actions, and worthy of moral care and consideration. Three primary factors—elicited agent knowledge, sociality motivation, and effectance motivation—appear to account for a significant amount of variability in anthropomorphism. Identifying these factors that lead people to see nonhuman agents as humanlike also sheds light on the inverse process of dehumanization, whereby people treat human agents as animals or objects. Understanding anthropomorphism can contribute to a more expansive view of social cognition that applies social psychological theory to a wide variety of both human and nonhuman agents. PMID:24839358

Cognitive, cultural, and linguistic sources of a handshape distinction expressing agentivity.

PubMed

Brentari, Diane; Di Renzo, Alessio; Keane, Jonathan; Volterra, Virginia

2015-01-01

In this paper the cognitive, cultural, and linguistic bases for a pattern of conventionalization of two types of iconic handshapes are described. Work on sign languages has shown that handling handshapes (H-HSs: those that represent how objects are handled or manipulated) and object handshapes (O-HSs: those that represent the class, size, or shape of objects) express an agentive/non-agentive semantic distinction in many sign languages. H-HSs are used in agentive event descriptions and O-HSs are used in non-agentive event descriptions. In this work, American Sign Language (ASL) and Italian Sign Language (LIS) productions are compared (adults and children) as well as the corresponding groups of gesturers in each country using "silent gesture." While the gesture groups, in general, did not employ an H-HS/O-HS distinction, all participants (signers and gesturers) used iconic handshapes (H-HSs and O-HSs together) more often in agentive than in no-agent event descriptions; moreover, none of the subjects produced an opposite pattern than the expected one (i.e., H-HSs associated with no-agent descriptions and O-HSs associated with agentive ones). These effects are argued to be grounded in cognition. In addition, some individual gesturers were observed to produce the H-HS/O-HS opposition for agentive and non-agentive event descriptions-that is, more Italian than American adult gesturers. This effect is argued to be grounded in culture. Finally, the agentive/non-agentive handshape opposition is confirmed for signers of ASL and LIS, but previously unreported cross-linguistic differences were also found across both adult and child sign groups. It is, therefore, concluded that cognitive, cultural, and linguistic factors contribute to the conventionalization of this distinction of handshape type. Copyright © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Agent-Based Models in Empirical Social Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bruch, Elizabeth; Atwell, Jon

2015-01-01

Agent-based modeling has become increasingly popular in recent years, but there is still no codified set of recommendations or practices for how to use these models within a program of empirical research. This article provides ideas and practical guidelines drawn from sociology, biology, computer science, epidemiology, and statistics. We first…

The social ecology of resolving family conflict among West African immigrants in New York: a grounded theory approach.

PubMed

Rasmussen, Andrew; Chu, Tracy; Akinsulure-Smith, Adeyinka M; Keatley, Eva

2013-09-01

The current study employs a grounded theory approach to examine West African immigrants' resolution of parent-child conflict and intimate partner conflict. Data from 59 participants present an interactive social ecological framework, where a lack of resolution at one level results in attempts to resolve problems at higher levels. Four levels are identified within West African immigrants' problem solving ecology, each with specific actors in positions of authority: individual/dyadic (parents and spouses), extended family (which includes distant relatives and relatives living in home countries), community leadership (non-family elders and religious leaders), and state authorities. From participants' descriptions of family challenges emerged a picture of a social ecology in flux, with traditional, socially conservative modes of resolving family conflict transposed across migration into the more liberal and state-oriented familial context of the United States. This transposition results in a loss spiral for the traditional social ecology, differentially affecting individual actors within families. Implications for helping professionals working with new immigrant communities include identifying variability in openness to adapting structures that are not working well (e.g., patriarchal protection of abusive husbands) and supporting structures known to be associated with well being (e.g., collective monitoring of youth).

Ground-water flow and the potential effects of remediation at Graces Quarters, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland

USGS Publications Warehouse

Tenbus, F.J.; Fleck, W.B.

1996-01-01

Ground water in the east-central part of Graces Quarters, a former open-air chemical-agent test facility at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is contaminated with chlorinated volatile organic compounds. The U.S. Geological Survey's finite- difference model was used to help understand ground-water flow and simulate the effects of alternative remedial actions to clean up the ground water. Scenarios to simulate unstressed conditions and three extraction well con- figurations were used to compare alternative remedial actions on the contaminant plume. The scenarios indicate that contaminants could migrate from their present location to wetland areas within 10 years under unstressed conditions. Pumping 7 gal/min (gallons per minute) from one well upgradient of the plume will not result in containment or removal of the highest contaminant concentrations. Pumping 7 gal/min from three wells along the central axis of the plume should result in containment and removal of dissolved contami- nants, as should pumping 7 gal/min from three wells at the leading edge of the plume while injecting 7 gal/min back into an upgradient well.

Adolescents' Financial Literacy: The Role of Financial Socialization Agents, Financial Experiences, and Money Attitudes in Shaping Financial Literacy among South Korean Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sohn, Sang-Hee; Joo, So-Hyun; Grable, John E.; Lee, Seonglim; Kim, Minjeung

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to test the relationships between financial socialization agents, financial experiences, money attitudes, demographic characteristics, and the financial literacy of Korean adolescents. Using the 2006 Korean National Financial Literacy Test Survey for Adolescents (N = 1185), a series of regression analyses were…

Analysis of Food Hub Commerce and Participation Using Agent-Based Modeling: Integrating Financial and Social Drivers.

PubMed

Krejci, Caroline C; Stone, Richard T; Dorneich, Michael C; Gilbert, Stephen B

2016-02-01

Factors influencing long-term viability of an intermediated regional food supply network (food hub) were modeled using agent-based modeling techniques informed by interview data gathered from food hub participants. Previous analyses of food hub dynamics focused primarily on financial drivers rather than social factors and have not used mathematical models. Based on qualitative and quantitative data gathered from 22 customers and 11 vendors at a midwestern food hub, an agent-based model (ABM) was created with distinct consumer personas characterizing the range of consumer priorities. A comparison study determined if the ABM behaved differently than a model based on traditional economic assumptions. Further simulation studies assessed the effect of changes in parameters, such as producer reliability and the consumer profiles, on long-term food hub sustainability. The persona-based ABM model produced different and more resilient results than the more traditional way of modeling consumers. Reduced producer reliability significantly reduced trade; in some instances, a modest reduction in reliability threatened the sustainability of the system. Finally, a modest increase in price-driven consumers at the outset of the simulation quickly resulted in those consumers becoming a majority of the overall customer base. Results suggest that social factors, such as desire to support the community, can be more important than financial factors. An ABM of food hub dynamics, based on human factors data gathered from the field, can be a useful tool for policy decisions. Similar approaches can be used for modeling customer dynamics with other sustainable organizations. © 2015, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Young Children's Understanding of Cultural Common Ground

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liebal, Kristin; Carpenter, Malinda; Tomasello, Michael

2013-01-01

Human social interaction depends on individuals identifying the common ground they have with others, based both on personally shared experiences and on cultural common ground that all members of the group share. We introduced 3- and 5-year-old children to a culturally well-known object and a novel object. An experimenter then entered and asked,…

The Social Side of School: Why Teachers Need Social Psychology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gehlbach, Hunter

2010-01-01

Teaching and learning are fundamentally social enterprises. In attempting to understand, explain, and predict social behavior, social psychologists have amassed scores of empirically grounded, fundamental principles. Yet, many such principles have yet to be applied to classrooms despite the social nature of these settings. This article illustrates…

Emergence of metapopulations and echo chambers in mobile agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Starnini, Michele; Frasca, Mattia; Baronchelli, Andrea

2016-08-01

Multi-agent models often describe populations segregated either in the physical space, i.e. subdivided in metapopulations, or in the ecology of opinions, i.e. partitioned in echo chambers. Here we show how both kinds of segregation can emerge from the interplay between homophily and social influence in a simple model of mobile agents endowed with a continuous opinion variable. In the model, physical proximity determines a progressive convergence of opinions but differing opinions result in agents moving away from each others. This feedback between mobility and social dynamics determines the onset of a stable dynamical metapopulation scenario where physically separated groups of like-minded individuals interact with each other through the exchange of agents. The further introduction of confirmation bias in social interactions, defined as the tendency of an individual to favor opinions that match his own, leads to the emergence of echo chambers where different opinions coexist also within the same group. We believe that the model may be of interest to researchers investigating the origin of segregation in the offline and online world.

Emotional Multiagent Reinforcement Learning in Spatial Social Dilemmas.

PubMed

Yu, Chao; Zhang, Minjie; Ren, Fenghui; Tan, Guozhen

2015-12-01

Social dilemmas have attracted extensive interest in the research of multiagent systems in order to study the emergence of cooperative behaviors among selfish agents. Understanding how agents can achieve cooperation in social dilemmas through learning from local experience is a critical problem that has motivated researchers for decades. This paper investigates the possibility of exploiting emotions in agent learning in order to facilitate the emergence of cooperation in social dilemmas. In particular, the spatial version of social dilemmas is considered to study the impact of local interactions on the emergence of cooperation in the whole system. A double-layered emotional multiagent reinforcement learning framework is proposed to endow agents with internal cognitive and emotional capabilities that can drive these agents to learn cooperative behaviors. Experimental results reveal that various network topologies and agent heterogeneities have significant impacts on agent learning behaviors in the proposed framework, and under certain circumstances, high levels of cooperation can be achieved among the agents.

Avatars, Pedagogical Agents, and Virtual Environments: Social Learning Systems Online

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ausburn, Lynna J.; Martens, Jon; Dotterer, Gary; Calhoun, Pat

2009-01-01

This paper presents a review of literature that introduces major concepts and issues in using avatars and pedagogical agents in first- and second-person virtual environments (VEs) for learning online. In these VEs, avatars and pedagogical agents represent self and other learners/participants or serve as personal learning "guides". The…

Social Action: A Mandate for Counselors.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Courtland C., Ed.; Walz, Garry R., Ed.

An increasing number of counselors are becoming agents of social change. Ways in which counselors can enter the arena of social transformation are described in this collection of 18 articles. Following an introduction: (1) "Counselors as Agents of Social Change"--Part I, which focuses on promoting diversity and challenging oppression,…

Investigations Into Internal and External Aspects of Dynamic Agent-Environment Couplings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dautenhahn, Kerstin

This paper originates from my work on `social agents'. An issue which I consider important to this kind of research is the dynamic coupling of an agent with its social and non-social environment. I hypothesize `internal dynamics' inside an agent as a basic step towards understanding. The paper therefore focuses on the internal and external dynamics which couple an agent to its environment. The issue of embodiment in animals and artifacts and its relation to `social dynamics' is discussed first. I argue that embodiment is linked to a concept of a body and is not necessarily given when running a control program on robot hardware. I stress the individual characteristics of an embodied cognitive system, as well as its social embeddedness. I outline the framework of a physical-psychological state space which changes dynamically in a self-modifying way as a holistic approach towards embodied human and artificial cognition. This framework is meant to discuss internal and external dynamics of an embodied, natural or artificial agent. In order to stress the importance of a dynamic memory I introduce the concept of an `autobiographical agent'. The second part of the paper gives an example of the implementation of a physical agent, a robot, which is dynamically coupled to its environment by balancing on a seesaw. For the control of the robot a behavior-oriented approach using the dynamical systems metaphor is used. The problem is studied through building a complete and co-adapted robot-environment system. A seesaw which varies its orientation with one or two degrees of freedom is used as the artificial `habitat'. The problem of stabilizing the body axis by active motion on a seesaw is solved by using two inclination sensors and a parallel, behavior-oriented control architecture. Some experiments are described which demonstrate the exploitation of the dynamics of the robot-environment system.

The experiences of young Korean immigrants: a grounded theory of negotiating social, cultural, and generational boundaries.

PubMed

Kim, Sun Seog

2004-01-01

The experiences of young Korean immigrants in the U.S. were explored through in-depth interviews with 19 participants. The research method employed was Grounded Theory whereby data collection and analysis were conducted concurrently. Study findings indicated that the young immigrants engaged in the process of negotiating social, cultural, and generational boundaries in order to adapt in the new country. Several structural and personal factors were identified as salient conditions of the process. These findings will help health care professionals have a better understanding of how young immigrants adapt in their new environment and what structural and personal conditions play a main role in this adaptation.

The Secret Agent Society Social-Emotional Skills Program for Children with a High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Parent-Directed Trial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sofronoff, Kate; Silva, Jenni; Beaumont, Renae

2017-01-01

This study evaluated a parent-delivered social and emotional skills intervention--the Secret Agent Society (SAS) for children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HF-ASD). The study was a pre-post follow-up design with an 8-week baseline period and 6-week follow-up period. Participants were 38 parents and 41 children recruited from…

Practice among Novice Change Agents in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blossing, Ulf

2016-01-01

The aim of the article is to understand practice as negotiation of meaning among novice and internal change agents in school organisations. The research question is as follows: What themes of participation and reification/management occur among the change agents? The study was qualitative in design using the social learning theory of community of…

Social life aspects of young adults with cleft lip and palate: grounded theory approach.

PubMed

Chetpakdeechit, Woranuch; Hallberg, Ulrika; Hagberg, Catharina; Mohlin, Bengt

2009-01-01

The findings of many questionnaire and inventory studies suggest that people with cleft lip and/or palate report a decreased quality of life. Common problems include dissatisfaction with the external appearance of the lips and nose, speech problems, depression, and anxiety. This qualitative study aimed to explore the subjective perceptions and values of young adults with clefts, particularly with regard to their social lives. Twelve persons participated in an in-depth interview. Among those, seven had a repaired isolated cleft palate involving only the hard/soft palate. Five had a repaired bilateral cleft lip and palate that had been a continuous lesion of the lip, the alveolar process, and the palate. A grounded theory approach was used to conduct and analyze the interviews. The study revealed seven important categories--hoping to be like other people, being treated differently from others, experiencing deviation from others, regarding oneself as being different from others, lack of recognition, low self-esteem, and receiving recognition from significant others--with hoping to be like other people as the core category. Young adults with either cleft lip and palate or isolated cleft palate who received recognition from significant others reported increased self-esteem and greater ability to cope with their social lives.

Political Socialization.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Himmelweit, Hilde T.

1983-01-01

Described are two longitudinal studies, one British, the other American, which examined the influences of varied socializing agents--e.g., family, school, peer groups--on voting behavior. The studies emphasized the hitherto unappreciated importance of the political, social, and economic climate of society and its changes on socialization. (CS)

Using Cognitive Agents to Train Negotiation Skills

PubMed Central

Stevens, Christopher A.; Daamen, Jeroen; Gaudrain, Emma; Renkema, Tom; Top, Jakob Dirk; Cnossen, Fokie; Taatgen, Niels A.

2018-01-01

Training negotiation is difficult because it is a complex, dynamic activity that involves multiple parties. It is often not clear how to create situations in which students can practice negotiation or how to measure students' progress. Some have begun to address these issues by creating artificial software agents with which students can train. These agents have the advantage that they can be “reset,” and played against multiple times. This allows students to learn from their mistakes and try different strategies. However, these agents are often based on normative theories of how negotiators should conduct themselves, not necessarily how people actually behave in negotiations. Here, we take a step toward addressing this gap by developing an agent grounded in a cognitive architecture, ACT-R. This agent contains a model of theory-of-mind, the ability of humans to reason about the mental states of others. It uses this model to try to infer the strategy of the opponent and respond accordingly. In a series of experiments, we show that this agent replicates some aspects of human performance, is plausible to human negotiators, and can lead to learning gains in a small-scale negotiation task. PMID:29535654

Using Cognitive Agents to Train Negotiation Skills.

PubMed

Stevens, Christopher A; Daamen, Jeroen; Gaudrain, Emma; Renkema, Tom; Top, Jakob Dirk; Cnossen, Fokie; Taatgen, Niels A

2018-01-01

Training negotiation is difficult because it is a complex, dynamic activity that involves multiple parties. It is often not clear how to create situations in which students can practice negotiation or how to measure students' progress. Some have begun to address these issues by creating artificial software agents with which students can train. These agents have the advantage that they can be "reset," and played against multiple times. This allows students to learn from their mistakes and try different strategies. However, these agents are often based on normative theories of how negotiators should conduct themselves, not necessarily how people actually behave in negotiations. Here, we take a step toward addressing this gap by developing an agent grounded in a cognitive architecture, ACT-R. This agent contains a model of theory-of-mind, the ability of humans to reason about the mental states of others. It uses this model to try to infer the strategy of the opponent and respond accordingly. In a series of experiments, we show that this agent replicates some aspects of human performance, is plausible to human negotiators, and can lead to learning gains in a small-scale negotiation task.

31 CFR 10.6 - Term and renewal of status as an enrolled agent, enrolled retirement plan agent, or registered...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... certificate. The Internal Revenue Service will issue an enrollment or registration card or certificate to each... by forms, instructions, or other appropriate guidance. (ii) Enrolled agents who have a Social... who have a social security number or tax identification number that ends with the numbers 4, 5, or 6...

31 CFR 10.6 - Term and renewal of status as an enrolled agent, enrolled retirement plan agent, or registered...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... certificate. The Internal Revenue Service will issue an enrollment or registration card or certificate to each... by forms, instructions, or other appropriate guidance. (ii) Enrolled agents who have a Social... who have a social security number or tax identification number that ends with the numbers 4, 5, or 6...

31 CFR 10.6 - Term and renewal of status as an enrolled agent, enrolled retirement plan agent, or registered...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... certificate. The Internal Revenue Service will issue an enrollment or registration card or certificate to each... by forms, instructions, or other appropriate guidance. (ii) Enrolled agents who have a Social... who have a social security number or tax identification number that ends with the numbers 4, 5, or 6...

Development and use of behavior and social interaction software installed on Palm handheld for observation of a child's social interactions with the environment.

PubMed

Sarkar, Archana; Dutta, Arup; Dhingra, Usha; Dhingra, Pratibha; Verma, Priti; Juyal, Rakesh; Black, Robert E; Menon, Venugopal P; Kumar, Jitendra; Sazawal, Sunil

2006-08-01

In settings in developing countries, children often socialize with multiple socializing agents (peers, siblings, neighbors) apart from their parents, and thus, a measurement of a child's social interactions should be expanded beyond parental interactions. Since the environment plays a role in shaping a child's development, the measurement of child-socializing agents' interactions is important. We developed and used a computerized observational software Behavior and Social Interaction Software (BASIS) with a preloaded coding scheme installed on a handheld Palm device to record complex observations of interactions between children and socializing agents. Using BASIS, social interaction assessments were conducted on 573 preschool children for 1 h in their natural settings. Multiple screens with a set of choices in each screen were designed that included the child's location, broad activity, state, and interactions with child-socializing agents. Data were downloaded onto a computer and systematically analyzed. BASIS, installed on Palm OS (M-125), enabled the recording of the complex interactions of child-socializing agents that could not be recorded with manual forms. Thus, this tool provides an innovative and relatively accurate method for the systematic recording of social interactions in an unrestricted environment.

Computational memory architectures for autobiographic agents interacting in a complex virtual environment: a working model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ho, Wan Ching; Dautenhahn, Kerstin; Nehaniv, Chrystopher

2008-03-01

In this paper, we discuss the concept of autobiographic agent and how memory may extend an agent's temporal horizon and increase its adaptability. These concepts are applied to an implementation of a scenario where agents are interacting in a complex virtual artificial life environment. We present computational memory architectures for autobiographic virtual agents that enable agents to retrieve meaningful information from their dynamic memories which increases their adaptation and survival in the environment. The design of the memory architectures, the agents, and the virtual environment are described in detail. Next, a series of experimental studies and their results are presented which show the adaptive advantage of autobiographic memory, i.e. from remembering significant experiences. Also, in a multi-agent scenario where agents can communicate via stories based on their autobiographic memory, it is found that new adaptive behaviours can emerge from an individual's reinterpretation of experiences received from other agents whereby higher communication frequency yields better group performance. An interface is described that visualises the memory contents of an agent. From an observer perspective, the agents' behaviours can be understood as individually structured, and temporally grounded, and, with the communication of experience, can be seen to rely on emergent mixed narrative reconstructions combining the experiences of several agents. This research leads to insights into how bottom-up story-telling and autobiographic reconstruction in autonomous, adaptive agents allow temporally grounded behaviour to emerge. The article concludes with a discussion of possible implications of this research direction for future autobiographic, narrative agents.

Adolescents' financial literacy: the role of financial socialization agents, financial experiences, and money attitudes in shaping financial literacy among South Korean youth.

PubMed

Sohn, Sang-Hee; Joo, So-Hyun; Grable, John E; Lee, Seonglim; Kim, Minjeung

2012-08-01

The purpose of this study was to test the relationships between financial socialization agents, financial experiences, money attitudes, demographic characteristics, and the financial literacy of Korean adolescents. Using the 2006 Korean National Financial Literacy Test Survey for Adolescents (N = 1185), a series of regression analyses were performed to determine the factors related to financial literacy. It was found that those who chose media as their primary financial socialization agent, and those who had a bank account, exhibited higher levels of financial literacy. Among the sample, those who saw money as good or as a reward for efforts tended to report higher levels of financial literacy, while those perceiving money in terms of avoidance or achievement had lower levels of financial literacy. Students with mid-range monthly allowances showed higher levels of financial literacy compared to the highest allowance group. Implications for financial educators, policy makers, and researchers are provided. Copyright © 2012 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Phenol adsorption by activated carbon produced from spent coffee grounds.

PubMed

Castro, Cínthia S; Abreu, Anelise L; Silva, Carmen L T; Guerreiro, Mário C

2011-01-01

The present work highlights the preparation of activated carbons (ACs) using spent coffee grounds, an agricultural residue, as carbon precursor and two different activating agents: water vapor (ACW) and K(2)CO(3) (ACK). These ACs presented the microporous nature and high surface area (620-950 m(2) g(-1)). The carbons, as well as a commercial activated carbon (CAC) used as reference, were evaluated as phenol adsorbent showing high adsorption capacity (≈150 mg g(-1)). The investigation of the pH solution in the phenol adsorption was also performed. The different activating agents led to AC with distinct morphological properties, surface area and chemical composition, although similar phenol adsorption capacity was verified for both prepared carbons. The production of activated carbons from spent coffee grounds resulted in promising adsorbents for phenol removal while giving a noble destination to the residue.

Large File Transfers from Space Using Multiple Ground Terminals and Delay-Tolerant Networking

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ivancic, William D.; Paulsen, Phillip; Stewart, Dave; Eddy, Wesley; McKim, James; Taylor, John; Lynch, Scott; Heberle, Jay; Northam, James; Jackson, Chris;

Examining social norm impacts on obesity and eating behaviors among US school children based on agent-based model.

PubMed

Wang, Youfa; Xue, Hong; Chen, Hsin-jen; Igusa, Takeru

2014-09-06

Although the importance of social norms in affecting health behaviors is widely recognized, the current understanding of the social norm effects on obesity is limited due to data and methodology limitations. This study aims to use nontraditional innovative systems methods to examine: a) the effects of social norms on school children's BMI growth and fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption, and b) the effects of misperceptions of social norms on US children's BMI growth. We built an agent-based model (ABM) in a utility maximization framework and parameterized the model based on empirical longitudinal data collected in a US nationally representative study, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), to test potential mechanisms of social norm affecting children's BMI growth and FV consumption. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for BMI were 0.064-0.065, suggesting that children's BMI were similar within each school. The correlation between observed and ABM-predicted BMI was 0.87, indicating the validity of our ABM. Our simulations suggested the follow-the-average social norm acts as an endogenous stabilizer, which automatically adjusts positive and negative deviance of an individual's BMI from the group mean of a social network. One unit of BMI below the social average may lead to 0.025 unit increase in BMI per year for each child; asymmetrically, one unit of BMI above the social average, may only cause 0.015 unit of BMI reduction. Gender difference was apparent. Social norms have less impact on weight reduction among girls, and a greater impact promoting weight increase among boys. Our simulation also showed misperception of the social norm would push up the mean BMI and cause the distribution to be more skewed to the left. Our simulation results did not provide strong support for the role of social norms on FV consumption. Social norm influences US children's BMI growth. High obesity prevalence will lead to a continuous increase in

Preparing Students for Future Learning with Teachable Agents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chin, Doris B.; Dohmen, Ilsa M.; Cheng, Britte H.; Oppezzo, Marily A.; Chase, Catherine C.; Schwartz, Daniel L.

2010-01-01

Over the past several years, the authors have been developing an instructional technology, called Teachable Agents (TA), which draws on the social metaphor of teaching to help students learn. Students teach a computer character, their "agent," by creating a concept map of nodes connected by qualitative causal links. The authors hypothesize that…

Identification of Naegleria fowleri in warm ground water aquifers.

PubMed

Laseke, Ian; Korte, Jill; Lamendella, Regina; Kaneshiro, Edna S; Marciano-Cabral, Francine; Oerther, Daniel B

2010-01-01

The free-living amoeba Naegleria fowleri was identified as the etiological agent of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis that caused the deaths of two children in Peoria, Arizona, in autumn of 2002. It was suspected that the source of N. fowleri was the domestic water supply, which originates from ground water sources. In this study, ground water from the greater Phoenix Metropolitan area was tested for the presence of N. fowleri using a nested polymerase chain reaction approach. Phylogenetic analyses of 16S rRNA sequences of bacterial populations in the ground water were performed to examine the potential link between the presence of N. fowleri and bacterial groups inhabiting water wells. The results showed the presence of N. fowleri in five out of six wells sampled and in 26.6% of all ground water samples tested. Phylogenetic analyses showed that beta- and gamma-proteobacteria were the dominant bacterial populations present in the ground water. Bacterial community analyses revealed a very diverse community structure in ground water samples testing positive for N. fowleri.

Making sense of grounded theory in medical education.

PubMed

Kennedy, Tara J T; Lingard, Lorelei A

2006-02-01

Grounded theory is a research methodology designed to develop, through collection and analysis of data that is primarily (but not exclusively) qualitative, a well-integrated set of concepts that provide a theoretical explanation of a social phenomenon. This paper aims to provide an introduction to key features of grounded theory methodology within the context of medical education research. In this paper we include a discussion of the origins of grounded theory, a description of key methodological processes, a comment on pitfalls encountered commonly in the application of grounded theory research, and a summary of the strengths of grounded theory methodology with illustrations from the medical education domain. The significant strengths of grounded theory that have resulted in its enduring prominence in qualitative research include its clearly articulated analytical process and its emphasis on the generation of pragmatic theory that is grounded in the data of experience. When applied properly and thoughtfully, grounded theory can address research questions of significant relevance to the domain of medical education.

Constructive biology and approaches to temporal grounding in postreactive robotics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nehaniv, Chrystopher L.; Dautenhahn, Kerstin; Loomes, Martin J.

1999-08-01

Constructive Biology means understanding biological mechanisms through building systems that exhibit life-like properties. Applications include learning engineering tricks from biological system, as well as the validation in biological modeling. In particular, biological system in the course of development and experience become temporally grounded. Researchers attempting to transcend mere reactivity have been inspired by the drives, motivations, homeostasis, hormonal control, and emotions of animals. In order to contextualize and modulate behavior, these ideas have been introduced into robotics and synthetic agents, while further flexibility is achieved by introducing learning. Broadening scope of the temporal horizon further requires post-reactive techniques that address not only the action in the now, although such action may perhaps be modulated by drives and affect. Support is needed for expressing and benefitting from pats experiences, predictions of the future, and form interaction histories of the self with the world and with other agents. Mathematical methods provide a new way to support such grounding in the construction of post-reactive systems. Moreover, the communication of such mathematical encoded histories of experience between situated agents opens a route to narrative intelligence, analogous to communication or story telling in societies.

Multi-Agent Cooperative Target Search

PubMed Central

Hu, Jinwen; Xie, Lihua; Xu, Jun; Xu, Zhao

2014-01-01

This paper addresses a vision-based cooperative search for multiple mobile ground targets by a group of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with limited sensing and communication capabilities. The airborne camera on each UAV has a limited field of view and its target discriminability varies as a function of altitude. First, by dividing the whole surveillance region into cells, a probability map can be formed for each UAV indicating the probability of target existence within each cell. Then, we propose a distributed probability map updating model which includes the fusion of measurement information, information sharing among neighboring agents, information decay and transmission due to environmental changes such as the target movement. Furthermore, we formulate the target search problem as a multi-agent cooperative coverage control problem by optimizing the collective coverage area and the detection performance. The proposed map updating model and the cooperative control scheme are distributed, i.e., assuming that each agent only communicates with its neighbors within its communication range. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms is illustrated by simulation. PMID:24865884

Model of mobile agents for sexual interactions networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

González, M. C.; Lind, P. G.; Herrmann, H. J.

2006-02-01

We present a novel model to simulate real social networks of complex interactions, based in a system of colliding particles (agents). The network is build by keeping track of the collisions and evolves in time with correlations which emerge due to the mobility of the agents. Therefore, statistical features are a consequence only of local collisions among its individual agents. Agent dynamics is realized by an event-driven algorithm of collisions where energy is gained as opposed to physical systems which have dissipation. The model reproduces empirical data from networks of sexual interactions, not previously obtained with other approaches.

The thermometer of social relations: mapping social proximity on temperature.

PubMed

Ijzerman, Hans; Semin, Gün R

2009-10-01

"Holding warm feelings toward someone" and "giving someone the cold shoulder" indicate different levels of social proximity. In this article, we show effects of temperature that go beyond these metaphors people live by. In three experiments, warmer conditions, compared with colder conditions, induced (a) greater social proximity, (b) use of more concrete language, and (c) a more relational focus. Different temperature conditions were created by either handing participants warm or cold beverages (Experiment 1) or placing them in comfortable warm or cold ambient conditions (Experiments 2 and 3). These studies corroborate recent findings in the field of grounded cognition revealing that concrete experiences ground abstract concepts with which they are coexperienced. Our studies show a systemic interdependence among language, perception, and social proximity: Environmentally induced conditions shape not only language use, but also the perception and construal of social relationships.

Conformity-driven agents support ordered phases in the spatial public goods game

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Javarone, Marco Alberto; Antonioni, Alberto; Caravelli, Francesco

2016-05-01

We investigate the spatial Public Goods Game in the presence of fitness-driven and conformity-driven agents. This framework usually considers only the former type of agents, i.e., agents that tend to imitate the strategy of their fittest neighbors. However, whenever we study social systems, the evolution of a population might be affected also by social behaviors as conformism, stubbornness, altruism, and selfishness. Although the term evolution can assume different meanings depending on the considered domain, here it corresponds to the set of processes that lead a system towards an equilibrium or a steady state. We map fitness to the agents' payoff so that richer agents are those most imitated by fitness-driven agents, while conformity-driven agents tend to imitate the strategy assumed by the majority of their neighbors. Numerical simulations aim to identify the nature of the transition, on varying the amount of the relative density of conformity-driven agents in the population, and to study the nature of related equilibria. Remarkably, we find that conformism generally fosters ordered cooperative phases and may also lead to bistable behaviors.

Is the person-situation debate important for agent-based modeling and vice-versa?

PubMed

Sznajd-Weron, Katarzyna; Szwabiński, Janusz; Weron, Rafał

2014-01-01

Agent-based models (ABM) are believed to be a very powerful tool in the social sciences, sometimes even treated as a substitute for social experiments. When building an ABM we have to define the agents and the rules governing the artificial society. Given the complexity and our limited understanding of the human nature, we face the problem of assuming that either personal traits, the situation or both have impact on the social behavior of agents. However, as the long-standing person-situation debate in psychology shows, there is no consensus as to the underlying psychological mechanism and the important question that arises is whether the modeling assumptions we make will have a substantial influence on the simulated behavior of the system as a whole or not. Studying two variants of the same agent-based model of opinion formation, we show that the decision to choose either personal traits or the situation as the primary factor driving social interactions is of critical importance. Using Monte Carlo simulations (for Barabasi-Albert networks) and analytic calculations (for a complete graph) we provide evidence that assuming a person-specific response to social influence at the microscopic level generally leads to a completely different and less realistic aggregate or macroscopic behavior than an assumption of a situation-specific response; a result that has been reported by social psychologists for a range of experimental setups, but has been downplayed or ignored in the opinion dynamics literature. This sensitivity to modeling assumptions has far reaching consequences also beyond opinion dynamics, since agent-based models are becoming a popular tool among economists and policy makers and are often used as substitutes of real social experiments.

Understanding Group/Party Affiliation Using Social Networks and Agent-Based Modeling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, Kenyth

2012-01-01

The dynamics of group affiliation and group dispersion is a concept that is most often studied in order for political candidates to better understand the most efficient way to conduct their campaigns. While political campaigning in the United States is a very hot topic that most politicians analyze and study, the concept of group/party affiliation presents its own area of study that producers very interesting results. One tool for examining party affiliation on a large scale is agent-based modeling (ABM), a paradigm in the modeling and simulation (M&S) field perfectly suited for aggregating individual behaviors to observe large swaths of a population. For this study agent based modeling was used in order to look at a community of agents and determine what factors can affect the group/party affiliation patterns that are present. In the agent-based model that was used for this experiment many factors were present but two main factors were used to determine the results. The results of this study show that it is possible to use agent-based modeling to explore group/party affiliation and construct a model that can mimic real world events. More importantly, the model in the study allows for the results found in a smaller community to be translated into larger experiments to determine if the results will remain present on a much larger scale.

Social games in a social network.

PubMed

Abramson, G; Kuperman, M

2001-03-01

We study an evolutionary version of the Prisoner's Dilemma game, played by agents placed in a small-world network. Agents are able to change their strategy, imitating that of the most successful neighbor. We observe that different topologies, ranging from regular lattices to random graphs, produce a variety of emergent behaviors. This is a contribution towards the study of social phenomena and transitions governed by the topology of the community.

Detecting agency from the biological motion of veridical vs animated agents

PubMed Central

Kelley, William M.; Heatherton, Todd F.; Macrae, C. Neil

2007-01-01

The ability to detect agency is fundamental for understanding the social world. Underlying this capacity are neural circuits that respond to patterns of intentional biological motion in the superior temporal sulcus and temporoparietal junction. Here we show that the brain's blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response to such motion is modulated by the representation of the actor. Dynamic social interactions were portrayed by either live-action agents or computer-animated agents, enacting the exact same patterns of biological motion. Using an event-related design, we found that the BOLD response associated with the perception and interpretation of agency was greater when identical physical movements were performed by real rather than animated agents. This finding has important implications for previous work on biological motion that has relied upon computer-animated stimuli and demonstrates that the neural substrates of social perception are finely tuned toward real-world agents. In addition, the response in lateral temporal areas was observed in the absence of instructions to make mental inferences, thus demonstrating the spontaneous implementation of the intentional stance. PMID:18985141

Reliability of M256 Chemical Agent Detector Kit at Extreme Environmental Temperatures

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-02-01

therefore not discussed. 4 In a study conducted at Yuma Proving Ground (Ref. 3), 1256 Kits were sub- jected to a iO-day field-cdrry test; the samplers were... Proving Ground , Dugway, Utah, June 197-. 5. Zylstra, ).R. Letter Report of Cold Regions Piiase of DT 11 (Environmental ) and Agent Ci"a- Tf6- -Mib5...Dugway Proving Ground , ATTN: STEDP-SD-TA, Dugway, UT 84022-5000. ECBC memo dtd 14 Oct 2014 AD _ _ _ _ _ _ RDTA PROJECT NO. I-M-466710DO49 TECOM PROJT NO. 8

Almost human: Anthropomorphism increases trust resilience in cognitive agents.

PubMed

de Visser, Ewart J; Monfort, Samuel S; McKendrick, Ryan; Smith, Melissa A B; McKnight, Patrick E; Krueger, Frank; Parasuraman, Raja

2016-09-01

We interact daily with computers that appear and behave like humans. Some researchers propose that people apply the same social norms to computers as they do to humans, suggesting that social psychological knowledge can be applied to our interactions with computers. In contrast, theories of human–automation interaction postulate that humans respond to machines in unique and specific ways. We believe that anthropomorphism—the degree to which an agent exhibits human characteristics—is the critical variable that may resolve this apparent contradiction across the formation, violation, and repair stages of trust. Three experiments were designed to examine these opposing viewpoints by varying the appearance and behavior of automated agents. Participants received advice that deteriorated gradually in reliability from a computer, avatar, or human agent. Our results showed (a) that anthropomorphic agents were associated with greater trust resilience , a higher resistance to breakdowns in trust; (b) that these effects were magnified by greater uncertainty; and c) that incorporating human-like trust repair behavior largely erased differences between the agents. Automation anthropomorphism is therefore a critical variable that should be carefully incorporated into any general theory of human–agent trust as well as novel automation design. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved

Opinion evolution influenced by informed agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Kangqi; Pedrycz, Witold

2016-11-01

Guiding public opinions toward a pre-set target by informed agents can be a strategy adopted in some practical applications. The informed agents are common agents who are employed or chosen to spread the pre-set opinion. In this work, we propose a social judgment based opinion (SJBO) dynamics model to explore the opinion evolution under the influence of informed agents. The SJBO model distinguishes between inner opinions and observable choices, and incorporates both the compromise between similar opinions and the repulsion between dissimilar opinions. Three choices (support, opposition, and remaining undecided) are considered in the SJBO model. Using the SJBO model, both the inner opinions and the observable choices can be tracked during the opinion evolution process. The simulation results indicate that if the exchanges of inner opinions among agents are not available, the effect of informed agents is mainly dependent on the characteristics of regular agents, including the assimilation threshold, decay threshold, and initial opinions. Increasing the assimilation threshold and decay threshold can improve the guiding effectiveness of informed agents. Moreover, if the initial opinions of regular agents are close to null, the full and unanimous consensus at the pre-set opinion can be realized, indicating that, to maximize the influence of informed agents, the guidance should be started when regular agents have little knowledge about a subject under consideration. If the regular agents have had clear opinions, the full and unanimous consensus at the pre-set opinion cannot be achieved. However, the introduction of informed agents can make the majority of agents choose the pre-set opinion.

On the Utilization of Social Animals as a Model for Social Robotics

PubMed Central

Miklósi, Ádám; Gácsi, Márta

2012-01-01

Social robotics is a thriving field in building artificial agents. The possibility to construct agents that can engage in meaningful social interaction with humans presents new challenges for engineers. In general, social robotics has been inspired primarily by psychologists with the aim of building human-like robots. Only a small subcategory of “companion robots” (also referred to as robotic pets) was built to mimic animals. In this opinion essay we argue that all social robots should be seen as companions and more conceptual emphasis should be put on the inter-specific interaction between humans and social robots. This view is underlined by the means of an ethological analysis and critical evaluation of present day companion robots. We suggest that human–animal interaction provides a rich source of knowledge for designing social robots that are able to interact with humans under a wide range of conditions. PMID:22457658

Preservice Teachers' Perspective Transformations as Social Change Agents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woodrow, Kelli; Caruana, Vicki

2017-01-01

In this article, we investigate whether, and in what ways, the learning experiences in a capstone course in reflective teaching impact the perspective transformations (PT) of preservice teachers toward a diverse K-12 student population and the plans of preservice teachers to take future action as change agents. Using an adaptation of the Learning…

Memory Transmission in Small Groups and Large Networks: An Agent-Based Model.

PubMed

Luhmann, Christian C; Rajaram, Suparna

2015-12-01

The spread of social influence in large social networks has long been an interest of social scientists. In the domain of memory, collaborative memory experiments have illuminated cognitive mechanisms that allow information to be transmitted between interacting individuals, but these experiments have focused on small-scale social contexts. In the current study, we took a computational approach, circumventing the practical constraints of laboratory paradigms and providing novel results at scales unreachable by laboratory methodologies. Our model embodied theoretical knowledge derived from small-group experiments and replicated foundational results regarding collaborative inhibition and memory convergence in small groups. Ultimately, we investigated large-scale, realistic social networks and found that agents are influenced by the agents with which they interact, but we also found that agents are influenced by nonneighbors (i.e., the neighbors of their neighbors). The similarity between these results and the reports of behavioral transmission in large networks offers a major theoretical insight by linking behavioral transmission to the spread of information. © The Author(s) 2015.

Can Computers be Social?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ekdahl, Bertil

2002-09-01

Of main concern in agent based computing is the conception that software agents can attain socially responsible behavior. This idea has its origin in the need for agents to interact with one another in a cooperating manner. Such interplay between several agents can be seen as a combinatorial play where the rules are fixed and the actors are supposed to closely analyze the play in order to behave rational. This kind of rationality has successfully being mathematically described. When the social behavior is extended beyond rational behavior, mere mathematical analysis falls short. For such behavior language is decisive for transferring concepts and language is a holistic entity that cannot be analyzed and defined mathematically. Accordingly, computers cannot be furnished with a language in the sense that meaning can be conveyed and consequently they lack all the necessary properties to be made social. The attempts to postulate mental properties to computer programs are a misconception that is blamed the lack of true understanding of language and especially the relation between formal system and its semantics.

A Cybernetic Approach to the Modeling of Agent Communities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Truszkowski, Walt; Karlin, Jay

2000-01-01

In an earlier paper [1] examples of agent technology in a NASA context were presented. Both groundbased and space-based applications were addressed. This paper continues the discussion of one aspect of the Goddard Space Flight Center's continuing efforts to develop a community of agents that can support both ground-based and space-based systems autonomy. The paper focuses on an approach to agent-community modeling based on the theory of viable systems developed by Stafford Beer. It gives the status of an initial attempt to capture some of the agent-community behaviors in a viable system context. This paper is expository in nature and focuses on a discussion of the modeling of some of the underlying concepts and infrastructure that will serve as the basis of more detailed investigative work into the behavior of agent communities. The paper is organized as follows. First, a general introduction to agent community requirements is presented. Secondly, a brief introduction to the cybernetic concept of a viable system is given. This concept forms the foundation of the modeling approach. Then the concept of an agent community is modeled in the cybernetic context.

Mission Possible: Teachers Serving as Agents of Social Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kunkel-Pottebaum, Holly E.

2013-01-01

A case study was conducted to learn about the formation of social justice teachers, and the methods used by radical educators to engage students in social change. Interviews conducted with eight junior and senior high school social studies teachers identified several types of formative experiences inspiring teachers to become radical educators.…

Hydrogeologic setting, hydraulic properties, and ground-water flow at the O-Field area of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland

USGS Publications Warehouse

Banks, W.S.; Smith, B.S.; Donnelly, C.A.

1996-01-01

The U.S. Army disposed chemical agents, laboratory materials, and unexploded ordnance at O-Field in the Edgewood area of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, from before World War II until at least the 1950's. Soil, ground water, surface water,and wetland sediments in the O-Field area were contaminated from the disposal activity. A ground-water-flow model of the O-Field area was constructed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 1989 to simulate flow in the central and southern part of the Gunpowder Neck. The USGS began an additional study of the contamination in the O-Field area in cooperation with the U.S. Army in 1990 to (1) further define the hydrogeologic framework of the O-Field area, (2) characterize the hydraulic properties of the aquifers and confining units, and (3) define ground-water flow paths at O-Field based on the current data and simulations of ground-water flow. A water-table aquifer, an upper confining unit, and an upper confined aquifer comprise the shallow ground-water aquifer system of the O-Field area. A lower confining unit, through which ground-water movement is negligible, is considered a lower boundary to the shallow aquifer system. These units are all part of the Pleistocene Talbot Formation. The model developed in the previous study was redesigned using the data collected during this study and emphasized New O-Field. The current steady-state model was calibrated to water levels of June 1993. The rate of ground-water flow calculated by the model was approximately 0.48 feet per day (ft/d) and the rate determined from chlorofluorocarbon dates was approximately 0.39 ft/d.

Women in Development: We as Agents of Social Change. Proceedings of the International Forum on Intercultural Exchange (3rd, Saitama [Japan], December 17-19, 1993).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Women's Education Centre, Saitama (Japan).

The third International Forum on Intercultural Exchange focused on four important issues for developing nations: literacy education, environmental protection, economic activities, and violence against women. In all of these areas, women are striving for social change as agents and beneficiaries of development. Following the conference agenda, the…

Re-Examining of Moffitt’s Theory of Delinquency through Agent Based Modeling

PubMed Central

Leaw, Jia Ning; Ang, Rebecca P.; Huan, Vivien S.; Chan, Wei Teng; Cheong, Siew Ann

2015-01-01

Moffitt’s theory of delinquency suggests that at-risk youths can be divided into two groups, the adolescence- limited group and the life-course-persistent group, predetermined at a young age, and social interactions between these two groups become important during the adolescent years. We built an agent-based model based on the microscopic interactions Moffitt described: (i) a maturity gap that dictates (ii) the cost and reward of antisocial behavior, and (iii) agents imitating the antisocial behaviors of others more successful than themselves, to find indeed the two groups emerging in our simulations. Moreover, through an intervention simulation where we moved selected agents from one social network to another, we also found that the social network plays an important role in shaping the life course outcome. PMID:26062022

Dynamics of three-agent games

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mungan, Muhittin; Rador, Tonguç

2008-02-01

We study the dynamics and resulting score distribution of three-agent games where after each competition a single agent wins and scores a point. A single competition is described by a triplet of numbers p, t and q denoting the probabilities that the team with the highest, middle or lowest accumulated score wins. The three-agent game can be regarded as a social model where a player can be favored or disfavored for advancement, based on his/her accumulated score. We study the full family of solutions in the regime, where the number of agents and competitions is large, which can be regarded as a hydrodynamic limit. Depending on the parameter values (p, q, t), we find six qualitatively different asymptotic score distributions and we provide a qualitative explanation of these results. We also compare our analytical results against numerical simulations of the microscopic model and find these to be in excellent agreement. It is possible to decide the outcome of a three-agent game through a mini-tournament of two-agent competitions among the participating players and it turns out that the resulting possible score distributions are a subset of those obtained for the general three-agent games. We discuss how one can add a steady and democratic decline rate to the model and present a simple geometric construction that allows one to obtain the score evolution equations for n-agent games.

Toward a Methodology for Conducting Social Impact Assessments Using Quality of Social Life Indicators.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olsen, Marvin E.; Merwin, Donna J.

Broadly conceived, social impacts refer to all changes in the structure and functioning of patterned social ordering that occur in conjunction with an environmental, technological, or social innovation or alteration. Departing from the usual cost-benefit analysis approach, a new methodology proposes conducting social impact assessment grounded in…

Analysis of ground state in random bipartite matching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Gui-Yuan; Kong, Yi-Xiu; Liao, Hao; Zhang, Yi-Cheng

2016-02-01

Bipartite matching problems emerge in many human social phenomena. In this paper, we study the ground state of the Gale-Shapley model, which is the most popular bipartite matching model. We apply the Kuhn-Munkres algorithm to compute the numerical ground state of the model. For the first time, we obtain the number of blocking pairs which is a measure of the system instability. We also show that the number of blocking pairs formed by each person follows a geometric distribution. Furthermore, we study how the connectivity in the bipartite matching problems influences the instability of the ground state.

Spent coffee grounds as air-propelled abrasive grit for weed control

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Spent coffee grounds (SCG) represent a significant food waste residue. Value-added uses for this material would be beneficial. Gritty agricultural residues, such as corncob grit, can be employed as abrasive air-propelled agents for organically-compatible postemergence shredding of weed seedlings sel...

The value of less connected agents in Boolean networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Epstein, Daniel; Bazzan, Ana L. C.

2013-11-01

In multiagent systems, agents often face binary decisions where one seeks to take either the minority or the majority side. Examples are minority and congestion games in general, i.e., situations that require coordination among the agents in order to depict efficient decisions. In minority games such as the El Farol Bar Problem, previous works have shown that agents may reach appropriate levels of coordination, mostly by looking at the history of past decisions. Not many works consider any kind of structure of the social network, i.e., how agents are connected. Moreover, when structure is indeed considered, it assumes some kind of random network with a given, fixed connectivity degree. The present paper departs from the conventional approach in some ways. First, it considers more realistic network topologies, based on preferential attachments. This is especially useful in social networks. Second, the formalism of random Boolean networks is used to help agents to make decisions given their attachments (for example acquaintances). This is coupled with a reinforcement learning mechanism that allows agents to select strategies that are locally and globally efficient. Third, we use agent-based modeling and simulation, a microscopic approach, which allows us to draw conclusions about individuals and/or classes of individuals. Finally, for the sake of illustration we use two different scenarios, namely the El Farol Bar Problem and a binary route choice scenario. With this approach we target systems that adapt dynamically to changes in the environment, including other adaptive decision-makers. Our results using preferential attachments and random Boolean networks are threefold. First we show that an efficient equilibrium can be achieved, provided agents do experimentation. Second, microscopic analysis show that influential agents tend to consider few inputs in their Boolean functions. Third, we have also conducted measurements related to network clustering and centrality

Studies of Opinion Stability for Small Dynamic Networks with Opportunistic Agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sobkowicz, Pawel

There are numerous examples of societies with extremely stable mix of contrasting opinions. We argue that this stability is a result of an interplay between society network topology adjustment and opinion changing processes. To support this position we present a computer model of opinion formation based on some novel assumptions, designed to bring the model closer to social reality. In our model, the agents, in addition to changing their opinions due to influence of the rest of society and external propaganda, have the ability to modify their social network, forming links with agents sharing the same opinions and cutting the links with those they disagree with. To improve the model further we divide the agents into "fanatics" and "opportunists," depending on how easy it is to change their opinions. The simulations show significant differences compared to traditional models, where network links are static. In particular, for the dynamical model where inter-agent links are adjustable, the final network structure and opinion distribution is shown to resemble real world observations, such as social structures and persistence of minority groups even when most of the society is against them and the propaganda is strong.

Culturally grounded indicators of resilience in social-ecological systems

Treesearch

Eleanor Sterling; Tamara Ticktin; Tē Kipa Kepa Morgan; Georgina Cullman; Diana Alvira; Pelika Andrade; Nadia Bergamini; Erin Betley; Kate Burrows; Sophie Caillon; Joachim Claudet; Rachel Dacks; Pablo Eyzaguirre; Chris Filardi; Nadav Gazit; Christian Giardina; Stacy Jupiter; Kealohanuiopuna Kinney; Joe McCarter; Manuel Mejia; Kanoe Morishige; Jennifer Newell; Lihla Noori; John Parks; Pua‘ala Pascua; Ashwin Ravikumar; Jamie Tanguay; Amanda Sigouin; Tina Stege; Mark Stege; Alaka Wali

2017-01-01

Measuring progress toward sustainability goals is a multifaceted task. International, regional, and national organizations and agencies seek to promote resilience and capacity for adaptation at local levels. However, their measurement systems may be poorly aligned with local contexts, cultures, and needs. Understanding how to build effective, culturally grounded...

[Antitubercular agents].

PubMed

Gartmann, J

1999-12-01

The personally experienced development of chemotherapy for tuberculosis during the last half century represents some highlights of new knowledges and practical successes: the discovery of antituberculosis drugs; the comprehension of their actions and side effects; the exploration of mechanisms of resistance against antituberculosis agents; the evaluation of therapeutic and epidemiologic consequences of resistant strains; the decoding of the mycobacterial genetic structure. For different economic, social and psychologic reasons, the worldwide results of the battle against tuberculosis are not nearly as good as possible. AIDS is only a partial factor of this failure.

[Community health agents: profile and education].

PubMed

Marzari, Carla Kowalski; Junges, José Roque; Selli, Lucilda

2011-01-01

This research discusses the profile and education of the community health agents. There is no clarity about the kind of professional needed and the appropriate training to the fulfillment of the function. The research is a case study with exploratory methodology and qualitative approach. The data was collected with a focused group, formed by ten agents, intentional selected from those with more time in service in Family Health Strategy teams from the municipality of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul State. The discussions were recorded and transcribed by the researcher. The data was interpreted by content analysis. The results pointed to some important questions concerning the identity of the community health agents: integration on the health team, insertion in the community, profile and education. The profile which emerges from the research, is not different from the one proposed by the Ministry of Health. However, the difference is the professionalization, an initiative assumed by the agent, guided by reality, which he faces in his activity. The gaps, perceived in his formation, cause the agent to construct his professional identity, determined more by the technical aspect of the scientific knowledge than by his social competence as a community agent.

The EMO-Model: An Agent-Based Model of Primate Social Behavior Regulated by Two Emotional Dimensions, Anxiety-FEAR and Satisfaction-LIKE

PubMed Central

Evers, Ellen; de Vries, Han; Spruijt, Berry M.; Sterck, Elisabeth H. M.

2014-01-01

Agent-based models provide a promising tool to investigate the relationship between individuals’ behavior and emerging group-level patterns. An individual’s behavior may be regulated by its emotional state and its interaction history with specific individuals. Emotional bookkeeping is a candidate mechanism to keep track of received benefits from specific individuals without requiring high cognitive abilities. However, how this mechanism may work is difficult to study in real animals, due to the complexity of primate social life. To explore this theoretically, we introduce an agent-based model, dubbed EMO-model, in which we implemented emotional bookkeeping. In this model the social behaviors of primate-like individuals are regulated by emotional processes along two dimensions. An individual’s emotional state is described by an aversive and a pleasant dimension (anxiety and satisfaction) and by its activating quality (arousal). Social behaviors affect the individuals’ emotional state. To implement emotional bookkeeping, the receiver of grooming assigns an accumulated affiliative attitude (LIKE) to the groomer. Fixed partner-specific agonistic attitudes (FEAR) reflect the stable dominance relations between group members. While the emotional state affects an individual’s general probability of executing certain behaviors, LIKE and FEAR affect the individual’s partner-specific behavioral probabilities. In this way, emotional processes regulate both spontaneous behaviors and appropriate responses to received behaviors, while emotional bookkeeping via LIKE attitudes regulates the development and maintenance of affiliative relations. Using an array of empirical data, the model processes were substantiated and the emerging model patterns were partially validated. The EMO-model offers a framework to investigate the emotional bookkeeping hypothesis theoretically and pinpoints gaps that need to be investigated empirically. PMID:24504194

The EMO-model: an agent-based model of primate social behavior regulated by two emotional dimensions, anxiety-FEAR and satisfaction-LIKE.

PubMed

Evers, Ellen; de Vries, Han; Spruijt, Berry M; Sterck, Elisabeth H M

2014-01-01

Agent-based models provide a promising tool to investigate the relationship between individuals' behavior and emerging group-level patterns. An individual's behavior may be regulated by its emotional state and its interaction history with specific individuals. Emotional bookkeeping is a candidate mechanism to keep track of received benefits from specific individuals without requiring high cognitive abilities. However, how this mechanism may work is difficult to study in real animals, due to the complexity of primate social life. To explore this theoretically, we introduce an agent-based model, dubbed EMO-model, in which we implemented emotional bookkeeping. In this model the social behaviors of primate-like individuals are regulated by emotional processes along two dimensions. An individual's emotional state is described by an aversive and a pleasant dimension (anxiety and satisfaction) and by its activating quality (arousal). Social behaviors affect the individuals' emotional state. To implement emotional bookkeeping, the receiver of grooming assigns an accumulated affiliative attitude (LIKE) to the groomer. Fixed partner-specific agonistic attitudes (FEAR) reflect the stable dominance relations between group members. While the emotional state affects an individual's general probability of executing certain behaviors, LIKE and FEAR affect the individual's partner-specific behavioral probabilities. In this way, emotional processes regulate both spontaneous behaviors and appropriate responses to received behaviors, while emotional bookkeeping via LIKE attitudes regulates the development and maintenance of affiliative relations. Using an array of empirical data, the model processes were substantiated and the emerging model patterns were partially validated. The EMO-model offers a framework to investigate the emotional bookkeeping hypothesis theoretically and pinpoints gaps that need to be investigated empirically.

Grounded theory: a methodological spiral from positivism to postmodernism.

PubMed

Mills, Jane; Chapman, Ysanne; Bonner, Ann; Francis, Karen

2007-04-01

Our aim in this paper is to explain a methodological/methods package devised to incorporate situational and social world mapping with frame analysis, based on a grounded theory study of Australian rural nurses' experiences of mentoring. Situational analysis, as conceived by Adele Clarke, shifts the research methodology of grounded theory from being located within a postpositivist paradigm to a postmodern paradigm. Clarke uses three types of maps during this process: situational, social world and positional, in combination with discourse analysis. During our grounded theory study, the process of concurrent interview data generation and analysis incorporated situational and social world mapping techniques. An outcome of this was our increased awareness of how outside actors influenced participants in their constructions of mentoring. In our attempts to use Clarke's methodological package, however, it became apparent that our constructivist beliefs about human agency could not be reconciled with the postmodern project of discourse analysis. We then turned to the literature on symbolic interactionism and adopted frame analysis as a method to examine the literature on rural nursing and mentoring as secondary form of data. While we found situational and social world mapping very useful, we were less successful in using positional maps. In retrospect, we would argue that collective action framing provides an alternative to analysing such positions in the literature. This is particularly so for researchers who locate themselves within a constructivist paradigm, and who are therefore unwilling to reject the notion of human agency and the ability of individuals to shape their world in some way. Our example of using this package of situational and social worlds mapping with frame analysis is intended to assist other researchers to locate participants more transparently in the social worlds that they negotiate in their everyday practice.

Integrating Social Work into Undergraduate Education through a Community Action and Social Change Multidisciplinary Minor

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richards-Schuster, Katie; Ruffolo, Mary C.; Nicoll, Kerri Leyda

2015-01-01

Social work education has a long and successful history of developing change agents through bachelor of social work, master's of social work, and PhD programs, but these programs often create boundaries limiting the reach and infusion of social work perspectives. With rapid changes in social, economic, and political contexts, students from all…

The Effects of Animated Agents on Students' Achievement and Attitudes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Unal-Colak, Figen; Ozan, Ozlem

2012-01-01

Animated agents are electronic agents that interact with learners through voice, visuals or text and that carry human-like characteristics such as gestures and facial expressions with the purpose of creating a social learning environment, and provide information and guidance and when required feedback and motivation to students during their…

An Evolvable Multi-Agent Approach to Space Operations Engineering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mandutianu, Sanda; Stoica, Adrian

1999-01-01

A complex system of spacecraft and ground tracking stations, as well as a constellation of satellites or spacecraft, has to be able to reliably withstand sudden environment changes, resource fluctuations, dynamic resource configuration, limited communication bandwidth, etc., while maintaining the consistency of the system as a whole. It is not known in advance when a change in the environment might occur or when a particular exchange will happen. A higher degree of sophistication for the communication mechanisms between different parts of the system is required. The actual behavior has to be determined while the system is performing and the course of action can be decided at the individual level. Under such circumstances, the solution will highly benefit from increased on-board and on the ground adaptability and autonomy. An evolvable architecture based on intelligent agents that communicate and cooperate with each other can offer advantages in this direction. This paper presents an architecture of an evolvable agent-based system (software and software/hardware hybrids) as well as some plans for further implementation.

Software Agents Applications Using Real-Time CORBA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fowell, S.; Ward, R.; Nielsen, M.

This paper describes current projects being performed by SciSys in the area of the use of software agents, built using CORBA middleware, to improve operations within autonomous satellite/ground systems. These concepts have been developed and demonstrated in a series of experiments variously funded by ESA's Technology Flight Opportunity Initiative (TFO) and Leading Edge Technology for SMEs (LET-SME), and the British National Space Centre's (BNSC) National Technology Programme. Some of this earlier work has already been reported in [1]. This paper will address the trends, issues and solutions associated with this software agent architecture concept, together with its implementation using CORBA within an on-board environment, that is to say taking account of its real- time and resource constrained nature.

The Role of Agent Age and Gender for Middle-Grade Girls

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Yanghee

2016-01-01

Compared to boys, many girls are more aware of a social context in the learning process and perform better when the environment supports frequent interactions and social relationships. For these girls, embodied agents (animated on-screen characters acting as tutors) could afford simulated social interactions in computer-based learning and thereby…

Social dynamics of science.

PubMed

Sun, Xiaoling; Kaur, Jasleen; Milojević, Staša; Flammini, Alessandro; Menczer, Filippo

2013-01-01

The birth and decline of disciplines are critical to science and society. How do scientific disciplines emerge? No quantitative model to date allows us to validate competing theories on the different roles of endogenous processes, such as social collaborations, and exogenous events, such as scientific discoveries. Here we propose an agent-based model in which the evolution of disciplines is guided mainly by social interactions among agents representing scientists. Disciplines emerge from splitting and merging of social communities in a collaboration network. We find that this social model can account for a number of stylized facts about the relationships between disciplines, scholars, and publications. These results provide strong quantitative support for the key role of social interactions in shaping the dynamics of science. While several "science of science" theories exist, this is the first account for the emergence of disciplines that is validated on the basis of empirical data.

Social Dynamics of Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Xiaoling; Kaur, Jasleen; Milojević, Staša; Flammini, Alessandro; Menczer, Filippo

2013-01-01

The birth and decline of disciplines are critical to science and society. How do scientific disciplines emerge? No quantitative model to date allows us to validate competing theories on the different roles of endogenous processes, such as social collaborations, and exogenous events, such as scientific discoveries. Here we propose an agent-based model in which the evolution of disciplines is guided mainly by social interactions among agents representing scientists. Disciplines emerge from splitting and merging of social communities in a collaboration network. We find that this social model can account for a number of stylized facts about the relationships between disciplines, scholars, and publications. These results provide strong quantitative support for the key role of social interactions in shaping the dynamics of science. While several ``science of science'' theories exist, this is the first account for the emergence of disciplines that is validated on the basis of empirical data.

The co-evolution of cultures, social network communities, and agent locations in an extension of Axelrod’s model of cultural dissemination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pfau, Jens; Kirley, Michael; Kashima, Yoshihisa

2013-01-01

We introduce a variant of the Axelrod model of cultural dissemination in which agents change their physical locations, social links, and cultures. Numerical simulations are used to investigate the evolution of social network communities and the cultural diversity within and between these communities. An analysis of the simulation results shows that an initial peak in the cultural diversity within network communities is evident before agents segregate into a final configuration of culturally homogeneous communities. Larger long-range interaction probabilities facilitate the initial emergence of culturally diverse network communities, which leads to a more pronounced initial peak in cultural diversity within communities. At equilibrium, the number of communities, and hence cultures, increases when the initial cultural diversity increases. However, the number of communities decreases when the lattice size or population density increases. A phase transition between two regimes of initial cultural diversity is evident. For initial diversities below a critical value, a single network community and culture emerges that dominates the population. For initial diversities above the critical value, multiple culturally homogeneous communities emerge. The critical value of initial diversity at which this transition occurs increases with increasing lattice size and population density and generally with increasing absolute population size. We conclude that larger initial diversities promote cultural heterogenization, while larger lattice sizes, population densities, and in fact absolute population sizes promote homogenization.

Unexploded ordnance issues at Aberdeen Proving Ground: Background information

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rosenblatt, D.H.

1996-11-01

This document summarizes currently available information about the presence and significance of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the two main areas of Aberdeen Proving Ground: Aberdeen Area and Edgewood Area. Known UXO in the land ranges of the Aberdeen Area consists entirely of conventional munitions. The Edgewood Area contains, in addition to conventional munitions, a significant quantity of chemical-munition UXO, which is reflected in the presence of chemical agent decomposition products in Edgewood Area ground-water samples. It may be concluded from current information that the UXO at Aberdeen Proving Ground has not adversely affected the environment through release of toxic substancesmore » to the public domain, especially not by water pathways, and is not likely to do so in the near future. Nevertheless, modest but periodic monitoring of groundwater and nearby surface waters would be a prudent policy.« less

What constitutes a health-enabling neighborhood? A grounded theory situational analysis addressing the significance of social capital and gender.

PubMed

Eriksson, Malin; Emmelin, Maria

2013-11-01

Variations in health between neighborhoods are well known and the conceptualization of social capital has contributed to an understanding of how contextual factors influence these differences. Studies show positive health-effects from living in high social capital areas, at least for some population sub-groups. The aim of this qualitative study was to understand what constitutes a 'health-enabling' neighborhood. It follows up results from a social capital survey in northern Sweden indicating that the health effects of living in a high social capital neighborhood is gendered in favor of women. A grounded theory situational analysis of eight focus group discussions--four with men and four with women--illustrated similar and different positions on how neighborhood characteristics influence health. A neighborhood, where people say hi to each other ("hi-factor") and where support between neighbors exist, were factors perceived as positive for health by all, as was a good location, neighborhood greenness and proximity to essential arenas. Women perceived freedom from demands, feeling safe and city life as additional health enabling factors. For men freedom to do what you want, a sense of belonging, and countryside life were important. To have burdensome neighbors, physical disturbances and a densely living environment were perceived as negative for health in both groups while demands for a well styled home and feeling unsafe were perceived as negative for health among women. Neighborhood social capital, together with other elements in the living environment, has fundamental influence on people's perceived health. Our findings do not confirm that social capital is more important for women than for men but that distinctive form of social capital differ in impact. Investing in physical interventions, such as planning for meeting places, constructing attractive green areas, and making neighborhoods walking-friendly, may increase human interactions that is instrumental for

Phase Transition in Opinion Diffusion in Social Networks

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-01

the opinions of social agents diffuse in a network under a so-called hard-interaction model, in which the agents inter- act more strongly with...gent behavior. Index Terms— opinion diffusion , opinion dynamics, social net- works, phase transition, herding. 1. INTRODUCTION The study of the

Diversity-induced resonance in the response to social norms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tessone, Claudio J.; Sánchez, Angel; Schweitzer, Frank

2013-02-01

In this paper we focus on diversity-induced resonance, which was recently found in bistable, excitable, and other physical systems. We study the appearance of this phenomenon in a purely economic model of cooperating and defecting agents. An agent's contribution to a public good is seen as a social norm, so defecting agents face a social pressure, which decreases if free riding becomes widespread. In this model, diversity among agents naturally appears because of the different sensitivities towards the social norm. We study the evolution of cooperation as a response to the social norm (i) for the replicator dynamics and (ii) for the logit dynamics by means of numerical simulations. Diversity-induced resonance is observed as a maximum in the response of agents to changes in the social norm as a function of the degree of heterogeneity in the population. We provide an analytical, mean-field approach for the logit dynamics and find very good agreement with the simulations. From a socioeconomic perspective, our results show that, counterintuitively, diversity in the individual sensitivity to social norms may result in a society that better follows such norms as a whole, even if part of the population is less prone to follow them.

Sex workers in HIV prevention: From Social Change Agents to Peer Educators.

PubMed

George, Annie; Blankenship, Kim M; Biradavolu, Monica R; Dhungana, Nimesh; Tankasala, Nehanda

2015-01-01

We utilised a comparative ethnographic approach to study the implementation of a community mobilisation intervention addressing HIV risk among female sex workers (FSWs) in India, as implemented first by an non-governmental organisation and after oversight of the intervention was transitioned to the government. We demonstrate that the work of peer outreach workers changed from Social Change Agents within a community-led structural intervention (CLSI) to Peer Educators within a targeted intervention (TI). In the CLSI approach, built on the assumption that FSW risk for HIV is rooted in power inequality and structural vulnerability, peer outreach workers mobilised their peers through community-based organisations to address underlying conditions of inequality and vulnerability. In contrast, the TI approach, which views FSW risk as a function of limited knowledge and barriers to services, addressed peers' access to information and health services. Analysis of changes in the function of peer outreach workers reveals critical differences of which we discuss four: assumptions about conditions that produce HIV risk; degree of emphasis placed on collective mobilising and building collective power; extent to which community mobilisation and HIV prevention goals are linked; and the intervention's use of peer input. We discuss the implications of these findings for HIV prevention programming.

Fairness emergence from zero-intelligence agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duan, Wen-Qi; Stanley, H. Eugene

2010-02-01

Fairness plays a key role in explaining the emergence and maintenance of cooperation. Opponent-oriented social utility models were often proposed to explain the origins of fairness preferences in which agents take into account not only their own outcomes but are also concerned with the outcomes of their opponents. Here, we propose a payoff-oriented mechanism in which agents update their beliefs only based on the payoff signals of the previous ultimatum game, regardless of the behaviors and outcomes of the opponents themselves. Employing adaptive ultimatum game, we show that (1) fairness behaviors can emerge out even under such minimalist assumptions, provided that agents are capable of responding to their payoff signals, (2) the average game payoff per agent per round decreases with the increasing discrepancy rate between the average giving rate and the average asking rate, and (3) the belief update process will lead to 50%-50% fair split provided that there is no mutation in the evolutionary dynamics.

Cold recycle pavement using urea urethane dispersion agent and rubber : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1994-12-01

This research study was a joint venture of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), Evans, Loosely, Inc., and Roseburg Paving Company, to evaluate the use of Urea Urethane Dispersion (UUD) agent, with finely ground tire rubber, high float emul...

Applying a contemporary grounded theory methodology.

PubMed

Licqurish, Sharon; Seibold, Carmel

2011-01-01

The aim of this paper is to discuss the application of a contemporary grounded theory methodology to a research project exploring the experiences of students studying for a degree in midwifery. Grounded theory is a qualitative research approach developed by Glaser and Strauss in the 1950s but the methodology for this study was modelled on Clarke's (2005) approach and was underpinned by a symbolic interactionist theoretical perspective, post-structuralist theories of Michel Foucault and a constructionist epistemology. The study participants were 19 midwifery students completing their final placement. Data were collected through individual in-depth interviews and participant observation, and analysed using the grounded theory analysis techniques of coding, constant comparative analysis and theoretical sampling, as well as situational maps. The analysis focused on social action and interaction and the operation of power in the students' environment. The social process in which the students were involved, as well as the actors and discourses that affected the students' competency development, were highlighted. The methodology allowed a thorough exploration of the students' experiences of achieving competency. However, some difficulties were encountered. One of the major issues related to the understanding and application of complex sociological theories that challenged positivist notions of truth and power. Furthermore, the mapping processes were complex. Despite these minor challenges, the authors recommend applying this methodology to other similar research projects.

Application of the AHP method in modeling the trust and reputation of software agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zytniewski, Mariusz; Klementa, Marek; Skorupka, Dariusz; Stanek, Stanislaw; Duchaczek, Artur

2016-06-01

Given the unique characteristics of cyberspace and, in particular, the number of inherent security threats, communication between software agents becomes a highly complex issue and a major challenge that, on the one hand, needs to be continuously monitored and, on the other, awaits new solutions addressing its vulnerabilities. An approach that has recently come into view mimics mechanisms typical of social systems and is based on trust and reputation that assist agents in deciding which other agents to interact with. The paper offers an enhancement to existing trust and reputation models, involving the application of the AHP method that is widely used for decision support in social systems, notably for risks analysis. To this end, it is proposed to expand the underlying conceptual basis by including such notions as self-trust and social trust, and to apply these to software agents. The discussion is concluded with an account of an experiment aimed at testing the effectiveness of the proposed solution.

Detection of chemical agent aerosols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fox, Jay A.; Ahl, Jeffrey L.; D'Amico, Francis M.; Vanderbeek, Richard G.; Moon, Raphael; Swim, Cynthia R.

1999-05-01

One of the major threats presented by a chemical agent attack is that of a munition exploding overhead and 'raining' aerosols which can contaminate surfaces when they impact. Since contact with these surfaces can be fatal, it is imperative to know when such an attack has taken place and the likely threat density and location. We present the results of an experiment designed to show the utility of a CO2 lidar in detecting such an attack. Testing occurred at Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah and involved the simulation of an explosive airburst chemical attack. Explosions occurred at a height of 30 m and liquid droplets from two chemicals, PEG-200 (polyethylene glycol 200) and TEP (triethylphosphate), were expelled and fell to the ground. The munition was the U.S. Army M9 Simulator, Projectile, Airburst, Liquid (SPAL) system that is designed for chemical warfare training exercises. The instrument that was used to detect the presence of the aerosols was the Laser Standoff Chemical Detector (LSCD) which is a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system that utilizes a rapidly tunable, pulsed CO2 laser. The LIDAR scanned a horizontal path approximately 5 - 8 m above the ground in order to measure the concentration of liquid deposition. The LIDAR data were later correlated with card data to determine how well the system could predict the location and quantity of liquid deposition on the ground.

An Agent-Based Simulation for Investigating the Impact of Stereotypes on Task-Oriented Group Formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maghami, Mahsa; Sukthankar, Gita

In this paper, we introduce an agent-based simulation for investigating the impact of social factors on the formation and evolution of task-oriented groups. Task-oriented groups are created explicitly to perform a task, and all members derive benefits from task completion. However, even in cases when all group members act in a way that is locally optimal for task completion, social forces that have mild effects on choice of associates can have a measurable impact on task completion performance. In this paper, we show how our simulation can be used to model the impact of stereotypes on group formation. In our simulation, stereotypes are based on observable features, learned from prior experience, and only affect an agent's link formation preferences. Even without assuming stereotypes affect the agents' willingness or ability to complete tasks, the long-term modifications that stereotypes have on the agents' social network impair the agents' ability to form groups with sufficient diversity of skills, as compared to agents who form links randomly. An interesting finding is that this effect holds even in cases where stereotype preference and skill existence are completely uncorrelated.

Towards social autonomous vehicles: Efficient collision avoidance scheme using Richardson's arms race model.

PubMed

Riaz, Faisal; Niazi, Muaz A

2017-01-01

This paper presents the concept of a social autonomous agent to conceptualize such Autonomous Vehicles (AVs), which interacts with other AVs using social manners similar to human behavior. The presented AVs also have the capability of predicting intentions, i.e. mentalizing and copying the actions of each other, i.e. mirroring. Exploratory Agent Based Modeling (EABM) level of the Cognitive Agent Based Computing (CABC) framework has been utilized to design the proposed social agent. Furthermore, to emulate the functionality of mentalizing and mirroring modules of proposed social agent, a tailored mathematical model of the Richardson's arms race model has also been presented. The performance of the proposed social agent has been validated at two levels-firstly it has been simulated using NetLogo, a standard agent-based modeling tool and also, at a practical level using a prototype AV. The simulation results have confirmed that the proposed social agent-based collision avoidance strategy is 78.52% more efficient than Random walk based collision avoidance strategy in congested flock-like topologies. Whereas practical results have confirmed that the proposed scheme can avoid rear end and lateral collisions with the efficiency of 99.876% as compared with the IEEE 802.11n-based existing state of the art mirroring neuron-based collision avoidance scheme.

Agent-Based Modeling of Growth Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abraham, Ralph

2014-01-01

Growth processes abound in nature, and are frequently the target of modeling exercises in the sciences. In this article we illustrate an agent-based approach to modeling, in the case of a single example from the social sciences: bullying.

EMOTION RECOGNITION OF VIRTUAL AGENTS FACIAL EXPRESSIONS: THE EFFECTS OF AGE AND EMOTION INTENSITY

PubMed Central

Beer, Jenay M.; Fisk, Arthur D.; Rogers, Wendy A.

2014-01-01

People make determinations about the social characteristics of an agent (e.g., robot or virtual agent) by interpreting social cues displayed by the agent, such as facial expressions. Although a considerable amount of research has been conducted investigating age-related differences in emotion recognition of human faces (e.g., Sullivan, & Ruffman, 2004), the effect of age on emotion identification of virtual agent facial expressions has been largely unexplored. Age-related differences in emotion recognition of facial expressions are an important factor to consider in the design of agents that may assist older adults in a recreational or healthcare setting. The purpose of the current research was to investigate whether age-related differences in facial emotion recognition can extend to emotion-expressive virtual agents. Younger and older adults performed a recognition task with a virtual agent expressing six basic emotions. Larger age-related differences were expected for virtual agents displaying negative emotions, such as anger, sadness, and fear. In fact, the results indicated that older adults showed a decrease in emotion recognition accuracy for a virtual agent's emotions of anger, fear, and happiness. PMID:25552896

Social Dynamics of Science

PubMed Central

Sun, Xiaoling; Kaur, Jasleen; Milojević, Staša; Flammini, Alessandro; Menczer, Filippo

2013-01-01

The birth and decline of disciplines are critical to science and society. How do scientific disciplines emerge? No quantitative model to date allows us to validate competing theories on the different roles of endogenous processes, such as social collaborations, and exogenous events, such as scientific discoveries. Here we propose an agent-based model in which the evolution of disciplines is guided mainly by social interactions among agents representing scientists. Disciplines emerge from splitting and merging of social communities in a collaboration network. We find that this social model can account for a number of stylized facts about the relationships between disciplines, scholars, and publications. These results provide strong quantitative support for the key role of social interactions in shaping the dynamics of science. While several “science of science” theories exist, this is the first account for the emergence of disciplines that is validated on the basis of empirical data. PMID:23323212

Evolvable social agents for bacterial systems modeling.

PubMed

Paton, Ray; Gregory, Richard; Vlachos, Costas; Saunders, Jon; Wu, Henry

2004-09-01

We present two approaches to the individual-based modeling (IbM) of bacterial ecologies and evolution using computational tools. The IbM approach is introduced, and its important complementary role to biosystems modeling is discussed. A fine-grained model of bacterial evolution is then presented that is based on networks of interactivity between computational objects representing genes and proteins. This is followed by a coarser grained agent-based model, which is designed to explore the evolvability of adaptive behavioral strategies in artificial bacteria represented by learning classifier systems. The structure and implementation of the two proposed individual-based bacterial models are discussed, and some results from simulation experiments are presented, illustrating their adaptive properties.

Agent Model Development for Assessing Climate-Induced Geopolitical Instability.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Boslough, Mark B.; Backus, George A.

2005-12-01

We present the initial stages of development of new agent-based computational methods to generate and test hypotheses about linkages between environmental change and international instability. This report summarizes the first year's effort of an originally proposed three-year Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project. The preliminary work focused on a set of simple agent-based models and benefited from lessons learned in previous related projects and case studies of human response to climate change and environmental scarcity. Our approach was to define a qualitative model using extremely simple cellular agent models akin to Lovelock's Daisyworld and Schelling's segregation model. Such modelsmore » do not require significant computing resources, and users can modify behavior rules to gain insights. One of the difficulties in agent-based modeling is finding the right balance between model simplicity and real-world representation. Our approach was to keep agent behaviors as simple as possible during the development stage (described herein) and to ground them with a realistic geospatial Earth system model in subsequent years. This work is directed toward incorporating projected climate data--including various C02 scenarios from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Assessment Report--and ultimately toward coupling a useful agent-based model to a general circulation model.3« less

Games Children Play: An Exercise Illustrating Agents of Socialization.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glasberg, Davita Silfen; Maatita, Florence; Nangle, Barbara; Schauer, Tracy

1998-01-01

Argues that children's toys and games contribute to representing and reinforcing dominant conceptions of appropriate social identities. Invites students to play a number of children's games in order to experience the "hidden agendas" concerning race, class, gender, and political socialization conveyed to them while they are playing. (DSK)

What makes virtual agents believable?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bogdanovych, Anton; Trescak, Tomas; Simoff, Simeon

2016-01-01

In this paper we investigate the concept of believability and make an attempt to isolate individual characteristics (features) that contribute to making virtual characters believable. As the result of this investigation we have produced a formalisation of believability and based on this formalisation built a computational framework focused on simulation of believable virtual agents that possess the identified features. In order to test whether the identified features are, in fact, responsible for agents being perceived as more believable, we have conducted a user study. In this study we tested user reactions towards the virtual characters that were created for a simulation of aboriginal inhabitants of a particular area of Sydney, Australia in 1770 A.D. The participants of our user study were exposed to short simulated scenes, in which virtual agents performed some behaviour in two different ways (while possessing a certain aspect of believability vs. not possessing it). The results of the study indicate that virtual agents that appear resource bounded, are aware of their environment, own interaction capabilities and their state in the world, agents that can adapt to changes in the environment and exist in correct social context are those that are being perceived as more believable. Further in the paper we discuss these and other believability features and provide a quantitative analysis of the level of contribution for each such feature to the overall perceived believability of a virtual agent.

What Do Learners and Pedagogical Agents Discuss When Given Opportunities for Open-Ended Dialogue?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Veletsianos, George; Russell, Gregory S.

2013-01-01

Researchers claim that pedagogical agents engender opportunities for social learning in digital environments. Prior literature, however, has not thoroughly examined the discourse between agents and learners. To address this gap, we analyzed a data corpus of interactions between agents and learners using open coding methods. Analysis revealed that:…

On Social Optima of Non-Cooperative Mean Field Games

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Sen; Zhang, Wei; Zhao, Lin

This paper studies the social optima in noncooperative mean-field games for a large population of agents with heterogeneous stochastic dynamic systems. Each agent seeks to maximize an individual utility functional, and utility functionals of different agents are coupled through a mean field term that depends on the mean of the population states/controls. The paper has the following contributions. First, we derive a set of control strategies for the agents that possess *-Nash equilibrium property, and converge to the mean-field Nash equilibrium as the population size goes to infinity. Second, we study the social optimal in the mean field game. Wemore » derive the conditions, termed the socially optimal conditions, under which the *-Nash equilibrium of the mean field game maximizes the social welfare. Third, a primal-dual algorithm is proposed to compute the *-Nash equilibrium of the mean field game. Since the *-Nash equilibrium of the mean field game is socially optimal, we can compute the equilibrium by solving the social welfare maximization problem, which can be addressed by a decentralized primal-dual algorithm. Numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.« less

The Socialization Community.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lippitt, Ronald O.

This paper develops a conceptual framework as a guide for research analysis and the designing of experimental interventions aimed at the improvement of the socialization process of the community. Socialization agents are the parents, older and like-age peers, formal education agencies, churches, leisure time child and youth serving agencies, legal…

The Control of Multi-Agent Systems (MAS)

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-09-01

Mixes rational (ground state E0 = |↓>) & emotional (excited state E1 = |↑>) • M(I, S) -> shifts agent |↑> or |↓> w/P(1) (Gibson, 1986; Caccioppo...1951): a group is more than sum of parts – Luce & Raiffa (1967): individual rational perspective cannot account for the “social” (viz., game and...deception • Assumption: Reality is bistable with I that is mostly inaccessible 2 9th ICCRTS, Copenhagen, 9/2004 Paradoxes • Rational , Individual: ∑xi

Referring to the social performance promotes cooperation in spatial prisoner's dilemma games

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shigaki, Keizo; Tanimoto, Jun; Wang, Zhen; Kokubo, Satoshi; Hagishima, Aya; Ikegaya, Naoki

2012-09-01

We propose a new pairwise Fermi updating rule by considering a social average payoff when an agent copies a neighbor's strategy. In the update rule, a focal agent compares her payoff with the social average payoff of the same strategy that her pairwise opponent has. This concept might be justified by the fact that people reference global and, somehow, statistical information, not local information when imitating social behaviors. We presume several possible ways for the social average. Simulation results prove that the social average of some limited agents realizes more significant cooperation than that of the entire population.

Social Touch Technology: A Survey of Haptic Technology for Social Touch.

PubMed

Huisman, Gijs

2017-01-01

This survey provides an overview of work on haptic technology for social touch. Social touch has been studied extensively in psychology and neuroscience. With the development of new technologies, it is now possible to engage in social touch at a distance or engage in social touch with artificial social agents. Social touch research has inspired research into technology mediated social touch, and this line of research has found effects similar to actual social touch. The importance of haptic stimulus qualities, multimodal cues, and contextual factors in technology mediated social touch is discussed. This survey is concluded by reflecting on the current state of research into social touch technology, and providing suggestions for future research and applications.

Towards social autonomous vehicles: Efficient collision avoidance scheme using Richardson’s arms race model

PubMed Central

Niazi, Muaz A.

2017-01-01

This paper presents the concept of a social autonomous agent to conceptualize such Autonomous Vehicles (AVs), which interacts with other AVs using social manners similar to human behavior. The presented AVs also have the capability of predicting intentions, i.e. mentalizing and copying the actions of each other, i.e. mirroring. Exploratory Agent Based Modeling (EABM) level of the Cognitive Agent Based Computing (CABC) framework has been utilized to design the proposed social agent. Furthermore, to emulate the functionality of mentalizing and mirroring modules of proposed social agent, a tailored mathematical model of the Richardson’s arms race model has also been presented. The performance of the proposed social agent has been validated at two levels–firstly it has been simulated using NetLogo, a standard agent-based modeling tool and also, at a practical level using a prototype AV. The simulation results have confirmed that the proposed social agent-based collision avoidance strategy is 78.52% more efficient than Random walk based collision avoidance strategy in congested flock-like topologies. Whereas practical results have confirmed that the proposed scheme can avoid rear end and lateral collisions with the efficiency of 99.876% as compared with the IEEE 802.11n-based existing state of the art mirroring neuron-based collision avoidance scheme. PMID:29040294

Optimization of ground-water withdrawal at the old O-Field area, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland

USGS Publications Warehouse

Banks, William S.L.; Dillow, Jonathan J.A.

2001-01-01

The U.S. Army disposed of chemical agents, laboratory materials, and unexploded ordnance at the Old O-Field landfill at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, beginning prior to World War II and continuing until at least the 1950?s. Soil, ground water, surface water, and wetland sediments in the Old O-Field area were contaminated by the disposal of these materials. The site is in the Atlantic Coastal Plain, and is characterized by a complex series of Pleistocene and Holocene sediments formed in various fluvial, estuarine, and marine-marginal hydrogeologic environments. A previously constructed transient finite-difference ground-water-flow model was used to simulate ground-water flow and the effects of a pump-and-treat remediation system designed to prevent contaminated ground water from flowing into Watson Creek (a tidal estuary and a tributary to the Gunpowder River). The remediation system consists of 14 extraction wells located between the Old O-Field landfill and Watson Creek.Linear programming techniques were applied to the results of the flow-model simulations to identify optimal pumping strategies for the remediation system. The optimal management objective is to minimize total withdrawal from the water-table aquifer, while adhering to the following constraints: (1) ground-water flow from the landfill should be prevented from reaching Watson Creek, (2) no extraction pump should be operated at a rate that exceeds its capacity, and (3) no extraction pump should be operated at a rate below its minimum capacity, the minimum rate at which an Old O-Field pump can function. Water withdrawal is minimized by varying the rate and frequency of pumping at each of the 14 extraction wells over time. This minimizes the costs of both pumping and water treatment, thus providing the least-cost remediation alternative while simultaneously meeting all operating constraints.The optimal strategy identified using this objective and constraint set involved operating 13 of the 14

Moving attractive virtual agent improves interpersonal coordination stability.

PubMed

Zhao, Zhong; Salesse, Robin N; Gueugnon, Mathieu; Schmidt, Richard C; Marin, Ludovic; Bardy, Benoît G

2015-06-01

Interpersonal motor coordination is influenced not only by biomechanical factors such as coordination pattern, oscillating frequency, and individual differences, but also by psychosocial factor such as likability and social competences. Based on the social stereotype of "what is beautiful is good", the present study aimed at investigating whether people coordinate differently with physically attractive people compared to less attractive people. 34 participants were engaged in an interpersonal coordination task with different looking (virtual) agents while performing at the same time a reaction time task. Results showed that participants had more stable motor coordination with the moving attractive than with the less attractive agent, and that the difference in motor coordination could not be interpreted by a specific attention allocation strategy. Our findings provide the evidence that physical attractiveness genuinely affects how people interact with another person, and that the temporal-spatial coordinated movement varies with the partner's psychosocial characteristics. The study broadens the perspective of exploring the effect of additional psychosocial factors on social motor coordination. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Learning Companion Systems, Social Learning Systems, and the Global Social Learning Club.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chan, Tak-Wai

1996-01-01

Describes the development of learning companion systems and their contributions to the class of social learning systems that integrate artificial intelligence agents and use machine learning to tutor and interact with students. Outlines initial social learning projects, their programming languages, and weakness. Future improvements will include…

The role of family planning communications--an agent of reinforcement or change.

PubMed

Chen, E C

1981-12-01

Results are presented of a multiple classification analysis of responses to a 1972 KAP survey in Taiwan of 2013 married women aged 18-34 designed to determine whether family planning communication is primarily a reinforcement agent or a change agent. 2 types of independent variables, social demographic variables including age, number of children, residence, education, employment status, and duration of marriage; and social climate variables including ever receiving family planning information from mass media and ever discussing family planning with others, were used. KAP levels, the dependent variables, were measured by 2 variables each: awareness of effective methods and awareness of government supply of contraceptives for knowledge, wish for additional children and approve of 2-child family for attitude, and never use contraception and neither want children nor use contraception for practice. Social demographic and attitudinal variables were found to be the critical ones, while social climate and knowledge variables had only negligible effects on various stages of family planning adoption, indicating that family planning communications functioned primarily as a reinforcement agent. The effects of social demographic variables were prominent in all stages of contraceptive adoption. Examination of effects of individual variables on various stages of family planning adoption still supported the argument that family planning communications played a reinforcement role. Family planning communications functioned well in diffusing family planning knowledge and accessibility, but social demographic variables and desire for additional children were the most decisive influences on use of contraception.

The Functions of Mass Media in the Political Socialization of Adolescents.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adoni, Hanna

1979-01-01

Suggests that the mass media serve as socializing agents by providing direct linkage to media and contents which are essential for the development of political values, and by contributing to the structuring of social contexts in which adolescents may exercise such value orientations and reinforce ties with primary socializing agents. (JMF)

Brands as Intentional Agents Framework: How Perceived Intentions and Ability Can Map Brand Perception.

PubMed

Kervyn, Nicolas; Fiske, Susan T; Malone, Chris

2012-04-01

Building on the Stereotype Content Model, this paper introduces and tests the Brands as Intentional Agents Framework. A growing body of research suggests that consumers have relationships with brands that resemble relations between people. We propose that consumers perceive brands in the same way they perceive people. This approach allows us to explore how social perception theories and processes can predict brand purchase interest and loyalty. Brands as Intentional Agents Framework is based on a well-established social perception approach: the Stereotype Content Model. Two studies support the Brands as Intentional Agents Framework prediction that consumers assess a brand's perceived intentions and ability and that these perceptions elicit distinct emotions and drive differential brand behaviors. The research shows that human social interaction relationships translate to consumer-brand interactions in ways that are useful to inform brand positioning and brand communications.

Brands as Intentional Agents Framework: How Perceived Intentions and Ability Can Map Brand Perception

PubMed Central

Kervyn, Nicolas; Fiske, Susan T.; Malone, Chris

2013-01-01

Building on the Stereotype Content Model, this paper introduces and tests the Brands as Intentional Agents Framework. A growing body of research suggests that consumers have relationships with brands that resemble relations between people. We propose that consumers perceive brands in the same way they perceive people. This approach allows us to explore how social perception theories and processes can predict brand purchase interest and loyalty. Brands as Intentional Agents Framework is based on a well-established social perception approach: the Stereotype Content Model. Two studies support the Brands as Intentional Agents Framework prediction that consumers assess a brand’s perceived intentions and ability and that these perceptions elicit distinct emotions and drive differential brand behaviors. The research shows that human social interaction relationships translate to consumer-brand interactions in ways that are useful to inform brand positioning and brand communications. PMID:24403815

Competent yet out in the Cold: Shifting Criteria for Hiring Reflect Backlash toward Agentic Women

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phelan, Julie E.; Moss-Racusin, Corinne A.; Rudman, Laurie A.

2008-01-01

We present evidence that shifting hiring criteria reflects backlash toward agentic ("masterful") women (Rudman, 1998). Participants (N=428) evaluated male or female agentic or communal managerial applicants on dimensions of competence, social skills, and hireability. Consistent with past research, agentic women were perceived as highly competent…

Pain expressiveness and altruistic behavior: an exploration using agent-based modeling.

PubMed

de C Williams, Amanda C; Gallagher, Elizabeth; Fidalgo, Antonio R; Bentley, Peter J

2016-03-01

Predictions which invoke evolutionary mechanisms are hard to test. Agent-based modeling in artificial life offers a way to simulate behaviors and interactions in specific physical or social environments over many generations. The outcomes have implications for understanding adaptive value of behaviors in context. Pain-related behavior in animals is communicated to other animals that might protect or help, or might exploit or predate. An agent-based model simulated the effects of displaying or not displaying pain (expresser/nonexpresser strategies) when injured and of helping, ignoring, or exploiting another in pain (altruistic/nonaltruistic/selfish strategies). Agents modeled in MATLAB interacted at random while foraging (gaining energy); random injury interrupted foraging for a fixed time unless help from an altruistic agent, who paid an energy cost, speeded recovery. Environmental and social conditions also varied, and each model ran for 10,000 iterations. Findings were meaningful in that, in general, contingencies that evident from experimental work with a variety of mammals, over a few interactions, were replicated in the agent-based model after selection pressure over many generations. More energy-demanding expression of pain reduced its frequency in successive generations, and increasing injury frequency resulted in fewer expressers and altruists. Allowing exploitation of injured agents decreased expression of pain to near zero, but altruists remained. Decreasing costs or increasing benefits of helping hardly changed its frequency, whereas increasing interaction rate between injured agents and helpers diminished the benefits to both. Agent-based modeling allows simulation of complex behaviors and environmental pressures over evolutionary time.

Agent-based modeling in ecological economics.

PubMed

Heckbert, Scott; Baynes, Tim; Reeson, Andrew

2010-01-01

Interconnected social and environmental systems are the domain of ecological economics, and models can be used to explore feedbacks and adaptations inherent in these systems. Agent-based modeling (ABM) represents autonomous entities, each with dynamic behavior and heterogeneous characteristics. Agents interact with each other and their environment, resulting in emergent outcomes at the macroscale that can be used to quantitatively analyze complex systems. ABM is contributing to research questions in ecological economics in the areas of natural resource management and land-use change, urban systems modeling, market dynamics, changes in consumer attitudes, innovation, and diffusion of technology and management practices, commons dilemmas and self-governance, and psychological aspects to human decision making and behavior change. Frontiers for ABM research in ecological economics involve advancing the empirical calibration and validation of models through mixed methods, including surveys, interviews, participatory modeling, and, notably, experimental economics to test specific decision-making hypotheses. Linking ABM with other modeling techniques at the level of emergent properties will further advance efforts to understand dynamics of social-environmental systems.

Ground truth methods for optical cross-section modeling of biological aerosols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalter, J.; Thrush, E.; Santarpia, J.; Chaudhry, Z.; Gilberry, J.; Brown, D. M.; Brown, A.; Carter, C. C.

2011-05-01

Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) systems have demonstrated some capability to meet the needs of a fastresponse standoff biological detection method for simulants in open air conditions. These systems are designed to exploit various cloud signatures, such as differential elastic backscatter, fluorescence, and depolarization in order to detect biological warfare agents (BWAs). However, because the release of BWAs in open air is forbidden, methods must be developed to predict candidate system performance against real agents. In support of such efforts, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (JHU/APL) has developed a modeling approach to predict the optical properties of agent materials from relatively simple, Biosafety Level 3-compatible bench top measurements. JHU/APL has fielded new ground truth instruments (in addition to standard particle sizers, such as the Aerodynamic particle sizer (APS) or GRIMM aerosol monitor (GRIMM)) to more thoroughly characterize the simulant aerosols released in recent field tests at Dugway Proving Ground (DPG). These instruments include the Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS), the Ultraviolet Aerodynamic Particle Sizer (UVAPS), and the Aspect Aerosol Size and Shape Analyser (Aspect). The SMPS was employed as a means of measuring smallparticle concentrations for more accurate Mie scattering simulations; the UVAPS, which measures size-resolved fluorescence intensity, was employed as a path toward fluorescence cross section modeling; and the Aspect, which measures particle shape, was employed as a path towards depolarization modeling.

Measuring engagement effectiveness in social media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Lei; Sun, Tong; Peng, Wei; Li, Tao

2012-03-01

Social media is becoming increasingly prevalent with the advent of web 2.0 technologies. Popular social media websites, such as Twitter and Facebook, are attracting a gigantic number of online users to post and share information. An interesting phenomenon under this trend involves that more and more users share their experiences or issues with regard to a product, and then the product service agents use commercial social media listening and engagement tools (e.g. Radian6, Sysomos, etc.) to response to users' complaints or issues and help them tackle their problems. This is often called customer care in social media or social customer relationship management (CRM). However, all these existing commercial social media tools only provide an aggregated level of trends, patterns and sentiment analysis based on the keyword-centric brand relevant data, which have little insights for answering one of the key questions in social CRM system: how effective is our social customer care engagement? In this paper, we focus on addressing the problem of how to measure the effectiveness of engagement for service agents in customer care. Traditional CRM effectiveness measurements are defined under the scenario of the call center, where the effectiveness is mostly based on the duration time per call and/or number of answered calls per day. Different from customer care in a call center, we can obtain detailed conversations between agents and customers in social media, and therefore the effectiveness can be measured by analyzing the content of conversations and the sentiment of customers.

Invisible excess of sense in social interaction

PubMed Central

Koubová, Alice

2014-01-01

The question of visibility and invisibility in social understanding is examined here. First, the phenomenological account of expressive phenomena and key ideas of the participatory sense-making theory are presented with regard to the issue of visibility. These accounts plead for the principal visibility of agents in interaction. Although participatory sense-making does not completely rule out the existence of opacity and invisible aspects of agents in interaction, it assumes the capacity of agents to integrate disruptions, opacity and misunderstandings in mutual modulation. Invisibility is classified as the dialectical counterpart of visibility, i.e., as a lack of sense whereby the dynamics of perpetual asking, of coping with each other and of improvements in interpretation are brought into play. By means of empirical exemplification this article aims at demonstrating aspects of invisibility in social interaction which complement the enactive interpretation. Without falling back into Cartesianism, it shows through dramaturgical analysis of a practice called “(Inter)acting with the inner partner” that social interaction includes elements of opacity and invisibility whose role is performative. This means that opacity is neither an obstacle to be overcome with more precise understanding nor a lack of meaning, but rather an excess of sense, a “hiddenness” of something real that has an “active power” (Merleau-Ponty). In this way it contributes to on-going social understanding as a hidden potentiality that naturally enriches, amplifies and in part constitutes human participation in social interactions. It is also shown here that this invisible excess of sense already functions on the level of self-relationship due to the essential self-opacity and self-alterity of each agent of social interaction. The analysis consequently raises two issues: the question of the enactive ethical stance toward the alterity of the other and the question of the autonomy of the

Towards the development of tamper-resistant, ground-based mobile sensor nodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mascarenas, David; Stull, Christopher; Farrar, Charles

2011-11-01

Mobile sensor nodes hold great potential for collecting field data using fewer resources than human operators would require and potentially requiring fewer sensors than a fixed-position sensor array. It would be very beneficial to allow these mobile sensor nodes to operate unattended with a minimum of human intervention. In order to allow mobile sensor nodes to operate unattended in a field environment, it is imperative that they be capable of identifying and responding to external agents that may attempt to tamper with, damage or steal the mobile sensor nodes, while still performing their data collection mission. Potentially hostile external agents could include animals, other mobile sensor nodes, or humans. This work will focus on developing control policies to help enable a mobile sensor node to identify and avoid capture by a hostile un-mounted human. The work is developed in a simulation environment, and demonstrated using a non-holonomic, ground-based mobile sensor node. This work will be a preliminary step toward ensuring the cyber-physical security of ground-based mobile sensor nodes that operate unattended in potentially unfriendly environments.

Social Lift or Social Exclusion?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aleshina, M. V.; Pleve, I. R.

2010-01-01

Transmitting the achievements of civilization and the values of culture to younger generations is the task of today's higher education as the agent of socialization, the accumulation of human capital, and the formation of the middle class. All of these vital functions of higher education can be accomplished provided that efforts are made to ensure…

Navigating the grounded theory terrain. Part 2.

PubMed

Hunter, Andrew; Murphy, Kathy; Grealish, Annmarie; Casey, Dympna; Keady, John

2011-01-01

In this paper, the choice of classic grounded theory will be discussed and justified in the context of the first author's PhD research. The methodological discussion takes place within the context of PhD research entitled: Development of a stakeholder-led framework for a structured education programme that will prepare nurses and healthcare assistants to deliver a psychosocial intervention for people with dementia. There is a lack of research and limited understanding of the effect of psychosocial interventions on people with dementia. The first author thought classic grounded theory a suitable research methodology to investigate as it is held to be ideal for areas of research where there is little understanding of the social processes at work. The literature relating to the practical application of classic grounded theory is illustrated using examples relating to four key grounded theory components: Theory development: using constant comparison and memoing, Methodological rigour, Emergence of a core category, Inclusion of self and engagement with participants. Following discussion of the choice and application of classic grounded theory, this paper explores the need for researchers to visit and understand the various grounded theory options. This paper argues that researchers new to grounded theory must be familiar with and understand the various options. The researchers will then be able to apply the methodologies they choose consistently and critically. Doing so will allow them to develop theory rigorously and they will ultimately be able to better defend their final methodological destinations.

Adolescent vulnerability to cardiovascular consequences of chronic social stress: Immediate and long-term effects of social isolation during adolescence.

PubMed

Cruz, Fábio C; Duarte, Josiane O; Leão, Rodrigo M; Hummel, Luiz F V; Planeta, Cleopatra S; Crestani, Carlos C

2016-01-01

It has been demonstrated that disruption of social bonds and perceived isolation (loneliness) are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Adolescence is proposed as a period of vulnerability to stress. Nevertheless, the impact of chronic social stress during this ontogenic period in cardiovascular function is poorly understood. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the impact in cardiovascular function of social isolation for 3 weeks in adolescent and adult male rats. Also, the long-term effects of social isolation during adolescence were investigated longitudinally. Social isolation reduced body weight in adolescent, but not in adult animals. Disruption of social bonds during adolescence increased arterial pressure without affecting heart rate and pulse pressure (PP). Nevertheless, social isolation in adulthood reduced systolic arterial pressure and increased diastolic arterial pressure, which in turn decreased PP without affecting mean arterial pressure. Cardiovascular changes in adolescents, but not adults, were followed by facilitation of both baroreflex sensitivity and vascular reactivity to the vasodilator agent acetylcholine. Vascular responsiveness to either the vasodilator agent sodium nitroprusside or the vasoconstrictor agent phenylephrine was not affected by social isolation. Except for the changes in body weight and baroreflex sensitivity, all alterations evoked by social isolation during adolescence were reversed in adulthood after moving animals from isolated to collective housing. These findings suggest a vulnerability of adolescents to the effects of chronic social isolation in cardiovascular function. However, results indicate minimal cardiovascular consequences in adulthood of disruption of social bonds during adolescence. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Born Rule and Free Will: why Libertarian Agent-Causal Free Will is not "antiscientific"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kastner, Ruth E.

In the libertarian "agent causation" view of free will, free choices are attributable only to the choosing agent, as opposed to a specific cause or causes outside the agent. An often-repeated claim in the philosophical literature on free will is that agent causation necessarily implies lawlessness, and is therefore "antiscientific." That claim is critiqued and it is argued, on the contrary, that the volitional powers of a free agent need not be viewed as anomic, specifically with regard to the quantum statistical law (the Born Rule). Assumptions about the role and nature of causation, taken as bearing on volitional agency, are examined and found inadequate to the task. Finally, it is suggested that quantum theory may constitute precisely the sort of theory required for a nomic grounding of libertarian free will.

Fire Extinguishing Agents for Protection of Occupied Spaces in Military Ground Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-14

Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) and Global Warming Potential (GWP). HFC-227 has high GWP. • The Army is considering replacing legacy agents with more...a l Ozone Depletion Potentiale 16 0 0 0 0 Global Warming Potentialf 6900 3500 1 0 0 Atmospheric Lifetime (yr) 65 33 0.014 0 0 S a f e t y Design...Extinguisher System  Discharge  in the STRYKER Combat  Vehicle: An Initial Assessment and Recommendations to Prevent Injury,” Walter Reed Army Institute of

Ozone as a laundry agent on orbit and on the ground

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Agosto, William N.

1994-01-01

Ozone (03), is the strongest commercial oxidizing agent for aqueous systems and may be ideal for space station laundering operations. It can be generated electronically from air in situ. It kills virtually all microorganisms, attacks many organics and inorganics, and breaks down stable ring structures of benzene and related oils when coupled with ultra violet radiation. It cleans and disinfects in cold water without the need for detergent. It leaves no residues. Ozone permits up to 90% wash water recycling and it eliminates wash time, water volume, and recycling problems of a detergent rinse. Ozone is self purging and converts spontaneously to oxygen. It can be rapidly purged by well established catalytic and thermal processes. Scaling of an ozone laundering system for space station may have commercial applications in a consumer model for home use.

How Social Status Shapes Person Perception and Evaluation: A Social Neuroscience Perspective.

PubMed

Mattan, Bradley D; Kubota, Jennifer T; Cloutier, Jasmin

2017-05-01

Inferring the relative rank (i.e., status) of others is essential to navigating social hierarchies. A survey of the expanding social psychological and neuroscience literatures on status reveals a diversity of focuses (e.g., perceiver vs. agent), operationalizations (e.g., status as dominance vs. wealth), and methodologies (e.g., behavioral, neuroscientific). Accommodating this burgeoning literature on status in person perception, the present review offers a novel social neuroscientific framework that integrates existing work with theoretical clarity. This framework distinguishes between five key concepts: (1) strategic pathways to status acquisition for agents, (2) status antecedents (i.e., perceptual and knowledge-based cues that confer status rank), (3) status dimensions (i.e., domains in which an individual may be ranked, such as wealth), (4) status level (i.e., one's rank along a given dimension), and (5) the relative importance of a given status dimension, dependent on perceiver and context characteristics. Against the backdrop of this framework, we review multiple dimensions of status in the nonhuman and human primate literatures. We then review the behavioral and neuroscientific literatures on the consequences of perceived status for attention and evaluation. Finally, after proposing a social neuroscience framework, we highlight innovative directions for future social status research in social psychology and neuroscience.

The Convoy Model: Explaining Social Relations From a Multidisciplinary Perspective

PubMed Central

Antonucci, Toni C.

2014-01-01

Purpose of the Study: Social relations are a key aspect of aging and the life course. In this paper, we trace the scientific origins of the study of social relations, focusing in particular on research grounded in the convoy model. Design and Methods: We first briefly review and critique influential historical studies to illustrate how the scientific study of social relations developed. Next, we highlight early and current findings grounded in the convoy model that have provided key insights into theory, method, policy, and practice in the study of aging. Results: Early social relations research, while influential, lacked the combined approach of theoretical grounding and methodological rigor. Nevertheless, previous research findings, especially from anthropology, suggested the importance of social relations in the achievement of positive outcomes. Considering both life span and life course perspectives and grounded in a multidisciplinary perspective, the convoy model was developed to unify and consolidate scattered evidence while at the same time directing future empirical and applied research. Early findings are summarized, current evidence presented, and future directions projected. Implications: The convoy model has provided a useful framework in the study of aging, especially for understanding predictors and consequences of social relations across the life course. PMID:24142914

Adjustable Autonomy and Human-Agent Teamwork in Practice: An Interim Report on Space Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bradshaw, Jeffrey M.; Feltovich, Paul; Hoffman, Robert; Jeffers, Renia; Suri, Niranhan; Uszok, Andrzej; VanHoof, Ron; Acquisti, Alessandro; Prescott, Debbie

2003-01-01

We give a preliminary perspective on the basic principles and pitfalls of adjustable autonomy and human-centered teamwork. We then summarize the interim results of our study on the problem of work practice modeling and human-agent collaboration in space applications, the development of a broad model of human-agent teamwork grounded in practice, and the integration of the Brahms, KAoS, and NOMADS agent frameworks. We hope our work will benefit those who plan and participate in work activities in a wide variety of space applications, as well as those who are interested in design and execution tools for teams of robots that can function as effective assistants to humans.

NICA: Natural Interaction with a Caring Agent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Carolis, Berardina; Mazzotta, Irene; Novielli, Nicole

Ambient Intelligence solutions may provide a great opportunity for elderly people to live longer at home. Assistance and care are delegated to the intelligence embedded in the environment. However, besides considering service-oriented response to the user needs, the assistance has to take into account the establishment of social relations. We propose the use of a robot NICA (as the name of the project Natural Interaction with a Caring Agent) acting as a caring assistant that provides a social interface with the smart home services. In this paper, we introduce the general architecture of the robot's "mind" and then we focus on the need to properly react to affective and socially oriented situations.

Action and perception in social contexts: intentional binding for social action effects

PubMed Central

Pfister, Roland; Obhi, Sukhvinder S.; Rieger, Martina; Wenke, Dorit

2014-01-01

The subjective experience of controlling events in the environment alters the perception of these events. For instance, the interval between one's own actions and their consequences is subjectively compressed—a phenomenon known as intentional binding. In two experiments, we studied intentional binding in a social setting in which actions of one agent prompted a second agent to perform another action. Participants worked in pairs and were assigned to a “leader” and a “follower” role, respectively. The leader's key presses triggered (after a variable interval) a tone and this tone served as go signal for the follower to perform a keypress as well. Leaders and followers estimated the interval between the leader's keypress and the following tone, or the interval between the tone and the follower's keypress. The leader showed reliable intentional binding for both intervals relative to the follower's estimates. These results indicate that human agents experience a pre-reflective sense of agency for genuinely social consequences of their actions. PMID:25228869

Collaborating with Autonomous Agents

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trujillo, Anna C.; Cross, Charles D.; Fan, Henry; Hempley, Lucas E.; Motter, Mark A.; Neilan, James H.; Qualls, Garry D.; Rothhaar, Paul M.; Tran, Loc D.; Allen, B. Danette

2015-01-01

With the anticipated increase of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) entering into the National Airspace System, it is highly likely that vehicle operators will be teaming with fleets of small autonomous vehicles. The small vehicles may consist of sUAS, which are 55 pounds or less that typically will y at altitudes 400 feet and below, and small ground vehicles typically operating in buildings or defined small campuses. Typically, the vehicle operators are not concerned with manual control of the vehicle; instead they are concerned with the overall mission. In order for this vision of high-level mission operators working with fleets of vehicles to come to fruition, many human factors related challenges must be investigated and solved. First, the interface between the human operator and the autonomous agent must be at a level that the operator needs and the agents can understand. This paper details the natural language human factors e orts that NASA Langley's Autonomy Incubator is focusing on. In particular these e orts focus on allowing the operator to interact with the system using speech and gestures rather than a mouse and keyboard. With this ability of the system to understand both speech and gestures, operators not familiar with the vehicle dynamics will be able to easily plan, initiate, and change missions using a language familiar to them rather than having to learn and converse in the vehicle's language. This will foster better teaming between the operator and the autonomous agent which will help lower workload, increase situation awareness, and improve performance of the system as a whole.

Dynamic social networks facilitate cooperation in the N-player Prisoner’s Dilemma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rezaei, Golriz; Kirley, Michael

2012-12-01

Understanding how cooperative behaviour evolves in network communities, where the individual members interact via social dilemma games, is an on-going challenge. In this paper, we introduce a social network based model to investigate the evolution of cooperation in the N-player Prisoner’s Dilemma game. As such, this work complements previous studies focused on multi-player social dilemma games and endogenous networks. Agents in our model, employ different game-playing strategies reflecting varying cognitive capacities. When an agent plays cooperatively, a social link is formed with each of the other N-1 group members. Subsequent cooperative actions reinforce this link. However, when an agent defects, the links in the social network are broken. Computational simulations across a range of parameter settings are used to examine different scenarios: varying population and group sizes; the group formation process (or partner selection); and agent decision-making strategies under varying dilemma constraints (cost-to-benefit ratios), including a “discriminator” strategy where the action is based on a function of the weighted links within an agent’s social network. The simulation results show that the proposed social network model is able to evolve and maintain cooperation. As expected, as the value of N increases the equilibrium proportion of cooperators in the population decreases. In addition, this outcome is dependent on the dilemma constraint (cost-to-benefit ratio). However, in some circumstances the dynamic social network plays an increasingly important role in promoting and sustaining cooperation, especially when the agents adopt the discriminator strategy. The adjustment of social links results in the formation of communities of “like-minded” agents. Subsequently, this local optimal behaviour promotes the evolution of cooperative behaviour at the system level.

A Coupled Simulation Architecture for Agent-Based/Geohydrological Modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jaxa-Rozen, M.

2016-12-01

The quantitative modelling of social-ecological systems can provide useful insights into the interplay between social and environmental processes, and their impact on emergent system dynamics. However, such models should acknowledge the complexity and uncertainty of both of the underlying subsystems. For instance, the agent-based models which are increasingly popular for groundwater management studies can be made more useful by directly accounting for the hydrological processes which drive environmental outcomes. Conversely, conventional environmental models can benefit from an agent-based depiction of the feedbacks and heuristics which influence the decisions of groundwater users. From this perspective, this work describes a Python-based software architecture which couples the popular NetLogo agent-based platform with the MODFLOW/SEAWAT geohydrological modelling environment. This approach enables users to implement agent-based models in NetLogo's user-friendly platform, while benefiting from the full capabilities of MODFLOW/SEAWAT packages or reusing existing geohydrological models. The software architecture is based on the pyNetLogo connector, which provides an interface between the NetLogo agent-based modelling software and the Python programming language. This functionality is then extended and combined with Python's object-oriented features, to design a simulation architecture which couples NetLogo with MODFLOW/SEAWAT through the FloPy library (Bakker et al., 2016). The Python programming language also provides access to a range of external packages which can be used for testing and analysing the coupled models, which is illustrated for an application of Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES).

Adaptive behaviors in multi-agent source localization using passive sensing.

PubMed

Shaukat, Mansoor; Chitre, Mandar

2016-12-01

In this paper, the role of adaptive group cohesion in a cooperative multi-agent source localization problem is investigated. A distributed source localization algorithm is presented for a homogeneous team of simple agents. An agent uses a single sensor to sense the gradient and two sensors to sense its neighbors. The algorithm is a set of individualistic and social behaviors where the individualistic behavior is as simple as an agent keeping its previous heading and is not self-sufficient in localizing the source. Source localization is achieved as an emergent property through agent's adaptive interactions with the neighbors and the environment. Given a single agent is incapable of localizing the source, maintaining team connectivity at all times is crucial. Two simple temporal sampling behaviors, intensity-based-adaptation and connectivity-based-adaptation, ensure an efficient localization strategy with minimal agent breakaways. The agent behaviors are simultaneously optimized using a two phase evolutionary optimization process. The optimized behaviors are estimated with analytical models and the resulting collective behavior is validated against the agent's sensor and actuator noise, strong multi-path interference due to environment variability, initialization distance sensitivity and loss of source signal.

Agent based modeling of the coevolution of hostility and pacifism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dalmagro, Fermin; Jimenez, Juan

2015-01-01

We propose a model based on a population of agents whose states represent either hostile or peaceful behavior. Randomly selected pairs of agents interact according to a variation of the Prisoners Dilemma game, and the probabilities that the agents behave aggressively or not are constantly updated by the model so that the agents that remain in the game are those with the highest fitness. We show that the population of agents oscillate between generalized conflict and global peace, without either reaching a stable state. We then use this model to explain some of the emergent behaviors in collective conflicts, by comparing the simulated results with empirical data obtained from social systems. In particular, using public data reports we show how the model precisely reproduces interesting quantitative characteristics of diverse types of armed conflicts, public protests, riots and strikes.

Molecular targeting agents in cancer therapy: science and society.

PubMed

Shaikh, Asim Jamal

2012-01-01

The inception of targeted agents has revolutionized the cancer therapy paradigm, both for physicians and patients. A large number of molecular targeted agents for cancer therapy are currently available for clinical use today. Many more are in making, but there are issues that remain to be resolved for the scientific as well as social community before the recommendation of their widespread use in may clinical scenarios can be done, one such issue being cost and cost effectiveness, others being resistance and lack of sustained efficacy. With the current knowledge about available targeted agents, the growing knowledge of intricate molecular pathways and unfolding of wider spectrum of molecular targets that can really matter in the disease control, calls for only the just use of the agents available now, drug companies need to make a serious attempt to reduce the cost of the agents. Research should focus on agents that show sustained responses in preclinical data. More needs to be done in laboratories and by the pharmaceutical industries, before we can truly claim to have entered a new era of targeted therapy in cancer care.

The social dominance paradox.

PubMed

Cook, Jennifer Louise; den Ouden, Hanneke E M; Heyes, Cecilia M; Cools, Roshan

2014-12-01

Dominant individuals report high levels of self-sufficiency, self-esteem, and authoritarianism. The lay stereotype suggests that such individuals ignore information from others, preferring to make their own choices. However, the nonhuman animal literature presents a conflicting view, suggesting that dominant individuals are avid social learners, whereas subordinates focus on learning from private experience. Whether dominant humans are best characterized by the lay stereotype or the animal view is currently unknown. Here, we present a "social dominance paradox": using self-report scales and computerized tasks, we demonstrate that socially dominant people explicitly value independence, but, paradoxically, in a complex decision-making task, they show an enhanced reliance (relative to subordinate individuals) on social learning. More specifically, socially dominant people employed a strategy of copying other agents when the agents' responses had a history of being correct. However, in humans, two subtypes of dominance have been identified: aggressive and social. Aggressively dominant individuals, who are as likely to "get their own way" as socially dominant individuals but who do so through the use of aggressive or Machiavellian tactics, did not use social information, even when it was beneficial to do so. This paper presents the first study of dominance and social learning in humans and challenges the lay stereotype in which all dominant individuals ignore others' views. The more subtle perspective we offer could have important implications for decision making in both the boardroom and the classroom. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measuring emotion socialization in schools.

PubMed

Horner, Christy G; Wallace, Tanner L

2013-10-01

Understanding how school personnel can best support students' development of communication skills around feelings is critical to long-term health outcomes. The measurement of emotion socialization in schools facilitates future research in this area; we review existing measures of emotion socialization to assess their applicability to school-based health studies. A content analysis of four emotion socialization measures was conducted. Inclusion criteria included: high frequency of use in prior research, established documentation of validity and reliability, and sufficient description of measurement procedures. Four dimensions emerged as particularly salient to a measure's future relevance and applicability to school-based health studies: (1) methods of measurement; (2) mode and agent of socialization; (3) type of emotion; and (4) structure versus function of socializing behavior. Future measurement strategies should address (1) the structures of emotion socializing processes; (2) diverse socializing agents such as teachers, peers, and administrators; (3) the intended functions of such processes; (4) student perceptions of and responses to such processes; and (5) the complex interactions of these factors across contexts. Strategies attending to these components will permit future studies of school-based emotion socializing processes to determine how they enhance health and reduce health risks. © 2013, American School Health Association.

Axelrod Model of Social Influence with Cultural Hybridization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Radillo-Díaz, Alejandro; Pérez, Luis A.; Del Castillo-Mussot, Marcelo

2012-10-01

Since cultural interactions between a pair of social agents involve changes in both individuals, we present simulations of a new model based on Axelrod's homogenization mechanism that includes hybridization or mixture of the agents' features. In this new hybridization model, once a cultural feature of a pair of agents has been chosen for the interaction, the average of the values for this feature is reassigned as the new value for both agents after interaction. Moreover, a parameter representing social tolerance is implemented in order to quantify whether agents are similar enough to engage in interaction, as well as to determine whether they belong to the same cluster of similar agents after the system has reached the frozen state. The transitions from a homogeneous state to a fragmented one decrease in abruptness as tolerance is increased. Additionally, the entropy associated to the system presents a maximum within the transition, the width of which increases as tolerance does. Moreover, a plateau was found inside the transition for a low-tolerance system of agents with only two cultural features.

Social capital calculations in economic systems: Experimental study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chepurov, E. G.; Berg, D. B.; Zvereva, O. M.; Nazarova, Yu. Yu.; Chekmarev, I. V.

2017-11-01

The paper describes the social capital study for a system where actors are engaged in an economic activity. The focus is on the analysis of communications structural parameters (transactions) between the actors. Comparison between transaction network graph structure and the structure of a random Bernoulli graph of the same dimension and density allows revealing specific structural features of the economic system under study. Structural analysis is based on SNA-methodology (SNA - Social Network Analysis). It is shown that structural parameter values of the graph formed by agent relationship links may well characterize different aspects of the social capital structure. The research advocates that it is useful to distinguish the difference between each agent social capital and the whole system social capital.

The Evolution, Contributions, and Prospects of the Youth Development Study: An Investigation in Life Course Social Psychology

PubMed Central

Mortimer, Jeylan T.

2012-01-01

Grounded in social structure and personality, life course, and status attainment perspectives of social psychology, the Youth Development Study has followed a cohort of teenagers from the beginning of high school through their mid-thirties. Evidence for the effective exercise of agency derives from diverse adolescent work patterns leading to outcomes that are consistent with youth’s earlier goals, motivations, and resources. Thus, the socioeconomic career begins well before the completion of formal education. The YDS has revealed multiple pathways of contemporary transition to adulthood, the circumstances surrounding parental residential and financial support to their transitioning children, and the cessation of deviant behavior as adult roles are acquired. Agentic pathways during this period are significant precursors of success during subsequent economic downturn. The new YDS Second Generation Study is well poised to address the impacts of parental trajectories on the adjustment and well-being of children. PMID:22844173

Chromium removal from ground water by Ion exchange resins

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Skiadas, P.

1994-05-06

The ground water at several monitoring wells at LLNL has been found to exceed the Surface Water Discharge Limits for Cr(VI). Ion exchange resins have been selected for its removal. A research study is underway to determine which commercial resin is preferred for LLNL`s ground water. The choice of an appropriate resin will be based on Cr(VI) exchange capacity, regeneration efficiency, and pH stabilization. A sequestering agent must also be selected to be used for the elimination of scaling at the treatment facilities. The chemistry of ion exchange resins, and instrumentation and procedures are explained and described in the followingmore » paper. Comparison of the different resins tested lead us to the selection of the most effective one to be used in the treatment facilities.« less

A Social-Cognitive Framework for Pedagogical Agents as Learning Companions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Yanghee; Baylor, Amy L.

2006-01-01

Teaching and learning are highly social activities. Seminal psychologists such as Vygotsky, Piaget, and Bandura have theorized that social interaction is a key mechanism in the process of learning and development. In particular, the benefits of peer interaction for learning and motivation in classrooms have been broadly demonstrated through…

Social communication with virtual agents: The effects of body and gaze direction on attention and emotional responding in human observers.

PubMed

Marschner, Linda; Pannasch, Sebastian; Schulz, Johannes; Graupner, Sven-Thomas

2015-08-01

In social communication, the gaze direction of other persons provides important information to perceive and interpret their emotional response. Previous research investigated the influence of gaze by manipulating mutual eye contact. Therefore, gaze and body direction have been changed as a whole, resulting in only congruent gaze and body directions (averted or directed) of another person. Here, we aimed to disentangle these effects by using short animated sequences of virtual agents posing with either direct or averted body or gaze. Attention allocation by means of eye movements, facial muscle response, and emotional experience to agents of different gender and facial expressions were investigated. Eye movement data revealed longer fixation durations, i.e., a stronger allocation of attention, when gaze and body direction were not congruent with each other or when both were directed towards the observer. This suggests that direct interaction as well as incongruous signals increase the demands of attentional resources in the observer. For the facial muscle response, only the reaction of muscle zygomaticus major revealed an effect of body direction, expressed by stronger activity in response to happy expressions for direct compared to averted gaze when the virtual character's body was directed towards the observer. Finally, body direction also influenced the emotional experience ratings towards happy expressions. While earlier findings suggested that mutual eye contact is the main source for increased emotional responding and attentional allocation, the present results indicate that direction of the virtual agent's body and head also plays a minor but significant role. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Connecting Volunteers and Agents: A Social Constructionist Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dillivan, K. D.

2013-01-01

Extension volunteers benefit from participation in training activities. Furthermore, Extension personnel are best positioned to provide volunteers with relevant training. However, trainers neglecting relationship building and failing to attend to the communicative process may achieve unsatisfactory results. Social constructionism, a theoretical…

Hydrogeologic, soil, and water-quality data for j-field, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, 1989-94

USGS Publications Warehouse

Phelan, D.J.

1996-01-01

Disposal of chemical-warfare agents, munitions, and industrial chemicals in J-Field, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, has resulted in ground-water, surface-water, and soil contamination. This report presents data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey from Novembr 1989 through September 1994 as part of a remedial investigation of J-Field in response to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). Hydrogeologic data, soil-gas and soil-quality data, and water-qualtiy data are included.

The etiology of social change.

PubMed

Carley, Kathleen M; Martin, Michael K; Hirshman, Brian R

2009-10-01

A fundamental aspect of human beings is that they learn. The process of learning and what is learned are impacted by a number of factors, both cognitive and social; that is, humans are boundedly rational. Cognitive and social limitations interact, making it difficult to reason about how to provide information to impact what humans know, believe, and do. Herein, we use a multi-agent dynamic-network simulation system, Construct, to conduct such reasoning. In particular, we ask, What media should be used to provide information to most impact what people know, believe, and do, given diverse social structures? All simulated agents are boundedly rational both at the cognitive and social level, and so are subject to factors such as literacy, education, and the breadth of their social network. We find that there is no one most effective intervention; rather, to be effective, messages and the media used to spread the message need to be selected for the population being addressed. Typically, a multimedia campaign is critical. Copyright © 2009 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Forging a morphological system out of two dimensions: Agentivity and number

PubMed Central

Horton, L.; Goldin-Meadow, S.; Coppola, M.; Senghas, A.; Brentari, D.

2015-01-01

Languages have diverse strategies for marking agentivity and number. These strategies are negotiated to create combinatorial systems. We consider the emergence of these strategies by studying features of movement in a young sign language in Nicaragua (NSL). We compare two age cohorts of Nicaraguan signers (NSL1 and NSL2), adult homesigners in Nicaragua (deaf individuals creating a gestural system without linguistic input), signers of American and Italian Sign Languages (ASL and LIS), and hearing individuals asked to gesture silently. We find that all groups use movement axis and repetition to encode agentivity and number, suggesting that these properties are grounded in action experiences common to all participants. We find another feature – unpunctuated repetition – in the sign systems (ASL, LIS, NSL, Homesign) but not in silent gesture. Homesigners and NSL1 signers use the unpunctuated form, but limit its use to No-Agent contexts; NSL2 signers use the form across No-Agent and Agent contexts. A single individual can thus construct a marker for number without benefit of a linguistic community (homesign), but generalizing this form across agentive conditions requires an additional step. This step does not appear to be achieved when a linguistic community is first formed (NSL1), but requires transmission across generations of learners (NSL2). PMID:26740937

Forging a morphological system out of two dimensions: Agentivity and number.

PubMed

Horton, L; Goldin-Meadow, S; Coppola, M; Senghas, A; Brentari, D

2015-12-01

Languages have diverse strategies for marking agentivity and number. These strategies are negotiated to create combinatorial systems. We consider the emergence of these strategies by studying features of movement in a young sign language in Nicaragua (NSL). We compare two age cohorts of Nicaraguan signers (NSL1 and NSL2), adult homesigners in Nicaragua (deaf individuals creating a gestural system without linguistic input), signers of American and Italian Sign Languages (ASL and LIS), and hearing individuals asked to gesture silently. We find that all groups use movement axis and repetition to encode agentivity and number, suggesting that these properties are grounded in action experiences common to all participants. We find another feature - unpunctuated repetition - in the sign systems (ASL, LIS, NSL, Homesign) but not in silent gesture. Homesigners and NSL1 signers use the unpunctuated form, but limit its use to No-Agent contexts; NSL2 signers use the form across No-Agent and Agent contexts. A single individual can thus construct a marker for number without benefit of a linguistic community (homesign), but generalizing this form across agentive conditions requires an additional step. This step does not appear to be achieved when a linguistic community is first formed (NSL1), but requires transmission across generations of learners (NSL2).

Unsupervised learning in persistent sensing for target recognition by wireless ad hoc networks of ground-based sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hortos, William S.

2008-04-01

In previous work by the author, effective persistent and pervasive sensing for recognition and tracking of battlefield targets were seen to be achieved, using intelligent algorithms implemented by distributed mobile agents over a composite system of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for persistence and a wireless network of unattended ground sensors for pervasive coverage of the mission environment. While simulated performance results for the supervised algorithms of the composite system are shown to provide satisfactory target recognition over relatively brief periods of system operation, this performance can degrade by as much as 50% as target dynamics in the environment evolve beyond the period of system operation in which the training data are representative. To overcome this limitation, this paper applies the distributed approach using mobile agents to the network of ground-based wireless sensors alone, without the UAV subsystem, to provide persistent as well as pervasive sensing for target recognition and tracking. The supervised algorithms used in the earlier work are supplanted by unsupervised routines, including competitive-learning neural networks (CLNNs) and new versions of support vector machines (SVMs) for characterization of an unknown target environment. To capture the same physical phenomena from battlefield targets as the composite system, the suite of ground-based sensors can be expanded to include imaging and video capabilities. The spatial density of deployed sensor nodes is increased to allow more precise ground-based location and tracking of detected targets by active nodes. The "swarm" mobile agents enabling WSN intelligence are organized in a three processing stages: detection, recognition and sustained tracking of ground targets. Features formed from the compressed sensor data are down-selected according to an information-theoretic algorithm that reduces redundancy within the feature set, reducing the dimension of samples used in the target

The experiences of families of critically ill patients in Greece: a social constructionist grounded theory study.

PubMed

Plakas, Sotirios; Cant, Bob; Taket, Ann

2009-02-01

The experiences of patients' families in intensive care units (ICUs) are of international concern. In Greece however, adequate attention has not been paid to this issue. To explore the experiences of critical care patients' families in Greece. The intensive care units of 3 general district hospitals in the area of Athens, Greece. The social constructionist version of grounded theory was used. In-depth interviews with 25 relatives of critically ill patients were carried out, and participant and non-participant observation was used to cross-validate the data obtained. Seven major categories were identified, with 32 components across all categories. The experiences of families revolved around the two core categories of "Intense Emotions" and "Vigilant Attendance". The study conceptualised two new categories in this field, "Religiosity" and "Loss of Intimacy" and enhanced the category "Vigilant Attendance". Three further categories were identified, namely "Caring", "Dignity" and "Information". The various interrelationships between the categories were also examined. The study has examined the experience of Greek patients' families from a qualitative perspective and suggests that major changes need to be made in terms of management and support.

Individual differences in fundamental social motives.

PubMed

Neel, Rebecca; Kenrick, Douglas T; White, Andrew Edward; Neuberg, Steven L

2016-06-01

Motivation has long been recognized as an important component of how people both differ from, and are similar to, each other. The current research applies the biologically grounded fundamental social motives framework, which assumes that human motivational systems are functionally shaped to manage the major costs and benefits of social life, to understand individual differences in social motives. Using the Fundamental Social Motives Inventory, we explore the relations among the different fundamental social motives of Self-Protection, Disease Avoidance, Affiliation, Status, Mate Seeking, Mate Retention, and Kin Care; the relationships of the fundamental social motives to other individual difference and personality measures including the Big Five personality traits; the extent to which fundamental social motives are linked to recent life experiences; and the extent to which life history variables (e.g., age, sex, childhood environment) predict individual differences in the fundamental social motives. Results suggest that the fundamental social motives are a powerful lens through which to examine individual differences: They are grounded in theory, have explanatory value beyond that of the Big Five personality traits, and vary meaningfully with a number of life history variables. A fundamental social motives approach provides a generative framework for considering the meaning and implications of individual differences in social motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

An Agent-based Model for Groundwater Allocation and Management at the Bakken Shale in Western North Dakota

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, T.; Lin, Z.; Lim, S.

2017-12-01

We present an integrated modeling framework to simulate groundwater level change under the dramatic increase of hydraulic fracturing water use in the Bakken Shale oil production area. The framework combines the agent-based model (ABM) with the Fox Hills-Hell Creek (FH-HC) groundwater model. In development of the ABM, institution theory is used to model the regulation policies from the North Dakota State Water Commission, while evolutionary programming and cognitive maps are used to model the social structure that emerges from the behavior of competing individual water businesses. Evolutionary programming allows individuals to select an appropriate strategy when annually applying for potential water use permits; whereas cognitive maps endow agent's ability and willingness to compete for more water sales. All agents have their own influence boundaries that inhibit their competitive behavior toward their neighbors but not to non-neighbors. The decision-making process is constructed and parameterized with both quantitative and qualitative information, i.e., empirical water use data and knowledge gained from surveys with stakeholders. By linking institution theory, evolutionary programming, and cognitive maps, our approach addresses a higher complexity of the real decision making process. Furthermore, this approach is a new exploration for modeling the dynamics of Coupled Human and Natural System. After integrating ABM with the FH-HC model, drought and limited water accessibility scenarios are simulated to predict FH-HC ground water level changes in the future. The integrated modeling framework of ABM and FH-HC model can be used to support making scientifically sound policies in water allocation and management.

An analysis of using entomopathogenic nematodes against above-ground pests.

PubMed

Arthurs, S; Heinz, K M; Prasifka, J R

2004-08-01

Applications of entomopathogenic nematodes in the families Steinernematidae and Heterorhabditidae have traditionally been targeted against soil insects. Nonetheless, research over the last two decades highlights the potential of such agents against above-ground pests under certain circumstances. A general linear model was used to test for patterns in efficacy among 136 published trials with Steinernema carpocapsae Weiser, the most common species applied against foliar and other above-ground pests. The focus was on field and greenhouse assessments, rather than laboratory assays where relevant ecological barriers to infection are typically removed. The model showed differences in nematode treatment efficacy depending on the pests' target habitat (bore holes > cryptic foliage > exposed foliage) and trial location (greenhouse > field studies). Relative humidity and temperature during and up to 8 h post-application were also predicted to influence rates of nematode infection obtained. Conversely, spray adjuvants (both wetting agents and anti-desiccants) and nematode dosage applied (both concentration and use of consecutive applications 3-4 days apart) did not explain a significant amount of variance in nematode performance. With reference to case studies the model is used to discuss the relative importance of different factors on nematode efficacy and highlight priorities for workers considering using entomopathogenic nematodes to target pests in novel environments.

Going beyond the unitary curve: incorporating richer cognition into agent-based water resources models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kock, B. E.

2008-12-01

The increased availability and understanding of agent-based modeling technology and techniques provides a unique opportunity for water resources modelers, allowing them to go beyond traditional behavioral approaches from neoclassical economics, and add rich cognition to social-hydrological models. Agent-based models provide for an individual focus, and the easier and more realistic incorporation of learning, memory and other mechanisms for increased cognitive sophistication. We are in an age of global change impacting complex water resources systems, and social responses are increasingly recognized as fundamentally adaptive and emergent. In consideration of this, water resources models and modelers need to better address social dynamics in a manner beyond the capabilities of neoclassical economics theory and practice. However, going beyond the unitary curve requires unique levels of engagement with stakeholders, both to elicit the richer knowledge necessary for structuring and parameterizing agent-based models, but also to make sure such models are appropriately used. With the aim of encouraging epistemological and methodological convergence in the agent-based modeling of water resources, we have developed a water resources-specific cognitive model and an associated collaborative modeling process. Our cognitive model emphasizes efficiency in architecture and operation, and capacity to adapt to different application contexts. We describe a current application of this cognitive model and modeling process in the Arkansas Basin of Colorado. In particular, we highlight the potential benefits of, and challenges to, using more sophisticated cognitive models in agent-based water resources models.

Space-to-Ground: A Stunning Launch: 08/04/2017

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-08-03

Three new crew members are on the ISS, several crew members jumped into research mode, and with a new crew onboard, it's time to follow their mission on social media. NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.

Pattern Analysis in Social Networks with Dynamic Connections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Yu; Zhang, Yu

In this paper, we explore how decentralized local interactions of autonomous agents in a network relate to collective behaviors. Most existing work in this area models social network in which agent relations are fixed; instead, we focus on dynamic social networks where agents can rationally adjust their neighborhoods based on their individual interests. We propose a new connection evaluation rule called the Highest Weighted Reward (HWR) rule, with which agents dynamically choose their neighbors in order to maximize their own utilities based on the rewards from previous interactions. Our experiments show that in the 2-action pure coordination game, our system will stabilize to a clustering state where all relationships in the network are rewarded with the optimal payoff. Our experiments also reveal additional interesting patterns in the network.

Who Knows? Metacognitive Social Learning Strategies.

PubMed

Heyes, Cecilia

2016-03-01

To make good use of learning from others (social learning), we need to learn from the right others; from agents who know better than we do. Research on social learning strategies (SLSs) has identified rules that focus social learning on the right agents, and has shown that the behaviour of many animals conforms to these rules. However, it has not asked what the rules are made of, that is, about the cognitive processes implementing SLSs. Here, I suggest that most SLSs depend on domain-general, sensorimotor processes. However, some SLSs have the characteristics tacitly ascribed to all of them. These metacognitive SLSs represent 'who knows' in a conscious, reportable way, and have the power to promote cultural evolution. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An economic model of friendship and enmity for measuring social balance in networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Kyu-Min; Shin, Euncheol; You, Seungil

2017-12-01

We propose a dynamic economic model of networks where agents can be friends or enemies with one another. This is a decentralized relationship model in that agents decide whether to change their relationships so as to minimize their imbalanced triads. In this model, there is a single parameter, which we call social temperature, that captures the degree to which agents care about social balance in their relationships. We show that the global structure of relationship configuration converges to a unique stationary distribution. Using this stationary distribution, we characterize the maximum likelihood estimator of the social temperature parameter. Since the estimator is computationally challenging to calculate from real social network datasets, we provide a simple simulation algorithm and verify its performance with real social network datasets.

Social meanings and understandings in patient-nurse interaction in the community practice setting: a grounded theory study

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The patient-nurse relationship is a traditional concern of healthcare research. However, patient-nurse interaction is under examined from a social perspective. Current research focuses mostly on specific contexts of care delivery and experience related to medical condition or illness, or to nurses’ speciality. Consequentially, this paper is about the social meanings and understandings at play within situated patient-nurse interaction in the community practice setting in a transforming healthcare service. Methods Grounded theory methodology was used and the research process was characterised by principles of theoretical sensitivity and constant comparative analysis. The field of study was four health centres in the community. The participants were patients and nurses representative of those attending or working in the health centres and meeting there by scheduled appointment. Data collection methods were observations, informal interviews and semi-structured interviews. Results Key properties of ‘Being a good patient, being a good nurse’, ‘Institutional experiences’ and ‘Expectations about healthcare’ were associated with the construction of a category entitled ‘Experience’. Those key properties captured that in an evolving healthcare environment individuals continually re-constructed their reality of being a patient or nurse as they endeavoured to perform appropriately; articulation of past and present healthcare experiences was important in that process. Modus operandi in role as patient was influenced by past experiences in healthcare and by those in non-healthcare institutions in terms of engagement and involvement (or not) in interaction. Patients’ expectations about interaction in healthcare included some uncertainly as they strived to make sense of the changing roles and expertise of nurses and, differentiating between the roles and expertise of nurses and doctors. Conclusions The importance of social meanings and understandings

I-SCAD® standoff chemical agent detector overview

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Popa, Mirela O.; Griffin, Matthew T.

2012-06-01

This paper presents a system-level description of the I-SCAD® Standoff Chemical Agent Detector, a passive Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) based remote sensing system, for detecting chemical vapor threats. The passive infrared detection system automatically searches the 7 to 14 micron region of the surrounding atmosphere for agent vapor clouds. It is capable of operating while on the move to accomplish reconnaissance, surveillance, and contamination avoidance missions. Additionally, the system is designed to meet the needs for application on air and sea as well as ground mobile and fixed site platforms. The lightweight, passive, and fully automatic detection system scans the surrounding atmosphere for chemical warfare agent vapors. It provides on-the-move, 360-deg coverage from a variety of tactical and reconnaissance platforms at distances up to 5 km. The core of the system is a rugged Michelson interferometer with a flexure spring bearing mechanism and bi-directional data acquisition capability. The modular system design facilitates interfacing to many platforms. A Reduced Field of View (RFOV) variant includes novel modifications to the scanner subcomponent assembly optical design that gives extended performance in detection range and detection probability without sacrificing existing radiometric sensitivity performance. This paper will deliver an overview of system.

Numerical Relations and Skill Level Constrain Co-Adaptive Behaviors of Agents in Sports Teams

PubMed Central

Silva, Pedro; Travassos, Bruno; Vilar, Luís; Aguiar, Paulo; Davids, Keith; Araújo, Duarte; Garganta, Júlio

2014-01-01

Similar to other complex systems in nature (e.g., a hunting pack, flocks of birds), sports teams have been modeled as social neurobiological systems in which interpersonal coordination tendencies of agents underpin team swarming behaviors. Swarming is seen as the result of agent co-adaptation to ecological constraints of performance environments by collectively perceiving specific possibilities for action (affordances for self and shared affordances). A major principle of invasion team sports assumed to promote effective performance is to outnumber the opposition (creation of numerical overloads) during different performance phases (attack and defense) in spatial regions adjacent to the ball. Such performance principles are assimilated by system agents through manipulation of numerical relations between teams during training in order to create artificially asymmetrical performance contexts to simulate overloaded and underloaded situations. Here we evaluated effects of different numerical relations differentiated by agent skill level, examining emergent inter-individual, intra- and inter-team coordination. Groups of association football players (national – NLP and regional-level – RLP) participated in small-sided and conditioned games in which numerical relations between system agents were manipulated (5v5, 5v4 and 5v3). Typical grouping tendencies in sports teams (major ranges, stretch indices, distances of team centers to goals and distances between the teams' opposing line-forces in specific team sectors) were recorded by plotting positional coordinates of individual agents through continuous GPS tracking. Results showed that creation of numerical asymmetries during training constrained agents' individual dominant regions, the underloaded teams' compactness and each team's relative position on-field, as well as distances between specific team sectors. We also observed how skill level impacted individual and team coordination tendencies. Data revealed

Numerical relations and skill level constrain co-adaptive behaviors of agents in sports teams.

PubMed

Silva, Pedro; Travassos, Bruno; Vilar, Luís; Aguiar, Paulo; Davids, Keith; Araújo, Duarte; Garganta, Júlio

2014-01-01

Similar to other complex systems in nature (e.g., a hunting pack, flocks of birds), sports teams have been modeled as social neurobiological systems in which interpersonal coordination tendencies of agents underpin team swarming behaviors. Swarming is seen as the result of agent co-adaptation to ecological constraints of performance environments by collectively perceiving specific possibilities for action (affordances for self and shared affordances). A major principle of invasion team sports assumed to promote effective performance is to outnumber the opposition (creation of numerical overloads) during different performance phases (attack and defense) in spatial regions adjacent to the ball. Such performance principles are assimilated by system agents through manipulation of numerical relations between teams during training in order to create artificially asymmetrical performance contexts to simulate overloaded and underloaded situations. Here we evaluated effects of different numerical relations differentiated by agent skill level, examining emergent inter-individual, intra- and inter-team coordination. Groups of association football players (national--NLP and regional-level--RLP) participated in small-sided and conditioned games in which numerical relations between system agents were manipulated (5v5, 5v4 and 5v3). Typical grouping tendencies in sports teams (major ranges, stretch indices, distances of team centers to goals and distances between the teams' opposing line-forces in specific team sectors) were recorded by plotting positional coordinates of individual agents through continuous GPS tracking. Results showed that creation of numerical asymmetries during training constrained agents' individual dominant regions, the underloaded teams' compactness and each team's relative position on-field, as well as distances between specific team sectors. We also observed how skill level impacted individual and team coordination tendencies. Data revealed emergence of

Role of Socializing Agents in Female Sport Involvement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greendorfer, Susan L.

1977-01-01

Research into the socializing of women into sports activities revealed that peers were most influential at all life-cycle stages, family was the most influential during childhood, and coaches and teachers during adolescence; in addition, males were the predominant role models during childhood, and females during adolescence and adult life. (MB)

Social conditioning and extinction paradigm: a translational study in virtual reality.

PubMed

Shiban, Youssef; Reichenberger, Jonas; Neumann, Inga D; Mühlberger, Andreas

2015-01-01

In human beings, experiments investigating fear conditioning with social stimuli are rare. The current study aims at translating an animal model for social fear conditioning (SFC) to a human sample using an operant SFC paradigm in virtual reality. Forty participants actively (using a joystick) approached virtual male agents that served as conditioned stimuli (CS). During the acquisition phase, unconditioned stimuli (US), a combination of an air blast (5 bar, 10 ms) and a female scream (95 dB, 40 ms), were presented when participants reached a defined proximity to the agent with a contingency of 75% for CS+ agents and never for CS- agents. During the extinction and the test phases, no US was delivered. Outcome variables were pleasantness ratings and physiological reactions in heart rate (HR) and fear-potentiated startle. Additionally, the influence of social anxiety, which was measured with the Social Phobia Inventory scale, was evaluated. As expected after the acquisition phase the CS+ was rated clearly less pleasant than the CS-. This difference vanished during extinction. Furthermore, the HR remained high for the CS+, while the HR for the CS- was clearly lower after than before the acquisition. Furthermore, a clear difference between CS+ and CS- after the acquisition indicated successful conditioning on this translational measure. Contrariwise no CS+/CS- differences were observed in the physiological variables during extinction. Importantly, at the generalization test, higher socially fearful participants rated pleasantness of all agents as low whereas the lower socially fearful participants rated pleasantness as low only for the CS+. SFC was successfully induced and extinguished confirming operant conditioning in this SFC paradigm. These findings suggest that the paradigm is suitable to expand the knowledge about the learning and unlearning of social fears. Further studies should investigate the operant mechanisms of development and treatment of social anxiety

Social conditioning and extinction paradigm: a translational study in virtual reality

PubMed Central

Shiban, Youssef; Reichenberger, Jonas; Neumann, Inga D.; Mühlberger, Andreas

2015-01-01

In human beings, experiments investigating fear conditioning with social stimuli are rare. The current study aims at translating an animal model for social fear conditioning (SFC) to a human sample using an operant SFC paradigm in virtual reality. Forty participants actively (using a joystick) approached virtual male agents that served as conditioned stimuli (CS). During the acquisition phase, unconditioned stimuli (US), a combination of an air blast (5 bar, 10 ms) and a female scream (95 dB, 40 ms), were presented when participants reached a defined proximity to the agent with a contingency of 75% for CS+ agents and never for CS– agents. During the extinction and the test phases, no US was delivered. Outcome variables were pleasantness ratings and physiological reactions in heart rate (HR) and fear-potentiated startle. Additionally, the influence of social anxiety, which was measured with the Social Phobia Inventory scale, was evaluated. As expected after the acquisition phase the CS+ was rated clearly less pleasant than the CS–. This difference vanished during extinction. Furthermore, the HR remained high for the CS+, while the HR for the CS– was clearly lower after than before the acquisition. Furthermore, a clear difference between CS+ and CS– after the acquisition indicated successful conditioning on this translational measure. Contrariwise no CS+/CS– differences were observed in the physiological variables during extinction. Importantly, at the generalization test, higher socially fearful participants rated pleasantness of all agents as low whereas the lower socially fearful participants rated pleasantness as low only for the CS+. SFC was successfully induced and extinguished confirming operant conditioning in this SFC paradigm. These findings suggest that the paradigm is suitable to expand the knowledge about the learning and unlearning of social fears. Further studies should investigate the operant mechanisms of development and treatment of social

The anarchic hand syndrome and utilization behavior: a window onto agentive self-awareness.

PubMed

Pacherie, Elisabeth

2007-01-01

Two main approaches can be discerned in the literature on agentive self-awareness: a top-down approach, according to which agentive self-awareness is fundamentally holistic in nature and involves the operations of a central-systems narrator, and a bottom-up approach that sees agentive self-awareness as produced by lowlevel processes grounded in the very machinery responsible for motor production and control. Neither approach is entirely satisfactory if taken in isolation; however, the question of whether their combination would yield a full account of agentive self-awareness remains very much open. In this paper, I contrast two disorders affecting the control of voluntary action: the anarchic hand syndrome and utilization behavior. Although in both conditions patients fail to inhibit actions that are elicited by objects in the environment but inappropriate with respect to the wider context, these actions are experienced in radically different ways by the two groups of patients. I discuss how top-down and bottom-up processes involved in the generation of agentive self-awareness would have to be related in order to account for these differences.

Mining of the social network extraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nasution, M. K. M.; Hardi, M.; Syah, R.

2017-01-01

The use of Web as social media is steadily gaining ground in the study of social actor behaviour. However, information in Web can be interpreted in accordance with the ability of the method such as superficial methods for extracting social networks. Each method however has features and drawbacks: it cannot reveal the behaviour of social actors, but it has the hidden information about them. Therefore, this paper aims to reveal such information in the social networks mining. Social behaviour could be expressed through a set of words extracted from the list of snippets.

Social Class and Education: Global Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weis, Lois, Ed.; Dolby, Nadine, Ed.

2012-01-01

"Social Class and Education: Global Perspectives" is the first empirically grounded volume to explore the intersections of class, social structure, opportunity, and education on a truly global scale. Fifteen essays from contributors representing the US, Europe, China, Latin America and other regions offer an unparralleled examination of…

Naive Theories of Social Groups

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rhodes, Marjorie

2012-01-01

Four studies examined children's (ages 3-10, Total N = 235) naive theories of social groups, in particular, their expectations about how group memberships constrain social interactions. After introduction to novel groups of people, preschoolers (ages 3-5) reliably expected agents from one group to harm members of the other group (rather than…

Consensus in evolving networks of mobile agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baronchelli, Andrea; Díaz-Guilera, Albert

2012-02-01

Populations of mobile and communicating agents describe a vast array of technological and natural systems, ranging from sensor networks to animal groups. Here, we investigate how a group-level agreement may emerge in the continuously evolving networks defined by the local interactions of the moving individuals. We adopt a general scheme of motion in two dimensions and we let the individuals interact through the minimal naming game, a prototypical scheme to investigate social consensus. We distinguish different regimes of convergence determined by the emission range of the agents and by their mobility, and we identify the corresponding scaling behaviors of the consensus time. In the same way, we rationalize also the behavior of the maximum memory used during the convergence process, which determines the minimum cognitive/storage capacity needed by the individuals. Overall, we believe that the simple and general model presented in this talk can represent a helpful reference for a better understanding of the behavior of populations of mobile agents.

Consensus in networks of mobile communicating agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baronchelli, Andrea; Díaz-Guilera, Albert

2012-01-01

Populations of mobile and communicating agents describe a vast array of technological and natural systems, ranging from sensor networks to animal groups. Here, we investigate how a group-level agreement may emerge in the continuously evolving network defined by the local interactions of the moving individuals. We adopt a general scheme of motion in two dimensions and we let the individuals interact through the minimal naming game, a prototypical scheme to investigate social consensus. We distinguish different regimes of convergence determined by the emission range of the agents and by their mobility, and we identify the corresponding scaling behaviors of the consensus time. In the same way, we rationalize also the behavior of the maximum memory used during the convergence process, which determines the minimum cognitive/storage capacity needed by the individuals. Overall, we believe that the simple and general model presented in this paper can represent a helpful reference for a better understanding of the behavior of populations of mobile agents.

Results and Lessons Learned from a Coupled Social and Physical Hydrology Model: Testing Alternative Water Management Policies and Institutional Structures Using Agent-Based Modeling and Regional Hydrology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murphy, J.; Lammers, R. B.; Prousevitch, A.; Ozik, J.; Altaweel, M.; Collier, N. T.; Kliskey, A. D.; Alessa, L.

2015-12-01

Water Management in the U.S. Southwest is under increasing scrutiny as many areas endure persistent drought. The impact of these prolonged dry conditions is a product of regional climate and hydrological conditions, but also of a highly engineered water management infrastructure and a complex web of social arrangements whereby water is allocated, shared, exchanged, used, re-used, and finally consumed. We coupled an agent-based model with a regional hydrological model to understand the dynamics in one richly studied and highly populous area: southern Arizona, U.S.A., including metropolitan Phoenix and Tucson. There, multiple management entities representing an array of municipalities and other water providers and customers, including private companies and Native American tribes are enmeshed in a complex legal and economic context in which water is bought, leased, banked, and exchanged in a variety of ways and on multiple temporal and physical scales. A recurrent question in the literature of adaptive management is the impact of management structure on overall system performance. To explore this, we constructed an agent-based model to capture this social complexity, and coupled this with a physical hydrological model that we used to drive the system under a variety of water stress scenarios and to assess the regional impact of the social system's performance. We report the outcomes of ensembles of runs in which varieties of alternative policy constraints and management strategies are considered. We hope to contribute to policy discussions in this area and connected and legislatively similar areas (such as California) as current conditions change and existing legal and policy structures are revised. Additionally, we comment on the challenges of integrating models that ostensibly are in different domains (physical and social) but that independently represent a system in which physical processes and human actions are closely intertwined and difficult to disentangle.

Cookies as agents for community membership

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodriguez, Idaykis; Goertzen, Renee Michelle; Brewe, Eric; Kramer, Laird

2013-01-01

When becoming a member of a community of practice, a novice must adopt certain community norms to participate, and these include the social norms of the group. Using the analytical perspective of Legitimate Peripheral Participation in a Community of Practice, this paper explores the social role of cookies as agents for community participation and membership in a physics research group. We analyze data from an ethnographic case study of a physics research group weekly research meeting. The mentors bring cookies to each meeting and view the cookies as a token of appreciation for the graduate students' work. These cookies take on a subtler role of initiating guests and students into scientific conversations and participation. Via the cookies, members also share personal histories and stories that help members strengthen their membership. The study of social norms in this research group is part of a larger study of physics expert identity development.

46 CFR 120.376 - Grounded distribution systems (Neutral grounded).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... (Neutral grounded). (a) If a grounded distribution system is provided, there must be only one connection to ground, regardless of the number of power sources. This ground connection must be at the switchboard or... ground connection accessible for checking insulation resistance of the generator to ground before the...

46 CFR 120.376 - Grounded distribution systems (Neutral grounded).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... (Neutral grounded). (a) If a grounded distribution system is provided, there must be only one connection to ground, regardless of the number of power sources. This ground connection must be at the switchboard or... ground connection accessible for checking insulation resistance of the generator to ground before the...

Construction of a Learning Agent Handling Its Rewards According to Environmental Situations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moriyama, Koichi; Numao, Masayuki

The authors aim at constructing an agent which learns appropriate actions in a Multi-Agent environment with and without social dilemmas. For this aim, the agent must have nonrationality that makes it give up its own profit when it should do that. Since there are many studies on rational learning that brings more and more profit, it is desirable to utilize them for constructing the agent. Therefore, we use a reward-handling manner that makes internal evaluation from the agent's rewards, and then the agent learns actions by a rational learning method with the internal evaluation. If the agent has only a fixed manner, however, it does not act well in the environment with and without dilemmas. Thus, the authors equip the agent with several reward-handling manners and criteria for selecting an effective one for the environmental situation. In the case of humans, what generates the internal evaluation is usually called emotion. Hence, this study also aims at throwing light on emotional activities of humans from a constructive view. In this paper, we divide a Multi-Agent environment into three situations and construct an agent having the reward-handling manners and the criteria. We observe that the agent acts well in all the three Multi-Agent situations composed of homogeneous agents.

Social dilemma structure hidden behind traffic flow with route selection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanimoto, Jun; Nakamura, Kousuke

2016-10-01

Several traffic flows contain social dilemma structures. Herein, we explored a route-selection problem using a cellular automaton simulation dovetailed with evolutionary game theory. In our model, two classes of driver-agents coexist: D agents (defective strategy), which refer to traffic information for route selection to move fast, and C agents (cooperative strategy), which are insensitive to information and less inclined to move fast. Although no evidence suggests that the social dilemma structure in low density causes vehicles to move freely and that in high density causes traffic jams, we found a structure that corresponds to an n-person (multiplayer) Chicken (n-Chicken) game if the provided traffic information is inappropriate. If appropriate traffic information is given to the agents, the n-Chicken game can be solved. The information delivered to vehicles is crucial for easing the social dilemma due to urban traffic congestion when developing technologies to support the intelligent transportation system (ITS).

Imitation by social interaction? Analysis of a minimal agent-based model of the correspondence problem

PubMed Central

Froese, Tom; Lenay, Charles; Ikegami, Takashi

2012-01-01

One of the major challenges faced by explanations of imitation is the “correspondence problem”: how is an agent able to match its bodily expression to the observed bodily expression of another agent, especially when there is no possibility of external self-observation? Current theories only consider the possibility of an innate or acquired matching mechanism belonging to an isolated individual. In this paper we evaluate an alternative that situates the explanation of imitation in the inter-individual dynamics of the interaction process itself. We implemented a minimal model of two interacting agents based on a recent psychological study of imitative behavior during minimalist perceptual crossing. The agents cannot sense the configuration of their own body, and do not have access to other's body configuration, either. And yet surprisingly they are still capable of converging on matching bodily configurations. Analysis revealed that the agents solved this version of the correspondence problem in terms of collective properties of the interaction process. Contrary to the assumption that such properties merely serve as external input or scaffolding for individual mechanisms, it was found that the behavioral dynamics were distributed across the model as a whole. PMID:23060768

Empowerment in School Nursing Practice: A Grounded Theory Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Broussard, Lisa

2007-01-01

Professional empowerment is vital to nurses' productivity and job satisfaction. A grounded theory study was conducted to describe the basic social process experienced by school nurses in relation to professional empowerment. Interviews with 10 school nurses led to the development of a situation-specific theory of school nurse empowerment,…

Contextually Relevant Pedagogical Agents: Visual Appearance, Stereotypes, and First Impressions and Their Impact on Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Veletsianos, George

2010-01-01

Humans draw on their stereotypic beliefs to make assumptions about others. Even though prior research has shown that individuals respond socially to media, there is little evidence with regards to learners stereotyping and categorizing pedagogical agents. This study investigated whether learners stereotype a pedagogical agent as being…

Justificationist Social Epistemology and Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ritola, Juho

2011-01-01

In this essay Juho Ritola develops a justificationist approach to social epistemology, which holds that normatively satisfactory social processes pertaining to the acquisition, storage, dissemination, and use of knowledge must be evidence-based processes that include appropriate reflective attitudes by the relevant agents and, consequently, the…

Justice-based social assistance

PubMed Central

Barrientos, Armando

2016-01-01

What are the main objectives of social protection institutions in developing countries? What should be their scope and reach? What is the source of their legitimacy? Finding appropriate answers to these questions is essential to understanding, and shaping, the emergence of welfare institutions in low- and middle-income countries. Most available answers rely on instrumental arguments. Few make reference to normative principles. This article draws on three concepts from Rawls – social justice as regulating cooperation, the social minimum, and the need for a freestanding political notion of social justice – to develop a coherent argument for grounding social assistance on social justice. In line with this argument, it identifies some parameters for a justice-based social assistance. This article then discusses, with examples, the tensions existing between a social justice-based social minimum and ‘real’ social assistance institutions emerging in developing countries. PMID:27708544

Social Comparison and Body Image in Adolescence: A Grounded Theory Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krayer, A.; Ingledew, D. K.; Iphofen, R.

2008-01-01

This study explored the use of social comparison appraisals in adolescents' lives with particular reference to enhancement appraisals which can be used to counter threats to the self. Social comparison theory has been increasingly used in quantitative research to understand the processes through which societal messages about appearance influence…

Temporal asymmetries in Interbank Market: an empirically grounded Agent-Based Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zlatic, Vinko; Popovic, Marko; Abraham, Hrvoje; Caldarelli, Guido; Iori, Giulia

2014-03-01

We analyse the changes in the topology of the structure of the E-mid interbank market in the period from September 1st 1999 to September 1st 2009. We uncover a type of temporal irreversibility in the growth of the largest component of the interbank trading network, which is not common to any of the usual network growth models. Such asymmetry, which is also detected on the growth of the clustering and reciprocity coefficient, reveals that the trading mechanism is driven by different dynamics at the beginning and at the end of the day. We are able to recover the complexity of the system by means of a simple Agent Based Model in which the probability of matching between counter parties depends on a time varying vertex fitness (or attractiveness) describing banks liquidity needs. We show that temporal irreversibility is associated with heterogeneity in the banking system and emerges when the distribution of liquidity shocks across banks is broad. We acknowledge support from FET project FOC-II.

Social goals, aggression, peer preference, and popularity: longitudinal links during middle school.

PubMed

Ojanen, Tiina; Findley-Van Nostrand, Danielle

2014-08-01

Social goals are associated with behaviors and adjustment among peers. However, it remains unclear whether goals predict adolescent social development. We examined prospective associations among goals, physical and relational aggression, social preference, and popularity during middle school (N = 384 participants, ages 12-14 years). Agentic (status, power) goals predicted increased relational aggression and communal (closeness) goals predicted decreased physical aggression. Popularity predicted increases and preference predicted decreases in both forms of aggression. Goals moderated longitudinal links between aggression and popularity: Aggression predicted increases in popularity and vice versa for youth with higher agentic goals, and popularity predicted increases in physical aggression for youth with higher agentic and lower communal goals. Implications for research on social goals, aggression, and popularity are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

[Knowledge and practices of the community health agent in the universe of mental disorder].

PubMed

de Barros, Márcia Maria Mont'alverne; Chagas, Maristela Inês Osawa; Dias, Maria Socorro de Araújo

2009-01-01

This qualitative investigation aimed at collecting information about the knowledge and practices of the community health agents related to the universe of mental disorders. Fourteen agents working in the Family Health Program in Sobral, Ceará were interviewed. We deduced that the concepts of mental disorder are constructed in a process influenced by subjective and socio-cultural aspects and in connection with concrete experiences. The community health agents judge mentally disturbed persons on the basis of different criteria such as normal or abnormal behavior standards and the capacity to make judgments. Social isolation emerged as an important factor, considered by the different research subjects as the cause, the consequence and even as the mental disorder itself. Fear, as a consequence of the strange behavior of people with mental disorders, was identified as an important obstacle for the performance of the community health agents. The strategies adopted by these professionals, fundamentally based on dialogue, reveal concern with social inclusion and the need to involve the families in the care of people with mental disorders.

Socialization of the Child in the Soviet Union.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sandanavicius, Mary

1979-01-01

The socialization process of the child in the Soviet Union is examined in terms of socialistic/communistic political philosophy and the general attitudes of the Soviets toward social sciences, child rearing, and educational practice. The family, school, and youth organizations are also discussed as socializing agents. (Author/KC)

Agent-Based Modeling in Public Health: Current Applications and Future Directions.

PubMed

Tracy, Melissa; Cerdá, Magdalena; Keyes, Katherine M

2018-04-01

Agent-based modeling is a computational approach in which agents with a specified set of characteristics interact with each other and with their environment according to predefined rules. We review key areas in public health where agent-based modeling has been adopted, including both communicable and noncommunicable disease, health behaviors, and social epidemiology. We also describe the main strengths and limitations of this approach for questions with public health relevance. Finally, we describe both methodologic and substantive future directions that we believe will enhance the value of agent-based modeling for public health. In particular, advances in model validation, comparisons with other causal modeling procedures, and the expansion of the models to consider comorbidity and joint influences more systematically will improve the utility of this approach to inform public health research, practice, and policy.

Patterns of cooperation: fairness and coordination in networks of interacting agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Do, Anne-Ly; Rudolf, Lars; Gross, Thilo

2010-06-01

We study the self-assembly of a complex network of collaborations among self-interested agents. The agents can maintain different levels of cooperation with different partners. Further, they continuously, selectively and independently adapt the amount of resources allocated to each of their collaborations in order to maximize the obtained payoff. We show analytically that the system approaches a state in which the agents make identical investments, and links produce identical benefits. Despite this high degree of social coordination, some agents manage to secure privileged topological positions in the network, enabling them to extract high payoffs. Our analytical investigations provide a rationale for the emergence of unidirectional non-reciprocal collaborations and different responses to the withdrawal of a partner from an interaction that have been reported in the psychological literature.

Friendship and the Socialization of Sadness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tillery, Rachel; Cohen, Robert; Parra, Gilbert R.; Kitzmann, Katherine M.; Sharp, Katianne M. Howard

2015-01-01

Children's ability to manage the expression of sadness is critical to their development and adjustment. Although parents have been the primary focus of research examining sadness socialization, many acknowledge the influence of other agents such as children's peers. The present research evaluated one type of emotion socialization--reactions to…

Modeling Multi-Agent Self-Organization through the Lens of Higher Order Attractor Dynamics.

PubMed

Butner, Jonathan E; Wiltshire, Travis J; Munion, A K

2017-01-01

Social interaction occurs across many time scales and varying numbers of agents; from one-on-one to large-scale coordination in organizations, crowds, cities, and colonies. These contexts, are characterized by emergent self-organization that implies higher order coordinated patterns occurring over time that are not due to the actions of any particular agents, but rather due to the collective ordering that occurs from the interactions of the agents. Extant research to understand these social coordination dynamics (SCD) has primarily examined dyadic contexts performing rhythmic tasks. To advance this area of study, we elaborate on attractor dynamics, our ability to depict them visually, and quantitatively model them. Primarily, we combine difference/differential equation modeling with mixture modeling as a way to infer the underlying topological features of the data, which can be described in terms of attractor dynamic patterns. The advantage of this approach is that we are able to quantify the self-organized dynamics that agents exhibit, link these dynamics back to activity from individual agents, and relate it to other variables central to understanding the coordinative functionality of a system's behavior. We present four examples that differ in the number of variables used to depict the attractor dynamics (1, 2, and 6) and range from simulated to non-simulated data sources. We demonstrate that this is a flexible method that advances scientific study of SCD in a variety of multi-agent systems.

Trust and cooperation among economic agents

PubMed Central

Dasgupta, Partha

2009-01-01

The units that are subject to selection pressure in evolutionary biology are ‘strategies’, which are conditional actions (‘Do P if X occurs, otherwise do Q’). In contrast, the units in economics select strategies from available menus so as to further their projects and purposes. As economic agents do not live in isolation, each agent's optimum choice, in general, depends on the choices made by others. Because their projects and purposes involve the future, not just the present, each agent reasons about the likely present and future consequences of their respective choices. That is why beliefs, about what others may do and what the consequences of those choices could be, are at the basis of strategy selection. A catalogue of social environments is constructed in which agents not only promise each other's cooperation, but also rationally believe that the promises will be kept. Unfortunately, non-cooperation arising from mistrust can be the outcome in those same environments: societies harbour multiple ‘equilibria’ and can skid from cooperation to non-cooperation. Moreover, a pre-occupation among analysts with the Prisoners' Dilemma game has obscured the fact that cooperative arrangements can harbour not only inequality, but also exploitation. The analysis is used to discuss why international cooperation over the use of global public goods has proved to be so elusive. PMID:19805436

Social Exclusion, Social Inclusion and "Passing": The Experiences of Dalit Students at One Elite Indian University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ovichegan, Samson

2014-01-01

The purpose of this paper is twofold; first the paper explores and describes the complex ways in which social exclusion can (sometimes) be reconstituted within policy attempts at social inclusion: the quota policy in India. Second, the paper provides a grounded account of the connectedness of inclusion/exclusion and an illustration of how those…

[Development of Biliary Contrast Agents Remote Pushing Device].

PubMed

Zhu, Haoyang; Dong, Dinghui; Luo, Yu; Ren, Fenggang; Zhang, Jing; Tan, Wenjun; Shi, Aihua; Hu, Liangshuo; Wu, Rongqian; Lyu, Yi

2018-01-30

A biliary contrast agents pushing device, including a syringe pushing system and a remote controller is introduced. The syringe pushing system comprises an injector card slot, a support platform and an injection bolus fader. A 20 mL syringe can be fitted on the syringe pushing system and kept with the ground about 30 degree. This system can perform air bubble pumping back and contrast agents bolus injection as well as speed adjustment. Remote controller is an infrared remote control which can start and stop the syringe pushing system. With this device, the remote controlled cholangiography technology can be achieved, which can not only protect doctors from X-ray radiation but also improve the traditional T-tube cholangiography and the contrast effect, reduce postoperative complications in patients as well. The application of this device will improve the current diagnosis and treatment system, the device will benefit the majority of doctors and patients.

Ground-water provinces of southern Rhodesia

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dennis, Philip Eldon; Hindson, L.L.

1964-01-01

Ground-water development, utilization, and occurrence in nine ground-water provinces of Southern Rhodesia are summarized in this report. Water obtained from drilled wells for domestic and stock use has played an important part in the social and economic development of Southern Rhodesia from the beginnings of European settlement to the present. Most of the wells obtain water from fractures and weathered zones in crystalline rocks, before recently, there has been an interest in the possibility of obtaining water for irrigation from wells. Studies of the authors indicate that quantities of water sufficient for irrigation can be obtained from alluvial sediments in the S'abi Valley, from Kalahari sands in the western part of the country, are perhaps from aquifers in other areas. The ground-water provinces fall into two groups--those in the crystalline rocks and those in the noncrystalline rocks. Historically, the wells in crystalline rocks, especially the Gold belts province and the Intrusive granites province, have played a major role in supplying water for the needs of man. These provinces, together with two other less important crystalline rock provinces, form the broad arch which constitutes the central core of the country. The noncrystalline rocks overlie and flank the crystalline rocks to the southeast, northwest, and north. The noncrystalline rock provinces, especially the Alluvium-Kalahari province, contain the most productive or potentially productive ground-water reservoirs in Southern Rhodesia and offer promise of supplying water for irrigation and for other purposes.

Modeling social learning of language and skills.

PubMed

Vogt, Paul; Haasdijk, Evert

2010-01-01

We present a model of social learning of both language and skills, while assuming—insofar as possible—strict autonomy, virtual embodiment, and situatedness. This model is built by integrating various previous models of language development and social learning, and it is this integration that, under the mentioned assumptions, provides novel challenges. The aim of the article is to investigate what sociocognitive mechanisms agents should have in order to be able to transmit language from one generation to the next so that it can be used as a medium to transmit internalized rules that represent skill knowledge. We have performed experiments where this knowledge solves the familiar poisonous-food problem. Simulations reveal under what conditions, regarding population structure, agents can successfully solve this problem. In addition to issues relating to perspective taking and mutual exclusivity, we show that agents need to coordinate interactions so that they can establish joint attention in order to form a scaffold for language learning, which in turn forms a scaffold for the learning of rule-based skills. Based on these findings, we conclude by hypothesizing that social learning at one level forms a scaffold for the social learning at another, higher level, thus contributing to the accumulation of cultural knowledge.

Driving-forces model on individual behavior in scenarios considering moving threat agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Shuying; Zhuang, Jun; Shen, Shifei; Wang, Jia

2017-09-01

The individual behavior model is a contributory factor to improve the accuracy of agent-based simulation in different scenarios. However, few studies have considered moving threat agents, which often occur in terrorist attacks caused by attackers with close-range weapons (e.g., sword, stick). At the same time, many existing behavior models lack validation from cases or experiments. This paper builds a new individual behavior model based on seven behavioral hypotheses. The driving-forces model is an extension of the classical social force model considering scenarios including moving threat agents. An experiment was conducted to validate the key components of the model. Then the model is compared with an advanced Elliptical Specification II social force model, by calculating the fitting errors between the simulated and experimental trajectories, and being applied to simulate a specific circumstance. Our results show that the driving-forces model reduced the fitting error by an average of 33.9% and the standard deviation by an average of 44.5%, which indicates the accuracy and stability of the model in the studied situation. The new driving-forces model could be used to simulate individual behavior when analyzing the risk of specific scenarios using agent-based simulation methods, such as risk analysis of close-range terrorist attacks in public places.

Surfactants as blackbird stressing agents

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lefebvre, P.W.; Seubert, J.L.

1970-01-01

Applications of wetting-agent solutions produce mortality in birds. The exact cause of death is undetermined but it is believed that destruction of the insulating qualities of the plumage permits ambient cold temperatures and evaporation to lower the body temperature to a lethal level. The original concept of using these materials as bird-control tools was developed in 1958 at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife Laurel, Maryland. Early field trials by personnel of the Division of Wildlife Services and the Denver Wildlife Research Center indicated that ground-application techniques had promise but limitations of the equipment precluded successful large-scale roost treatments. In 1966, Patuxent Center personnel began using tanker-type aircraft to evaluate high-volume aerial applications of wetting agents. The success of these tests led to the use of small aircraft to make low-volume, high-concentration aerial applications just prior to expected rainfall. Recent trials of the low-volume method show that, with some limitations, it is effective, inexpensive, and safe to the environment. Current research emphasizes the screening of new candidate materials for efficacy, biodegradability, and toxicity to plants and non-target animals, as well as basic investigations of the avian physiological mechanisms involved. Field trials to develop more effective application techniques will continue.

Social inertia and diversity in collaboration networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramasco, J. J.

2007-04-01

Random graphs are useful tools to study social interactions. In particular, the use of weighted random graphs allows to handle a high level of information concerning which agents interact and in which degree the interactions take place. Taking advantage of this representation, we recently defined a magnitude, the Social Inertia, that measures the eagerness of agents to keep ties with previous partners. To study this magnitude, we used collaboration networks that are specially appropriate to obtain valid statitical results due to the large size of publically available databases. In this work, I study the Social Inertia in two of these empirical networks, IMDB movie database and condmat. More specifically, I focus on how the Inertia relates to other properties of the graphs, and show that the Inertia provides information on how the weight of neighboring edges correlates. A social interpretation of this effect is also offered.

Nonlinearity in Social Service Evaluation: A Primer on Agent-Based Modeling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Israel, Nathaniel; Wolf-Branigin, Michael

2011-01-01

Measurement of nonlinearity in social service research and evaluation relies primarily on spatial analysis and, to a lesser extent, social network analysis. Recent advances in geographic methods and computing power, however, allow for the greater use of simulation methods. These advances now enable evaluators and researchers to simulate complex…

Individual acoustic variation in Belding's ground squirrel alarm chirps in the High Sierra Nevada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCowan, Brenda; Hooper, Stacie L.

2002-03-01

The acoustic structure of calls within call types can vary as function of individual identity, sex, and social group membership and is important in kin and social group recognition. Belding's ground squirrels (Spermophilus beldingi) produce alarm chirps that function in predator avoidance but little is known about the acoustic variability of these alarm chirps. The purpose of this preliminary study was to analyze the acoustic structure of alarm chirps with respect to individual differences (e.g., signature information) from eight Belding's ground squirrels from four different lakes in the High Sierra Nevada. Results demonstrate that alarm chirps are individually distinctive, and that acoustic similarity among individuals may correspond to genetic similarity and thus dispersal patterns in this species. These data suggest, on a preliminary basis, that the acoustic structure of calls might be used as a bioacoustic tool for tracking individuals, dispersal, and other population dynamics in Belding's ground squirrels, and perhaps other vocal species.

Social responsibility of nursing: a global perspective.

PubMed

Tyer-Viola, Lynda; Nicholas, Patrice K; Corless, Inge B; Barry, Donna M; Hoyt, Pamela; Fitzpatrick, Joyce J; Davis, Sheila M

2009-05-01

This study addresses social responsibility in the discipline of nursing and implications for global health. The concept of social responsibility is explicated and its relevance for nursing is examined, grounded in the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics and the International Council of Nurses Code of Ethics. Social justice, human rights, nurse migration, and approaches to nursing education are discussed within the framework of nursing's social responsibility. Strategies for addressing nursing workforce issues and education within a framework of social responsibility are explored.

Exploring the role of cognitive and structural forms of social capital in HIV/AIDS trends in the Kagera region of Tanzania - a grounded theory study.

PubMed

Frumence, Gasto; Eriksson, Malin; Nystrom, Lennarth; Killewo, Japhet; Emmelin, Maria

2011-04-01

The article presents a synthesis of data from three village case studies focusing on how structural and cognitive social capital may have influenced the progression of the HIV epidemic in the Kagera region of Tanzania. Grounded theory was used to develop a theoretical model describing the possible links between structural and cognitive social capital and the impact on sexual health behaviours. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were carried out to represent the range of experiences of existing social capital. Both structural and cognitive social capital were active avenues for community members to come together, empower each other, and develop norms, values, trust and reciprocal relations. This empowerment created an enabling environment in which members could adopt protective behaviours against HIV infection. On the one hand, we observed that involvement in formal and informal organisations resulted in a reduction of numbers of sexual partners, led people to demand abstinence from sexual relations until marriage, caused fewer opportunities for casual sex, and gave individuals the agency to demand the use of condoms. On the other hand, strict membership rules and regulations excluded some members, particularly excessive alcohol drinkers and debtors, from becoming members of the social groups, which increased their vulnerability in terms of exposure to HIV. Social gatherings (especially those organised during the night) were also found to increase youths' risk of HIV infection through instances of unsafe sex. We conclude that even though social capital may at times have negative effects on individuals' HIV-prevention efforts, this study provides initial evidence that social capital is largely protective through empowering vulnerable groups such as women and the poor to protect against HIV infection and by promoting protective sexual behaviours.

Transition to parenthood: the role of social interaction and endogenous networks.

PubMed

Diaz, Belinda Aparicio; Fent, Thomas; Prskawetz, Alexia; Bernardi, Laura

2011-05-01

Empirical studies indicate that the transition to parenthood is influenced by an individual's peer group. To study the mechanisms creating interdependencies across individuals' transition to parenthood and its timing, we apply an agent-based simulation model. We build a one-sex model and provide agents with three different characteristics: age, intended education, and parity. Agents endogenously form their network based on social closeness. Network members may then influence the agents' transition to higher parity levels. Our numerical simulations indicate that accounting for social interactions can explain the shift of first-birth probabilities in Austria during the period 1984 to 2004. Moreover, we apply our model to forecast age-specific fertility rates up to 2016.

Agent Orange exposure and attributed health effects in Vietnam veterans.

PubMed

Young, Alvin L; Cecil, Paul F

2011-07-01

Serum dioxin studies of Vietnam (VN) veterans, military historical records of tactical herbicide use in Vietnam, and the compelling evidence of the photodegradation of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and other aspects of environmental fate and low bioavailability of TCDD are consistent with few, if any, ground troop veterans being exposed to Agent Orange. That conclusion, however, is contrary to the presumption by the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) that military service in Vietnam anytime from January 9, 1962 to May 7, 1975 is a proxy for exposure to Agent Orange. The DVA assumption is inconsistent with the scientific principles governing determinations of disease causation. The DVA has nonetheless awarded Agent Orange-related benefits and compensation to an increasing number of VN veterans based on the presumption of exposure and the published findings of the Institute of Medicine that there is sufficient evidence of a "statistical association" (a less stringent standard than "causal relationship") between exposure to tactical herbicides or TCDD and 15 different human diseases. A fairer and more valid approach for VN veterans would have been to enact a program of "Vietnam experience" benefits for those seriously ill, rather than benefits based on the dubious premise of injuries caused by Agent Orange.

[The grounded theory as a methodological alternative for nursing research].

PubMed

dos Santos, Sérgio Ribeiro; da Nóbrega, Maria Miriam

2002-01-01

This study presents a method of interpretative and systematic research with appliance to the development of studies in nursing called "the grounded theory", whose theoretical support is the symbolic interactionism. The purpose of the paper is to describe the grounded theory as an alternative methodology for the construction of knowledge in nursing. The study highlights four topics: the basic principle, the basic concepts, the trajectory of the method and the process of analysis of the data. We conclude that the systematization of data and its interpretation, based on social actors' experience, constitute strong subsidies to generate theories through this research tool.

A distributed agent architecture for real-time knowledge-based systems: Real-time expert systems project, phase 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, S. Daniel

1990-01-01

We propose a distributed agent architecture (DAA) that can support a variety of paradigms based on both traditional real-time computing and artificial intelligence. DAA consists of distributed agents that are classified into two categories: reactive and cognitive. Reactive agents can be implemented directly in Ada to meet hard real-time requirements and be deployed on on-board embedded processors. A traditional real-time computing methodology under consideration is the rate monotonic theory that can guarantee schedulability based on analytical methods. AI techniques under consideration for reactive agents are approximate or anytime reasoning that can be implemented using Bayesian belief networks as in Guardian. Cognitive agents are traditional expert systems that can be implemented in ART-Ada to meet soft real-time requirements. During the initial design of cognitive agents, it is critical to consider the migration path that would allow initial deployment on ground-based workstations with eventual deployment on on-board processors. ART-Ada technology enables this migration while Lisp-based technologies make it difficult if not impossible. In addition to reactive and cognitive agents, a meta-level agent would be needed to coordinate multiple agents and to provide meta-level control.

Methodology for studying recreation choice behavior with emphasis on grounded inquiry

Treesearch

Kent B. Downing; Roger N. Clark

1985-01-01

This paper reports methodology for investigating recreation choice behavior using grounded, naturalistic research methods. How these techniques can be coordinated with other social research methods is described. Naturalistic methods are preferred over other approaches to uncover recreationists' decision making processes at work.

Adjustably Autonomous Multi-agent Plan Execution with an Internal Spacecraft Free-Flying Robot Prototype

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dorais, Gregory A.; Nicewarner, Keith

2006-01-01

We present an multi-agent model-based autonomy architecture with monitoring, planning, diagnosis, and execution elements. We discuss an internal spacecraft free-flying robot prototype controlled by an implementation of this architecture and a ground test facility used for development. In addition, we discuss a simplified environment control life support system for the spacecraft domain also controlled by an implementation of this architecture. We discuss adjustable autonomy and how it applies to this architecture. We describe an interface that provides the user situation awareness of both autonomous systems and enables the user to dynamically edit the plans prior to and during execution as well as control these agents at various levels of autonomy. This interface also permits the agents to query the user or request the user to perform tasks to help achieve the commanded goals. We conclude by describing a scenario where these two agents and a human interact to cooperatively detect, diagnose and recover from a simulated spacecraft fault.

Neonatal brainstem dysfunction risks infant social engagement

PubMed Central

Sopher, Koreen; Kurtzman, Lea; Galili, Giora; Feldman, Ruth; Kuint, Jacob

2013-01-01

The role of the brainstem in mediating social signaling in phylogenetic ancestral organisms has been demonstrated. Evidence for its involvement in social engagement in human infants may deepen the understanding of the evolutionary pathway of humans as social beings. In this longitudinal study, neonatal brainstem functioning was measured by auditory brainstem-evoked responses (ABRs) in 125 healthy neonates born prematurely before 35 weeks’ gestational age. At 4 months, infants were tested in a set of structured vignettes that required varying levels of social engagement and cardiac vagal tone was assessed. Data show that neonates with a disrupted I–V waveform, evident mostly by delayed wave V, exhibit shorter latencies to gaze averts in episodes involving direct face-to-face interactions but engage gaze as controls when interacting with masked agents or with agents whose faces are partly veiled by toys. Analysis of variance of infants’ social engagement with ABR, neonatal risk, maternal stress and cardiac vagal tone showed a main effect for ABR and an ABR by gestational age interaction. The integrity of brainstem transmission of sensory information during the final weeks of gestation may scaffold the development of social disengagement, thereby attesting to the brainstem's preserved evolutionary role in developing humans as social organisms prior to engaging in social encounters. PMID:22146141

Multiscale agent-based cancer modeling.

PubMed

Zhang, Le; Wang, Zhihui; Sagotsky, Jonathan A; Deisboeck, Thomas S

2009-04-01

Agent-based modeling (ABM) is an in silico technique that is being used in a variety of research areas such as in social sciences, economics and increasingly in biomedicine as an interdisciplinary tool to study the dynamics of complex systems. Here, we describe its applicability to integrative tumor biology research by introducing a multi-scale tumor modeling platform that understands brain cancer as a complex dynamic biosystem. We summarize significant findings of this work, and discuss both challenges and future directions for ABM in the field of cancer research.

TSI-Enhanced Pedagogical Agents to Engage Learners in Virtual Worlds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leung, Steve; Virwaney, Sandeep; Lin, Fuhua; Armstrong, AJ; Dubbelboer, Adien

2013-01-01

Building pedagogical applications in virtual worlds is a multi-disciplinary endeavor that involves learning theories, application development framework, and mediated communication theories. This paper presents a project that integrates game-based learning, multi-agent system architecture (MAS), and the theory of Transformed Social Interaction…

20 CFR 404.1069 - Real estate agents and direct sellers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Real estate agents and direct sellers. 404.1069 Section 404.1069 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION FEDERAL OLD-AGE, SURVIVORS AND DISABILITY INSURANCE (1950- ) Employment, Wages, Self-Employment, and Self-Employment Income Self-Employment...

20 CFR 404.1069 - Real estate agents and direct sellers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Real estate agents and direct sellers. 404.1069 Section 404.1069 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION FEDERAL OLD-AGE, SURVIVORS AND DISABILITY INSURANCE (1950- ) Employment, Wages, Self-Employment, and Self-Employment Income Self-Employment...

20 CFR 404.1069 - Real estate agents and direct sellers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Real estate agents and direct sellers. 404.1069 Section 404.1069 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION FEDERAL OLD-AGE, SURVIVORS AND DISABILITY INSURANCE (1950- ) Employment, Wages, Self-Employment, and Self-Employment Income Self-Employment...

Adolescents' Uses of Media for Self-Socialization.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnett, Jeffrey Jensen

1995-01-01

A typology of adolescent media uses is presented, discussing five uses--entertainment, identity formation, high sensation, coping, and youth culture identification--in relation to adolescent socialization. Media differ from other socializing agents in that adolescents have greater control over their media choices, resulting in substantial…

Forest Service special agents, assistant special agents in charge, senior special agents, and supervisory special agents report: nationwide study

Treesearch

Deborah J. Chavez; Joanne F. Tynon

2007-01-01

This is the fourth in a series of studies to evaluate perceptions of U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service law enforcement personnel of the roles, responsibilities, and issues related to their jobs. An e-mail survey was administered to the 89 Forest Service special agents, assistant special agents in charge, senior special agents, and supervisory special agents...

Social Fear Conditioning Paradigm in Virtual Reality: Social vs. Electrical Aversive Conditioning.

PubMed

Reichenberger, Jonas; Porsch, Sonja; Wittmann, Jasmin; Zimmermann, Verena; Shiban, Youssef

2017-01-01

In a previous study we could show that social fear can be induced and extinguished using virtual reality (VR). In the present study, we aimed to investigate the belongingness effect in an operant social fear conditioning (SFC) paradigm which consisted of an acquisition and an extinction phase. Forty-three participants used a joystick to approach different virtual male agents that served as conditioned stimuli. Participants were randomly allocated to one of two experimental conditions. In the electroshock condition, the unconditioned stimulus (US) used during acquisition was an electric stimulation. In the social threat condition, the US consisted of an offense: a spit in the face, mimicked by a sound and a weak air blast to the participant's neck combined with an insult. In both groups the US was presented when participants were close to the agent (75% contingency for CS+). Outcome variables included subjective, psychophysiological and behavioral data. As expected, fear and contingency ratings increased significantly during acquisition and the differentiation between CS+ and CS- vanished during extinction. Furthermore, a clear difference in skin conductance between CS+ and CS- at the beginning of the acquisition indicated that SFC had been successful. However, a fast habituation to the US was found toward the end of the acquisition phase for the physiological response. Furthermore, participants showed avoidance behavior toward CS+ in both conditions. The results show that social fear can successfully be induced and extinguished in VR in a human sample. Thus, our paradigm can help to gain insight into learning and unlearning of social fear. Regarding the belongingness effect, the social threat condition benefits from a better differentiation between the aversive and the non-aversive stimuli. As next step we suggest comparing social-phobic patients to healthy controls in order to investigate possible differences in discrimination learning and to foster the

Social Fear Conditioning Paradigm in Virtual Reality: Social vs. Electrical Aversive Conditioning

PubMed Central

Reichenberger, Jonas; Porsch, Sonja; Wittmann, Jasmin; Zimmermann, Verena; Shiban, Youssef

2017-01-01

In a previous study we could show that social fear can be induced and extinguished using virtual reality (VR). In the present study, we aimed to investigate the belongingness effect in an operant social fear conditioning (SFC) paradigm which consisted of an acquisition and an extinction phase. Forty-three participants used a joystick to approach different virtual male agents that served as conditioned stimuli. Participants were randomly allocated to one of two experimental conditions. In the electroshock condition, the unconditioned stimulus (US) used during acquisition was an electric stimulation. In the social threat condition, the US consisted of an offense: a spit in the face, mimicked by a sound and a weak air blast to the participant’s neck combined with an insult. In both groups the US was presented when participants were close to the agent (75% contingency for CS+). Outcome variables included subjective, psychophysiological and behavioral data. As expected, fear and contingency ratings increased significantly during acquisition and the differentiation between CS+ and CS- vanished during extinction. Furthermore, a clear difference in skin conductance between CS+ and CS- at the beginning of the acquisition indicated that SFC had been successful. However, a fast habituation to the US was found toward the end of the acquisition phase for the physiological response. Furthermore, participants showed avoidance behavior toward CS+ in both conditions. The results show that social fear can successfully be induced and extinguished in VR in a human sample. Thus, our paradigm can help to gain insight into learning and unlearning of social fear. Regarding the belongingness effect, the social threat condition benefits from a better differentiation between the aversive and the non-aversive stimuli. As next step we suggest comparing social-phobic patients to healthy controls in order to investigate possible differences in discrimination learning and to foster the

Dynamics of bounded confidence opinion in heterogeneous social networks: Concord against partial antagonism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurmyshev, Evguenii; Juárez, Héctor A.; González-Silva, Ricardo A.

2011-08-01

Bounded confidence models of opinion dynamics in social networks have been actively studied in recent years, in particular, opinion formation and extremism propagation along with other aspects of social dynamics. In this work, after an analysis of limitations of the Deffuant-Weisbuch (DW) bounded confidence, relative agreement model, we propose the mixed model that takes into account two psychological types of individuals. Concord agents (C-agents) are friendly people; they interact in a way that their opinions always get closer. Agents of the other psychological type show partial antagonism in their interaction (PA-agents). Opinion dynamics in heterogeneous social groups, consisting of agents of the two types, was studied on different social networks: Erdös-Rényi random graphs, small-world networks and complete graphs. Limit cases of the mixed model, pure C- and PA-societies, were also studied. We found that group opinion formation is, qualitatively, almost independent of the topology of networks used in this work. Opinion fragmentation, polarization and consensus are observed in the mixed model at different proportions of PA- and C-agents, depending on the value of initial opinion tolerance of agents. As for the opinion formation and arising of “dissidents”, the opinion dynamics of the C-agents society was found to be similar to that of the DW model, except for the rate of opinion convergence. Nevertheless, mixed societies showed dynamics and bifurcation patterns notably different to those of the DW model. The influence of biased initial conditions over opinion formation in heterogeneous social groups was also studied versus the initial value of opinion uncertainty, varying the proportion of the PA- to C-agents. Bifurcation diagrams showed an impressive evolution of collective opinion, in particular, radical changes of left to right consensus or vice versa at an opinion uncertainty value equal to 0.7 in the model with the PA/C mixture of population near 50/50.

Enhanced risk management by an emerging multi-agent architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Sin-Jin; Hsu, Ming-Fu

2014-07-01

Classification in imbalanced datasets has attracted much attention from researchers in the field of machine learning. Most existing techniques tend not to perform well on minority class instances when the dataset is highly skewed because they focus on minimising the forecasting error without considering the relative distribution of each class. This investigation proposes an emerging multi-agent architecture, grounded on cooperative learning, to solve the class-imbalanced classification problem. Additionally, this study deals further with the obscure nature of the multi-agent architecture and expresses comprehensive rules for auditors. The results from this study indicate that the presented model performs satisfactorily in risk management and is able to tackle a highly class-imbalanced dataset comparatively well. Furthermore, the knowledge visualised process, supported by real examples, can assist both internal and external auditors who must allocate limited detecting resources; they can take the rules as roadmaps to modify the auditing programme.

Agents, Bayes, and Climatic Risks - a modular modelling approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haas, A.; Jaeger, C.

2005-08-01

When insurance firms, energy companies, governments, NGOs, and other agents strive to manage climatic risks, it is by no way clear what the aggregate outcome should and will be. As a framework for investigating this subject, we present the LAGOM model family. It is based on modules depicting learning social agents. For managing climate risks, our agents use second order probabilities and update them by means of a Bayesian mechanism while differing in priors and risk aversion. The interactions between these modules and the aggregate outcomes of their actions are implemented using further modules. The software system is implemented as a series of parallel processes using the CIAMn approach. It is possible to couple modules irrespective of the language they are written in, the operating system under which they are run, and the physical location of the machine.

Graceful Failure and Societal Resilience Analysis Via Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schopf, P. S.; Cioffi-Revilla, C.; Rogers, J. D.; Bassett, J.; Hailegiorgis, A. B.

2014-12-01

Agent-based social modeling is opening up new methodologies for the study of societal response to weather and climate hazards, and providing measures of resiliency that can be studied in many contexts, particularly in coupled human and natural-technological systems (CHANTS). Since CHANTS are complex adaptive systems, societal resiliency may or may not occur, depending on dynamics that lack closed form solutions. Agent-based modeling has been shown to provide a viable theoretical and methodological approach for analyzing and understanding disasters and societal resiliency in CHANTS. Our approach advances the science of societal resilience through computational modeling and simulation methods that complement earlier statistical and mathematical approaches. We present three case studies of social dynamics modeling that demonstrate the use of these agent based models. In Central Asia, we exmaine mutltiple ensemble simulations with varying climate statistics to see how droughts and zuds affect populations, transmission of wealth across generations, and the overall structure of the social system. In Eastern Africa, we explore how successive episodes of drought events affect the adaptive capacity of rural households. Human displacement, mainly, rural to urban migration, and livelihood transition particularly from pastoral to farming are observed as rural households interacting dynamically with the biophysical environment and continually adjust their behavior to accommodate changes in climate. In the far north case we demonstrate one of the first successful attempts to model the complete climate-permafrost-infrastructure-societal interaction network as a complex adaptive system/CHANTS implemented as a ``federated'' agent-based model using evolutionary computation. Analysis of population changes resulting from extreme weather across these and other cases provides evidence for the emergence of new steady states and shifting patterns of resilience.

Toxic Epidemics: Agent Orange Sickness in Vietnam and the United States.

PubMed

Uesugi, Tak

2016-01-01

Social scientists studying toxic epidemics have often endeavored to shed light on the differences between scientists' and nonscientists' epistemic perspectives. Yet, little attention has been paid to the processes through which a toxic epidemic emerges as a phenomenon. A Luoi Valley of Central Vietnam was extensively sprayed with chemical defoliants (including Agent Orange) during the Vietnam War. The latent toxic effects of these chemicals, however, went largely unnoticed until the late 1990s. By juxtaposing the history through which the notion of "Agent Orange Sickness" emerged in the United States with an ethnographic study of A Luoi, I explore the notion of poison under which Agent Orange became recognizable as a poison.

Building bridges to observational perspectives: a grounded theory of therapy processes in psychosis.

PubMed

Dilks, Sarah; Tasker, Fiona; Wren, Bernadette

2008-06-01

This study set out to explore therapy processes in psychosis with an initial focus on reflexivity and how this might be expressed in therapy conversations. Leiman's (2000) definition of reflexivity was used as a starting-point for an exploratory investigation of the use of language as reflective activity. Grounded theory was chosen as an appropriate methodology to distil an explanatory account across the qualitative data collected. Six psychologist-client pairs supplied three tapes of therapy sessions spread out across the course of therapy. Each participant was separately interviewed on two occasions to ascertain their views of therapy and of the emerging grounded theory. A grounded theory was developed conceptualizing the processes and activities in psychological therapy in psychosis. Building bridges to observational perspectives summarizes the core process in psychological therapy in psychosis. Therapy in psychosis is understood as intimately linking the social and internal world in a dialogical process aimed at enhancing the client's functioning in the social world rather than at specifically developing the private mental experience of reflexivity or mentalizing.

Effects of deception in social networks

PubMed Central

Iñiguez, Gerardo; Govezensky, Tzipe; Dunbar, Robin; Kaski, Kimmo; Barrio, Rafael A.

2014-01-01

Honesty plays a crucial role in any situation where organisms exchange information or resources. Dishonesty can thus be expected to have damaging effects on social coherence if agents cannot trust the information or goods they receive. However, a distinction is often drawn between prosocial lies (‘white’ lies) and antisocial lying (i.e. deception for personal gain), with the former being considered much less destructive than the latter. We use an agent-based model to show that antisocial lying causes social networks to become increasingly fragmented. Antisocial dishonesty thus places strong constraints on the size and cohesion of social communities, providing a major hurdle that organisms have to overcome (e.g. by evolving counter-deception strategies) in order to evolve large, socially cohesive communities. In contrast, white lies can prove to be beneficial in smoothing the flow of interactions and facilitating a larger, more integrated network. Our results demonstrate that these group-level effects can arise as emergent properties of interactions at the dyadic level. The balance between prosocial and antisocial lies may set constraints on the structure of social networks, and hence the shape of society as a whole. PMID:25056625

Validating agent based models through virtual worlds.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lakkaraju, Kiran; Whetzel, Jonathan H.; Lee, Jina

As the US continues its vigilance against distributed, embedded threats, understanding the political and social structure of these groups becomes paramount for predicting and dis- rupting their attacks. Agent-based models (ABMs) serve as a powerful tool to study these groups. While the popularity of social network tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) has provided extensive communication data, there is a lack of ne-grained behavioral data with which to inform and validate existing ABMs. Virtual worlds, in particular massively multiplayer online games (MMOG), where large numbers of people interact within a complex environ- ment for long periods of time provide an alternative sourcemore » of data. These environments provide a rich social environment where players engage in a variety of activities observed between real-world groups: collaborating and/or competing with other groups, conducting battles for scarce resources, and trading in a market economy. Strategies employed by player groups surprisingly re ect those seen in present-day con icts, where players use diplomacy or espionage as their means for accomplishing their goals. In this project, we propose to address the need for ne-grained behavioral data by acquiring and analyzing game data a commercial MMOG, referred to within this report as Game X. The goals of this research were: (1) devising toolsets for analyzing virtual world data to better inform the rules that govern a social ABM and (2) exploring how virtual worlds could serve as a source of data to validate ABMs established for analogous real-world phenomena. During this research, we studied certain patterns of group behavior to compliment social modeling e orts where a signi cant lack of detailed examples of observed phenomena exists. This report outlines our work examining group behaviors that underly what we have termed the Expression-To-Action (E2A) problem: determining the changes in social contact that lead individuals/groups to engage in a particular

Forecasting Effects of Influence Operations: A Generative Social Science Methodology

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-22

that can be made in a turn (commAttempts). Two forms of this agent are used in this case study : a pamphlet distributor and an internet campaigner. The...model Echo (1995). Echo captures the behavior of complex adaptive systems by using a digital analogue to genetics. As agents replicate, “child...Sugarscape model demonstrated a new paradigm for the study of the social sciences using ABM, which they call generative social science (GSS). In

Evaluating Social Causality and Responsibility Models: An Initial Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-01-01

ICT Technical Report ICT-TR-03-2005 Evaluating Social Causality and Responsibility ... social intelligent agents. In this report, we present a general computational model of social causality and responsibility , and empirical results of...2005 to 00-00-2005 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Evaluating Social Causality and Responsibility Models: An Initial Report 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT

Addressing the social dimensions of citizen observatories: The Ground Truth 2.0 socio-technical approach for sustainable implementation of citizen observatories