Constitutive Rules and Agency

Author(s):  
Kirk Ludwig

Chapter 7 first analyzes the concept of a constitutive rule in terms of essentially intentional activity patterns. Then it defines a form of constitutive agency in terms of that. Finally, it contrasts the account with John Searle’s. The rules of chess are constitutive rules. Following them brings into existence a type of activity that would not exist otherwise. The rules define an activity pattern that can be instantiated unintentionally. The rules are followed when it is instantiated intentionally. Thus constitutive rules are constitutive relative to an activity type defined as the intentional instantiation of a pattern of activity. Constitutive rules make available a form of constitutive agency in which what an agent does intentionally contributes constitutively to bringing about an essentially intentional activity type. Searle says constitutive rules have the form ‘X counts as Y in C’. But these instead define certain moments in activities governed by constitutive rules.

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 366-376
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Tonetti ◽  
Federico Camilli ◽  
Sara Giovagnoli ◽  
Vincenzo Natale ◽  
Alessandra Lugaresi

Early multiple sclerosis (MS) predictive markers of disease activity/prognosis have been proposed but are not universally accepted. Aim of this pilot prospective study is to verify whether a peculiar hyperactivity, observed at baseline (T0) in early relapsing-remitting (RR) MS patients, could represent a further prognostic marker. Here we report results collected at T0 and at a 24-month follow-up (T1). Eighteen RRMS patients (11 females, median Expanded Disability Status Scale-EDSS score 1.25, range EDSS score 0–2) were monitored at T0 (mean age 32.33 ± 7.51) and T1 (median EDSS score 1.5, range EDSS score 0–2.5). Patients were grouped into two groups: responders (R, 14 patients) and non-responders (NR, 4 patients) to treatment at T1. Each patient wore an actigraph for one week to record the 24-h motor activity pattern. At T0, NR presented significantly lower motor activity than R between around 9:00 and 13:00. At T1, NR were characterized by significantly lower motor activity than R between around 12:00 and 17:00. Overall, these data suggest that through the 24-h motor activity pattern, we can fairly segregate at T0 patients who will show a therapeutic failure, possibly related to a more active disease, at T1. These patients are characterized by a reduced morning level of motor activation. Further studies on larger populations are needed to confirm these preliminary findings.


1996 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
PC Rothlisberg ◽  
PD Craig ◽  
JR Andrewartha

A 3-dimensional numerical circulation model was linked to four larval-postlarval behaviour patterns to establish the origins of postlarvae recruiting into the estuaries adjacent to Albatross Bay, Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia. The area from which these postlarvae originate is called the 'advective envelope' and it delimits the spatial extent of the effective spawning population. The different behaviour scenarios vary the amount of time the postlarvae are active during the flood tide and the depth at which they change between their diel and tidal activity patterns (transition depth). The envelope with a behaviour scenario that incorporated a 20 m transition depth and a 3 h tidal activity pattern was 1000 km2. Incorporation of seasonal winds changed the shape but not the extent of the advective envelopes.


2003 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 537-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Turra ◽  
M. R. Denadai

This study describes the daily activity in a simulated high tide situation of four species of hermit crabs (Pagurus criniticornis, Clibanarius antillensis, C. sclopetarius, and C. vittatus) that coexist in an intertidal flat in southeastern Brazil. Observations were done in two-hour intervals during two subsequent days (48 h) in three replicate pools with thirty crabs each. Among species (between and within genera) there was an evident variation in activity patterns, of which three could be distinguished. The circadian activity patterns of C. antillensis and C. vittatus could be characterized as evening and nocturnal, with resting peaks during the morning and afternoon. The circadian activity pattern of C. sclopetarius was characterized by two marked peaks of inactivity, corresponding to dawn and evening, which could represent an intrinsic association with the semi-lunar tidal cycles of the study area. Pagurus criniticornis showed high activity not influenced by day/night conditions during the entire observed period. These activity pattern variations of the studied hermit crabs should be taken into account in designing further experiments. More precise and accurate interspecific behavioral comparisons among species could be achieved in nocturnal experiments, the high activity period of all species.


2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1749) ◽  
pp. 4962-4968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret I. Hall ◽  
Jason M. Kamilar ◽  
E. Christopher Kirk

Most vertebrate groups exhibit eye shapes that vary predictably with activity pattern. Nocturnal vertebrates typically have large corneas relative to eye size as an adaptation for increased visual sensitivity. Conversely, diurnal vertebrates generally demonstrate smaller corneas relative to eye size as an adaptation for increased visual acuity. By contrast, several studies have concluded that many mammals exhibit typical nocturnal eye shapes, regardless of activity pattern. However, a recent study has argued that new statistical methods allow eye shape to accurately predict activity patterns of mammals, including cathemeral species (animals that are equally likely to be awake and active at any time of day or night). Here, we conduct a detailed analysis of eye shape and activity pattern in mammals, using a broad comparative sample of 266 species. We find that the eye shapes of cathemeral mammals completely overlap with nocturnal and diurnal species. Additionally, most diurnal and cathemeral mammals have eye shapes that are most similar to those of nocturnal birds and lizards. The only mammalian clade that diverges from this pattern is anthropoids, which have convergently evolved eye shapes similar to those of diurnal birds and lizards. Our results provide additional evidence for a nocturnal ‘bottleneck’ in the early evolution of crown mammals.


2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 536-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianhua Ding ◽  
Zhitao Liu ◽  
Yanling Song ◽  
Zhigao Zeng ◽  
Qiong Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract Aspects of time budgets, activity patterns and rut-related changes in behavior are well documented in temperate ungulates; however, the application of this understanding to tropical and sub-tropical ungulate species has attracted less attention and remains an area that may re-shape our knowledge of ungulate behavior. Eld’s deer Cervus eldi hainanus has a tropical and sub-tropical distribution on Hainan Island, China, and males have an extended rut exceeding five months during which they do not maintain harems or defend resources. We studied males from the only remaining population on Hainan Island, and describe rut-related changes in behavior by collecting data on time budgets and activity patterns. We show that male Eld’s deer do not follow a strict crepuscular activity pattern, do not spend the majority of their time foraging and do not increase foraging nor display rut-induced hypophagia during rut, in obvious contrast to temperate ungulates. These results are discussed in light of current hypotheses explaining the proximate mechanisms governing feeding time in ungulates, while appreciating the need for further research.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 246-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaleem Ahmed ◽  
Jamal A. Khan

The data on activity pattern and time budget of Swamp deer (Rucervus duvauceli duvauceli) were collected through instantaneous scan sampling from Dudhwa National Park, Uttar Pradesh, India Diurnal activity pattern of Swamp deer showed marked reduction in resting in winter as compared to summer. In winter resting in adult males showed polymodal pattern with peaks occurring at different hours of the day and continued throughout the day without any break. Feeding of adult females in winter and summer seasons showed a polymodal pattern with peaks occurring at different hours of the day without break. In yearling males feeding and resting was observed to occur throughout the day during winter season with peaks occurring between 11:00 to 12:00 hours. Yearling females showed continuous feeding throughout the day with peaks in different times in both the seasons. The seasonal distribution of activity patterns of the fawns showed that feeding was slightly more in summer as compared to winter. In time budget, of the expenditure on different activities, resting accounted for 63.77% and feeding 24.70%. In both the seasons resting was the major portion of their activity. Analysis showed that in all age and sex categories of Swamp deer in the Dudhwa NP, resting dominated on all other activities. The observation on endangered Swamp deer indicates synchronization in activity only in the feeding in the morning and evening hours and resting throughout the day.


1996 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.M. Roberts

AbstractA vehicle-mounted net was used on 15 nights during June 1990 and 1991 in northern Oman to collect sandflies in order to identify potential vectors of visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis. A total of 2216 sandflies was collected comprising four species of Phlebotomus and three of Sergentomyia. Catches were made every 30 minutes between 17.00 h (2 hours before sunset) and 07.00 h (1.5 hours after sunrise). Very few flies were caught before sunset. Most flies were caught at light intensities < 0.1 lux (between 20.00 and 0.500 h), but some flight activity, particularly of males and unfed females, continued even up to 07.00 h (50,000 lux, 1.25 hours after sunrise). Females of the two most abundant species, Phlebotomus alexandri Sinton and Sergentomyia clydei Sinton were significantly more active during the first half of the night (19.00-01.00 h), but males were not. Males of S. clydei showed no clear activity pattern, while males of P. alexandri had two peaks with a decline in activity around 01.00 h. Sergentomyia tiberiadis Adler & Theodor and S. fallax Parrot similarly showed different activity patterns for the two sexes. The circadian activity of females of P. alexandri and S. clydei changed during their gonotrophic cycles. Thus unfed and gravid P. alexandri had two activity peaks during the night, but the blood-fed females were most active during the first half of the night. S. clydei activity was similar, except that the gravid flies, like the blood-fed, had an early peak of activity. Too few parous females were collected to show any clear difference in activity from the nullipars.


2019 ◽  
Vol 82 (5) ◽  
pp. 288-295
Author(s):  
İbrahim Yavuz Tatlı ◽  
Burcu Semin Akel

Introduction The understanding of the temporal pattern of individuals can add a wider perspective to interventions. Therefore, the present study is aimed toward analysis of the temporal activity pattern of individuals with stroke compared to healthy adults. Method This study is a prospective, case–control, analytic research study. The study sample comprised 50 individuals with stroke and 50 individuals without disease, for 80% power with a 5% type 1 error. The Modified Occupational Questionnaire was administered to assess the temporal activity pattern. Individuals identified the activities performed at each hour of the day and data was analyzed. Results The temporal activity pattern of individuals with stroke differed from healthy controls; education and play activities were not part of stroke participants’ daily routines. Also, participation in work, leisure and social participation activities was significantly different for people with stroke compared to healthy controls ( p < 0.01 ). The study group assigned very low values to the activities; the value perceived by individuals differed significantly between groups ( p < 0.01 ). Conclusion Clinicians are in a position to enable individuals’ time use and help to engage them in meaningful activity. Individuals with stroke may benefit from a program focusing on the temporal aspect of activities.


2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 1376-1387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Bulthé ◽  
Bert De Smedt ◽  
Hans P. Op de Beeck

In numerical cognition, there is a well-known but contested hypothesis that proposes an abstract representation of numerical magnitude in human intraparietal sulcus (IPS). On the other hand, researchers of object cognition have suggested another hypothesis for brain activity in IPS during the processing of number, namely that this activity simply correlates with the number of visual objects or units that are perceived. We contrasted these two accounts by analyzing multivoxel activity patterns elicited by dot patterns and Arabic digits of different magnitudes while participants were explicitly processing the represented numerical magnitude. The activity pattern elicited by the digit “8” was more similar to the activity pattern elicited by one dot (with which the digit shares the number of visual units but not the magnitude) compared to the activity pattern elicited by eight dots, with which the digit shares the represented abstract numerical magnitude. A multivoxel pattern classifier trained to differentiate one dot from eight dots classified all Arabic digits in the one-dot pattern category, irrespective of the numerical magnitude symbolized by the digit. These results were consistently obtained for different digits in IPS, its subregions, and many other brain regions. As predicted from object cognition theories, the number of presented visual units forms the link between the parietal activation elicited by symbolic and nonsymbolic numbers. The current study is difficult to reconcile with the hypothesis that parietal activation elicited by numbers would reflect a format-independent representation of number.


1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (6) ◽  
pp. 1516-1522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Göran Cederlund ◽  
Roger Bergström ◽  
Finn Sandegren

Data on activity patterns of nine radio-tagged female moose (Alces alces) in an area with a high level of nutrition (Grimsö) and seven radio-tagged female moose in an area with a low level of nutrition (Furudal) are presented. The study was done during January–May in 1982–1986 at Grimsö and in 1986 in Furudal, comprising 6063 and 4136 h of recording, respectively. The character of the radio signals allowed separation of active (any kind of body motion, mainly movements) and inactive (a motionless state, mainly in lying position) bouts. The 24-h activity pattern was similar between the two areas during all winter months. Active bouts showed a polyphasic pattern with prominent peaks around sunrise and sunset. The average active time per 24-h interval varied (30–50%) through the winter months, and increased rapidly in April and May. The average length of active bouts was similar in both areas during midwinter (60–70 min) but developed more rapidly in April and May among moose at Grimsö. The moose at Furudal rested for longer periods than those at Grimsö, and in both areas bouts became shorter towards spring (around 120 min). The moose at Grimsö kept the number of bouts per 24-h interval almost unchanged throughout winter (11.0–11.9), while the number consistently increased at Furudal (9.9–12.7 bouts per 24-h interval). Differences in activity pattern are discussed in relation to food availability and overbrowsing.


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