Introductory Remarks on Perturbations, Cognition, Dispersal, Sociality, and Nonlinear Population Dynamics

Author(s):  
Daniel Oro

This chapter defines the different terms and processes that are the main themes of the book. This chapter starts by explaining how perturbations increase uncertainty, which pushes individuals to update and gather information. In social animals, this information is shared through the social network, which is used to make a decision about staying or leaving the patch. Finally, this decision is not going to be made individually but rather based on decisions made by others. Perturbations may accumulate until surpassing a tipping point; then the first individuals may start to disperse and the rest copies this behaviour, which cascade as long as more individuals disperse. This autocatalytic process is termed runaway dispersal, which may result in nonlinear population dynamics, such as hysteresis, critical transitions, and transient phenomena. These dynamics should occur at the local level (e.g. patch collapse) and metapopulation level (e.g. extinction–colonization turnover).

Author(s):  
Daniel Oro

Throughout the book, I have been searching for empirical examples and theories dealing with how perturbations trigger behavioural feedback responses in social animals, how these responses affect the decision to disperse between patches, and the consequences of dispersal for complex, nonlinear population dynamics. What seems quite clear is that social feedbacks—and especially runaway dispersal by copying—do play an important role in those responses, compared to solitary species. Although philopatry to the patch has many benefits, perturbations may decrease the suitability of this patch. When a patch is perturbed, do social species show different responses than solitary species? Since evolution has selected for maximizing fitness prospects, individuals living either in groups or in solitary will try to avoid the detrimental effects of the perturbation, for instance by leaving the patch. The behavioural mechanisms triggered by perturbations are similar for both social and solitary species: increase of information gathering to reduce uncertainty and the use of this updated information to make optimal decisions about either staying or leaving. Thus, the answer is that solitary and social species show similar responses to perturbations. Nevertheless, the way those behavioural mechanisms operate is rather different between social and solitary species: in the former, information is shared among individuals, and decisions about when to leave the patch and where to go are made not only using private or personal information, but mostly using social information. Last but not least, there is social copying, a trend to copy in a nonrational way what others have decided before. This social copying, also called conformity, may trigger what I termed runaway dispersal: perturbations may accumulate over time, decreasing resilience of the social group until attaining a tipping point. Once this threshold is surpassed, the decision to disperse is led by a few individuals, and this decision is copied by the rest of the group in an autocatalytic way....


Author(s):  
Serhii Puhach

The intensive development of new information and communication technologies (ICT) has led to major changes in society. The widespread use of smartphones and mobile communications has allowed today to create new programs and services to improve human life. This development changes the established habits of human communication, the relationship between society and the environment. A social networking service (SNS) is a service (on a website or through a mobile application) that allows users to share a personal profile and establish contacts with other users. Social networking services affect the territorial organization of society and can be used for the development of both settlements and entire territories to make their development more sustainable and balanced. The study of social networking services is currently on the rise. The joint efforts of many sciences (sociology, psychology, geography, mathematics, statistics, computer science, etc.) are needed to understand the subject essence of the phenomenon and to analyze data. Approaches to the study of social networking services can be divided into three large groups: 1) in terms of human relations and relationships; 2) in terms of content distributed on the network; 3) in terms of spatial aspects of the functioning of the social network. In Ukraine, there are no detailed studies of the spatial aspects of the spread of social networking services at the local level. In the Ternopil region, there is a pattern of concentration of the majority of Facebook and Instagram users in the largest cities, namely Ternopil, Chortkiv, Berezhany, Kremenets. Buchach, Borshchiv, Zalishchyky, Terebovlya, and Shumsk districts stand out among the districts by the number of users. An important indicator that characterizes the spread of social networking services is the penetration rate of the social network, which is calculated as the ratio of the number of users in a certain territory to the population living in it. Cities of regional subordination differ in terms of the penetration rate of SNS. The highest values were observed in Chortkiv, Ternopil, Kremenets cities. The penetration rate of social networking services in the administrative districts of Ternopil region is much lower. A relatively high rate (over 30%) was recorded in Buchach, Berezhany and Shumsk districts. Extremely low penetration rate (less than 5%) is in Zbarazh, Chortkiv, Zboriv districts which are adjacent to the cities of regional subordination. The social networking service Instagram is inferior to Facebook in level of development, and its main users are mainly young people. However, in the territories where the rate of Facebook penetration is the lowest in the region (Ternopil, Zbarazh, Chortkiv, Zboriv districts), the predominance of Instagram is noted. Thus, the main patterns of spatial distribution of SNS’ Facebook and Instagram in Ternopil region are: concentration of users in the largest cities, especially in the regional center Ternopil City (half of Facebook and Instagram users in the region); the number of users is proportional to the population in the territorial unit; small number of users and low penetration rate of the SNS’ in the administrative districts adjacent to the cities of regional subordination Ternopil and Chortkiv; among administrative districts, higher indicators of social network development are typical for northern and southern districts in comparison with central ones. Key words: social networking service (SNS), penetration rate of the SNS, Facebook, Instagram, Ternopil region.


Author(s):  
Daniel Oro

In social animals, perturbations may trigger specific behavioural responses with consequences for dispersal and complex population dynamics. Perturbations raise the need for information gathering in order to reduce uncertainty and increase resilience. Updated information is then shared within the group and social behaviours emerge as a self-organized process. This social information factoralizes with the size of the group, and it is finally used for making crucial decisions about, for instance, when to leave the patch and where to go. Indeed, evolution has favoured philopatry over dispersal, and this trade-off is challenged by perturbations. When perturbations accumulate over time, they may decrease the suitability of the patch and erode the philopatric state until crossing a tipping point, beyond which most individuals decide to disperse to better areas. Initially, the decision to disperse is led by a few individuals, and this decision is copied by the rest of the group in an autocatalytic way. This feedback process of social copying is termed runaway dispersal. Furthermore, social copying enhances the evolution of cultural and technological innovation, which may cause additional nonlinearities for population dynamics. Social information gathering and social copying have also occurred in human evolution, especially after perturbations such as climate extremes and warfare. In summary, social feedback processes cause nonlinear population dynamics including hysteresis and critical transitions (from philopatry to patch collapses and invasions), which emerge from the collective behaviour of large ensembles of individuals.


Livestock ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 216-219
Author(s):  
Adam J George ◽  
Sarah L Bolt

Cattle are social animals, and an understanding of social associations and interactions is an important consideration when managing herds. Knowledge of this can facilitate positive welfare and productivity and it can also help to reduce the spread of disease. Social network analysis (SNA) is a tool that can be used to assess specific social interactions within cattle groups and help determine appropriate management actions in livestock enterprises. The aim of this review is to summarise how SNA can be used to study the social behaviour patterns of dairy cattle and highlight applications for this approach on dairy farms.


2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
ALAN ROCKOFF
Keyword(s):  

Methodology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonne J. H. Zijlstra ◽  
Marijtje A. J. van Duijn ◽  
Tom A. B. Snijders

The p 2 model is a random effects model with covariates for the analysis of binary directed social network data coming from a single observation of a social network. Here, a multilevel variant of the p 2 model is proposed for the case of multiple observations of social networks, for example, in a sample of schools. The multilevel p 2 model defines an identical p 2 model for each independent observation of the social network, where parameters are allowed to vary across the multiple networks. The multilevel p 2 model is estimated with a Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm that was implemented in free software for the statistical analysis of complete social network data, called StOCNET. The new model is illustrated with a study on the received practical support by Dutch high school pupils of different ethnic backgrounds.


Author(s):  
V. Kovpak ◽  
N. Trotsenko

<div><p><em>The article analyzes the peculiarities of the format of native advertising in the media space, its pragmatic potential (in particular, on the example of native content in the social network Facebook by the brand of the journalism department of ZNU), highlights the types and trends of native advertising. The following research methods were used to achieve the purpose of intelligence: descriptive (content content, including various examples), comparative (content presentation options) and typological (types, trends of native advertising, in particular, cross-media as an opportunity to submit content in different formats (video, audio, photos, text, infographics, etc.)), content analysis method using Internet services (using Popsters service). And the native code for analytics was the page of the journalism department of Zaporizhzhya National University on the social network Facebook. After all, the brand of the journalism department of Zaporozhye National University in 2019 celebrates its 15th anniversary. The brand vector is its value component and professional training with balanced distribution of theoretical and practical blocks (seven practices), student-centered (democratic interaction and high-level teacher-student dialogue) and integration into Ukrainian and world educational process (participation in grant programs).</em></p></div><p><em>And advertising on social networks is also a kind of native content, which does not appear in special blocks, and is organically inscribed on one page or another and unobtrusively offers, just remembering the product as if «to the word». Popsters service functionality, which evaluates an account (or linked accounts of one person) for 35 parameters, but the main three areas: reach or influence, or how many users evaluate, comment on the recording; true reach – the number of people affected; network score – an assessment of the audience’s response to the impact, or how far the network information diverges (how many share information on this page).</em></p><p><strong><em>Key words:</em></strong><em> nativeness, native advertising, branded content, special project, communication strategy.</em></p>


Author(s):  
Sanjay Chhataru Gupta

Popularity of the social media and the amount of importance given by an individual to social media has significantly increased in last few years. As more and more people become part of the social networks like Twitter, Facebook, information which flows through the social network, can potentially give us good understanding about what is happening around in our locality, state, nation or even in the world. The conceptual motive behind the project is to develop a system which analyses about a topic searched on Twitter. It is designed to assist Information Analysts in understanding and exploring complex events as they unfold in the world. The system tracks changes in emotions over events, signalling possible flashpoints or abatement. For each trending topic, the system also shows a sentiment graph showing how positive and negative sentiments are trending as the topic is getting trended.


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