scholarly journals Core systems of geometry in animal minds

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1603) ◽  
pp. 2784-2793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth S. Spelke ◽  
Sang Ah Lee
Keyword(s):  
Animal Cognition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Cognitive Systems ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Empirical Methods ◽  
Animal Minds ◽  
Symbolic Systems ◽  
Extended Surfaces

Research on humans from birth to maturity converges with research on diverse animals to reveal foundational cognitive systems in human and animal minds. The present article focuses on two such systems of geometry. One system represents places in the navigable environment by recording the distance and direction of the navigator from surrounding, extended surfaces. The other system represents objects by detecting the shapes of small-scale forms. These two systems show common signatures across animals, suggesting that they evolved in distant ancestral species. As children master symbolic systems such as maps and language, they come productively to combine representations from the two core systems of geometry in uniquely human ways; these combinations may give rise to abstract geometric intuitions. Studies of the ontogenetic and phylogenetic sources of abstract geometry therefore are illuminating of both human and animal cognition. Research on animals brings simpler model systems and richer empirical methods to bear on the analysis of abstract concepts in human minds. In return, research on humans, relating core cognitive capacities to symbolic abilities, sheds light on the content of representations in animal minds.

scholarly journals Analysis of Operational Efficiencies and Costs for Extracting Thinned Woods in Small-Scale Forestry, Nasunogahara Area, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Kazuhiro Aruga
Keyword(s):  
Transportation Costs ◽  
The Other ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Light Truck ◽  
Operation Costs ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Light Trucks ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Manual Extraction ◽  
Truck Transportation

In this study, two operational methodologies to extract thinned woods were investigated in the Nasunogahara area, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Methodology one included manual extraction and light truck transportation. Methodology two included mini-forwarder forwarding and four-ton truck transportation. Furthermore, a newly introduced chipper was investigated. As a result, costs of manual extractions within 10 m and 20 m were JPY942/m3 and JPY1040/m3, respectively. On the other hand, the forwarding cost of the mini-forwarder was JPY499/m3, which was significantly lower than the cost of manual extractions. Transportation costs with light trucks and four-ton trucks were JPY7224/m3 and JPY1298/m3, respectively, with 28 km transportation distances. Chipping operation costs were JPY1036/m3 and JPY1160/m3 with three and two persons, respectively. Finally, the total costs of methodologies one and two from extraction within 20 m to chipping were estimated as JPY9300/m3 and JPY2833/m3, respectively, with 28 km transportation distances and three-person chipping operations (EUR1 = JPY126, as of 12 August 2020).

scholarly journals Conceptual Analysis and Empirical Observations of Animal Minds

Philosophia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Parellada
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Animal Cognition ◽  
Sufficient Conditions ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Vervet Monkeys ◽  
Animal Minds ◽  
First Order

AbstractThe relation between conceptual analysis and empirical observations when ascribing or denying concepts and beliefs to non-human animals is not straightforward. In order to reflect on this relation, I focus on two theoretical proposals (Davidson’s and Allen’s) and one empirical case (vervet monkeys’ alarm calls), the three of which are permanently discussed and considered in the literature on animal cognition. First, I review briefly Davidson’s arguments for denying thought to non-linguistic animals. Second, I review Allen’s criteria for ascribing concepts to creatures capable of correcting their discriminatory powers by taking into account their previous errors. Allen affirms that this is an empirical proposal which offers good reasons, but not necessary or sufficient conditions, for concept attribution. Against Allen, I argue that his important proposal is not an empirical, but a conceptual one. Third, I resort to vervet monkeys to show that Allen’s criteria, and not Davidson’s, are very relevant for ascribing first-order and denying second-order beliefs to this species and thus make sense of the idea of animal cognition.

scholarly journals Theology at Thresholds: Learning from a Practice ‘In Transition’

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Muers ◽  
Rhiannon Grant
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
The Other ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Theological Ethics ◽  
Reciprocal Influence ◽  
Core Practices ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Collective Process ◽  
The One ◽  
Over Time

Recent developments in contemporary theology and theological ethics have directed academic attention to the interrelationships of theological claims, on the one hand, and core community-forming practices, on the other. This article considers the value for theology of attending to practice at the boundaries, the margins, or, as we prefer to express it, the threshold of a community’s institutional or liturgical life. We argue that marginal or threshold practices can offer insights into processes of theological change – and into the mediation between, and reciprocal influence of, ‘church’ and ‘world’. Our discussion focuses on an example from contemporary British Quakerism. ‘Threshing meetings’ are occasions at which an issue can be ‘threshed out’ as part of a collective process of decision-making. Drawing on a 2015 small-scale study (using a survey and focus group) of British Quaker attitudes to and experiences of threshing meetings, set in the wider context of Quaker tradition, we interpret these meetings as a space for working through – in context and over time – tensions within Quaker theology, practice and self-understandings, particularly those that emerge within, and in relation to, core practices of Quaker decision-making.

Justification of resource-own technologies and technical equipment for preparing fodder on small livestock farms

2021 ◽  
Vol 07 (02) ◽  
pp. 36-42
Author(s):  
Ləman Faiq qızı Verdiyeva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Technical Equipment ◽  
Natural Factors ◽  
Livestock Farms ◽  
Small Livestock ◽  
The One ◽  
Peasant Farmers ◽  
Large Farms ◽  
Livestock Development

In the current situation, if the characteristic feature of livestock development is, on the one hand, related to the diversification of agriculture, on the other hand it is also associated with the production of various forms of ownership in the country, large farms and small private farms. At present, interrelated financial, technological, social and natural factors remain in our country as factors limiting the development of small-scale livestock farms. However, it should be noted that despite the lack of opportunities and material and technical support, small farms, peasant farmers and households currently produce more than 80% of meat and milk in our country.

scholarly journals The development of small scale farming: two cases from the Commonwealth Caribbean.

1968 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 264-274
Author(s):  
D.T. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
The Other ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Rapid Rate ◽  
The Face ◽  
Market Gardening ◽  
Commonwealth Caribbean ◽  
The Government

Two very different cases of small-scale farm development in the Commonwealth Caribbean are reviewed. One is Jamaican small farming, which responded little to considerable efforts made for its improvement by the Government agencies. The other is market gardening at Aranjuez, Trinidad where production grew at an extremely rapid rate in the face of intense and antagonistic competition between the market gardeners and without significant direct assistance by official agencies. The conclusions include a number of possible strategies for farm development, comprising individual or collective persuasion, coercion, creation of new farms, and environmental changes. T. A. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission)

scholarly journals The hidden side of animal cognition research: Scientists’ attitudes toward bias, replicability and scientific practice

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0256607
Author(s):  
Benjamin G. Farrar ◽  
Ljerka Ostojić ◽  
Nicola S. Clayton
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Practice ◽  
Animal Cognition ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Free Text ◽  
Scientific Practices ◽  
Animal Minds ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Questionable Research Practices ◽  
Replication Studies

Animal cognition research aims to understand animal minds by using a diverse range of methods across an equally diverse range of species. Throughout its history, the field has sought to mitigate various biases that occur when studying animal minds, from experimenter effects to anthropomorphism. Recently, there has also been a focus on how common scientific practices might affect the reliability and validity of published research. Usually, these issues are discussed in the literature by a small group of scholars with a specific interest in the topics. This study aimed to survey a wider range of animal cognition researchers to ask about their attitudes towards classic and contemporary issues facing the field. Two-hundred and ten active animal cognition researchers completed our survey, and provided answers on questions relating to bias, replicability, statistics, publication, and belief in animal cognition. Collectively, researchers were wary of bias in the research field, but less so in their own work. Over 70% of researchers endorsed Morgan’s canon as a useful principle but many caveated this in their free-text responses. Researchers self-reported that most of their studies had been published, however they often reported that studies went unpublished because they had negative or inconclusive results, or results that questioned “preferred” theories. Researchers rarely reported having performed questionable research practices themselves—however they thought that other researchers sometimes (52.7% of responses) or often (27.9% of responses) perform them. Researchers near unanimously agreed that replication studies are important but too infrequently performed in animal cognition research, 73.0% of respondents suggested areas of animal cognition research could experience a ‘replication crisis’ if replication studies were performed. Consistently, participants’ free-text responses provided a nuanced picture of the challenges animal cognition research faces, which are available as part of an open dataset. However, many researchers appeared concerned with how to interpret negative results, publication bias, theoretical bias and reliability in areas of animal cognition research. Collectively, these data provide a candid overview of barriers to progress in animal cognition and can inform debates on how individual researchers, as well as organizations and journals, can facilitate robust scientific research in animal cognition.

The Perks and Perils of Interdisciplinary Research

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (S2) ◽  
pp. S55-S67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Leahey
Keyword(s):  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
The Other ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Extra Time ◽  
Empirical Assessment ◽  
Cognitive Challenges

This paper synthesizes findings from two studies the author conducted that examine how engagement in interdisciplinary research (IDR) influences scholars’ careers. Results from these two studies, one large-scale and quantitative and the other small-scale and qualitative, provide a much needed empirical assessment of IDR’s effects on individual careers. In essence, they provide a nice antidote (and some caution) to the rhetoric and enthusiasm surrounding IDR. My co-authors of these studies and I find that engaging in interdisciplinary research increases a scholar’s visibility in terms of citations, but also presents challenges, including reduced productivity, cognitive challenges, lack of support, extra time and commitment, and framing of one’s work. This paper concludes by discussing the policy implications of this research.

scholarly journals Analysis of Small-Scale Fading Distributions in Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicent M. Rodrigo-Peñarrocha ◽  
Juan Reig ◽  
Lorenzo Rubio ◽  
Herman Fernández ◽  
Susana Loredo
Keyword(s):  
Goodness Of Fit ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
The Other ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Channel Measurements ◽  
Experimental Distribution ◽  
Vehicle To Vehicle ◽  
Kolmogorov Smirnov ◽  
Inference Techniques ◽  
The City

This work analyzes the characteristics of the small-scale fading distribution in vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) channels. The analysis is based on a narrowband channel measurements campaign at 5.9 GHz designed specifically for that purpose. The measurements were carried out in highway and urban environments around the city of Valencia, Spain. The experimental distribution of the small-scale fading is compared to several analytical distributions traditionally used to model the fast fading in wireless communications, such as Rayleigh, Nakagami-m, Weibull, Rice, andα-μdistributions. The parameters of the distributions are derived through statistical inference techniques and their goodness-of-fit is evaluated using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test. Our results show that theα-μdistribution exhibits a better fit compared to the other distributions, making its use interesting to model the small-scale fading in V2V channels.

scholarly journals A journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step – human agency, hydrological processes and time in socio-hydrology

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 14265-14304 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. W. Ertsen ◽  
J. T. Murphy ◽  
L. E. Purdue ◽  
T. Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Small Step ◽  
Time Step ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
Day To Day Operations

Abstract. When simulating social action in modeling efforts, as in socio-hydrology, an issue of obvious importance is how to ensure that social action by human agents is well-represented in the analysis and the model. Generally, human decision-making is either modeled on a yearly basis or lumped together as collective social structures. Both responses are problematic, as human decision making is more complex and organizations are the result of human agency and cannot be used as explanatory forces. A way out of the dilemma how to include human agency is to go to the largest societal and environmental clustering possible: society itself and climate, with time steps of years or decades. In the paper, the other way out is developed: to face human agency squarely, and direct the modeling approach to the human agency of individuals and couple this with the lowest appropriate hydrological level and time step. This approach is supported theoretically by the work of Bruno Latour, the French sociologist and philosopher. We discuss irrigation archaeology, as it is in this discipline that the issues of scale and explanatory force are well discussed. The issue is not just what scale to use: it is what scale matters. We argue that understanding the arrangements that permitted the management of irrigation over centuries, requires modeling and understanding the small-scale, day-to-day operations and personal interactions upon which they were built. This effort, however, must be informed by the longer-term dynamics as these provide the context within which human agency, is acted out.

An Empirical Formula to Estimate the Resistance of a Convoy in a Restricted Waterway

1996 ◽  
Vol 40 (02) ◽  
pp. 107-111
Author(s):  
J.L.J. Marchal ◽  
Y.-D. Shen ◽  
D. Kicheva
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Empirical Formula ◽  
The Other ◽  
Total Resistance ◽  
Empirical Methods ◽  
Joint Research ◽  
Ship Hydrodynamics ◽  
Joint Research Project ◽  
Length Width ◽  
The Subject

An examination of the literature produced very few references related to the subject of estimating the resistance of a convoy navigating in a waterway of limited cross section. This paper reports the findings of one such study—a joint research project undertaken by Belgium's University of Liege and the Bulgarian Ship Hydrodynamics Centre. A polynomial is presented here for evaluating the total resistance of a convoy moving in a restricted waterway. The resistance was found to depend on Froude number and on the relative dimensions (length, width and depth) between the convoy and the channel. The results obtained by the suggested polynomial are compared with those obtained by the other three existing empirical methods.

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