bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Focused learning promotes continual task performance in humans
Authors: Flesch Timo , Balaguer Jan , Dekker Ronald , Nili Hamed , Summerfield Christopher 
Published: January 2018

AbstractHumans can learn to perform multiple tasks in succession over the lifespan (“continual” learning), whereas current machine learning systems fail. Here, we investigated the cognitive mechanisms that permit successful continual learning in humans. Unlike neural networks, humans that were trained on temporally autocorrelated task objectives (focussed training) learned to perform new tasks more effectively, and performed better on a later test involving randomly interleaved tasks. Analysis of error patterns suggested that focussed learning permitted the formation of factorised task representations that were protected from mutual interference. Furthermore, individuals with a strong prior tendency to represent the task space in a factorised manner enjoyed greater benefit of focussed over interleaved training. Building artificial agents that learn to factorise tasks appropriately may be a promising route to solving continual task performance in machine learning.Significance StatementHumans learn to perform many different tasks over the lifespan, such as speaking both French and Spanish. The brain has to represent task information without mutual interference. In machine learning, this "continual learning" is a major unsolved challenge. Here, we studied the patterns of errors made by humans and state-of-the-art deep networks whilst they learned new tasks from scratch and without instruction. Humans, but not machines, seem to benefit from training regimes that focussed on one task at a time, especially when they had a prior bias to represent stimuli in a way that facilitated task separation. Machines trained to exhibit the same prior bias suffered less interference between tasks, suggesting new avenues for solving continual learning in artificial systems.
Rail Franchises, Competition and Public Service
Authors: Prosser Tony , Butler Luke 
Published: January 2018

AbstractThe use of franchises to deliver rail services has raised major problems. Franchises restrict competition in the market, whilst competitive bidding for franchises has met with difficulties, notably in relation to risk transfer and the recent use of short‐term contracts that have not been awarded competitively. Further, franchise agreements are detailed and highly stipulative and do not achieve the flexibility and opportunities for innovation originally intended. This reflects an underlying lack of trust resulting from the arrangements adopted on privatisation. By contrast, in Sweden regional services have been procured through contracts with limited risk transfer, and in Italy provision of services has been entrusted to a dominant operator with comparatively limited detailed service specifications; both seem to have been more successful. For the future in the UK, possibilities include greater use of competition, a return to public ownership, regionalisation, and the use of concessions with limited risk transfer to secure stability.
Universal Credit, ‘Positive Citizenship’, and the Working Poor: Squaring the Eternal Circle?
Authors: Larkin Philip M. 
Published: January 2018

AbstractThis article examines the potential effects of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 on the United Kingdom social security system, and on claimants. This legislation illustrates new modes of thought and ideology underlying the British welfare state. The introduction of the ‘Universal Credit’ has the potential to solve the ‘poverty trap’, where claimants are better off in receipt of welfare benefits rather than engaging with employment, and may assist low‐paid individuals into ‘positive’ citizenship. However, the practicalities of implementing Universal Credit might undermine legislators’ ambitions. It may be that the Act attempts too much reform to the social security system, trying to impose legislative uniformity on a highly complex set of socio‐economic circumstances which may be impervious to such rationalisation. This could result in the scheme requiring further reform, or even abolition. The ideological and historical underpinnings of Universal Credit are also examined to understand more clearly its nature and structure.
Freedom and the psychoanalytic ontology of quantum physics
Authors: Gullatz Stefan , Gildersleeve Matthew 
Published: January 2018

AbstractJung's paper ‘Synchronicity – an acausal connecting principle’, defining the phenomenon as a ‘meaningful’ coincidence depending on archetypal activation, was published in 1952, together with a conceptually related piece by physicist and Nobel Laureate Wolfgang Pauli entitled, ‘The influence of archetypal ideas on the scientific theories of Kepler’. Slavoj Žižek, inThe Indivisible Remainder: On Schelling and Related Matters,suggests that, in contrast to any notion of a ‘pre‐modern Jungian harmony’, the main lesson of quantum physics was that not only was the psychoanalytic, empty subject of the signifier constitutively out‐of‐joint with respect to the world, but that the Real in itself was already incomplete, out‐of‐joint, ‘not‐all’. Yet while Žižek frequently tries to separate Jung from his own ontology, this paper shows that his ontology is not as different as he suggests. Consistent with our earlier publications on Jung and Zizek, a closer investigation reveals an underlying congruence of both of their approaches. In this paper we show that this affinity lies in the rejection by both Jung and Žižek of the ideology of reductive materialism, a rejection that demonstrably draws on quantum physics in similar ways. While Jung posits an inherently meaningful universe, Žižek attempts to salvage the freedom of human subjectivity by opposing his Lacanian ‘dialectical materialism’ to reductive materialism.
And the dish ran away with the spoon: a hodgepodge of reflections, as rigorous as they are rambling, on the true subject
Authors: Mogenson Greg 
Published: January 2018

AbstractIn this article, the topic of ‘the true subject’ is explored in terms of a dialectical mode thinking which is in keeping with Jung's great insight concerning psychology's lack of an Archimedean vantage‐point distinct from its topics and subject matters. Evocative and expository, the emphasis is upon the performative poetics of such thinking within the sphere of our soul‐making. The interpretative mode of practice presented in the article is richly illustrated with examples from Biblical texts, literary images, and proverbial sayings, as well as from the sur‐real of nursery rhyme and the genre of the murder mystery. Essential insights of Jung's concerning the infinite and the finite as dimensions of self are revisited in terms of that contemporary trend of Jungian thought known as psychology as the discipline of interiority.
Public opinion polarisation and protest behaviour
Authors: KLEINER TUULI‐MARJA 
Published: January 2018

AbstractDoes an increasing divide in normative notions within a population influence citizens’ political protest behaviour? This article explores whether public opinion polarisation stimulates individuals to attend lawful demonstrations. In line with relative deprivation theory, it is argued that in an environment of polarisation, individuals’ normative notions are threatened, increasing the probability that they will actively participate in the political decision‐making process. Using the European Social Survey from the period 2002–2014 and focusing on subnational regions, multilevel analyses are conducted. Thereby a new index to measure public opinion polarisation is introduced. Depending on the issue, empirical results confirm the effect of polarisation. While average citizens are not motivated to demonstrate over the issue of whether people from other countries are a cultural threat, they are motivated by the issues of reducing inequality and of homosexuality. The article goes on to examine in a second step whether ideological extremism makes individuals more susceptible to environmental opinion polarisation. Findings show that members of the far left are more likely to protest when their social environment is divided over the issue of income inequality. In contrast, members of the far right are motivated by rising polarisation regarding homosexuality. In sum, citizens become mobilised as their beliefs and values are threatened by public opinion polarisation.
Improved Academic Performance and Student Perceptions of Learning Through Use of a Cell Phone‐Based Personal Response System
Authors: Ma Sihui , Steger Daniel G. , Doolittle Peter E. , Stewart Amanda C. 
Published: January 2018

AbstractPersonal response systems, such as clickers, have been widely used to improve the effectiveness of teaching in various classroom settings. Although hand‐held clicker response systems have been the subject of multiple prior studies, few studies have focused on the use of cell phone‐based personal response system (CPPRS) specifically. This study explores students’ academic performance and their perceptions of learning through the use of a CPPRS (TopHat) in an undergraduate Food Science class. In this study, students did not use the CPPRS during the first half of the semester‐long course, but did during the second half. When CPPRS was used, students responded to 2 multiple‐choice questions at 3 points during the class, (a) at the beginning of class, (b) in the middle of the class, and (c) at the end of the class. Student performance was measured by correctness rates on eight 10‐item multiple choice quizzes, 4 quizzes each covering the class content that was delivered with compared with without CPPRS. A survey was conducted at the end of the semester asking (n = 28) students’ perceptions of CPPRS. The average correctness rate for quizzes covering content delivered with CPPRS (85% ± 9%) was significantly higher than for content delivered without CPPRS (82% ± 10%) (P = 0.016). In addition, students perceived that CPPRS was easy to use (5.04 ± 0.58 on a 1 to 6 scale with 1 being strongly disagree and 6 being strongly agree) and positively impacted their learning (4.52 ± 0.99 using the same scale). When used correctly, CPPRS can facilitate student learning in lectures.
Melatonin inhibits the proliferation of breast cancer cells induced by bisphenol A via targeting estrogen receptor‐related pathways
Authors: Wang Tianjiao , Liu Bowen , Guan Yanan , Gong Miaomiao , Zhang Weiying , Pan Jinjin , Liu Yanan , Liang Rui , Yuan Yuhui , Ye Lihong 
Published: January 2018

BackgroundBackground: Bisphenol A (BPA) is an estrogen‐like chemical widely contained in daily supplies. There is evidence that environmental exposure to BPA could contribute to the development of hormone‐related cancers. As is reported in numerous studies, melatonin, an endogenous hormone secreted by the pineal gland, could markedly inhibit estrogen‐induced proliferation of breast cancer (BC) cells. In this study, we intended to reveal the effects of melatonin on BPA‐induced proliferation of estrogen receptor‐positive BC cells.MethodsMethods: We used methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium, luciferase reporter gene and western blotting assays to testify the effect of melatonin on BPA‐mediated proliferation of MCF‐7 and T47D cells.ResultsMethyl thiazolyl tetrazolium and colony formation assays showed that melatonin could significantly abolish BPA‐elevated cell proliferation. Meanwhile, BPA‐upregulated phosphorylation of ERK and AKT was decreased by melatonin treatment. Mechanistically, we found that BPA was capable of upregulating the protein levels of steroid receptor coactivators (SRC‐1, SRC‐3), as well as promoting the estrogen response element activity. However, the addition of melatonin could remarkably block the elevation of steroid receptor coactivators expression and estrogen response element activity triggered by BPA.ConclusionConclusions: Therefore, these results demonstrated that melatonin could abrogate BPA‐induced proliferation of BC cells. Therapeutically, melatonin could be regarded as a potential medication for BPA‐associated BC.
The nominal group technique in ecology & conservation: Application and challenges
Authors: Hugé Jean , Mukherjee Nibedita 
Published: January 2018

Abstract

The nominal group technique (NGT) is a qualitative method to elicit judgement from stakeholders.

This paper reviews its application in the field of ecology and conservation. We aim to identify patterns in methodological variants, topics covered, scope, advantages and limitations of the technique.

Although still not widely used, NGT has been used in ecology and conservation to achieve four main goals: to support biodiversity management, to identify stakeholder preferences and attitudes, to prioritize in capacity‐building exercises and to explore novel concepts.

Most NGT studies have been applied at local level. NGT is quite flexible and has been used in combination with a range of techniques (surveys, with the Delphi method and with multi‐criteria analysis, as well as with the collection of ecological data).

The amalgamation of individual and collective reflection and the coproduction of knowledge among participants in NGT allows for a depolarizing approach to the study and management of conservation issues.
The use of focus group discussion methodology: Insights from two decades of application in conservation
Authors: O.Nyumba Tobias , Wilson Kerrie , Derrick Christina J. , Mukherjee Nibedita 
Published: January 2018

Abstract

Focus group discussion is frequently used as a qualitative approach to gain an in‐depth understanding of social issues. The method aims to obtain data from a purposely selected group of individuals rather than from a statistically representative sample of a broader population. Even though the application of this method in conservation research has been extensive, there are no critical assessment of the application of the technique. In addition, there are no readily available guidelines for conservation researchers.

Here, we reviewed the applications of focus group discussion within biodiversity and conservation research between 1996 and April 2017. We begin with a brief explanation of the technique for first‐time users. We then discuss in detail the empirical applications of this technique in conservation based on a structured literature review (using Scopus).

The screening process resulted in 170 articles, the majority of which (67%, n = 114,) were published between 2011 and 2017. Rarely was the method used as a stand‐alone technique. The number of participants per focus group (where reported) ranged from 3 to 21 participants with a median of 10 participants. There were seven (median) focus group meetings per study. Focus group discussion sessions lasted for 90 (median) minutes. Four main themes emerged from the review: understanding of people's perspectives regarding conservation (32%), followed by the assessment of conservation and livelihoods practices (21%), examination of challenges and impacts of resource management interventions (19%) and documenting the value of indigenous knowledge systems (16%). Most of the studies were in Africa (n = 76), followed by Asia (n = 44), and Europe (n = 30).

We noted serious gaps in the reporting of the methodological details in the reviewed papers. More than half of the studies (n = 101) did not report the sample size and group size (n = 93), whereas 54 studies did not mention the number of focus group discussion sessions while reporting results. Rarely have the studies provided any information on the rationale for choosing the technique. We have provided guidelines to improve the standard of reporting and future application of the technique for conservation.
Multi‐criteria decision analysis for nature conservation: A review of 20 years of applications
Authors: Adem Esmail Blal , Geneletti Davide 
Published: January 2018

Abstract

Multi‐criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is a method to support decision‐making, by exploring the balance between the pros and cons of different alternatives to accomplish a specific goal. It assists in framing decision problems, illustrating the performance of alternatives across criteria, exploring trade‐offs, formulating a decision and testing its robustness. This paper provides a structured review of empirical applications of MCDA to nature conservation published in the scientific literature over the last 20 years. The paper aims at taking stock of past experiences, and comparing them with best practices and common pitfalls identified in the literature, to provide recommendations for better MCDA application to conservation.

The review follows the structure of a generalized MCDA process consisting of three key stages: (1) decision context and problem structuring, (2) analysis and (3) decision.

The search identified 86 papers that describe MCDA applications to a range of topics, including conservation prioritization and planning; protected areas management and zoning; forest management and restoration; and mapping of biodiversity, naturalness and wilder. The results show that, concerning problem structuring, a small percentage of the reviewed MCDA engaged stakeholders other than the authors in identifying alternatives and formulating criteria (15% and 35% respectively). Concerning the analysis, criteria assessment was adequately justified by the authors (47%), at times also by involving other stakeholders (22%). Weighting was performed in almost all applications, whereas criteria aggregation was mostly based on the weighted linear combination (63%). Sensitivity analysis was largely overlooked (57%). Concerning decision, 45% of the articles provided only an overall ranking or suitability of alternatives, while 22% included additional rankings according to specific criterion, and 8% further analyses and clustering of stakeholders’ preferences.

The paper concludes by suggesting key elements of successful MCDA applications, including clear construction of the decision context; collaborative identification of alternatives and criteria that reflect the values at stake; adequate justification and communication of the methods for criteria assessment and weighting; reasoned choice of the criteria aggregation method, and comprehensive sensitivity analysis.
Comparison of techniques for eliciting views and judgements in decision‐making
Authors: Mukherjee Nibedita , Zabala Aiora , Huge Jean , Nyumba Tobias Ochieng , Adem Esmail Blal , Sutherland William J. 
Published: January 2018

Abstract

Decision‐making is a complex process that typically includes a series of stages: identifying the issue, considering possible options, making judgements and then making a decision by combining information and values. The current status quo relies heavily on the informational aspect of decision‐making with little or no emphasis on the value positions that affect decisions.

There is increasing realization of the importance of adopting rigorous methods for each stage such that the information, views and judgements of stakeholders and experts are used in a systematic and repeatable manner. Though there are several methodological textbooks which discuss a plethora of social science techniques, it is hard to judge the suitability of any given technique for a given decision problem.

In decision‐making, the three critical aspects are “what” decision is to be made, “who” makes the decisions and “how” the decisions are made. The methods covered in this paper focus on “how” decisions can be made. We compare six techniques: Focus Group Discussion (FGD), Interviews, Q methodology, Multi‐criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), Nominal Group Technique and the Delphi technique specifically in the context of biodiversity conservation. All of these techniques (with the exception of MCDA) help in understanding human values and the underlying perspectives which shape decisions.

Based on structured reviews of 423 papers covering all six methods, we compare the conceptual and logistical characteristics of the methods, and map their suitability for the different stages of the decision‐making process. While interviews and FGD are well‐known, techniques such the Nominal Group technique and Q methodology are relatively under‐used. In situations where conflict is high, we recommend using the Q methodology and Delphi technique to elicit judgements. Where conflict is low, and a consensus is needed urgently, the Nominal Group technique may be more suitable.

We present a nuanced synthesis of methods aimed at users. The comparison of the different techniques might be useful for project managers, academics or practitioners in the planning phases of their projects and help in making better informed methodological choices.
Qualitative methods for ecologists and conservation scientists
Authors: Sutherland William J. , Dicks Lynn V. , Everard Mark , Geneletti Davide 
Published: January 2018

Abstract

Conservation of biodiversity involves dealing with problems caused by humans, by applying solutions that comprise actions by humans. Understanding human attitudes, knowledge and behaviour are thus central to conservation research and practice.

The special feature brings together authors from a range of disciplines (ecology, human geography, political science, land economy, management) to examine a set of qualitative techniques used in conservation research: Interviews, Focus group discussion, The Nominal Group Technique and multi‐criteria decision analysis.

These techniques can be used for a range of purposes—most notably to understand people's perspectives, values and attitudes and to gather information about approaches to management of species, ecosystems or natural resources.

Incorporating human values, perceptions, judgements and knowledge into conservation decision making is an important role for qualitative techniques; they provide robust means for submitting this information or knowledge as evidence.

The articles in this special feature highlight a worrying extent of poor justification and inadequate reporting of qualitative methods in the conservation literature.

To improve and encourage greater use of these techniques in conservation science, we urge improved reporting of rationales and methods, along with innovation, adaptation and further testing of the methods themselves.
Private Property in the Context of Community
Authors: Hoffman Matthew 
Published: January 2018

AbstractThe dominant philosophy of private land ownership—that private property exists for the benefit of its owner and that use and ownership should be determined by market forces—is not the only philosophy in the American tradition. Classical republicanism's proprietarian perspective was equally in favor of private property, but held that private property exists for the benefit of society. This article begins by presenting the proprietarian view of private property rights, drawing on the legal scholarship where this perspective has been revived. Next, I use the case of contemporary land reform in Scotland to exemplify the rationale for this perspective. Lastly, I attempt to import the lessons of Scottish land reformers without importing their model, instead considering ways in which private land ownership might be embedded in non‐market institutions in the United States.