Cascading Walks Model for Human Mobility Patterns

Background

Uncovering the mechanism behind the scaling laws and series of anomalies in human trajectories is of fundamental significance in understanding many spatio-temporal phenomena. Recently, several models, e.g. the explorations-returns model (Song et al., 2010) and the radiation model for intercity travels (Simini et al., 2012), have been proposed to study the origin of these anomalies and the prediction of human movements. However, an agent-based model that could reproduce most of empirical observations without priori is still lacking.

Methodology/Principal Findings

In this paper, considering the empirical findings on the correlations of move-lengths and staying time in human trips, we propose a simple model which is mainly based on the cascading processes to capture the human mobility patterns. In this model, each long-range movement activates series of shorter movements that are organized by the law of localized explorations and preferential returns in prescribed region.

Conclusions/Significance

Based on the numerical simulations and analytical studies, we show more than five statistical characters that are well consistent with the empirical observations, including several types of scaling anomalies and the ultraslow diffusion properties, implying the cascading processes associated with the localized exploration and preferential returns are indeed a key in the understanding of human mobility activities. Moreover, the model shows both of the diverse individual mobility and aggregated scaling displacements, bridging the micro and macro patterns in human mobility. In summary, our model successfully explains most of empirical findings and provides deeper understandings on the emergence of human mobility patterns.     

Kindness Counts: Prompting Prosocial Behavior in Preadolescents Boosts Peer Acceptance and Well-Being

At the top of parents’ many wishes is for their children to be happy, to be good, and to be well-liked. Our findings suggest that these goals may not only be compatible but also reciprocal. In a longitudinal experiment conducted in 19 classrooms in Vancouver, 9- to 11-year olds were instructed to perform three acts of kindness (versus visit three places) per week over the course of 4 weeks. Students in both conditions improved in well-being, but students who performed kind acts experienced significantly bigger increases in peer acceptance (or sociometric popularity) than students who visited places. Increasing peer acceptance is a critical goal, as it is related to a variety of important academic and social outcomes, including reduced likelihood of being bullied. Teachers and interventionists can build on this study by introducing intentional prosocial activities into classrooms and recommending that such activities be performed regularly and purposefully.     

Interactions between Handler Well-Being and Canine Health and Behavior in Search and Rescue Teams

ABSTRACT

This study reports on three years of prospective, longitudinal data on the psychological well-being of the human handlers and the health and behavior of the search and rescue dogs deployed in New York City and Washington, DC in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Eighty-five human handlers (63 deployed and 22 controls) and ninetyfour dogs (66 deployed, 28 controls) were assessed at multiple time points including 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years after the 9/11 attacks. Humans were assessed for psychological health by structured clinical interview and self-report. Dogs were assessed for physical health and behavior by veterinary records and handler report. For humans, deployment after 9/11 did indeed represent a relatively short-term risk factor for developing symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). By and large, however, the sample showed remarkable resilience as a whole, and overall rates of DSM-IV diagnoses were quite low. By year 3, 9/11 deployment no longer conferred any special risk. On the other hand, long-term employment in an emergency profession did emerge as a significant risk factor for symptoms of PTSD by year 3. With respect to the interaction between handler emotional well-being and canine health and behavior, we found that physical illness and/or death in the dog was prospectively associated with greater symptoms of depression in the handler. We also found that symptoms of depression and PTSD in the handlers prospectively predicted behavioral problems in the dogs over time. Separation anxiety, attachment/attention seeking, chasing, and excitability emerged in the dogs at 1 year. Behavioral problems escalated to aggression towards other dogs at year 2 and separation anxiety, aggression towards other dogs, and aggression towards strangers at year 3. Like any relationship, the partnership between a handler and his or her working dog can confer both protection—when the relationship is going well and both members are healthy—and vulnerability—when either member is physically ill or psychologically or behaviorally distressed.     

Decisions among the Undecided: Implicit Attitudes Predict Future Voting Behavior of Undecided Voters

Implicit attitudes have been suggested as a key to unlock the hidden preferences of undecided voters. Past research, however, offered mixed support for this hypothesis. The present research used a large nationally representative sample and a longitudinal design to examine the predictive utility of implicit and explicit attitude measures in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. In our analyses, explicit attitudes toward candidates predicted voting better for decided than undecided voters, but implicit candidate attitudes were predictive of voting for both decided and undecided voters. Extending our examination to implicit and explicit racial attitudes, we found the same pattern. Taken together, these results provide convergent evidence that implicit attitudes predict voting about as well for undecided as for decided voters. We also assessed a novel explanation for these effects by evaluating whether implicit attitudes may predict the choices of undecided voters, in part, because they are neglected when people introspect about their confidence. Consistent with this idea, we found that the extremity of explicit but not implicit attitudes was associated with greater confidence. These analyses shed new light on the utility of implicit measures in predicting future behavior among individuals who feel undecided. Considering the prior studies together with this new evidence, the data seem to be consistent that implicit attitudes may be successful in predicting the behavior of undecided voters.     

Well-Being: A Theoretical Program

A theoretical program of anthropological well-being is described and a special theory linking adaptive potential to biocultural success, longevity, and physical health is tested with a multicultural sample of 133 college students born outside, the United States. Those students who scored high in adaptive potential reported fewer symptoms of physical illness. The implications of the theory for a better understanding of cultural dynamics are discussed.     

Group-Wise Herding Behavior in Financial Markets: An Agent-Based Modeling Approach

In this paper, we shed light on the dynamic characteristics of rational group behaviors and the relationship between monetary policy and economic units in the financial market by using an agent-based model (ABM), the Hurst exponent, and the Shannon entropy. First, an agent-based model is used to analyze the characteristics of the group behaviors at different levels of irrationality. Second, the Hurst exponent is applied to analyze the characteristics of the trend-following irrationality group. Third, the Shannon entropy is used to analyze the randomness and unpredictability of group behavior. We show that in a system that focuses on macro-monetary policy, steep fluctuations occur, meaning that the medium-level irrationality group has the highest Hurst exponent and Shannon entropy among all of the groups. However, in a system that focuses on micro-monetary policy, all group behaviors follow a stable trend, and the medium irrationality group thus remains stable, too. Likewise, in a system that focuses on both micro- and macro-monetary policies, all groups tend to be stable. Consequently, we find that group behavior varies across economic units at each irrationality level for micro- and macro-monetary policy in the financial market. Together, these findings offer key insights into monetary policy.     

Moving Houses: Residential Mobility and the Mobility of Residences in Longana, Vanuatu

A key to understanding the mobility of residence patterns in Oceania can be found in the movement of houses themselves. In this article I explore the processual dynamic of residence over a 12-year period in Longana and document the high frequency with which people moved houses and households while maintaining a strong preference for virilocality. For example, more than 80% of the buildings changed households, underwent major physical changes, or both between 1978 and 1982. The reasons why houses change hands and move about relate to the domestic cycle and highlight competition between the requirements of renovation and plans to construct new buildings. Further, the impermanence of local building materials gives rise to a contradiction between rootedness and transience that defines the meaning of place. Finally, houses serve as symbols of kinship that articulate land and people and that express a link between matrilineal and patrifilial groups.     

Pets,Networks and Well-Being

ABSTRACT

This study explores two explanations for well-being among older adults: social network analysis and human–animal relations. The data are based on a stratified probability sample of community living adults, aged 60 years and over, located in several rural communities in north-eastern Oregon. The dependent variables include three distinct measures of psychological well-being: life satisfaction, locus of control, and self-esteem. The independent variables include pet ownership and various measures of the personal network of respondents, including network structural variables (range, density, and frequency of contact) and network content variables (both instrumental and expressive). Control variables include socio-demographic characteristics and a measure of physical health. Multiple regression analysis is used to estimate the effects of the independent and control variables. Pet ownership was related to two of the well-being measures – self-esteem and locus of control – but only for men. Some methodological and theoretical implications are discussed.     

保障自然资本与人类福祉：中国的创新与影响

1引言 近十年来,将生态系统作为重要资本的理念迅速普及.从全球来看,这一理念正逐步体现到农业、水利、能源、城市、健康、渔业、林业、矿业等领域及其相关基础设施建设等许多部门的工作中,以及社区、企业、政府机构等的构架与决策中.为了扭转地球生命支持系统的退化趋势、提高人类福祉,迫切需要将自然资本价值整合到发展决策中的严谨科学方法[1-7]. 为了满足决策者的迫切需求,从事生态学的科研工作者面临如下四个方面的挑战,即:(1)在生态学、经济、社会、制度和管理的角度,认识生态系统服务、人类福祉以及他们的内在联系;(2)开发生态系统服务功能评价与决策应用的科学实用的工具;(3)开展在关键决策中能做出新理解和采用新工具的试点和示范;(4)让决策者实现决策方式的转型和永久改变.     

Money and Modernity: State and Local Currencies in Melanesia

Money and Modernity: State and Local Currencies in Melanesia. David Akin and Joel Robbins. eds. ASAO Monograph Series, 17. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1999. 284 pp.     

多次短时间快走能提高机体脂肪和能量的消耗

为探讨多次短时间及单次长时间的快走对脂肪代谢与激素反应的影响,以提高鼓励运动的说服力,本研究选择15名健康大学男生为研究对象,进行单次长时间快走运动(SL)(1次×30 min),或多次短时间快走运动(MS)(6次×5 min,每次中间休息30 min)。数据收集后以独立样本t检验和双因素方差分析进行统计检验。研究结果发现:MS在运动后超额摄氧量(EPOC)和恢复期能量消耗显著高于SL,且MS的总摄氧量和总能量消耗(运动期+恢复期)也显著高于SL;而SL在运动结束后甘油浓度显著高于运动前,同时显著高于同期的MS。本研究认为,多次短时间的运动在恢复期的能量消耗显著大于单次长时间的运动,且在恢复期脂肪的消耗也较高,建议不易开展长时间运动的人,可采用多次短时间的运动方式,以增加能量和脂肪的消耗。