scholarly journals From behavioural analyses to models of collective motion in fish schools

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 693-707 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ugo Lopez ◽  
Jacques Gautrais ◽  
Iain D. Couzin ◽  
Guy Theraulaz
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Physics ◽  
Collective Motion ◽  
Theoretical Biology ◽  
Quantitative Agreement ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
School Level ◽  
Fish Schools ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Modelling Assumptions ◽  
The Individual

Fish schooling is a phenomenon of long-lasting interest in ethology and ecology, widely spread across taxa and ecological contexts, and has attracted much interest from statistical physics and theoretical biology as a case of self-organized behaviour. One topic of intense interest is the search of specific behavioural mechanisms at stake at the individual level and from which the school properties emerges. This is fundamental for understanding how selective pressure acting at the individual level promotes adaptive properties of schools and in trying to disambiguate functional properties from non-adaptive epiphenomena. Decades of studies on collective motion by means of individual-based modelling have allowed a qualitative understanding of the self-organization processes leading to collective properties at school level, and provided an insight into the behavioural mechanisms that result in coordinated motion. Here, we emphasize a set of paradigmatic modelling assumptions whose validity remains unclear, both from a behavioural point of view and in terms of quantitative agreement between model outcome and empirical data. We advocate for a specific and biologically oriented re-examination of these assumptions through experimental-based behavioural analysis and modelling.

scholarly journals Emergent oscillations assist obstacle negotiation during ant cooperative transport

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (51) ◽  
pp. 14615-14620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aviram Gelblum ◽  
Itai Pinkoviezky ◽  
Ehud Fonio ◽  
Nir S. Gov ◽  
Ofer Feinerman
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Physics ◽  
Collective Motion ◽  
System Size ◽  
Tangential Direction ◽  
Critical System ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Obstacle Circumvention ◽  
Quantitative Understanding ◽  
Physics Model ◽  
The Individual

Collective motion by animal groups is affected by internal interactions, external constraints, and the influx of information. A quantitative understanding of how these different factors give rise to different modes of collective motion is, at present, lacking. Here, we study how ants that cooperatively transport a large food item react to an obstacle blocking their path. Combining experiments with a statistical physics model of mechanically coupled active agents, we show that the constraint induces a deterministic collective oscillatory mode that facilitates obstacle circumvention. We provide direct experimental evidence, backed by theory, that this motion is an emergent group effect that does not require any behavioral changes at the individual level. We trace these relaxation oscillations to the interplay between two forces; informed ants pull the load toward the nest whereas uninformed ants contribute to the motion’s persistence along the tangential direction. The model’s predictions that oscillations appear above a critical system size, that the group can spontaneously transition into its ordered phase, and that the system can exhibit complete rotations are all verified experimentally. We expect that similar oscillatory modes emerge in collective motion scenarios where the structure of the environment imposes conflicts between individually held information and the group’s tendency for cohesiveness.

scholarly journals Individual-Level and Population-Level Lateralization: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Symmetry ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Frasnelli ◽  
Giorgio Vallortigara
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionarily Stable Strategy ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Theoretical Point ◽  
Evolutionarily Stable Strategies ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Social Species ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Evolutionarily Stable

Lateralization, i.e., the different functional roles played by the left and right sides of the brain, is expressed in two main ways: (1) in single individuals, regardless of a common direction (bias) in the population (aka individual-level lateralization); or (2) in single individuals and in the same direction in most of them, so that the population is biased (aka population-level lateralization). Indeed, lateralization often occurs at the population-level, with 60–90% of individuals showing the same direction (right or left) of bias, depending on species and tasks. It is usually maintained that lateralization can increase the brain’s efficiency. However, this may explain individual-level lateralization, but not population-level lateralization, for individual brain efficiency is unrelated to the direction of the asymmetry in other individuals. From a theoretical point of view, a possible explanation for population-level lateralization is that it may reflect an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) that can develop when individually asymmetrical organisms are under specific selective pressures to coordinate their behavior with that of other asymmetrical organisms. This prediction has been sometimes misunderstood as it is equated with the idea that population-level lateralization should only be present in social species. However, population-level asymmetries have been observed in aggressive and mating displays in so-called “solitary” insects, suggesting that engagement in specific inter-individual interactions rather than “sociality” per se may promote population-level lateralization. Here, we clarify that the nature of inter-individuals interaction can generate evolutionarily stable strategies of lateralization at the individual- or population-level, depending on ecological contexts, showing that individual-level and population-level lateralization should be considered as two aspects of the same continuum.

scholarly journals Conformity in the collective: differences in hunger affect individual and group behavior in a shoaling fish

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 968-974 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander D M Wilson ◽  
Alicia L J Burns ◽  
Emanuele Crosato ◽  
Joseph Lizier ◽  
Mikhail Prokopenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Collective Behavior ◽  
Nearest Neighbor ◽  
Collective Motion ◽  
Internal State ◽  
Group Behavior ◽  
Fundamental Interest ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Group Members ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Nearest Neighbor Distances

Abstract Animal groups are often composed of individuals that vary according to behavioral, morphological, and internal state parameters. Understanding the importance of such individual-level heterogeneity to the establishment and maintenance of coherent group responses is of fundamental interest in collective behavior. We examined the influence of hunger on the individual and collective behavior of groups of shoaling fish, x-ray tetras (Pristella maxillaris). Fish were assigned to one of two nutritional states, satiated or hungry, and then allocated to 5 treatments that represented different ratios of satiated to hungry individuals (8 hungry, 8 satiated, 4:4 hungry:satiated, 2:6 hungry:satiated, 6:2 hungry:satiated). Our data show that groups with a greater proportion of hungry fish swam faster and exhibited greater nearest neighbor distances. Within groups, however, there was no difference in the swimming speeds of hungry versus well-fed fish, suggesting that group members conform and adapt their swimming speed according to the overall composition of the group. We also found significant differences in mean group transfer entropy, suggesting stronger patterns of information flow in groups comprising all, or a majority of, hungry individuals. In contrast, we did not observe differences in polarization, a measure of group alignment, within groups across treatments. Taken together these results demonstrate that the nutritional state of animals within social groups impacts both individual and group behavior, and that members of heterogenous groups can adapt their behavior to facilitate coherent collective motion.

Does School Matter?

2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katariina Salmela-Aro ◽  
Noona Kiuru ◽  
Minna Pietikäinen ◽  
Jukka Jokela
Keyword(s):  
School Climate ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
School Level ◽  
School Students ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
School Burnout ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Positive Motivation

School burnout can be defined as consisting of exhaustion due to school demands, cynical, and detached attitude toward one’s school, and feelings of inadequacy as a student ( Kiuru, Aunola, Nurmi, Leskinen, & Salmela-Aro, 2008 ; Salmela-Aro & Näätänen, 2005 ; Schaufeli, Martínez, Pinto, Salanova, & Bakker, 2002 ). The first aim of the present study was to examine the extent to which schools differ in school-related burnout. Moreover, the aim was to examine the extent to which school-related and background factors are associated with school burnout at the school level and at the individual level. The participants were 58,657 students from 431 comprehensive schools and 29,515 students from 228 upper secondary schools who filled in a questionnaire measuring their school burnout, school-related variables (i.e., negative school climate, positive motivation received from teachers, support from the school), and background variables (i.e., gender, grade-point average, socio-economic status, and family structure). The results revealed only small differences between schools in school burnout. Among the comprehensive school students the results at the school-level showed that negative school climate typical of the school was positively related, while support from school shared among school members was negatively related to school-related burnout. Among upper secondary school students, in turn, positive motivation received from teachers typical of the school was negatively related to school-related burnout. At the individual level, negative school climate was positively related, and support from school and positive motivation received from teachers were negatively related to burnout among both the comprehensive and upper secondary school students. In addition, girls and those with lower GPA experienced higher levels of school burnout compared to boys and those with higher GPA.

Identified Employee Surveys: Potential Promise, Perils, and Professional Practice Guidelines

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 435-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lise M. Saari ◽  
Charles A. Scherbaum
Keyword(s):  
Professional Practice ◽  
Practice Guidelines ◽  
Organizational Outcomes ◽  
Employee Attitudes ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Survey Respondent ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Linkage Analyses ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Over Time

Over the years, employee opinion surveys have evolved in their use and how they are conducted. A major advancement has been the use of linkage analyses, whereby employee attitudes at a unit level are statistically related to other important organizational outcomes. A more recent development has been linkage analyses at the individual level and over time. In order to carry out these types of analyses, “identified surveys” must be used—surveys that retain identifying information on each survey respondent in order to link with other individual-level variables over time. The purpose of this article is to open up a discussion on identified surveys, describe under what circumstances they may be uniquely beneficial, and highlight potential concerns with them. We close with proposed guidelines for professional practice and recommend that our profession have a point of view on identified surveys for ourselves and to advise others.

Genocide and Memory

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Stone
Keyword(s):  
Western Culture ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Life Narratives ◽  
Collective Memories ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Traumatic Memories ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Individual ◽  
With Memory

This article explores the history of genocide by looking at collective memories, from the point of view of Western culture. Western culture is suffused with autobiographies, especially with traumatic life narratives about the legacies of abusive childhoods. For the individual victims of genocide, traumatic memories cannot be escaped; for societies, genocide has profound effects that are immediately felt and that people are exhorted never to forget. The discussion shows how genocide is bound up with memory, on an individual level of trauma and on a collective level in terms of the creation of stereotypes, prejudice, and post-genocide politics. Despite the risks of perpetuating old divisions or reopening unhealed wounds, grappling with memory remains essential in order to remind the victims that they are not the worthless or less than human beings that their tormentors have portrayed them as such.

Evaluating subscore uses across multiple levels: A case of reading and listening subscores for young EFL learners

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ikkyu Choi ◽  
Spiros Papageorgiou
Keyword(s):  
Classical Test Theory ◽  
Test Theory ◽  
Added Value ◽  
School Level ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Language Tests ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Level Analysis

Stakeholders of language tests are often interested in subscores. However, reporting a subscore is not always justified; a subscore should provide reliable and distinct information to be worth reporting. When a subscore is used for decisions across multiple levels (e.g., individual test takers and schools), it needs to be justified for its reliability and distinctiveness at every relevant level. In this study, we examined whether reporting seven Reading and Listening subscores of the TOEFL Primary® test, a standardized English proficiency test for young English as a foreign language learners, could be justified for reporting at individual and school levels. We analyzed data collected in pilot administrations, in which 4776 students from 51 schools participated. We employed the classical test theory (CTT) based approaches of Haberman (2008) and Haberman, Sinharay, and Puhan (2009) for the individual and school-level investigations, respectively. We also supplemented the CTT-based approaches with a factor analytic approach for the individual level analysis and a multilevel modeling approach for the school-level analysis. The results differed across the two levels: we found little support for reporting the subscores at the individual level, but strong evidence supporting the added-value of the school-level subscores when the sample size for each school exceeds 50.

Modeling individual participation in sports activities

2021 ◽  
pp. 123-138
Author(s):  
K. N. Makshanchikov
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
Sports Activity ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Professional Activities ◽  
Urgent Task ◽  
Sport Industry ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Sports Activities

The article presents a classification of approaches to the analysis of sports activities at the individual level. Economists are interested in studying sports because of the growing importance of the sport industry in the economy. In this regard, it becomes an urgent task to identify motivations that encourage people to engage in sports. The main purpose of the paper is to discuss the differences in approaches to the study of sports activity of individuals depending on the dominant motives. The author considers the main motives for sports, such as professional activities, leisure, and investments in human capital. The article systematizes approaches to the analysis of people’s sports activities and offers a classification of approaches. The article discusses the relationship between motives and the problem of empirical assessment of individuals’ decision-making about sports from an economist’s point of view.

Individual- and School-Level Factors Contributing to Disproportionate Suspension Rates: A Multilevel Analysis of One State

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 209-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristine A. Camacho ◽  
Michael P. Krezmien
Keyword(s):  
High Schools ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Multilevel Model ◽  
English Language ◽  
School Enrollment ◽  
School Level ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
The Individual

Data from middle schools ( n = 219), high schools ( n = 200), and combined middle and high schools ( n = 20) were used to examine individual- and school-level factors within a multilevel model associated with an increased risk of suspension for minority students and students with disabilities. Results indicate that the individual-level variables of race and disability status were associated with an increased risk of suspension. Multiple school-level factors were also found to be associated with an increased risk of suspension including school enrollment, attendance, mobility, the percent of highly qualified teachers, the percent of students receiving free and reduced priced meals, the percent of students receiving special education services, the school’s Title I status, the student-to-teacher ratio, English Language Arts state exam scores, and the percent of White students in the school. In both analyses, the majority of variance was associated with the multilevel model which indicates the importance of examining individual factors within the context of school-level factors when trying to understand and respond to disproportionate suspension practices.

An Immersive Learning Platform for Efficient Biology Learning of Secondary School-Level Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (7) ◽  
pp. 1671-1694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhawaleswar C. H. Rao ◽  
Sujan Kumar Saha
Keyword(s):  
Learning Experience ◽  
School Level ◽  
Automatic Identification ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Immersive Learning ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Learning Platform ◽  
Artificial Environment ◽  
Biology Learning ◽  
The Individual

Immersive learning is one of the leading trends in education. Immersive learning uses a simulated or artificial environment for a better learning experience. Design of intelligent learning platform and motivating content development is one key aspect of immersive learning. In this article, we propose an intelligent computer-assisted learning platform that helps school-level students in self-learning. Specifically, the proposed platform focuses on biology learning. The learning platform performs several tasks including automatic identification of important terms and concepts, identification of questionable sentences, visualization of key concepts through relevant images, and conducting a mock test for confidence building. Various techniques have been adopted for the development of the individual functionalities. Working of the individual modules is evaluated by two human experts. In addition, in an individual-level learning setup, the platform is used by 50 Class IX students for studying a module. They provided feedback on the system through a questionnaire. Both the human expert-based and questionnaire-based evaluation results demonstrate that the platform offers satisfactory performance.

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