Evolution of a vertebrate social decision-making network

Animals evaluate and respond to their social environment with adaptive decisions. Revealing the neural mechanisms of such decisions is a major goal in biology. We analyzed expression profiles for 10 neurochemical genes across 12 brain regions important for decision-making in 88 species representing five vertebrate lineages. We found that behaviorally relevant brain regions are remarkably conserved over 450 million years of evolution. We also find evidence that different brain regions have experienced different selection pressures, because spatial distribution of neuroendocrine ligands are more flexible than their receptors across vertebrates. Our analysis suggests that the diversity of social behavior in vertebrates can be explained, in part, by variations on a theme of conserved neural and gene expression networks.     

Big and mighty: preverbal infants mentally represent social dominance

Human infants face the formidable challenge of learning the structure of their social environment. Previous research indicates that infants have early-developing representations of intentional agents, and of cooperative social interactions, that help meet that challenge. Here we report five studies with 144 infant participants showing that 10- to 13-month-old, but not 8-month-old, infants recognize when two novel agents have conflicting goals, and that they use the agents' relative size to predict the outcome of the very first dominance contests between them. These results suggest that preverbal infants mentally represent social dominance and use a cue that covaries with it phylogenetically, and marks it metaphorically across human cultures and languages, to predict which of two agents is likely to prevail in a conflict of goals.     

Effects of social network factors on information acquisition and adoption of improved groundnut varieties: the case of Uganda and Kenya

Social networks play a significant role in learning and thus in farmers’ adoption of new agricultural technologies. This study examined the effects of social network factors on information acquisition and adoption of new seed varieties among groundnut farmers in Uganda and Kenya. The data were generated through face-to-face interviews from a random sample of 461 farmers, 232 in Uganda and 229 in Kenya. To assess these effects two alternative econometric models were used: a seemingly unrelated bivariate probit (SUBP) model and a recursive bivariate probit (RBP) model. The statistical evaluation of the SUBP shows that information acquisition and adoption decisions are interrelated while tests for the RBP do not support this latter model. Therefore, the analysis is based on the results obtained from the SUBP. These results reveal that social network factors, particularly weak ties with external support (e.g., researchers, extension agents, etc.), partially influence information acquisition, but do not influence adoption. In Uganda, external support, gender, farm size, and geographic location have an impact on information acquisition. In Kenya, external support and geographic location also have an impact on information acquisition. With regard to adoption, gender, household size, and geographic location play the most important roles for Ugandan farmers, while in Kenya information from external sources, education, and farm size affect adoption choice. The study provides insight on the importance of external weak ties in groundnut farming, and a need to understand regional differences along gender lines while developing agricultural strategies. This study further illustrates the importance of farmer participation in applied technology research and the impact of social interactions among farmers and external agents.     

Information transduction capacity of noisy biochemical signaling networks

Molecular noise restricts the ability of an individual cell to resolve input signals of different strengths and gather information about the external environment. Transmitting information through complex signaling networks with redundancies can overcome this limitation. We developed an integrative theoretical and experimental framework, based on the formalism of information theory, to quantitatively predict and measure the amount of information transduced by molecular and cellular networks. Analyzing tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling revealed that individual TNF signaling pathways transduce information sufficient for accurate binary decisions, and an upstream bottleneck limits the information gained via multiple integrated pathways. Negative feedback to this bottleneck could both alleviate and enhance its limiting effect, despite decreasing noise. Bottlenecks likewise constrain information attained by networks signaling through multiple genes or cells.     

社会资本对农户有机肥施用意愿与行为悖离的影响——基于信息可得性的中介效应分析

为探究农户有机肥施用意愿与行为悖离的原因，缓解当前农业环境污染现状，基于甘肃省730户有施用有机肥意愿的农户的调研数据，利用二元Logit模型、中介效应模型从社会资本视角实证探究社会资本及各维度对农户有机肥施用意愿与行为悖离的影响并验证了信息可得性的中介效应。结果表明:1)社会资本对农户有机肥施用意愿与行为悖离有显著的抑制作用，农户社会资本越丰富，其有机肥施用意愿向行为转化的可能性越强。2)社会资本各维度均显著影响农户有机肥施用意愿与行为悖离现象，且影响方向为负，影响效应从大到小依次是社会规范(13.1%)、社会网络(4.7%)、社会信任(4.1%)。3)信息可得性在社会资本及各维度影响农户有机肥施用意愿与行为悖离中均具有中介效应，社会资本及各维度对农户有机肥施用意愿与行为悖离既可产生直接影响，也可以通过信息可得性产生间接影响。社会资本和信息可得性是影响农户有机肥施用意愿与行为悖离的重要因素。因此，在促进农户有机肥施用意愿向行为转化的过程中，应重视农户社会资本的积累，加大对其社会资本的培育力度；同时政府等相关部门应通过各种形式的培训活动拓宽农户信息获取渠道的来源，加大信息获取渠道的数量，增加农户的信息可得性，为农户提供有关绿色生产的相关知识，让绿色生产深入农户心中。     

重大突发公共卫生事件下老年人群健康信息需求及其服务研究

[目的/意义]本文旨在探索重大突发公共卫生事件下老年人群的健康信息需求,丰富老年健康信息需求与服务的理论内容,为老年群体的健康信息服务提供参考。[方法/过程]采用深度访谈法,对30位老年人群进行数据收集。采用主题分析法对访谈文本进行分析,通过访谈文本进行编码,归纳子主题提炼主题。[结果/结论]本文研究结果表明,重大突发公共卫生事件下老年人群的健康信息需求分为疾病预防、疾病诊治、养生保健及社会生活四大类。为满足其健康信息需求,本文从政府、社区、媒体3个主体视角提出信息服务策略：1）政府确保信息渠道畅通,充分利用科技手段传递信息;2）以社区为单位,丰富基层信息传播途径;3）规范媒体信息发布,提高媒体行业社会责任感。     

社会资本对农户采纳生态农业技术决策行为的影响——以稻虾共养技术为例

基于湖北、湖南和安徽省共980份农户的微观调研数据和Heckman样本选择模型,从采纳行为和采纳程度两个方面实证分析了社会资本对农户采纳稻虾共养技术决策行为的影响。结果表明:社会资本对农户技术采纳行为和采纳程度均有显著的正向影响。1)社会参与对农户技术采纳行为和采纳程度均有显著的正向影响,但社会网络对农户技术采纳行为和采纳程度的影响效果不显著;2)社会信任对农户技术采纳行为和采纳程度的影响效果存在差异,即信任周围邻居传播的技术信息显著正向影响农户技术采纳行为和采纳程度,而信任网络电视等大众传媒传播的技术信息仅显著正向影响农户技术采纳行为;3)从不同经营规模探究发现,对于规模户而言,参与技术推广活动、信任农技推广单位传播的技术信息对其技术采纳行为有显著的正向影响。对于小农户而言,参与村集体选举活动、信任周围邻居和网络电视等大众传媒传播的技术信息对其技术采纳行为有显著的正向影响。因此,在未来技术推广过程中应更加重视社会资本对农户技术采纳决策的影响。     

基于社交平台的老年用户健康信息采纳行为影响因素研究——以微信为例

[目的/意义]基于人口老龄化的社会背景,本文旨在探究社交平台中老年用户健康信息采纳行为的影响因素,为社交平台筛选健康信息,优化老年人群健康信息服务提供借鉴。[方法/过程]采用质性研究方法,选取27位正在使用微信平台获取健康信息的老年用户作为研究对象。采用半结构化访谈就老年用户健康信息采纳行为影响因素获取一手访谈数据。采用主题分析法为主导工具对访谈数据进行分析。[结果/结论]结果表明,个体特征、信息质量、技术支持、生活环境是影响老年用户健康信息采纳的关键因素。基于此,本文最终构建了基于社交平台的老年用户健康信息采纳行为影响因素模型并深入探讨了各类因素与采纳行为之间的作用机理。此外,为促进社交平台发展,提升其健康信息服务能力,本文分别从社交平台开发方以及使用方两个方面提出了相关建议。     

基于灰色理论的我国耕地面积变化及其决定因素的统计研究

基于1985—2008年我国耕地面积及相关社会经济统计数据,运用灰色关联分析、灰色预测方法,剖析影响我国耕地面积变化的经济社会因素,预测我国耕地资源保障能力。结果表明,GDP、第一产业增加值、固定资产投资以及人口总量与我国耕地面积变化关联紧密,其中人口增加和第一产业产值增长是过去20多年来耕地面积变化的第一、二关联因素;2009～2020年我国耕地面积仍呈减少趋势,但基本能保持数量上平衡,维持在18亿亩以上。由此得出结论：控制人口增长和提高农业产值仍然是保护耕地的关键所在;保护耕地任务艰巨,形势严峻,一旦有所松懈,不但红线保不住,耕地面积有可能加速减少,给经济社会、生态环境造成严重影响。     

Social comparison affects reward-related brain activity in the human ventral striatum

Whether social comparison affects individual well-being is of central importance for understanding behavior in any social environment. Traditional economic theories focus on the role of absolute rewards, whereas behavioral evidence suggests that social comparisons influence well-being and decisions. We investigated the impact of social comparisons on reward-related brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). While being scanned in two adjacent MRI scanners, pairs of subjects had to simultaneously perform a simple estimation task that entailed monetary rewards for correct answers. We show that a variation in the comparison subject's payment affects blood oxygenation level-dependent responses in the ventral striatum. Our results provide neurophysiological evidence for the importance of social comparison on reward processing in the human brain.     

Risk within reason

Advances in low-level risk detection threaten to engulf us with information. Regulators typically respond to each newly highlighted risk, whether painstakingly uncovered through scientific investigation or divulged with fanfare by the media, on an ad hoc basis. This response makes it hard to relate disparate risks to the overall risk level and impedes intelligent risk reduction, which must consider the costs and benefits involved. Efficient risk management requires decisions not only about what to regulate and how stringently, but also about the appropriate division of labor among the agents influencing risks. These agents include individuals, whose potential contributions too often are overlooked, corporations, and government.     

建筑节能监管体系中消费者与房地产开发商之间诚信博弈模型

本文考虑由单个占优的零售商和单个供应商组成的二级供应链模型.在价格相依的随机需求下，研究分散系统下的批发价格合同与两部定价合同.在一定的条件下得到两种合同中供应链成员的最优决策和利润以及供应链系统的利润.分析表明，当零售商占优时两部定价合同比批发价格合同更有效.这在一定程度上说明当前零售业中收取通道费的合理性.     

Product differentiation via corporate social responsibility: consumer priorities and the mediating role of food labels

This article examines quantitatively the determinants of purchase decisions based on corporate social responsibility (CSR), adopting a hierarchical conceptual model of decision making where the key factors are personal concern, information availability and financial considerations. We use best–worst methods to assess consumer priorities (personal concern) for CSR activities in milk production; and elicit consumer interpretation of four labels (organic, Validus, Colorado Proud and rBST free) in terms of CSR and other outcomes (information availability). We then elicit willingness to pay (WTP) for the labels (financial considerations), and estimate regression models to determine how predictive each label perceptual profile is of WTP for milk. Animal welfare and sustainable agricultural practices are the most important activities, and milk labels do convey CSR-related messages. With the exception of the pair animal welfare-Validus, the link between CSR messages and WTP is tenuous. The discussion emphasizes the central role of each label’s perceptual profile in triggering product differentiation among consumers.     

Communicating food safety: Ethical issues in risk communication

This paper discusses two paradigms of risk communication that guide strategies for communicating food safety issues. Built on the principles of social utility and paternalism, the first paradigm heavily relies on science and technical experts to determine food safety regulations and policies. Risk communication, in this context, is a unidirectional process by which experts from the industry or government regulatory agencies inform or alert potentially affected publics about the hazards they face and the protective actions they can take. However, public trust and confidence in government and industry have considerably declined. Experts are being questioned about the objectivity of their assessments of risks. Policy makers are being challenged on such risk management decisions as tolerance guidelines, food labeling laws, and emergency warning systems. Concomitantly, some segments of the public, especially consumer advocates and environmental groups, are demanding increased input into the decision making process as they call for the recognition of lay perceptions and interpretations of risk as a legitimate counterpart to technically-assessed risk. Hence, instead of the linear, persuasion-oriented communication process, there are evolving efforts to shape risk communication into a more dialogical, interactive, and democratic exchange of information among different stakeholders (i.e., technical experts, government policy makers, industry, interest groups, and the general public). Reflecting a more Jeffersonian approach, this second paradigm argues that decisions about food safety are so complex and multi-dimensional that they must not be left to experts alone. However, both paradigms present ethical dilemmas. Determining the risks and relative safety of foods is not a totally objective and concise process. Since it involves social, economic, political, and personal values, how can the public not be involved in the exchange of ideas and information concerning food risks and safety? On the other hand, can we afford to let public opinion govern decisions pertaining to food risks and safety without consideration for the merits of scientific risk assessment? This paper raises questions regarding some assumptions of these two risk communication paradigms, and explores and discusses some of the salient ethical questions inherent in each framework.     

谈院校图书馆与大学生就业信息服务

大学生就业困难已成为我国的社会问题之一。院校图书馆是学术性服务机构，宜充分发挥自身的信息设施和信息资源优势，与院校有关职能部门配合，以恰当的方式为在校大学生提供就业信息服务。     

土地流转中各相关利益主体的博弈分析

为了研究如何在土地流转中扩大农户的收益分配权利,该文通过分析流转中的各相关利益主体的利益博弈,运用成本收益和利益矛盾的分析方法,得出了农户收益权受损主要在于再就业收益的不稳定、市场信息的不对称、农村社会保障体系的不健全、土地的产权不明晰和基层组织的职责不明确几个方面。因此,若想提高农户的收益权利,增强农户在土地流转各方博弈中的话语权,就必须增加劳动力转移培训和就业技能培训、建立健全信息交流平台和土地流转市场、完善农村社会保障体系、加快实施土地确权登记和明确基层组织职责权限。     

Nuclear waste: increasing scale and sociopolitical impacts

The article argues that insufficient attention has been paid to the operational aspects of the U.S. radioactive waste management system when it grows to the scale necessary to handle wastes produced by a fully deployed plutonium economy. Without such information, many of the unsettling speculations which have become part of the public debate and are summarized herein cannot be clearly addressed. The article then outlines the types of information necessary to begin estimating the costs and consequences of radioactive waste management. Finally, an index of social exposure to radioactive hazard is proposed to improve the basis for policy decisions in this area.     

Science and law. When should judges admit or compel genetic tests?

During the past two decades, the use of DNA tests has revolutionized court proceedings in criminal and paternity cases. On the horizon is a new challenge for judges--whether to admit or compel genetic tests to confirm or predict genetic diseases and conditions in many more judicial contexts, e.g., decisions regarding culpability, sentencing, liability, causation, and damages. This Policy Forum reports on an empirical study of how judges would analyze these issues. The authors discuss the challenges these types of cases will bring to the court-room and suggest a series of questions that judges should consider in evaluating the need for genetic information in legal cases.     

Voluntarism as an investment in human,social and financial capital: evidence from a farmer-to-farmer extension program in Kenya

A decline in public sector extension services in developing countries has led to an increasing emphasis on alternative extension approaches that are participatory, demand-driven, client-oriented, and farmer centered. One such approach is the volunteer farmer-trainer (VFT) approach, a form of farmer-to-farmer extension where VFTs host demonstration plots and share information on improved agricultural practices within their community. VFTs are trained by extension staff and they in turn train other farmers. A study was conducted to understand the rationale behind the decisions of smallholder farmers to volunteer their time and resources to train other farmers without pay and to continue volunteering. Data were gathered through focus group discussions and individual interviews involving 99 VFTs. Findings of the study showed that VFTs were motivated by a combination of personal and community interests that were influenced by religious beliefs, cultural norms, and social and economic incentives. Altruism, gaining knowledge and skills, and social benefits were the most frequently mentioned motivating factors for becoming VFTs.3 years after starting, the income earned from selling associated inputs and services was also a main motivating factor. There were no significant differences between motivating factors for men and women VFTs. The findings point to the fact that VFTs work effectively without being paid, but investments in human, social, and financial capital are crucial to keeping them motivated. These factors are key to ensuring the sustainability of farmer-to-farmer extension programs beyond the projects’ lifespan.     

Uninformed individuals promote democratic consensus in animal groups

Conflicting interests among group members are common when making collective decisions, yet failure to achieve consensus can be costly. Under these circumstances individuals may be susceptible to manipulation by a strongly opinionated, or extremist, minority. It has previously been argued, for humans and animals, that social groups containing individuals who are uninformed, or exhibit weak preferences, are particularly vulnerable to such manipulative agents. Here, we use theory and experiment to demonstrate that, for a wide range of conditions, a strongly opinionated minority can dictate group choice, but the presence of uninformed individuals spontaneously inhibits this process, returning control to the numerical majority. Our results emphasize the role of uninformed individuals in achieving democratic consensus amid internal group conflict and informational constraints.