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The dynamics of higher-order novelties
Full text linkStudying how we explore the world in search of novelties is key to understand the mechanisms that can lead to new discoveries. Previous studies analyzed novelties in various exploration processes, defining them as the first appearance of an element. However, novelties can also be generated by combining what is already known. We hence define higher-order novelties as the first time two or more elements appear together, and we introduce higher-order Heaps’ exponents as a way to characterize their pace of discovery. Through extensive analysis of real-world data, we find that processes with the same pace of discovery, as measured by the standard Heaps’ exponent, can instead differ at higher orders. We then propose to model an exploration process as a random walk on a network in which the possible connections between elements evolve in time. The model reproduces the empirical properties of higher-order novelties, revealing how the network we explore changes over time along with the exploration process
"The rewarding mystery of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye"
Full text linkAn article on a single painting, entitled 'Man Science', by the British artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. It explores my changing understanding of her famously mysterious work over the past twelve years, since I first encountered it
A Simplified Fish School Search Algorithm for Continuous Single Objective Optimisation
Full text linkThe Fish School Search (FSS) algorithm is a metaheuristic known for its distinctive exploration and exploitation operators and cumulative success representation approach. Despite its success across various problem domains, FSS presents issues due to its high number of parameters, making its performance susceptible to improper parameterisation. Additionally, the interplay between its operators requires a sequential execution in a specific order, requiring two fitness evaluations per iteration for each individual. This operator's intricacy and the number of fitness evaluations pose the issue of costly fitness functions and inhibit parallelisation. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a Simplified Fish School Search (SFSS) algorithm that preserves the core features of the original FSS while redesigning the fish movement operators and introducing a new turbulence mechanism to enhance population diversity and robustness against stagnation. The SFSS also reduces the number of fitness evaluations per iteration and minimises the algorithm's parameter set. Computational experiments were conducted using a benchmark suite from the CEC 2017 competition to compare the SFSS with the traditional FSS and five other well-known metaheuristics. The SFSS outperformed the FSS in 84\% of the problems, and achieved the best results among all algorithms in 10 of the 26 problems
Categorical color perception shown in a cross-lingual comparison of visual search
Full text linkCategorical perception (CP) for colors entails that hues within a category look more similar than would be predicted by their perceptual distance. We examined color CP in both a UK and a remote population (Himba) for newly acquired and long-established color terms. Previously, the Himba language used the same color term for blue and green but now they have labels that match the English terms. However, they still have no color terms for the purple areas of color space. Hence, we were able to investigate a color category boundary that exists in the Himba language but not in English as well as a boundary that is the same for both. CP was demonstrated for both populations in a visual search task for one different hue among 12 otherwise similar hues; a task that eliminated concerns of label matching. CP was found at the color-category boundaries that are specific to each language. Alternative explanations of our data are discussed and, in particular, that it is the task-dependent use of categorical rather than non-categorical (perceptual) color networks which produces CP. It is suggested that categorical networks for colors are bilaterally represented and are the default choice in a suprathreshold similarity judgment
"Why is the Right Obsessed with Epic Poetry?"
Full text linkAn article on three promninent members of the American right-wing political sphere - Elon Musk, Jordan Peterson, and Peter Thiel - exploring their various allusions to epic literature and arguing that these are the bearers of an ambitious new political vision for the United States
Unlocking the potential: leveraging blockchain technology for agri-food supply chain performance and sustainability
Full text linkBlockchain technology (BCT) has emerged as a powerful tool for enhancing transparency and trust. However, the relationship between the benefits of BCT and agri-food supply chain performance (AFSCperf) remains underexplored. Therefore, the current study investigates the influence of BCT on AFSCperf and sustainability issues.
Through a comprehensive literature review, various benefits of BCT are identified. Subsequently, a research framework is proposed based on data collected from questionnaire surveys and personal visits to professionals in the agri-food industry. The proposed framework is validated using partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).
The findings reveal that BCT positively impacts AFSCperf by improving traceability, transparency, food safety and quality, immutability and trust. Additionally, BCT adoption enhances stakeholder collaboration, provides a decentralised network, improves data accessibility and yields a better return on investment, resulting in the overall improvement in AFSCperf and socio-economic sustainability.
This study offers valuable practical insights for practitioners and academicians, establishing empirical links between the benefits of BCT and AFSCperf and providing a deeper understanding of BCT adoption.
Stakeholders, managers, policymakers and technology providers can leverage these findings to optimise the benefits of BCT in enhancing AFSCperf. Moreover, it utilises rigorous theoretical and empirical approaches, drawing on a multidisciplinary perspective encompassing food operations and supply chain literature, public policy, information technology, strategy, organisational theory and sustainability
Disaggregating Time-Series with Many Indicators: An Overview of the DisaggregateTS Package
Full text linkLow-frequency time-series (e.g., quarterly data) are often treated as benchmarks for interpolating to higher frequencies, since they generally exhibit greater precision and accuracy in contrast to their high-frequency counterparts (e.g., monthly data) reported by governmental bodies. An array of regression-based methods have been proposed in the literature which aim to estimate a target high-frequency series using higher frequency indicators. However, in the era of big data and with the prevalence of large volumes of administrative data-sources there is a need to extend traditional methods to work in high-dimensional settings, i.e., where the number of indicators is similar or larger than the number of low-frequency samples. The package DisaggregateTS includes both classical regressions-based disaggregation methods alongside recent extensions to high-dimensional settings. This paper provides guidance on how to implement these methods via the package in R, and demonstrates their use in an application to disaggregating CO2 emissions
Thresholds for ‘Byzantinism’ in Architecture Newman University Church, Dublin, and Early English Architectural Histories
Full text linkJohn Henry Newman was installed as rector of the first Catholic university in the British Isles in 1854. The university church that he built in Dublin (1855–6) physically embodied the concept behind the unprecedented university – the provision of an learned Catholic alternative to post-Enlightenment secularism and Protestant hegemony – through a style-based analogy to the Early Church. The Early Christian style of the basilica drew upon features of Roman and ‘Byzantine’ design, and it raises interesting questions concerning how we define ‘Byzantinisms’ in architecture, particularly in regions with no sense of historical identification with the Eastern Roman Empire. The church, designed by John Hungerford Pollen, constitutes one of the first iterations of Byzantine revival architecture in the British Isles and it is situated here in the context of early architectural histories in English and Pollen’s writings to demonstrate that a more nuanced engagement with Byzantine architecture, understood as an evolution of Roman architecture, existed which troubles our neatly homogenized histories of Byzantine reception. The church evidences a meaningful use of what were widely understood as the distinguishing features of the Byzantine style in a basilica, understood by its architect as the form that provided continuity between Roman and Byzantine design. I argue here for the importance of features such as the convex leaf-cut capital, the stilted arch, polychrome stone cladding and ‘mosaic’ in our understanding of nineteenth-century Byzantine revival architecture beyond rigid insistence upon a Greek cross plan and dome as the threshold at which we pronounce Byzantinism. The church and the histories it responded to provide interesting insights into a positive intellectual engagement with Byzantine architecture in the nineteenth century that did not endorse an overly spiritualising, Orientalist agenda, but which pertained to the understood Roman origin and Early Christian identity of ‘Byzantium’
From theory to practice: lessons from transformative learning through a net-zero design competition
Full text linkThis practical note explores the impact of transformative learning throughan international design competition focused on net-zero housing inSouth Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa. Byfostering interdisciplinary collaboration and hands-on engagement, thecompetition equipped young professionals with practical skills to addressclimate-responsive housing challenges. Participants designed affordable,sustainable homes using renewable energy solutions tailored to middle-income households in a Global South setting, supported by workshops,skill-building sessions, and expert feedback. Survey findings highlightedthe potential for such initiatives to bridge education, policy, and practice,promoting inclusivity and innovation. This work demonstrates thetransformative role of experiential education in advancing sustainabilityconsiderations, addressing affordability, and aligning with the SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs)