Previous Opponents Research Articles

From “not in my backyard” to “please in my backyard”: Transforming the local responses toward a waste-to-energy incineration project in China

While investing in waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration facilities is conducive to promoting the circular economy and achieving energy transition, the Not-in-My-Backyard (NIMBY) conflict surrounding these projects has become prevalent in recent decades. Against this background, there is a noteworthy and counterintuitive phenomenon where previous opponents evolve into proponents, accepting and even embracing a previously resisted facility. We still know little about why and how this reversal of stance takes place, and this knowledge gap hinders our ability to effectively restore legitimacy and dispel misconceptions of some energy initiatives. To address this issue, we conducted an in-depth case study of the Jiufeng WTE incineration plant in China. Through this analysis, we traced the trajectory of how public opposition gradually dissipated and transformed into the Please-in-My-Backyard (PIMBY) responses. Our findings highlight the crucial role of meaning-making actions in dissipating radical boycott and the significance of providing substantive compensation in fostering a transition from mere acquiescence to active support. These insights will be helpful for project participants and authorities in addressing intractable environmental issues and meeting residents' demands.

Rivalries, Bowl Eligibility, and Scheduling Effects in College Football

This study analyzes how the importance of a game, or characteristics of the previous game, impacts college football games. The results show that rivalry games are harder to predict, and the strength of the previous opponent influences the outcome of the game. If a team’s previous game was close, this negatively influences the team. There is no evidence that the previous game’s location or a team’s bowl eligibility makes any difference. Given that universities control much of their football schedule and that the team’s success influences many aspects of the university, scheduling can impact the university’s finances.

Men's Interest in Allying with a Previous Combatant for Future Group Combat.

Intra- and intergroup conflict are likely to have been recurrent features of human evolutionary history; however, little research has investigated the factors that affect men's combat alliance decisions. The current study investigated whether features of previous one-on-one combat with an opponent affect men's interest in allying with that opponent for future group combat. Fifty-eight undergraduate men recruited from a psychology department subject pool participated in a one-on-one laboratory fight simulation. We manipulated fight outcome (between-subjects), perceived fighter health asymmetry (within-subjects), and the presence of a witness (within-subjects) over six sets of five rounds of fighting. Following each set, we asked men how interested they would be in allying with their opponent for future group combat. We found that men were more interested in allying with their opponent for future group combat if their opponent won the fight or if a witness was present, but perceived fighter-health asymmetry did not affect men's decision to ally with their opponent. Exploratory analyses revealed a two-way interaction between fight outcome and the presence of a witness, such that winners without a witness present expressed less interest in allying with their opponent for future group combat. Our findings suggest that men attend to the benefits of allying with a man who has demonstrated relatively superior fighting ability. Alliance with a previous opponent for group combat may vary with the relationship value of the opponent and the utility of demonstrating cooperativeness to third-party observers. These findings inform our understanding of coalition formation.

Observations on Cooperation

We study environments in which agents are randomly matched to play a Prisoner's Dilemma, and each player observes a few of the partner's past actions against previous opponents. We depart from the existing related literature by allowing a small fraction of the population to be commitment types. The presence of committed agents destabilizes previously proposed mechanisms for sustaining cooperation. We present a novel intuitive combination of strategies that sustains cooperation in various environments. Moreover, we show that under an additional assumption of stationarity, this combination of strategies is essentially the unique mechanism to support full cooperation, and it is robust to various perturbations. Finally, we extend the results to a setup in which agents also observe actions played by past opponents against the current partner, and we characterize which observation structure is optimal for sustaining cooperation.

Stable Observable Behavior

We study environments in which agents are randomly matched to play a Prisoner's Dilemma, and each player observes a few of the partner's past actions against previous opponents. We depart from the existing literature in two key respects: (1) we allow a small fraction of the population to be commitment types, and (2) we do not assume a time zero at which the entire community starts to interact. The presence of committed agents destabilizes all previously proposed mechanisms for sustaining cooperation. We present a novel mechanism (involving an essentially unique strategy combination) that sustains stable cooperation in many environments.

The Scottish Convention of Estates of 1630

Charles I summoned his Scottish estates three times before the Scottish revolution of 1638: in 1625, 1630 and 1633. This article examines the convention of estates of 1630, held one year after Charles had suspended his English parliament. Members of the convention agreed to renew the regular parliamentary taxation (though they refused to vote it for a longer period) and proved surprisingly co-operative over Charles's controversial revocation. However, there was a major explosion of opposition on religious grounds. Two presbyterian petitions attempted to sabotage the enforcement of the five articles of Perth, the crown's flagship liturgical policy; the petitions seemed likely to attract the support of a majority of the estates but were suppressed by high-handed government action. A resolution by the estates against the five articles of Perth might have had a similar effect to the House of Commons' resolutions of 1629 that led to the suspension of the English parliament. The article examines what is known about the dissidents and argues that continuity can be identified both with previous opponents of royal policy (notably in 1621) and with subsequent support for the National Covenant after 1638.

Bridging Troubled Waters: History as Political Opportunity Structure

This article seeks to provide insight into the formulation of non-governmental organization (NGO) and transnational advocacy network (TAN) campaign strategy. We argue that the history of previous campaigns comprises an important aspect of the political opportunity structure faced by NGOs and TANs. We also argue that when formulating campaign strategy, campaigners should not only consider the legacies of previous campaigns, but also how their current strategies could impact on political opportunity structure and thereby influence future campaigns. This article uses the case study of the movement against seal hunting in Atlantic and Northern Canada and considers the potential for collaboration between previous opponents on other environmental issues. We examine the history of the anti-sealing campaigns looking at the various actors involved, and the impact that these campaigns had on these actors and their current relations with one another. The case study demonstrates that the history of previous campaigns matters and that history is a vital component of political opportunity structure.

Dear enemies and nasty neighbors in crayfish: Effects of social status and sex on responses to familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics

Our experiment examined the ability of crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics of equivalent social status, and investigated whether this species displays dear enemy or nasty neighbor effects. Pairs of size and sex matched crayfish fought to establish social status and the resulting dominant and subordinate crayfish then participated in a choice phase in which they interacted with two conspecifics tethered in an arena. Both choice conspecifics had the same social status and sex, but one was familiar (the focal animal's previous opponent) and the other was novel. We found that subordinate focal animals of both sexes spent significantly more time in proximity to the unfamiliar choice animal, behavior inconsistent with the dear enemy and nasty neighbor hypotheses. In contrast, male and female dominant focals differed significantly: females spent more time close to and fighting with the familiar choice animal while male dominants responded equivalently to the two choice animals. Thus the response of crayfish toward familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics was complex and not explained by a single hypothesis. We suggest that, in addition to familiarity and unfamiliarity, the perceived threat-level of opponents influences the behavior of crayfish toward conspecifics.

Space-Time Granger Analysis of the War in Iraq: A Study of Coalition and Insurgent Action-Reaction

We investigate insurgent-coalition interaction using the WikiLeaks dataset of Iraq war logs 2004–2009. After a review of existing theoretical interventions on the dynamics of insurgency and presenting a baseline model of violent events, we test a conceptual model of reciprocity using an innovative space-time Granger causality technique. Our estimation procedure retains predicted probabilities of reaction in response to a previous opponent's action across different temporal and spatial configurations in Iraq and in Baghdad. Our conclusions about conflict in Iraq are based on these profiles of risk—what we call space-time signatures. We find strong evidence of “tit-for-tat” associations between coalition/Iraq forces on one side and insurgents/militants on the other. Specifically, we find that the action-reaction association varies strongly by majority ethnic region across Iraq and in Baghdad, by urban and nonurban location, and within Sunni-dominated areas, by district income. While violence is strongly temporally dependent in the same location, the effect of distance varies significantly across the different subsets of the Iraq data.

Understanding the process of establishing a food and nutrition policy: the case of Slovenia

BackgroundThere has been an increasing effort across Europe to develop national policies in food and nutrition during the last decade. However, little is known about how public health nutrition issues get on the public health agenda and the roles individuals have when these agendas are being set. ObjectivesThe aims of this study were to scrutinise the development process of the Slovenian national food and nutrition policy, and to identify the roles and functions of individuals who have contributed to that process. MethodsThis study undertook a qualitative approach. Data collection included 18 semi-structured interviews between 2007 and 2011, and grey and scientific literature search. Text analysis was based on Kingdon's streams model, which involved highlighting the relationship between problem identification, policy solutions and political opportunities. Data were coded to identify the roles and functions of individuals participating in the agenda-setting process. ResultsThe analysis showed that the opportunity for the Slovenian food and nutrition policy to be developed was largely explained by a change in political circumstances, namely the accession of Slovenia to the European Union and the Common Agricultural Policy. Individuals with experience in policy development were identified because of their analytical, strategic and policy entrepreneurial skills. The analyst was responsible for communicating the key nutrition issues to policy-makers, the strategist joined international networks and promoted policy solutions from international experts including the World Health Organization, and the policy entrepreneur took advantage of the political situation to enlist the participation of previous opponents to a national nutrition policy. ConclusionThis study found that individuals, their roles and skills, played an important role in the development of the Slovenian National Food and Nutrition Policy. The roles and functions of these individuals, which are identified in this study, may assist future endeavours to advance public health nutrition as a key political issue.

Reputation and Cooperation: An Experiment on Prisoner’s Dilemma with Second-Order Information

Motivated by the credit report and e-commerce feedback systems, we study how reputation facilitates cooperation. In a random-matching Prisoners’ Dilemma experiment with information about the opponent’s past actions and her previous opponents’, strong improvement on cooperation is observed. The reputation effect works much better when people have first experienced hardship with vanishing cooperation in no-information PD games, where subjects’ own history and their opponents’ affect their behavior in a complementary manner. As a novel analysis in the literature, we characterize how explicitly both levels of information affect cooperation decisions, in form of individually-derived summary statistics like judging and standing.

Memory of opponents is more potent than visual sign stimuli after social hierarchy has been established

During agonistic interactions between male Anolis carolinensis, perception of a visual sign stimulus (darkened eyespots) not only inhibits aggression and promotes initial attainment of dominant social status, but also evokes distinct neuroendocrine responses in each opponent. This study was designed to examine the effect of eyespot manipulation on behavior and social rank during a second interaction between opponents that had previously established a natural dyadic social hierarchy. Prior to a second interaction, eyespots of familiar size-matched combatants were manipulated to reverse information conveyed by this visual signal. Eyespots on the previously dominant male were masked with green paint to indicate low aggression and social status. Previously subordinate males had their eyespots permanently marked with black paint to convey high aggression and status. Opponents were then re-paired for a second 10 min interaction following either 1 or 3 days of separation. Aggression was generally decreased and social status between pairs remained reasonably consistent. Unlike rapidly activated monoaminergic activity that occurs following the initial pairing, most brain areas sampled were not affected when animals were re-introduced, regardless of visual signal reversal or length of separation between interactions. However in males with “normal” eyespot color, dominant males had reduced serotonergic activity in CA 3 and raphé, while subordinate males exhibited elevated CA 3 dopaminergic activity. Reversing eyespot color also reversed serotonergic activity in raphé and dopaminergic activity in CA 3 after 3 days of separation. The results suggest that males remember previous opponents, and respond appropriately to their previous social rank in spite of eyespot color.

Dynamic Peer Grouping Method Conforming with Tit-for-Tat Strategy for P2P File Distribution Systems

Some major P2P file distribution systems adopt Tit-For-Tat exchange strategy, which means initially cooperate, then respond in kind to a previous opponent's action, i.e. cooperative or not. However, when sharing a file on such P2P systems, the random peer selection has a problem in that each peer cannot download the file enough efficiently. The peer selection method that groups peers according to their rate has been proposed to solve this problem. This method is supposed to be able to alleviate the difference in performance among peers because it lets peers with similar transmitting rate connect to each other. However, when reduction in peer performance or link one occurs, which is often observed on today's Internet, some problems will emerge, such as it takes a long time for the existing method to reconfigure groups; 2) immediate reconstruction of neighbor peers has not been taken into account when peers detect deterioration in downloading performance. Therefore, we propose a method that reconfigures the group of neighbor peers once a peer notices that the performance of connected peers decreases. The proposed method is evaluated through simulation experiments using BitTorrent as an instance of Tit-For-Tat strategy. The download time of all peers and that of the peer with performance deterioration are estimated focusing on the effect of switching a degraded peer to another immediately. As a result, we confirm that our proposal can distribute files among all peers faster than the existing method keeping incentives for users to some extent. We believe that the proposal which can adapt to the sudden network deterioration is one of the most important technologies for evolution of network software.

Finite Memory Distributed Systems

A distributed system model is studied, where individual agents play repeatedly against each other and change their strategies based upon previous play. It is shown how to model this environment in terms of continuous population densities of agent types. A complication arises because the population densities of different strategies depend upon each other not only through game payoffs, but also through the strategy distributions themselves. In spite of this, it is shown that when an agent imitates the strategy of his previous opponent at a sufficiently high rate, the system of equations which governs the dynamical evolution of agent populations can be reduced to one equation for the total population. In a sense, the dynamics 'collapse' to the dynamics of the entire system taken as a whole, which describes the behavior of all types of agents. We explore the implications of this model, and present both analytical and simulation results.

Words, Deeds, and Lies: Strategic Behaviour in Games with Multiple Signals

We report the results of an experiment in which subjects play games against changing opponents. In one treatment, “senders” send “receivers” messages indicating intended actions in that round, and receivers observe senders' previous-round actions (when matched with another receiver). In another treatment, the receiver additionally observes the sender's previous-round message to the previous opponent, enabling him to determine whether the sender had lied. We find that allowing multiple signals leads to better outcomes when signals are aligned (all pointing to the same action), but worse outcomes when signals are crossed. Also, senders' signals tend to be truthful, though the degree of truthfulness depends on the game and treatment, and receivers' behaviour combines elements of pay-off maximization and reciprocity.

The olfactory pathway for individual recognition in the American lobsterHomarus americanus

Individual recognition in the lobster Homarus americanus (Milne-Edwards), is based on detection of urine pheromones via chemoreceptors of the lateral antennular flagellum. The specific sensory pathway mediating this recognition is not known. Most of the chemoreceptor cells of this flagellum are found in the unimodal aesthetasc sensilla and project specifically to the glomeruli of the olfactory lobe in the brain. Additional chemoreceptor cells are located among mechanoreceptor cells in bimodal sensilla, including the guard hairs; they do not project to the olfactory lobe. This neuroanatomy suggested that aesthetascs were essential to all complex chemosensory tasks until it was shown that spiny lobsters Panulirus argus can still perform complex food odor discrimination and localization tasks without aesthetascs. Here, we demonstrate that the aesthetascs of H. americanus contain the chemoreceptors necessary for individual recognition of familiar opponents. In contrast to intact and guard hair-shaved animals, lobsters with aesthetascs removed did not recognize previous opponents as shown by second encounters statistically similar in length and aggression to first-encounter fights. Non-aesthetasc chemosensory pathways were incapable of rescuing opponent recognition. Subsequent lesion of all remaining chemoreceptor cells (by immersion in distilled water) abolished recognition and renewed fighting.

Reconciliation in Captive Chimpanzees: A Reevaluation with Controlled Methods

Affiliative postconflict reunions—reconciliations—of former opponents were first demonstrated in the chimpanzees at the Arnhem Zoo. Since then methods have been considerably refined, and reconciliation has been demonstrated in a large number of primates and also some gregarious nonprimates. This study, conducted with a different captive group, is the first to use the revised methodology with chimpanzees. We analyzed a total of 297 agonistic conflicts with the PC–MC method: we observed focal individuals for 15 min after a conflict and during matched control observations the next day. The mean conciliatory tendency of the 16 chimpanzees was 41%, with a range in different age-sex classes of 58% (among adult females) to 19% (among adult vs. immature males). After conflicts, former opponents were selectively attracted to one another. Preferential contact with previous opponents persisted when activity level during matched controls was controlled for statistically. Opponents that were frequent grooming partners reconciled more frequently, but the frequency of agonistic support had no such effect. Our findings thus confirm the existence of reconciliation in chimpanzees, which show one of the highest conciliatory tendencies among primate species.

The Validity of Evidence-Based Practice in Social Work: A Reply to Stephen Webb

Stephen Webb's article (BJSW 2001 31) sends a warning to the profession to the effect that current levels of enthusiasm for evidence-based approaches among politi cians, social services managers, practitioners, some service-user groups and even a sprinkling of academics, amounts to little more than another manifestation of our collective tendency to jump onto bandwagons. It further suggests that the underlying epistemological assumptions of the campaign and its implications for policy and practice are scientifically naive; are likely to cramp the natural style of staff (perish the thought) and therefore, will lead to more harm than good. This is a summary of the charges from the introduction. A further series of arguments follows under two headings: the first addresses the allegedly flawed and old-fashioned scientific basis of evidence-based approaches from a post-modern standpoint (I suggest the phrase 'post-rational' might be more appropriate). The second, that dangerous subterranean ideologies are at work, influ encing, perhaps unconsciously, those who support this project, particularly myself and Comrade Professor Geraldine Macdonald (University of Bristol). We must put on record at this point that we do not feel remotely sociologically or politically possessed (but then no, we wouldn't, would we?). Stephen Webb is right about one thing though; there have indeed been too few critical pieces about this (allegedly) new development. The majority of previous opponents have simply sniffed the breeze from Whitehall, adjusted their opinions accordingly, and denied their previous (often forcefully expressed) misgivings as a mere semantic misunderstanding. There is nothing wrong with changing one's mind, there should be more of it, as long as the apparent conversion is based on a rigorous reappraisal of the evidence and amounts to a considered decision. I've done it a few times myself (see Macdonald & Sheldon, 1998; Sheldon, 1994) and for these reasons I welcome Stephen Webb's expression of honest doubt, though I think him mistaken on almost all counts. Nevertheless, there is too little debate even of fundamental issues such as this one in our literature. Rather we split into sulky sects and refuse

DB Efforts Help Pass Mississippi Parity Bill

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Government NewsFull AccessDB Efforts Help Pass Mississippi Parity BillChristine LehmannChristine LehmannSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:18 May 2001https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.36.10.0004Mississippi is the 32nd state to enact mental health parity legislation. To ensure the law’s passage, the Mississippi Psychiatric Association (MPA) and its coalition partners worked with key legislators, and Gov. Ronnie Musgrove (D) signed the bill last month.APA President Daniel Borenstein, M.D., said in a press release, “We applaud the Mississippi legislature and Gov. Musgrove for breaking down the barriers for the people of Mississippi from receiving treatment and recovery from mental illness.”APA’s Commission on Public Policy, Litigation, and Advocacy approved funding for MPA’s advocacy efforts last month, subject to approval by the Board of Trustees.APA’s Division of Government Relations held a one-day advocacy training session last year for MPA members and provided resource materials on parity.Sudha Madakasira, M.D.: “We were told by politicians that a parity bill would not pass given the opposition by key legislators.”MPA President Sudha Madakasira, M.D., said in an interview with Psychiatric News, “We were told by politicians that a parity bill would not pass given the opposition by key legislators. We decided not to ask for full parity and met with insurance committee chairs in the House and Senate and the insurance industry. Once we agreed on the provisions, the chairs sponsored the bills and shepherded them through their chambers.”Madakasira estimated that the law, which becomes effective next January, will affect 500,000 individuals in group health insurance plans. The legislation requires employers with more than 100 employees to provide mental health coverage for “clinically significant mental illnesses.” The law doesn’t list or define those illnesses.The mental health coalition also succeeded in not having lifetime caps on mental health benefits included in the bill.Specifically, HB 667 mandates that group health plans provide the following mental health benefits:• A minimum of 30 days of inpatient services annually• A minimum of 60 days of partial hospitalization annually• A minimum of 52 outpatient visits annuallyThe group health plans must cover a minimum of 50 percent of the cost of outpatient visits but are not required to pay more than $50 a visit. Group health plans can opt out of the new requirements if they result in increasing the plans’ costs by more than 1 percent.MPA lobbyist and executive director Angela Ladner told Psychiatric News, “In addition to having a 15-member mental health coalition that included the state psychological, medical, and hospital associations, we had representatives from the state department of health insurance giving us advice.”Ladner said the coalition took the department’s advice to craft a bill based on the mental health benefits in the health insurance plan for state employees. “We decided the state’s benefits were pretty good and that we could argue persuasively that everyone else should have the same benefits as state workers.”Ladner praised Mary Ann Stevens (D), chair of the House Insurance Committee and a previous opponent of parity, with meeting with the mental health coalition and agreeing to sponsor the bill.“Once we had the insurance industry on board, she did everything in her power to ensure the passage of this legislation.”Ladner credited Senators Billy Thems (D) and Robert Huggins (R), as well as Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck (D), who presides over the Senate, with pushing the bill through the Senate.Madakasira added that the law is a good first step toward full parity and that the mental health coalition plans to work toward having its provisions expanded. ▪ ISSUES NewArchived

Social Inertia and Hormonal Control of Aggression and Dominance in White-Throated Sparrows

Abstract To investigate the effects of familiarity with opponents on the activation of aggression and dominance by testosterone (T) in white-throated sparrows Zonotrichia albicollis, we studied birds in groups of five or six in outdoor aviaries and in a free-living population. Experiments were conducted between January and April, when plasma levels of endogenous gonadal hormones were low. Previously published experiments (ARCHAWARANON & WILEY, 1988) showed that when subjects were given subcutaneous implants of T, held individually in cages for one week, and then grouped with unfamiliar opponents, they established dominance over controls with empty implants. In contracts, the present study showed that low-ranking birds given subcutaneous implants of T and returned to their original groups and aviaries did not change in dominance rank nor in aggression scores over a period of two weeks. When these birds were regrouped with unfamiliar opponents in new aviaries, their dominance ranks and aggression scores increased. This rise in dominance rankings and aggression scores did not result from any effects of regrouping in the absence of hormonal treatments. The sexes did not differ in their responses to these treatments. In the field, T implants markedly increased some individuals' frequencies of aggression but had little or no effect on dominance relationships. The absence of behavioral changes in stable groupings after hormonal treatment, called social inertia, indicates that birds recognize the relative dominance of previous opponents, at least when encountered in familiar locations. Results from the field experiment thus suggest that white-throated sparrows can recognize at least 20 opponents. Hormonal state has more influence on dominance relationships of strangers than on those of opponents familiar with each other in familiar locations.