The Problem of the Unity of Knowledge in Comte's Philosophy of Science*

Comte's philosophy of science is re-examined from the point of view of the rationalist problematic of the unity of knowledge. It is argued that Comte's attempt to answer this metaphysical problem is the single most important factor determining the final form of his system of positive philosophy, his hierarchy of the sciences, his conception of sociology, and ultimately his positive religion of Humanity. After rejecting the main solutions offered by modern rationalism, Comte provides a subjective unity for the sciences by establishing Humanity as the principle of organization for all knowledge. The article describes the various components of the positive synthesis, their background in the history of ideas, and the contemporary relevance of the problem of unity for logical empiricism and Husserl. Some have said that need for unity expresses the identity of the self; others, that it stands for economy of thought. Possibly, but this is interpretation, psychologically or sociologically tinged. The need for unity is a historical fact and, as such, unresolved. It is also a symbol of science, and its myth. Science is a finely defined and articulated system of symbols; but the ultimate symbol, that of unity, can have no referent. Rather one might say it stands for the totality of the knowable and the unknowable. A confusing situation for the scientific mind, but one it cannot escape. For the conflict at the heart of rationalism is the source of its strength, as long as it lasts. Once the faith is lost, something else has to be found. Under the relentless pressure of social change, with the growing operationalism of physical theory and the metaphysical devastations attendant on Darwinism, the myth of unity could no longer hold. It had to be replaced by unification. But with that the status of science is changed and also that of the scientist. The mirror of nature that reason had endeavored to build up through the ages is shattered, and we look for the first time straight out into an unknown world.     

Response and predictor folding to counter symmetric dependency in dimension reduction

In the regression setting, dimension reduction allows for complicated regression structures to be detected via visualisation in a low‐dimensional framework. However, some popular dimension reduction methodologies fail to achieve this aim when faced with a problem often referred to as symmetric dependency. In this paper we show how vastly superior results can be achieved when carrying out response and predictor transformations for methods such as least squares and sliced inverse regression. These transformations are simple to implement and utilise estimates from other dimension reduction methods that are not faced with the symmetric dependency problem. We highlight the effectiveness of our approach via simulation and an example. Furthermore, we show that ordinary least squares can effectively detect multiple dimension reduction directions. Methods robust to extreme response values are also considered.     

DETECTING INFLUENTIAL OBSERVATIONS IN SLICED INVERSE REGRESSION ANALYSIS

The detection of influential observations on the estimation of the dimension reduction subspace returned by Sliced Inverse Regression (SIR) is considered. Although there are many measures to detect influential observations in related methods such as multiple linear regression, there has been little development in this area with respect to dimension reduction. One particular influence measure for a version of SIR is examined and it is shown, via simulation and example, how this may be used to detect influential observations in practice.     

Patterns of Crime and Drug Use Trajectories in Relation to Treatment Initiation and 5-Year Outcomes: An Application of Growth Mixture Modeling Across Three Datasets

Drug abusers vary considerably in their drug use and criminal behavior over time, and these trajectories are likely to influence drug treatment participation and treatment outcomes. Drawing on longitudinal natural history data from three samples of adult male drug users, we identify four groups with distinctive drug use and crime trajectories over the 5 years prior to their first treatment episode. The groups' characteristics of initial treatment are compared. The trajectory groups are then included in Poisson growth curve models to predict drug use, incarceration, and employment over the 5 years following first treatment. Findings indicate that posttreatment drug use decreased and posttreatment employment increased. There was little change in posttreatment incarceration. Posttreatment trajectories for drug use, incarceration, and employment were significantly different across the four trajectory groups.     

New Zealand’s engagement with the Five Ways to Wellbeing: evidence from a large cross-sectional survey

ABSTRACT

The Five Ways to Wellbeing were developed in 2008 as a set of simple daily practices for individuals to improve their wellbeing. While there is some evidence to support the association between individual practices and wellbeing, it is unknown whether engaging in multiple practices – and in certain combinations – is associated with higher levels of wellbeing. A survey was undertaken with 10,012 adults throughout Aotearoa, New Zealand, to assess individual wellbeing and participation in the Five Ways to Wellbeing (Connect, Give, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Be Active). Wellbeing was assessed with the Flourishing Scale (Md?=?46, IQR 39–49). Three objectives explored the cross-sectional association between the Five ways to Wellbeing and wellbeing: (1) multiple wellbeing practices and wellbeing, (2) clustering of multiple wellbeing practices, and (3) wellbeing practices as predictors of wellbeing. Results show that levels of wellbeing increased with each additional practice (rho?=?.53, p?<?.001), regardless of the combination. However, the most important predictors of wellbeing were Keep Learning (β?=?.23, p?<?.001) and Take Notice (β?=?.22, p?<?.001). Studies investigating ways to increase participation in the Five Ways to Wellbeing are warranted to promote wellbeing in Aotearoa.     

为会员交流提供国际化平台

截至2010年底，美国电气电子工程师学会（IEEE）会员人数超过40万，这是学会会员人数有史以来第一次突破40万，也是学会连续第七年实现会员人数增长。之所以能够吸收这么多会员，是因为学会为会员提供了极具价值的服务——为会员的交流提供了国际化的平台，学会的价值也在于此。     

Plant-pollinator networks in Australian urban bushland remnants are not structurally equivalent to those in residential gardens

Urbanisation is a prominent and increasing form of land-use change, with the potential to disrupt the interactions between pollinators such as bees and the flowering plants that they visit. This in turn may cause cascading local extinctions and have consequences for pollination services. Network approaches go beyond simple metrics of abundance and species richness, enabling understanding of how the structure of plant-pollinator communities are affected by urbanisation. Here we compared pollination networks between native vegetation (bushland) remnants and residential gardens in the urbanised region of the southwest Australian biodiversity hotspot. Across fourteen sites, seven per habitat, plant-bee visitor networks were created from surveys conducted monthly during the spring-summer period over two years. Extinction slope (a measure of how extinctions cascade through the network), and network robustness and nestedness were higher for bushland remnants, suggesting that networks in bushland remnants had greater functional integrity, but if disrupted, more cascading extinctions could occur. In contrast, niche overlap between pollinators was higher in residential gardens, suggesting greater competition for resources. Most species-level properties did not differ between habitats, except for normalised degree, which was higher in bushland remnants. In conclusion, it appears that pollination networks in managed residential gardens are not structurally equivalent with those in bushland remnants. This has implications for conservation of wild bee assemblages in this biodiversity hotspot, and suggests removal of remnant native vegetation for residential development could disrupt the integrity of plant-pollinator assemblages.