•This framework combines engineering knowledge and iterative model falsification.•The structural identification is robust to modeling systematic uncertainties.•The compatibility of several model ...classes is explored by model-class falsification.•The study of a full-scale bridge illustrates the benefits of this framework.
Evaluation of aging infrastructure has been a world-wide concern for decades due to its economic, ecological and societal importance. Existing structures usually have large amounts of unknown reserve capacity that may be evaluated though structural identification in order to avoid unnecessary expenses related to the repair, retrofit and replacement. However, current structural identification techniques that take advantage of measurement data to infer unknown properties of physics-based models fail to provide robust strategies to accommodate systematic errors that are induced by model simplifications and omissions. In addition, behavior diagnosis is an ill-defined task that requires iterative acquisition of knowledge necessary for exploring possible model classes of behaviors. This aspect is also lacking in current structural identification frameworks. This paper proposes a new iterative framework for structural identification of complex aging structures based on model falsification and knowledge-based reasoning. This approach is suitable for ill-defined tasks such as structural identification where information is obtained gradually through data interpretation and in situ inspection. The study of a full-scale existing bridge in Wayne, New Jersey (USA) confirms that this framework is able to support structural identification through combining engineering judgment with on-site measurements and is robust with respect to effects of systematic uncertainties. In addition, it is shown that the iterative structural-identification framework is able to explore the compatibility of several model classes by model-class falsification, thereby helping to provide robust diagnosis and prognosis.
We estimate the impact of pension enrollment on mental well-being using China's New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS), the largest existing pension program in the world. Since its launch in 2009, more than ...400 million Chinese have enrolled in the NRPS. We first describe plausible pathways through which pension may affect mental health. We then use the national sample of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) to examine the effect of pension enrollment on mental health, as measured by CES-D and self-reported depressive symptoms. To overcome the endogeneity of pension enrollment or of income change on mental health, we exploit geographic variation in pension program implementation. Results indicate modest to large reductions in depressive symptoms due to pension enrollment; this effect is more pronounced among individuals eligible to claim pension income, among populations with more financial constraints, and among those with worse baseline mental health. Our findings hold for a rich set of robustness checks and falsification tests.
•We study the causal effect of income on mental health using a pension expansion.•Pension enrollment generates modest to large reductions in depressive symptoms.•The beneficial effect is more pronounced among older adults than younger cohorts.•Stronger effect for the less educated, mentally ill, and with financial constraints.•Offer more income to those mentally ill can be more cost-effective than treatment.
This article presents a scalable approach for identifying system inputs and trajectories that lead to undesirable scenarios in a cyber-physical system (CPS). The proposed approach falls under the ...broad class of falsification methods. The objective in falsification is to find initial conditions and input signals resulting in trajectories that violate a system property expressed as a formal specification. The existing falsification methods are not suitable for handling systems where the input at a specific time depends on the state history of the system. Autonomous vehicle platoons and certain multi-agent systems that are required to maintain connectivity are some examples of such systems. In the first part of this article, we employ a graph-search-based motion planning algorithm to develop a falsification method capable of identifying falsifying inputs for the aforementioned class of systems. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach through a case study involving a vehicle platoon consisting of three autonomous vehicles, wherein one of the vehicles is tasked to execute a lane-change maneuver. In the second part, we extend the proposed approach to analyze a network of three unmanned underwater vehicles, wherein our objective is to identify system inputs resulting in trajectories that lead to a deadlock. The approach leverages the component-based structure inherent in the considered multi-agent system and employs a surrogate model in place of computationally demanding components present in the system. These modifications are shown to improve the scalability of the approach and reduce the computational time in finding falsifying trajectories.
Creative destruction in science Tierney, Warren; Hardy, Jay H.; Ebersole, Charles R. ...
Organizational behavior and human decision processes,
11/2020, Volume:
161
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
•The creative destruction approach combines theory pruning and open science methods.•New measures, conditions, and populations are included in replication designs.•The goal is to make replication ...more generative and engage in theory building.•Recent studies examined work morality, biased reasoning, and gender discrimination.
Drawing on the concept of a gale of creative destruction in a capitalistic economy, we argue that initiatives to assess the robustness of findings in the organizational literature should aim to simultaneously test competing ideas operating in the same theoretical space. In other words, replication efforts should seek not just to support or question the original findings, but also to replace them with revised, stronger theories with greater explanatory power. Achieving this will typically require adding new measures, conditions, and subject populations to research designs, in order to carry out conceptual tests of multiple theories in addition to directly replicating the original findings. To illustrate the value of the creative destruction approach for theory pruning in organizational scholarship, we describe recent replication initiatives re-examining culture and work morality, working parents’ reasoning about day care options, and gender discrimination in hiring decisions.
It is becoming increasingly clear that many, if not most, published research findings across scientific fields are not readily replicable when the same method is repeated. Although extremely valuable, failed replications risk leaving a theoretical void— reducing confidence the original theoretical prediction is true, but not replacing it with positive evidence in favor of an alternative theory. We introduce the creative destruction approach to replication, which combines theory pruning methods from the field of management with emerging best practices from the open science movement, with the aim of making replications as generative as possible. In effect, we advocate for a Replication 2.0 movement in which the goal shifts from checking on the reliability of past findings to actively engaging in competitive theory testing and theory building.
The materials, code, and data for this article are posted publicly on the Open Science Framework, with links provided in the article.
ABSTRACT
We examine whether information technology expertise on audit committees impacts the reliability and timeliness of financial reporting. We find a reduction in the likelihood of material ...restatement, a reduction in the likelihood of information technology-related material weaknesses (which account for 55 percent of all reported material weaknesses), and more timely earnings announcements at firms with audit committee information technology expertise. These findings are robust to controlling for a firm's other information technology attributes, as well as when using entropy balanced samples, and we mitigate endogeneity concerns with evidence that our findings hold in a subsample of firms that all possess overall high-quality information technology. Finally, a difference-in-differences analysis, inclusion of firm fixed effects, and a falsification test largely support our assertion that the quality of financial reporting is significantly improved by the presence of an audit committee information technology expert.
JEL Classifications: M41; M15.
Data Availability: All data used in the study are publicly available.
With the creation of a global computer network, the internet, all manner of information has become available to scientists and everyone else around the world. The exchange of information gives ...scientists insight into the most recent scientific discoveries while enabling them at the same time to use the information for their research. Scientists and experts must be sure that their colleagues' research is valid, objective and the results complete. These scientific research characteristics represent scientific honesty. Scientific misconduct can take various forms and can be present in all phases of the scientific research process, but most commonly takes the form of fabrication, falsification and plagiarism. The reasons for scientific misconduct can be personal, professional and financial. There is also a "grey zone", which consists of data manipulation and selection, reference citing mistakes, multiple and salami publications, problematic authorships. Every type of misconduct has a detrimental effect on the scientific community. In the public eye, scientists are benevolent seekers of truth with high moral integrity, whose work is of key value to society. Any type of scientific misconduct serves to dishonour the scientific community but also brings confusion into the work of other researchers, therefore significantly slowing down scientific discovery in whole. Digitalization and technological advancement significantly contribute to the early discovery, elimination and sanctioning of any kind of research misconduct. A significant improvement in solving these problems can be achieved through adequate education of young researchers and introducing laws that precisely define penalties for breaking the code of good scientific practice.
Epistemology as a branch in philosophy has an important position in science including in Islamic education. This research critically examines the epistemological construction of Islamic education ...through a perspective of falsification which was coined by Karl R. Popper. This research used a qualitative approach to the type of literature study and analyzes data through a productive hermeneutical approach. The conclusion of this research shows that scientific epistemology needs to be designed to understand the theories, concepts, and propositions of the Islamic education system. Scientific epistemology contains the verificative-philosophical logic and intuition-revelation logic (Qur'an and al-Hadith. This epistemology has a rational-critical, empirical, intuitive, and prophetic (illahiyah) dimension and it is called Prophetic Criticism. The implication is that Islamic education will have an integrative view of the profane (physical) and transcendental (metaphysical) side. Islamic education is the logical-superlogical content of subjective-objective thinking, the world of theory-supratheory, and critical argumentation with a rational-intuitive foundation of self and outside self-views.
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