More Thoughts About Anger Determinants.

Replies to comments (see record 2004-15096-002, 2004-15096-003, 2004-15096-004, and 2004-15096-005) made about the current authors' article on anger (see record 2004-15096-001). The authors propose that (a) although strong negative affect can evoke anger without appraisals, appraisals after the initial reactions conceivably might influence the later emotional experience independently of the felt displeasure; (b) maintaining that particular stimuli can automatically elicit anger does not imply that anger will be dominant; and (c) anger is frequently blended with other negative emotions such as fear. A particular stimulus' context can affect this stimulus' meaning and thus determine its effect, but if the stimulus' meaning is held constant, the stimulus will evoke the response to which it is connected. Carefully controlled experiments are required to resolve the issues raised. The theories advanced should offer testable postulates rather than untestable assertions of what processes supposedly were operating. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perception of Financial Institutions toward Financing PFI Projects in Hong Kong

Private finance initiative (PFI) has emerged to be a viable strategy for governments to transfer financial risks in public projects to the private sector. It does not only help tap the efficiency and finances of the private sector but it also promises to deliver better public services to the community. Despite these obvious incentives, there is still a low PFI diffusion in Hong Kong. Based on this understanding, we have undertaken this exploratory study, which is probably the first of its kind, to investigate the PFI’s financial issues from the perspective of financial suppliers. This study was intended to identify factors that may affect the perception of the supplier side and to explore ways to facilitate their participation in PFI projects. The findings suggest that respondents had low level of understanding and knowledge of the PFI and they perceived that PFI public projects had an average risk and performance. To increase their involvement, several enablers are provided in this paper.     

What does it mean to be angry at yourself? Categories, appraisals, and the problem of language.

According to appraisal theorists, anger involves a negative event, usually blocking a goal, caused by another person. Critics argue that other-agency is unnecessary, since people can be angry at themselves, and thus that appraisal theory is wrong about anger. In two studies, we compared anger, self-anger, shame, and guilt, and found that self-anger shared some appraisals, action tendencies, and associated emotions with anger, others with shame and guilt. Self-anger was not simply anger with a different agency appraisal. Anger, shame, and guilt almost always involved other people, but almost half of the occurrences of self-anger were solitary. We discuss the incompatibility of appraisal theories with any strict categorical view of emotions, and the inadequacy of emotion words to capture emotional experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On minimum length scale control in density based topology optimization

The archetypical topology optimization problem concerns designing the layout of material within a given region of space so that some performance measure is extremized. To improve manufacturability and reduce manufacturing costs, restrictions on the possible layouts may be imposed. Among such restrictions, constraining the minimum length scales of different regions of the design has a significant place. Within the density filter based topology optimization framework the most commonly used definition is that a region has a minimum length scale not less than D if any point within that region lies within a sphere with diameter D >?0 that is completely contained in the region. In this paper, we propose a variant of this minimum length scale definition for subsets of a convex (possibly bounded) domain. We show that sets with positive minimum length scale are characterized as being morphologically open. As a corollary, we find that sets where both the interior and the exterior have positive minimum length scales are characterized as being simultaneously morphologically open and (essentially) morphologically closed. For binary designs in the discretized setting, the latter translates to that the opening of the design should equal the closing of the design. To demonstrate the capability of the developed theory, we devise a method that heuristically promotes designs that are binary and have positive minimum length scales (possibly measured in different norms) on both phases for minimum compliance problems. The obtained designs are almost binary and possess minimum length scales on both phases.     

Near-optimal control for stochastic recursive problems

It is well documented (e.g. Zhou (1998) [8]) that the near-optimal controls, as the alternative to the “exact” optimal controls, are of great importance for both the theoretical analysis and practical application purposes due to its nice structure and broad-range availability, feasibility as well as flexibility. However, the study of near-optimality on the stochastic recursive problems, to the best of our knowledge, is a totally unexplored area. Thus we aim to fill this gap in this paper. As the theoretical result, a necessary condition as well as a sufficient condition of near-optimality for stochastic recursive problems is derived by using Ekeland’s principle. Moreover, we work out an ε-optimal control example to shed light on the application of the theoretical result. Our work develops that of [8] but in a rather different backward stochastic differential equation (BSDE) context.     

Symbols and the bifurcation between procedural and conceptual thinking

Abstract:

Symbols occupy a pivotal position between processes to be carried out and concepts to be thought about. They allow us both to do mathematical problems and to think about mathematical relationships. In this article we consider the discontinuities that occur in the learning path taken by different students, leading to a divergence between conceptual and procedural thinking. Evidence will be given from several different contexts in the development of symbols through arithmetic, algebra, and calculus, then on to the formalism of axiomatic mathematics. This evidence is taken from a number of research studies recently conducted for doctoral dissertations at the University of Warwick by students from the United States, Malaysia, Cyprus, and Brazil, with data collected in the United States, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom. All the studies form part of a broad investigation into why some students succeed, while others fail.     

Topological properties of folded hyper-star networks

In practice it is important to construct node-disjoint paths in networks, because they can be used to increase the transmission rate and enhance the transmission reliability. The folded hyper-star networks FHS(2n,n) were introduced to be a competitive model to both hypercubes and star graphs. They are bipartite and node-symmetric, though not edge-symmetric, and have diameter n. In this paper we construct a maximum number of node-disjoint paths between every two distinct nodes of FHS(2n,n) and show that its fault diameter is n+2 for n≥4. We also suggest a one-to-all broadcasting algorithm of FHS(2n,n) under the all-port model.     

Planetary Rover Developments Supporting Mars Exploration, Sample Return and Future Human-Robotic Colonization

We overview our recent research on planetary mobility. Products of this effort include the Field Integrated Design & Operations rover (FIDO), Sample Return Rover (SRR), reconfigurable rover units that function as an All Terrain Explorer (ATE), and a multi-Robot Work Crew of closely cooperating rovers (RWC). FIDO rover is an advanced technology prototype; its design and field testing support NASA's development of long range, in situ Mars surface science missions. Complementing this, SRR implements autonomous visual recognition, navigation, rendezvous, and manipulation functions enabling small object pick-up, handling, and precision terminal docking to a Mars ascent vehicle for future Mars Sample Return. ATE implements on-board reconfiguration of rover geometry and control for adaptive response to adverse and changing terrain, e.g., traversal of steep, sandy slopes. RWC implements coordinated control of two rovers under closed loop kinematics and force constraints, e.g., transport of large payloads, as would occur in robotic colonies at future Mars outposts. RWC is based in a new extensible architecture for decentralized control of, and collective state estimation by multiple heterogeneous robotic platforms—CAMPOUT; we overview the key architectural features. We have conducted experiments with all these new rover system concepts over variable natural terrain. For each of the above developments, we summarize our approach, some of our key experimental results to date, and our future directions of planned development.     

Matching preclusion and conditional matching preclusion for pancake and burnt pancake graphs

The matching preclusion number of a graph with an even number of vertices is the minimum number of edges whose deletion destroys all perfect matchings in the graph. The optimal matching preclusion sets are often precisely those which are induced by a single vertex of minimum degree. To look for obstruction sets beyond these, the conditional matching preclusion number was introduced, which is defined similarly with the additional restriction that the resulting graph has no isolated vertices. In this paper we find the matching preclusion and conditional matching preclusion numbers and classify all optimal sets for the pancake graphs and burnt pancake graphs.