Search

Nearly three decades ago, Gramling and Freudenburg (1996) urged that greater attention be given to middle‐range efforts in environmental sociology. In this article, I will argue that since Gramling and Freudenburg offered their advice, there has been a critical mass of work in environmental sociology undertaken from the perspective of middle‐range theory, but this has been undervalued in our never‐ending odyssey in search for grand theory. To illustrate this, I review sociological enquiry into risk and risk communication. To make a case of my own for a middle‐range sociology appropriate to the second quartile of the 21st century, I advocate the development of a "sociology of environmental morality" (see Farrell, 2015; Hannigan forthcoming, 2024; Stock, 2020) to be pursued via a middle‐range perspective. I conclude by outlining two strategies for pursuing a middle‐range sociology of environmental morality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the employment migration behavior of non‐White ethnic minority graduates in the United Kingdom for the 2018/2019 graduation cohort, which is the last cohort to enter the labor market before the COVID‐19 pandemic. Using data from the new Graduate Outcomes survey and controlling for a rich set of background characteristics, the findings indicate that ethnic minority graduates are more likely than their White counterparts to find work in ethnically diverse areas of the United Kingdom after leaving higher education. An identity utility framework is then formalized that combines identity economics with traditional approaches of human capital theory and job search theory. A test of an ethnic identity‐based hypothesis reveals that Asian, Black, and Mixed‐background graduates are comparatively more likely to migrate to areas with higher ethnic diversity levels, rather than less diverse areas. In addition to traditional explanations based on human capital theory and job search theory, this paper argues that these patterns are best explained by ethnic identity norms, which introduce a preference for working in ethnically diverse places. However, the results should be interpreted with some caution because of concerns related to heterogeneity within the ethnic group classifications used in the paper and possible omitted and unobserved variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early 1940s, P. A. Smith showed that if a finite p-group G acts on a finite dimensional complex X that is mod p acyclic, then its space of fixed points, XG, will also be mod p acyclic. In their recent study of the Balmer spectrum of equivariant stable homotopy theory, Balmer and Sanders were led to study a question that can be shown to be equivalent to the following: if a G-space X is a equivariant homotopy retract of the p-localization of a based finite G-C.W. complex, given H < G and n, what is the smallest r such that if XH is acyclic in the (n+r)th Morava K-theory, then XG must be acyclic in the nth Morava K-theory? Barthel et. al. then answered this when G is abelian, by finding general lower and upper bounds for these "blue shift" numbers which agree in the abelian case. In our paper, we first prove that these potential chromatic versions of Smith's theorem are equiv- alent to chromatic versions of a 1952 theorem of E. E. Floyd, which replaces acyclicity by bounds on dimensions of mod p homology, and thus applies to all finite dimensional G-spaces. This unlocks new techniques and applications in chromatic fixed point theory. Applied to the problem of understanding blue shift numbers, we are able to use classic constructions and representation theory to search for lower bounds. We give a simple new proof of the known lower bound theorem, and then get the first results about nonabelian 2-groups that do not follow from previously known results. In particular, we are able to determine all blue shift numbers for extraspecial 2-groups. Applied in ways analogous to Smith's original applications, we prove new fixed point theorems for K(n)*-homology disks and spheres. Finally, our methods offer a new way of using equivariant results to show the collapsing of certain Atiyah-Hirzebruch spectral sequences in certain cases. Our criterion appears to apply to the calculation of all 2-primary Morava K-theories of all real Grassmanians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficient use of the production-inventory control system is of great importance in the industry. In this paper, an investigation study of the impact of an optimal Integral minus Proportional Derivative (I-PD) controller on the dynamic behavior of the production-inventory system is given. The differential equations of the system are first formulated. Then, the I-PD controller is proposed to enhance the responsiveness of the inventory performance. Two swarm optimization techniques, Cuckoo Search Optimization (CSO) and an Improved CSO (ICSO), are employed to tune the adjustable design parameters of the I-PD controller. In order to represent a realistic environment, two simulations are conducted. The first one is when the system is subject to a unit step change in the demand and second is when the demand is randomly. In a comparative performance study for both tuning schemes, the Integral of Time Absolute Error (ITAE) and the Integral of Square Error (ISE) indices were used as evaluation measures. The simulation outcomes using MATLAB show the superiority of the ICSO to tune the I-PD controller in terms of reducing the ITAE and ISE indices in comparison with the result obtained from traditional CSO. The result of this improvement indicates that the I-PD controller tuned by ICSO looks likely to better in terms of improving the performance of the system, particularly, by significantly reducing the inventory cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coordinated search method for a one-dimensional Brownian particle in the fluid is investigated in this paper. This technique helps to remove pollutants and impurities from the fluid. To locate a Brownian particle that moves along one of n disjoint real lines, we have 2n cooperative nano-sensors coordinate their efforts such that each line contains two of them. All of these nano-sensors begin their searches at the origin. Because of random travelled distances right and left of the origin, we have a random sequence of distances on each line. Due to this uncertainty, we are able to integrate the discounted effort-reward search as a parameter in the distance function. By doing this, the expected value of the first meeting time between one of the nano-sensors and a Brownian particle will be reduced. We determine the approximate value of this expected value in addition to identifying the conditions under which it is finite. We use an example to illustrate the usefulness and application of this model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In multi‐agent search planning for a randomly moving and camouflaging target, we examine heterogeneous searchers that differ in terms of their endurance level, travel speed, and detection ability. This leads to a convex mixed‐integer nonlinear program, which we reformulate using three linearization techniques. We develop preprocessing steps, outer approximations via lazy constraints, and bundle‐based cutting plane methods to address large‐scale instances. Further specializations emerge when the target moves according to a Markov chain. We carry out an extensive numerical study to show the computational efficiency of our methods and to derive insights regarding which approach should be favored for which type of problem instance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The measurements of the total cross section of the e + e − ⟶ γ γ γ reaction from the VENUS, TOPAS, OPAL, DELPHI, ALEPH, and L3 collaborations, collected between 1989 and 2003, are used to perform a χ 2 test to validate the current quantum electrodynamics (QED) theory and search for possible deviations with the direct contact term annihilation. By observing a deviation from the QED predictions on the total cross section of the e + e − ⟶ γ γ γ reaction above s = 180.0 GeV, a non-QED direct contact term is introduced following the dimension 6 effective theory to explain the deviation. In the non-QED direct contact term, a threshold energy scale Λ is included and explained to the finite interaction length in direct contact term and in consequence the size of the electron involved in the annihilation area. The experimental data of the total cross section is compared to the QED cross section by a χ 2 test, which gives a best fit of the Λ to be 1576 ± 202 GeV, corresponding to a finite interaction length of r e = 1.25 ± 0.16 × 1 0 − 17 (cm). In the direct contact term annihilation, this interaction length is a measure of the size of an electron r e . By combining all the data results from the mentioned collaborations, we have at least 2 to 3 times more statistics than every single experiment at high s region. This induces the best precision on r e compared to the previous measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The search model suggested in this study uses a unit-speed nanosensor to track the fluid's randomly linear flow particle, starting at the real line's origin. The nanosensor oscillates passing through the origin point (towards right and left) in the presence of a sequence of random points, and the particle's position is always changing with a random waiting time that varies with the Gaussian jump length. We may be able to consider the search distance as a function of a discounted effort-reward parameter (factor) because of this uncertainty. We demonstrate analytically how this parameter affects proving the existence of this model and reducing the expected value of the first collision time before the nanosensor returns a particle to the origin. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this model, a numerical example is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We utilize degenerate perturbation theory to investigate continuous-time quantum search on second-order truncated simplex lattices. In this work, we show that the construction of the Hamiltonian must consider the structure of the lattice. This idea enables effective application of degenerate perturbation theory to third- and higher-order lattices. We identify two constraints on the reduction of the dimension of the Hamiltonian. In addition, we elucidate the influence of the distinct configurations of marked vertices on the quantum search. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss how the relative importance of factors that contribute to movements of the US Beveridge curve has changed from 1959 to 2023. We review these factors in the context of a simple flow analogy used to capture the main insights of search and matching theories of the labor market. Changes in inflow rates, related to demographics, accounted for Beveridge curve shifts between 1959 and 2000. A reduction in matching efficiency, that depressed unemployment outflows, shifted the curve outwards in the wake of the Great Recession. In contrast, the most recent shifts in the Beveridge curve appear driven by changes in the eagerness of workers to switch jobs. Finally, we argue that, while the Beveridge curve is a useful tool for relating unemployment and job openings to inflation, the link between these labor market indicators and inflation depends on whether and why the Beveridge curve shifted. Therefore, a careful examination of the factors underlying movements in the Beveridge curve is essential for drawing policy conclusions from the joint behavior of unemployment and job openings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We model the effect of online information search across mobile (smartphone and tablet) and nonmobile (personal computer [PC], both desktop and laptop) platforms on frequency of purchasing per online shopping session. Using clickstream data from a multinational retailer, we find that device modality drives purchase frequency, likely due to the differential ease of use of PCs, tablets, and smartphones. In particular, frequency of completed orders is highest when information search and purchase completion are highly convenient, such as when shopping via tablet. We also determine that information search in the form of reading online product reviews has no effect on mobile platforms, while it does on other platforms. These findings contribute to information search theory, suggesting that information search increases purchase likelihood when it is goal directed, extensive, and easy to conduct. Thus, the broad role of digital advertising should be to make the information search process easier and more convenient for consumers to stimulate purchases. These findings help digital advertisers understand information search patterns across device modalities. Implications for digital advertisers on electronic commerce (e-commerce) platforms are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine universal positivity constraints on 2 → 2 scattering in 4d planar N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with higher-derivative corrections. We present numerical evidence that the convex region of allowed Wilson coefficients (the "EFT-hedron") flattens completely along about one-third of its dimensions when an increasing number of constraints on the spectral density from crossing-symmetry are included. Our analysis relies on the formulation of the positivity constraints as a linear optimization problem, which we implement using two numerical solvers, SDPB and CPLEX. Motivated by the flattening, we propose a novel partially resummed low-energy expansion of the 2 → 2 amplitude. As part of the analysis, we provide additional evidence in favor of the conjecture [1] that the Veneziano amplitude is the only amplitude compatible with both S-matrix bootstrap constraints and string monodromy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A salient color distractor is known to capture attention during search for a less salient shape target, but the mechanisms underlying attentional capture are debated. Theeuwes (2004, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 11(1), 65–70) argued that attentional capture depends on the size of the attentional window. If the attentional window is large, search is efficient and attentional capture should be stronger because the distractor is more likely to be inside the window. Consistently, we found higher search efficiency and more attentional capture in singleton than in feature search. However, differences in attentional capture only occurred when singleton and feature search were performed by different groups of participants, but not when singleton and feature search occurred unpredictably in the same group of participants. This result contradicts the attentional window account because search efficiency was always higher in singleton than in feature search. Rather, the results support search mode theory, which claims that participants looked for the most salient stimulus in singleton search ("singleton detection mode"), which resulted in more capture by the salient color distractor. When search types varied unpredictably, it was impossible to apply a consistent search strategy, which eliminated the differences between singleton and feature search. Further, we manipulated search efficiency by target–nontarget similarity. With dissimilar nontargets, the target was salient and search efficiency was high. Therefore, the attentional window account predicts more capture. However, we found the opposite result in singleton search and no difference in feature search. Taken together, these observations are inconsistent with the attentional window account but support search mode theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mind represents abstract magnitude information, including time, space, and number, but in what format is this information stored? We show support for the bipartite format of perceptual magnitudes, in which the measured value on a dimension is scaled to the dynamic range of the input, leading to a privileged status for values at the lowest and highest end of the range. In six experiments with college undergraduates, we show that observers are faster and more accurate to find the endpoints (i.e., the minimum and maximum) than any of the inner values, even as the number of items increases beyond visual short-term memory limits. Our results show that length, size, and number are represented in a dynamic format that allows for comparison-free sorting, with endpoints represented with an immediately accessible status, consistent with the bipartite model of perceptual magnitudes. We discuss the implications for theories of visual search and ensemble perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jump functions are the most-studied non-unimodal benchmark in the theory of randomized search heuristics, in particular, evolutionary algorithms (EAs). They have significantly improved our understanding of how EAs escape from local optima. However, their particular structure—to leave the local optimum one can only jump directly to the global optimum—raises the question of how representative such results are. For this reason, we propose an extended class J U M P k , δ of jump functions that contain a valley of low fitness of width δ starting at distance k from the global optimum. We prove that several previous results extend to this more general class: for all k ≤ n 1 / 3 ln n and δ < k , the optimal mutation rate for the (1 + 1) EA is δ n , and the fast (1 + 1) EA runs faster than the classical (1 + 1) EA by a factor super-exponential in δ . However, we also observe that some known results do not generalize: the randomized local search algorithm with stagnation detection, which is faster than the fast (1 + 1) EA by a factor polynomial in k on J U M P k , is slower by a factor polynomial in n on some J U M P k , δ instances. Computationally, the new class allows experiments with wider fitness valleys, especially when they lie further away from the global optimum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study exa k (n , F) , the largest number of edges in an n -vertex graph that contains exactly k copies of a given subgraph F. The case k = 0 is the Turán number ex (n , F) that is among the most studied parameters in extremal graph theory. We show that for any F and k , exa k (n , F) = (1 + o (1)) ex (n , F) and determine the exact values of exa k (n , K 3) and exa 1 (n , K r) for n large enough. We also explore a connection to the following well-known problem in search theory. We are given a graph of order n that consists of an unknown copy of F and some isolated vertices. We can ask pairs of vertices as queries, and the answer tells us whether there is an edge between those vertices. Our goal is to describe the graph using as few queries as possible. Aigner and Triesch in 1990 showed that the number of queries needed is at least n 2 − exa 1 (n , F). Among other results we show that the number of queries that were answered NO is at least n 2 − exa 1 (n , F). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fast growth in the Estonian economy, unemployment has remained high for extended periods of time. This paper analyses and quantifies the mismatch between registered unemployment and vacancies and how it has contributed to unemployment in the Estonian labour market at the (county) regional, occupational, and industrial levels for the time span 2011-2021. We apply the search and matching theory and the mismatch index framework, and our findings show that around 4–5 per cent of potential hires have been lost in the Estonian labour market because of mismatch. The contribution of mismatch to the level of unemployment is roughly 5–8 per cent, meaning that if the match between unemployed individuals and vacancies was efficient, unemployment would have been 5–8 per cent lower. Mismatch has the smallest impact at the regional level and the largest at the industrial level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the problem of searching for a randomly located target in a bounded, known region by using two unit-speed searchers. The searching process starts at (0 , 0) . The area is divided into a finite set of cells. The position of the target has a symmetric probability distribution. It is desired to search in an optimal manner to minimize the expected time for detecting the target. The search strategy is derived using a dynamic programming algorithm. We present some special cases in which the cells are symmetric and asymmetric, and the algorithm depends on the dimensions of the search area. We give an illustrative example to demonstrate the applicability of this technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phenomenology is the unity of principles and methods employed for investigating the essence of things. The present paper is a brief review of the series of publications that these authors carried out over the past decade. The general thrust of these publications consists in the idea that phenomenological ideas of physics are used to analyze earthquakes. One conspicuous example of a phenomenological theory is thermodynamics. Maxwell's electrodynamics is also a perfect example of a phenomenological theory. The phenomenology of earthquakes is still far from reaching that high level of excellence. A look at the rational knowledge of geodynamics shows that we have so far reached a preliminary stage where we are aware of the subject-matter, methods, and problems faced by the future phenomenological theory of earthquakes. Nevertheless, we already clearly see that our approach to the construction of such a theory has promise. We are using concrete examples to show that phenomenological concepts of general physics are helpful in the search for the principles of the theory, in the processing and analysis of concrete manifestations of seismicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary purpose of this monograph is to explore the search process for knowledge used by entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial firms in pursuit of new opportunities, new product innovation opportunities in particular. Understanding the search for and the use of informational sources is important at both the behavioral level and at the policy level. At the behavioral level, such an understanding expands the existing literature and research scope of scholars related to research on innovative activity, and innovative activity is important because it is a fundamental source of economic growth. At the policy level, such an understanding about sources of knowledge enhances the use of public-sector innovation initiatives in pursuit of economic growth. The second purpose of this monograph is to present empirical evidence about the sources of knowledge that entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial firms actually use (and actually do not use) in an effort to allow observed behavior to inform future economics and management theory about the search for and use of knowledge sources. The theoretical literature on this topic is limited and often uninformed by the actual behavior of entrepreneurs and the boundary constraints they face. The empirical evidence presented might begin to provide a foundation for additional theoretical advancements on the use of alternative sources and their economic and entrepreneurial implications for the firm. With such a foundation, working backwards to how a firm identified, searched for, and decided to use such sources might be possible. And, the third purpose of this monograph is to generate new and more complete empirical efforts to construct databases and to conduct analyses—empirical analyses and case studies—related not only to entrepreneur's and entrepreneurial firm's search for and use of sources of knowledge but also to measure the trends in the impacts of their use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article advances extant research that has audited search algorithms for misinformation in four respects. Firstly, this is the first misinformation audit not to implement a national but a cross-national research design. Secondly, it retrieves results not in response to the most popular query terms. Instead, it theorizes two semantic dimensions of search terms and illustrates how they impact the number of misinformative results returned. Furthermore, the analysis not only captures the mere presence of misinformative content but in addition whether the source websites are affiliated with a key misinformation actor (Russia's ruling elites) and whom the conspiracy narratives cast as the malicious plotters. Empirically, the audit compares Covid-19 conspiracy theories in Google search results across 5 key target countries of Russia's foreign communication (Belarus, Estonia, Germany, Ukraine, and the US) and Russia as of November 2020 (N = 5280 search results). It finds that, across all countries, primarily content published by mass media organizations rendered conspiracy theories visible in search results. Conspiratorial content published on websites affiliated with Russia's ruling elites was retrieved in the Belarusian, German and Russian contexts. Across all countries, the majority of conspiracy narratives suspected plotters from China. Malicious actors from the US were insinuated exclusively by sources affiliated with Russia's elites. Overall, conspiracy narratives did not primarily deepen divides within but between national communities, since – across all countries – only plotters from beyond the national borders were blamed. To conclude, the article discusses methodological advice and promising paths of research for future cross-national search engine audits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Riwayat: Educational Journal of History & Humanities is the property of Riwayat: Educational Journal of History & Humanities and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We study p-Faulty Search, a variant of the classic cow-path optimization problem, where a unit speed robot searches the half-line (or 1-ray) for a hidden item. The searcher is probabilistically faulty, and detection of the item with each visitation is an independent Bernoulli trial whose probability of success p is known. The objective is to minimize the worst case expected detection time, relative to the distance of the hidden item to the origin. A variation of the same problem was first proposed by Gal (Search games, Academic Press, New York, 1980). Alpern and Gal (The theory of search games and rendezvous, Springer, Berlin, 2003) proposed a so-called monotone solution for searching the line (2-rays); that is, a trajectory in which the newly searched space increases monotonically in each ray and in each iteration. Moreover, they conjectured that an optimal trajectory for the 2-rays problem must be monotone. We show that an analogous conjecture for the case where the search domain is the half-line cannot be correct. Indeed, we provide a lower bound for all monotone algorithms, which we also match with an upper bound. Our main contribution is the design and analysis of a sequence of refined search strategies, outside the family of monotone algorithms, which we call t-sub-monotone algorithms. Such algorithms induce performance that is strictly decreasing with t, and for all p ∈ (0 , 1) . The value of t quantifies, in a certain sense, how much our algorithms deviate from being monotone, demonstrating that monotone algorithms are sub-optimal when searching the half-line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Teología is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Today's cities are dynamic nodes where copious urban flows intersect. These flows have distinguished characteristics: the flow of money, the flow of vehicles, the flow of people who migrate, and the flow of information. The flows' amalgamation, intersection, and conflict form contemporary urban configuration and space. Many methods, such as historico-geographical, process typological, and space syntax in urban morphology studies, aspire to analyze, discuss, and design these flows. These, which have been practiced in English, Italian and French schools in Europe since the 1960s, have allowed the development of different research methodologies in the search for urban form. The article examines the postmodernist urban topo-morphological approaches, which developed in parallel with the French typo-morphological method influenced by the Italian school and the urban space perception studies of Gordon Cullen and Kevin Lynch through the Oblique Function Theory. In order to go beyond the Cartesian urban plan analysis of typomorphological methodologies, topo-morphological approaches reexamine flows with paradigms of urban topological surface, fluid and dynamic morphologies, and architecturelandscape-infrastructure integrity. The Oblique Function Theory was theorized by architect Claude Parent and philosopher and urban theorist Paul Virilio in 1963 under the Architecture Principe group as an example of these approaches. Parent and Virilio use and utilize inclined surfaces, rejecting archetypal spatial components such as columns, walls, and roofs. The duo with inclined surfaces extrapolates the concepts of habitable circulation, mediated structure, fluid, and dynamic form in their projects with a topological perspective. Through urban sections rather than urban plans, form a topological and oblique urban order dominated and ushered by flows. The paper discusses Parent's oblique projects: Les Inclisites in 1968; Les Ponts Urbains in 1971; and Incision Urbaine in the 2000s, obtained from slightly researched archival materials and drawings to argue whether contemporary urban dynamics and flows would possibly create a contemporary urban morphology methodology and sui generis tropes with topo-morphological approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes in detail a class of educational problems from an elementary school course of mathematics and computer science. This course has been implemented over the past decades by a team led by Academician of the RAS A.L. Semenov. In the problems, it is necessary to find, build, or list all objects that satisfy a certain system of conditions. The student conducts these activities in a visual world of basic objects of discrete mathematics and computer science: strings (finite sequences of symbols), bags (multisets), tables, trees, and statements containing quantifiers. The connections of these problems with problems in computational combinatorics (counting the number of options), with search problems in the theory of computational complexity, with "big ideas," and general cognitive strategies for their formation in education are considered. The content of education in our approach is more adequate to the context of the modern world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nursing has evolved from its historical roots, influenced by multiple factors such as knowledge from other disciplines, methods, and processes of knowledge generation and theory utilization. Issues arise because nurses recognize the need for knowledge-based practice and envisage the focus of knowledge generation and utilization from theoretical framing guiding their practice. The borrowed or unique knowledge-based practice is grounded in philosophical and theoretical frameworks advanced through paradigmatic viewpoints within the metaparadigms of nursing. Encompassing a framework in nursing is the concept of caring. Caring in nursing uniquely contributes to appreciating nursing as a discipline of knowledge and a practice profession. Suggested processes involve knowledge-based, evidence-based, and theory-based practices within a conceptual-theoretical-empirical system. Moreover, because there is yet a continuing search for a universal theory of nursing guiding global nursing care practice, nursing must have contended with the plurality of theories dictating varying ways of practicing nursing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the concept of humanism both in modern discourse and in historical retrospective. Human has always been at the center of philosophy, regardless of what spheres of being were studied. Anthropology, cultural studies, psychology, philosophy, and many other sciences explore various manifestations of a person, all of which are ultimately designed to answer perhaps one of the most critical questions - what makes us human? However, this discourse significantly changed over the course of two thousand years. For example, Martin Heidegger points out an important nuance of the emergence of the concept of humanism, namely, as a kind of chauvinism - the division into humans (Romans) and non-humans (barbarians). This point of view is often overlooked, but it is critical to understanding the essence of this phenomenon. In the subsequent era of the Middle Ages, human was understood as the opposite of the divine, but in such realities, there were humanistic ideals and values. Already in the Renaissance, a return to the traditions of antiquity was announced, but the understanding of a person acquired a romantic character. Humanism clearly saw something more in a person than a person himself could demonstrate. It is for this metaphysical image that many critics of humanism have criticized this phenomenon. However, where there is criticism, there is progress, which is why this concept has gained a new round of discourse, which is why new trends have appeared that have brought the concept of humanism to a new theoretical level. As a historical phenomenon, humanism is faced with certain difficulties of new eras; because of these collisions, humanism is modified and adapted. Among humanism's problems are multiculturalism, technological breakthroughs, and the need to search for new theories. In its development, the course of humanism takes on various forms and iterations. It is worth mentioning transhumanism (the idea of becoming someone more than just a human), posthumanism (philosophical views on human nature as a posthuman), and global humanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though researchers working on congenital aphantasia (henceforth "aphantasia") agree that this condition involves an impairment in the ability to voluntarily generate visual imagery, disagreement looms large as to which other impairments are exhibited by aphantasic subjects. This article offers the first extensive review of studies on aphantasia, and proposes that aphantasic subjects exhibit a cluster of impairments. It puts forward a novel cognitive theory of aphantasia, building on the constructive episodic simulation hypothesis of memory and imagination. It argues that aphantasia is best explained as a malfunction of processes in the episodic system, and is therefore an episodic system condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines 'The Natures of Conceptual Change', the Notre Dame lectures given by Kuhn in 1980. In particular, I aim to examine the content of these lectures which was not published before. This exegetical task will shed light on the sources of the notion of taxonomy used in these lectures for the first time with the explicit philosophical purposes. It also will shed new light on Kuhn's position regarding the causal theory of reference. Reviewing these archival materials paves the way for intertextual comparisons, as Kuhn included part of these lectures in the texts published later and in the book Plurality of Worlds: an Evolutionary Theory of Scientific Development. In recent years, the publication of Kuhn's archival material and the research on these texts increased in quantity and quality. Faced with this encouraging landscape, a comparative examination of the different unpublished texts is crucial to refining both our research tools on Kuhn's intellectual biography and the philosophical work inspired by his proposal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corporate capital structure of firms has come under scrutiny by competition authorities lately, especially with respect to the role of financial investors such as private equity firms. The main concern seems to be that highly indebted firms are not only less resilient, but also, perhaps wilfully, less able to compete. However, a clear theory of anticompetitive harm underpinning competition law enforcement seems to be lacking. This article tries to fill this gap by first reviewing the extant theoretical and empirical literature on how debt affect firms' strategies and, thus, market outcomes. The general consensus is that a high level of debt induces a weakening of the competitive stance of the borrowing firm, which can be exploited by financially-unconstrained rivals. Therefore, the unilateral adoption of a high level of financial leverage is irrational unless it is reciprocated by rival firms. Ultimately, though, this theory of harm does not provide a robust basis for enforcement - on either and ex-ante basis under merger control, or ex-post basis under competition law - due to the existence of legitimate alternative explanations for the use of financial leverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Temporal self‐regulation theory was developed to address an observed intention‐behaviour gap across behaviours. However, a synthesis of studies has not yet been conducted to investigate the theory's utility to explain behaviour and bridge the intention‐behaviour gap. This review aimed to evaluate the predictive ability of temporal self‐regulation theory to understanding behaviour and pre‐registered at PROSPERO (ID: CRD42021253174). Method: Forward citation searches on the original theory publication through Google Scholar until May 2021 identified 37 eligible articles, including, 12,555 participants assessing at least two of the three theory constructs. Random‐effects meta‐analyses assessed the strength of associations between theory constructs on behaviour and random effects meta‐regressions assessed moderators of behaviour. Results: Findings provide support for temporal self‐regulation theory to explain behaviour with very weak (self‐regulatory capacity r =.039, CI =.00, –.07) to moderate (intention r =.331, CI =.26,.40; behavioural pre‐potency r =.379, CI =.32,.44) effect sizes. Further, the strength of associations varied across behaviour types and contexts. However, there was high heterogeneity across studies and some moderating effects could not be assessed due to insufficient numbers of studies assessing interactions. Conclusions: We urge researchers to assess and report interactions for better understanding of the drivers of behaviour to develop effective interventions for positive behaviour change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contaminant intrusion in water distribution networks is an important concern and must be identified as soon as possible. Although optimization techniques are widely used for source identification, the performance of these methods decreases with increasing the size of the water network. To overcome this problem, this paper presents a new approach to reduce the search space, based on network topology, as a prior step to applying a search algorithm. In this method, all hydraulically connected nodes to the sensor node (with a positive detection) are identified using graph theory and considered as the new reduced search space in the optimization process. The effectiveness of the proposed method was investigated on three different benchmark water networks with different complexity and sizes. The results showed that the proposed approach can decrease the computational time by 18% to 63% while improving the success rate of contaminant source identification by 14% to 150%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Knowledge search is considered a broad concept and semi-intentional behavior. The path and boundary conditions through which search strategies affect intra-organizational knowledge creation remain elusive. Drawing on recombinant search theory and knowledge-based view, the authors seek to identify knowledge complexity as an important intermediate variable between knowledge search and innovation performance, such as research and development (R&D) output and R&D output quality. A second goal of this study is to examine the moderating roles of government support and technological turbulence. Design/methodology/approach: The authors employed a longitudinal panel of 609 global pharmaceutical firms and obtained the firms' patent records from 1980 to 2015 for the analysis. The authors used generalized estimating equations (GEE) to evaluate the models and tested the consistency via panel fixed-effects estimations. Findings: The authors' findings show that organizational routine-guided search has a negative effect on knowledge complexity, while routine-changing search exerts a positive impact on knowledge complexity. Governmental support and technological turbulence moderate these relationships. Notably, knowledge complexity has an inverted U-shaped relationship with innovation performance. Research limitations/implications: The authors' research context, the pharmaceutical industry, may constrain the generalizability of our findings. In addition, potential types of routine-guided and routine-changing search behaviors were not considered. Practical implications: Despite these limitations, this study offers important implications. First, knowledge complexity transmits the effects of knowledge search on innovation performance. Practitioners should balance routine-guided and routine-changing search processes to build and manage complex knowledge. Second, a moderate level of knowledge complexity is the key to good R&D output and R&D output quality. Originality/value: The study identifies knowledge complexity as one important intermediate variable between knowledge search behaviors and intra-organizational knowledge creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the covariance matrix (CM) or pseudo CM of the received signal is processed to improve the degrees of freedom (DOFs) and estimation accuracy. This is where the second-order cumulant (SOC) in the two-dimensional (2-D) direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation algorithm based on sparse arrays comes into play. This paper proposes a 2-D DOA estimation approach for non-circular (NC) signals based on fourth-order cumulant (FOC), which fully exploits its inherent benefits in virtual array expansion and denoising white Gaussian noise in comparison with SOC. The proposed algorithm, on the other hand, discards the original 2-D spectral peak search theory and uses the properties of the NC signal and parallel sparse array (PSA) to place the 2-D angle information in Toeplitz matrices for estimation, greatly reducing the computational complexity of processing the FOC without compromising estimation accuracy. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms the conventional algorithms in terms of estimation accuracy while utilizing fewer physical sensors and a smaller array aperture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Ordnance Equipment Engineering is the property of Chongqing University of Technology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A random search-based model is proposed to study the valuation of cryptocurrency. We provide a unique approach to valuing cryptocurrency according to people's acceptance probability of cryptocurrency. Although cryptocurrency is generally considered without intrinsic value, it can have value in an exchange economy. Cryptocurrency has shown huge potential as a future payment system to replace the US dollar's position in international trade, our model, however, indicates that the value of cryptocurrency is fundamentally unstable, and thus, it has a long way to go before fulfilling its mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optically addressable defects in wide‐bandgap semiconductors are of considerable interest as materials platforms for quantum sensing and information systems. Density functional theory is used to identify novel defects in diamond consisting of transition metal + nitrogen complexes with potential for quantum sensing. Defects are characterized with respect to formation energy, ordering and degeneracy of the defect energy levels, optical and charge transition energies, zero‐field‐splitting energies, and thermodynamic stability. Novel defect sites with optically addressable spin states and viable spin sublevel configurations are identified, and analysis of activation energies for atomic migration indicates stability in the lattice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper focuses on the parameter estimation issues of multivariate equation‐error autoregressive moving average systems. By applying the gradient search and the multi‐innovation theory, we derive a multi‐innovation gradient based iterative (MI‐GI) algorithm. In order to improve the computational efficiency and the parameter estimation accuracy, a filtering and decomposition based gradient iterative (F‐D‐GI) algorithm is presented by using the data filtering technique and the decomposition technique. The key is to choose an appropriate filter to filter the input‐output data and to transform an original system into several subsystems. Compared with the MI‐GI algorithm, the F‐D‐GI algorithm can generate more accurate parameter estimates. Finally, an illustrative example is provided to indicate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the change of institutional logics in actors' practices within crowdfunding platforms, seen as open collaborative ecosystems. Design/methodology/approach: The research follows an abductive approach, wherein data collection and analysis, and the search for complementary theories, constitute parallel iterative processes. A main case study was carried out, complemented by an expert panel. Findings: Balanced centricity (BC) as the main institutional logic in crowdfunding platforms delineates actors' practices (aims, resources and behaviors) into four issues: the development of an open and collaborative community; the overcoming of resource limitations; the changing roles of actors; and the co-creation of mutual (societal) value. Research limitations/implications: This study context limits the results. The COVID-19 crisis put all actors in the medical field into an extreme situation in which they had to maximize their potential to achieve a common aim. Once the crisis has passed, further research should address whether BC is maintained as actors' institutional logic. Originality/value: This paper offers a unique perspective on BC as an institutional logic that impacts actors in collaborative open ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dawn of the epoch of gravitational wave (GW) astronomy, which initiated with the detection of a fundamental noise, was the period when the search for a theory in which gravity could be quantized began to increase significantly. In this paper, we have mainly intended to focus on the polar modes of GWs in the formalism of gravity's rainbow, which is based on the product of the disparity between quantum mechanics and general relativity (GR). For this purpose, we have perturbed the spatially flat conformal Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker metric, material distribution and the components of four-velocity by making use of the polar Regge-Wheeler gauge and formulated the corresponding field equations for both the zeroth-order (unperturbed) and the first-order (perturbed) cases of the metric. Subsequently, these field equations have been taken into account simultaneously to get exact expressions of the gauge functions. From a graphical perspective, we have studied the impact of rainbow parameters on the amplitude of GWs. In the last step, discussing the Huygens Principle, we have concluded that the GWs obey the principle only in the radiation-dominated era and the principle is broken otherwise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faced with challenges of our time, the university assumes the commitment to be an agent of change through the holistic formation of leaders. The purpose is to analyze two common goods, educational relationship and research, that influence the creation of a holistic ecosystem that favors the projection of leaders who are committed to their community. A qualitative research method was applied through grounded theory in order to search the data for emerging conceptualizations, which were categorized and analyzed in a process of constant comparison, with an instrument based on gamestorming. In this case, the two common goods mentioned will be analyzed as part of the dynamics of common goods. The agency has a direct link to leadership and transformation. Stability is a concept highly valued by students. There is a strong sense of identity as a university community. Research is directly related to innovation. The educational relationship reflected in the personalized accompaniment, the importance of holistic formation, and the vision of contributing to the improvement of humanity, are factors that promote participation in university life and transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geodesic vector fields and other distinguished vector fields on a Riemann manifold were used in the study of free motions on such a manifold, and we applied the geometric Hamilton–Jacobi theory for the search of geodesic vector fields from Hamilton–Jacobi vector fields and the same for closed vector fields. These properties were appropriately extended to the framework of Newtonian and generalised Newtonian systems, in particular systems defined by Lagrangians of the mechanical type and velocity-dependent forces. Conserved quantities and a generalised concept of symmetry were developed, particularly for Killing vector fields. Nonholonomic constrained Newtonian systems were also analysed from this perspective, as well as the relation among Newtonian vector fields and Hamilton–Jacobi equations for conformally related metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Panic-buying and shortages of essential commodities is common during early phases of a disaster or an epidemic. The goal of this paper is develop a methodology which includes social media information in optimization models of searching essential commodities during disasters and improves the efficiency of search. Specific contributions in the data processing of social media posts include the development of an event localizer that probabilistically infers the location and time of shortage of commodity based on social media information. Contributions in the mathematical model development include an integer programming formulation of the resultant search problem on a graph, with the two objective different objective functions: (a) Maximizing probability of finding the commodity (b) Minimizing expected time to find the commodity given the commodity is found. The methodology is validated using a case study on gasoline search during the Hurricane Irma evacuations. We found that social media posts can predict shortage at gas station for four major cities of Florida accurately with a MAPE of 12%. We also found that addition of social media information to the search process improved the average search time by 41.74%.

This paper considers the problem of finding a landing spot for a drone in a dense urban environment. The conflicting requirements of fast exploration and high resolution are solved using a multi-resolution approach, by which visual information is collected by the drone at decreasing altitudes so that the spatial resolution of the acquired images increases monotonically. A probability distribution is used to capture the uncertainty of the decision process for each terrain patch. The distributions are updated as information from different altitudes is collected. When the confidence level for one of the patches becomes larger than a prespecified threshold, suitability for landing is declared. One of the main building blocks of the approach is a semantic segmentation algorithm that attaches probabilities to each pixel of a single view. The decision algorithm combines these probabilities with a priori data and previous measurements to obtain the best estimates. Feasibility is illustrated by presenting several examples generated by a realistic closed-loop simulator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by the contributions of Poul Kjaer and Kerry Rittich to this Special Issue, this article extends the reflection on the role and potential of law for social transformation. More specifically, I attempt to build on a revised framing of the constitutive role of law to draw the contours of a transformative instrumentalism, where law functions as an instrument for the articulation of political and social objectives. My account shifts the attention from transformative law's formto its content, based on the premise that engagement with 'political' economy necessarily entails an engagement with the substantive standards that shape social relations of production and define the nature and extent of exploitation. Yet, I argue that the endorsement of law's constitutive function and the turn to law's content need not lead to the kind of instrumentalism that exhausts itself in particular policy reforms or prescriptions to assume control over processes of legal coding. Relying on a tentatively redrawn conception of the constitutive role of law that draws from both legal institutionalism and Marxist perspectives, I suggest that instrumentalism may instead be transformative by prioritising material ends, leaving open the question of the concrete legal and institutional forms that will materialise them. The directions of such transformative instrumentalism involve an element of 'mobilisational democracy' against the insulation of the economy from democratic control; reforms generative of collective subjects and centres of democratic power ('non-reformist reforms'); and a focus on the planning and coordinating function of law among diverse - but united in their objective - legal rationales and institutional forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summarises a laboratory program involving over 100 tests that were performed to study the influence of soil type, temperature, water content and salinity on the strength and creep of frozen soils under uniaxial compression and shear tests. Analyses of experimental data allowed to get equations for predicting strength and creep parameters depending on the temperature and salinity using generalising parameters for frozen soils (freezing point and the concentration of pore solution). These parameters reflect the total impact of all factors (soil type, salinity and water content) in forming a single pattern for all types of soil. The developed theory of searching for generalised dependencies showed a good convergence for predicting the strength and creep characteristics of frozen soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of theoretical inquiry is explanation: Why this, and not that? In the study of language, search for explanatory theory proceeds at two levels: for individual languages (a generative grammar in the broad sense) and for the general faculty of language FL (UG), the latter apparently a true species property, common to humans and without significant analogue in the animal world. UG must meet several conditions: learnability, evolvability, coverage. These conditions appear to conflict, and are far more severe than had earlier been supposed. A solution to the conundrum would be satisfaction of SMT for UG combined with recourse to language-independent principles of computational efficiency, with diversity sequestered in components of language subject to simple algorithmic search. For the first time, hopes for such an outcome seem to be on the horizon, with significant implications if the hopes can be realized. I will outline some current work on these topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]