Do emotions organize or disorganize action?

INTRODUCTION  Emotions companions us in our everyday life and are still difficult to define. Among many functions, such as inducing physiological changes, availability to specific behaviors, the organizing or disorganizing influence of emotions is also distinguished.  OBJECTIVE  The aim of the article is to show the theory of emotions and answer the question whether they organize our actions or, on the contrary, promote disorganization.  STATE OF THE ART. DESCRIPTION  Among the many functions attributed to emotions are that they can direct our actions towards a given goal and sustain it, or vice versa. Emotion is, among other things, an expression of the action of instincts, it mobilizes the body, organizes action and performs an energizing function. Nowadays, attention is paid to the mobilizing aspects of emotions - weak or moderate emotions organize our functioning. Only a strong emotional state ceases to motivate, makes our actions disoriented. On the other hand, it is necessary to distinguish between emotional states and motivation. Watson shows emotions as a disorder of homeostasis along with numerous disorders of mental regulation. Clore, Clark, and Watson argue that dysfunctional are persistent, troublesome states that may be manifestations of affective or temperamental disorders rather than transient emotions. Speaking of emotion and its impact on action, it is worth mentioning and stopping at the issue of inhibition and expressing emotional states.    CONCLUSION  It is not possible to unequivocally determine that emotions either organize or disorganize our behavior, because a lot depends on the intensity of the experienced emotion and its directio

Sequential Mini-Batch Noise Covariance Estimator

Noise covariance estimation in an adaptive Kalman filter is a problem of significant practical interest in a wide array of industrial applications. Reliable algorithms for their estimation are scarce, and the necessary and sufficient conditions for identifiability of the covariances were in dispute until very recently. This chapter presents the necessary and sufficient conditions for the identifiability of noise covariances, and then develops sequential mini-batch stochastic optimization algorithms for estimating them. The optimization criterion involves the minimization of the sum of the normalized temporal cross-correlations of the innovations; this is based on the property that the innovations of an optimal Kalman filter are uncorrelated over time. Our approach enforces the structural constraints on noise covariances and ensures the symmetry and positive definiteness of the estimated covariance matrices. Our approach is applicable to non-stationary and multiple model systems, where the noise covariances can occasionally jump up or down by an unknown level. The validation of the proposed method on several test cases demonstrates its computational efficiency and accuracy

Context-Driven Proactive Decision Support for Hybrid Teams

A synergy between AI and the Internet of Things (IoT) will significantly improve sense-making, situational awareness, proactivity, and collaboration. However, the key challenge is to identify the underlying context within which humans interact with smart machines. Knowledge of the context facilitates proactive allocation among members of a human–smart machine (agent) collective that balances auto­nomy with human interaction, without displacing humans from their supervisory role of ensuring that the system goals are achievable. In this article, we address four research questions as a means of advancing toward proactive autonomy: how to represent the interdependencies among the key elements of a hybrid team; how to rapidly identify and characterize critical contextual elements that require adaptation over time; how to allocate system tasks among machines and agents for superior performance; and how to enhance the performance of machine counterparts to provide intelligent and proactive courses of action while considering the cognitive states of human operators. The answers to these four questions help us to illustrate the integration of AI and IoT applied to the maritime domain, where we define context as an evolving multidimensional feature space for heterogeneous search, routing, and resource allocation in uncertain environments via proactive decision support systems

Psychiatric History and Overactive Bladder Symptom Severity in Ambulatory Urogynecological Patients

Introduction and hypothesis: A link between psychiatric comorbidities and overactive bladder symptomatology has been suggested by preclinical and clinical studies. Given this, we hypothesized that a psychiatric history and current treatment with psychotropic medications could be related to the severity of overactive bladder and incontinence symptoms in patients referred to a tertiary care urogynecological center. Methods: One hundred and twenty-seven female patients diagnosed with an overactive bladder were screened for a lifetime history of psychiatric disorders and the type and number of psychotropic medications currently taken. The overall severity of overactive bladder symptoms was assessed using the Indevus Urgency Severity Scale. The severity and impact of urinary incontinence on the quality of life were quantified with the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Urinary Incontinence Short Form. Urinary incontinence was further quantified with the aid of the Urinary Distress Inventory-6. The patients were screened for stress urinary incontinence using the Stamey Incontinence Score. Results: A psychiatric history, as well as current use of at least two psychotropic medications, was associated with increased severity of overactive bladder symptoms. A history of depression and current treatment with any selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor was associated with increased severity of stress urinary incontinence symptoms. Current treatment with other psychotropic medications, including sedative-hypnotics and drugs with anticholinergic properties was not related to the severity of overactive bladder and incontinence symptoms