Computations in extraversion

We make two suggestions with regard to Depue & Collins's (D&C's) target article. First, regarding the functioning of MOC13, we provide data indicating that, contrary to D&C's apparent position, this structure is not necessary for instrumental conditioning. Second, we suggest that D&C's approach would be advanced by reference to formal computational theory, in particular the work of Grossberg. We suggest that an integration of Grossberg's and D&C's models can provide a more complete account of extraversion

What should we do about China?

Former US Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis C. Blair examines the changing role of China in the international system and the challenge it poses for policy makers. He highlights in this Centre of Gravity paper how China\u27s concerns about Taiwan are reducing, while its regional assertiveness and economic slowdown provide some caution. This paper presents policy recommendations for Australia and the US to better evaluate and engage China to help secure the Asia-Pacific Region.Executive summary5 years after a major report on US-China relations it’s worth revisiting our assessments. Most judgements remain valid, but some have changed significantly. Taiwan has moved from a primary issue to second order, though not forgotten. China’s regional assertiveness is concerning and should be examined closely. China’s economic development model has run its course; Beijing needs to provide leadership to usher in reform.Policy recommendationsAustralia and the USA should focus on a blended policy of cooperation with China, along with an insistence on international norms, and maintenance of alliance and military strength. Regular evaluations of China’s shifting capacity and interests, to identify what issues are of rising or declining significance for Beijing will be needed to be effective in engaging China and building a better future for the region

ROSAT observations of two 'cooling flow' EMSS Galaxies

We present ROSAT observations of two luminous L~10^44 erg/s EMSS galaxies, MS1019+5139 and MS1209+3917, previously classified as 'cooling flow' galaxies. MS1019+5139 does not appear to be spatially extended (<13 kpc) while its spectrum is well fit by a power law with Gamma = 1.73 +0.19-0.18; X-ray variability on a timescale of ~ years is also clearly detected. MS1209+3917 shows no evidence of spatial extension (<50 kpc) but it shows variability, while its spectrum can be fit with thermal bremsstrahlung emission (kT=1.8 +0.9-0.4 keV) or a power law model (Gamma = 2.50 +0.44-0.42, but with excess photoelectric absorption above the Galactic value). All the above argue against thermal emission from a group of galaxies or a galaxy but in favour of an AGN (possibly BL Lac) interpretation. We conclude that no 'normal' galaxies with high X-ray luminosities have yet been detected in the EMSS survey that could be significant contributors to the X-ray background.Comment: 6 pages, LaTeX, 6 postscript figures included, to appear in MNRA

An Exploration of Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Association between Perfectionism and Disordered Eating in College Students

Perfectionism is a robust risk factor for eating disorders (EDs). Although individually-oriented dimensions of perfectionism are strongly related to eating pathology, less is known about the contribution of parent-oriented dimensions, specifically parental expectations (PE) and parental criticisms (PC). Further, few studies have investigated these effects within racially/ethnically diverse samples. However, PE and PC might be particularly relevant to eating pathology among certain cultural groups, such as those from collectivistic and interdependent societies. This study examined associations among PE, PC, and ED symptoms across racial/ethnic groups. Undergraduates (N=706; 74.8% Female; 48% White, 19.8% Black, 7.1% Latinx, 16% Asian, 9.1% multiracial) completed online surveys assessing perfectionism and ED symptoms. Multiple and logistic regressions examined the association between parent-oriented perfectionism, global eating pathology, loss-of-control (LOC) eating, purging behaviors, and ED risk status (EDE-Q global \u3c 4.0). Analyses were conducted by racial/ethnic group, controlling for gender. Both PE and PC were related to greater ED pathology in students identifying as White (pp=.03), Asian (p=.02), and multiracial (pp=.19). Higher PC was related to a greater likelihood of endorsing LOC eating in White (p=.004) and Black students (p=.05) and purging behaviors in White (p=.004), Asian (p=.04), and multiracial students (p=.03). Greater PC was also associated with ED risk in Asian (p=.03) and multiracial participants (p=.01). Findings indicate that the relations between specific aspects of parent-oriented perfectionism differ among cultural groups and are associated with ED symptoms in college students. PC seemed more relevant to ED pathology than did PE overall. Findings suggest that parent-oriented perfectionism, particularly PC, might be important to include in clinical assessment and treatment with students at-risk of EDs.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1039/thumbnail.jp

A comparison of homonym meaning frequency estimates derived from movie and television subtitles, free association, and explicit ratings

First Online: 10 September 2018Most words are ambiguous, with interpretation dependent on context. Advancing theories of ambiguity resolution is important for any general theory of language processing, and for resolving inconsistencies in observed ambiguity effects across experimental tasks. Focusing on homonyms (words such as bank with unrelated meanings EDGE OF A RIVER vs. FINANCIAL INSTITUTION), the present work advances theories and methods for estimating the relative frequency of their meanings, a factor that shapes observed ambiguity effects. We develop a new method for estimating meaning frequency based on the meaning of a homonym evoked in lines of movie and television subtitles according to human raters. We also replicate and extend a measure of meaning frequency derived from the classification of free associates. We evaluate the internal consistency of these measures, compare them to published estimates based on explicit ratings of each meaning’s frequency, and compare each set of norms in predicting performance in lexical and semantic decision mega-studies. All measures have high internal consistency and show agreement, but each is also associated with unique variance, which may be explained by integrating cognitive theories of memory with the demands of different experimental methodologies. To derive frequency estimates, we collected manual classifications of 533 homonyms over 50,000 lines of subtitles, and of 357 homonyms across over 5000 homonym–associate pairs. This database—publicly available at: www.blairarmstrong.net/homonymnorms/—constitutes a novel resource for computational cognitive modeling and computational linguistics, and we offer suggestions around good practices for its use in training and testing models on labeled data

Sand in the wheels, or oiling the wheels, of international finance? : New Labour's appeal to a 'new Bretton Woods'

Tony Blair’s political instinct typically is to associate himself only with the future. As such, his explicit appeal to ‘the past’ in his references to New Labour’s desire to establish a “new Bretton Woods” is sufficient in itself to arouse some degree of analytical curiosity (see Blair 1998a). The fact that this appeal was made specifically in relation to Bretton Woods is even more interesting. The resonant image of the international economic context established by the original Bretton Woods agreements invokes a style and content of policy-making which Tony Blair typically dismisses as neither economically nor politically consistent with his preferred vision of the future (see Blair 2000c, 2001b)

Phenolic cutter for machining foam insulation

Pre-pregged fiber glass is an efficient abrasive for machining polystyrene and polyurethane foams. It bonds easily to any cutter base made of aluminum, steel, or phenolic, is inexpensive, and is readily available

Observation of enhanced optical spring damping in a macroscopic mechanical resonator and application for parametric instability control in advanced gravitational-wave detectors

We show that optical spring damping in an optomechanical resonator can be enhanced by injecting a phase delay in the laser frequency-locking servo to rotate the real and imaginary components of the optical spring constant. This enhances damping at the expense of optical rigidity. We demonstrate enhanced parametric damping which reduces the Q factor of a 0.1-kg-scale resonator from 1.3×10^5 to 6.5×10^3. By using this technique adequate optical spring damping can be obtained to damp parametric instability predicted for advanced laser interferometer gravitational-wave detectors