Emotion, Meaning, and Appraisal Theory

According to psychological emotion theories referred to as appraisal theory, emotions are caused by appraisals (evaluative judgments). Borrowing a term from Jan Smedslund, it is the contention of this article that psychological appraisal theory is “pseudoempirical” (i.e., misleadingly or incorrectly empirical). In the article I outline what makes some scientific psychology “pseudoempirical,” distinguish my view on this from Jan Smedslund’s, and then go on to show why paying heed to the ordinary meanings of emotion terms is relevant to psychology, and how appraisal theory is methodologically off the mark by employing experiments, questionnaires, and the like, to investigate what follows from the ordinary meanings of words. The overarching argument of the article is that the scientific research program of appraisal theory is fundamentally misguided and that a more philosophical approach is needed to address the kinds of questions it seeks to answer

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time, and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space. While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes, vast areas of the tropics remain understudied. In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity, but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases. To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge, it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Photovoltaische Energieversorgungen fuer Umweltmessstationen Abschlussbericht

Das Konzept der photovoltaisch versorgten Umweltmessstation wird mit dem Niedersaechsischen Landesamt fuer Oekologie, Forschungsstelle Kueste abgestimmt. Im ersten Schritt wird der Energiebedarf der Verbraucher (Messwerterfassungsrechner, hydrologische Sensoren fuer Druck und Stroemungsgeschwindigkeit) minimiert. Ein wichtiger Ansatz ist das Lastmanagement, welches die Einschaltzeiten der Sensoren bis auf das messtechnisch notwendige Mass reduziert. Weil auf dem Markt weder geeignete Hardware- noch Softwareloesungen verfuegbar sind, erfolgt die Eigenentwicklung eines Messdatenerfassungs- und Steuerrechners mit geringer Leistungsaufnahme. Fuer den Standort Norderney im Niedersaechsischen Wattenmeer und die zugehoerige Strahlungs- und Lastcharakteristik wird die autonome photovoltaische Energieversorgung simulatationsgestuetzt dimensioniert. Die Auswahl und Anbringung der Komponenten traegt den spezifischen Standortbedingungen (Luftfeuchte, Tidenhub, Windlast) Rechnung. Verschiedene Prototypen der photovoltaisch versorgten Umweltmessstationen werden im Niedersaechsischen Wattenmeer langzeiterprobt. In der ersten Projektphase erfolgt eine Datenspeicherung vor Ort, in der zweiten eine Datenfernuebertragung mit Hilfe eines Mobilfunktelefons (C-Netz). Dafuer erfolgt die Eigenentwicklung eines Interfaces zwischen dem Mess- und Steuerrechner und dem Modem, welches sich durch einen geringen Eigenenergiebedarf und eine Ein- und Ausschaltmoeglichkeit fuer Modem und Mobilfunktelefon auszeichnet. Die hier durchgefuehrte Entwicklung und Prototypenerprobung erweitert den Einsatzbereich autonomer photovoltaisch versorgter Mess- und Ueberwachungsanlagen. (orig.)The conception of the photovoltaic supplied environmental monitoring station is in agreement with the Niedersaechsisches Landesamt fuer Oekologie, Forschungsstelle Kueste. In the first step the load energy demand (data acquisition unit, hydrological sensors for pressure and flow rate) is minimized. An important attempt is a load management, that reduces the switch-on periods of the sensors to a technically necessary extent. Because suitable hardware and software solutions are not available on the market, we develop a data acquisition and control device with low power demand. Due to the site of Norderney (North Sea coast of Lower Saxony) and the corresponding solar radiation and load characteristics the autonomous photovoltaic power supply is designed by computer simulation. The selection and installation of components takes into account the specific site conditions (humidity, the tides, wind load). Several prototypes of the photovoltaic supplied environmental monitoring station are tested over a long time range. In the beginning we use a data storage, later a data transmission by the aid of a cordless telephone (C-Net). We develop an interface between the data acquisition and control device and the modem that is characterized by low power demand and switching capability due to modem and cordless telephone. The performed developments and prototype testings expand the area of application of autonomous photovoltaic supplied monitoring and control devices. (orig.)SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: F95B784+a / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekBundesministerium fuer Forschung und Technologie (BMFT), Bonn (Germany)DEGerman

Dimensional Emotion Representation as a Basis for Speech Synthesis with Non-Extreme Emotions

Past attempts to model emotions for speech synthesis have focused on extreme, "basic" emotion categories. The present paper suggests an alternative representation of emotional states, by means of emotion dimensions, and explains how this approach can contribute to making speech synthesis a useful component of affective dialogue systems

Developing a consistent view on emotion-oriented computing

The network of excellence HUMAINE is currently making a co-ordinated, interdisciplinary effort to develop a consistent view on emotion-oriented computing. This overview paper proposes a “map” of the research area, distinguishing core technologies from applicationoriented and psychologically oriented work. First results from the ongoing research in the thematic workpackages are reported