Range additivity, shorted operator and the Sherman-Morrison-Woodbury formula

We say that two operators A, B have the range additivity property if R(A + B) = R(A) + R(B). In this article we study the relationship between range additivity, shorted operator and certain Hilbert space decomposition known as compatibility. As an application, we extend to infinite dimensional Hilbert space operators a formula by Fill and Fishkind related to the well-known Sherman-Morrison-Woodbury formula

Physical and Psychosocial Correlates of Facial Attractiveness

This research aimed to investigate whether and how facial attractiveness relates to physical (height and weight), social (relationship status), and psychological characteristics (personality traits, self-esteem, locus of control, self-evaluated social status, trait anxiety, and time perspective) in a sample of college students. In the first study, 231 participants (males and females) provided a standardized photo of their faces, self-rated their attractiveness, answered some anthropometric and demographic questions, and completed some psychological questionnaires. In a second study, the faces were evaluated for attractiveness by an external group of same-aged judges (N = 236). Attractiveness was negatively correlated with body mass index and with height (only in males). Attractive individuals reported being in a long-term romantic relationship more than others. Self-rated and/or other-rated attractiveness were positively correlated with self-reported social status, self-esteem, and past-positive time perspective, and negatively correlated with trait anxiety, neuroticism, and past-negative time perspective. The findings of this study suggest that more attractive individuals possess characteristics that favor psychological well-being and good mental health and that make them desirable and successful as social or romantic partners. Attractiveness may also be associated with adaptive cognitive biases that promote self-enhancement

Semiclosed multivalued projections

A multivalued projection is an idempotent linear relation with invariant domain. We characterize multivalued projections that are operator ranges (called semiclosed) and provide several formulae of them. Moreover, we study the decomposability and continuity of multivalued projections, and describe nilpotent relations

A greater decline in female facial attractiveness during middle age reflects women’s loss of reproductive value

Facial attractiveness represents an important component of an individual’s overall attractiveness as a potential mating partner. Perceptions of facial attractiveness are expected to vary with age-related changes in health, reproductive value, and power. In this study, we investigated perceptions of facial attractiveness, power, and personality in two groups of women of pre- and post-menopausal ages (35–50 years and 51–65 years, respectively) and two corresponding groups of men. We tested three hypotheses: (1) that perceived facial attractiveness would be lower for older than for younger men and women; (2) that the age-related reduction in facial attractiveness would be greater for women than for men; and (3) that for men, there would be a larger increase in perceived power at older ages. Eighty facial stimuli were rated by 60 (30 male, 30 female) middle-aged women and men using online surveys. Our three main hypotheses were supported by the data. Consistent with sex differences in mating strategies, the greater age-related decline in female facial attractiveness was driven by male respondents, while the greater age-related increase in male perceived power was driven by female respondents. In addition, we found evidence that some personality ratings were correlated with perceived attractiveness and power ratings. The results of this study are consistent with evolutionary theory and with previous research showing that faces can provide important information about characteristics that men and women value in a potential mating partner such as their health, reproductive value, and power or possession of resources

Small is beautiful? Emerging organizational strategies among Italian professionals

The traditional debate about professional groups has mainly focused on conflicts between professions and organizations, reinforcing dualisms and dichotomies. Few scholars have investigated the extent to which professionalism and organizations are intertwined while focusing on the case of professionals integrated into large organizations, and even less attention has been paid to emerging forms of organization among self-employed professionals. Taking as an example organizational trends among architects (liberal professionals) and management consultants (emerging professionals) in Italy, this article investigates how small, flexible, and (often) interprofessional organizations promoted by self-employed professionals are increasingly instrumental in overcoming market pressures and responding to emerging social needs in times of crisis and austerity.Le debat traditionnel à propos des groupes professionnels a principalement concerné les conflits entre professions et organisations, renforçant ainsi les dualisations et dichotomies entre ces deux groupes. Peu de chercheurs ont enquêté à quel point la profession et l'organisationnel sont interdependants lors de l'étude de l'integration de professionnels à de grandes organisations. En fait, moins d'attention a été portée aux formes organisationnelles émergentes entre les professionnels indépendants. En prenant exemple sur les architectes (professionnels libéraux) et les professionnels dans le conseil en management (professionnels émergents) qui travaillent en Italie, cet article analyse comment les organisations des professionnels indépendants, qui sont petites, flexibles et (souvent) interprofessionnelles, se transforment en outils pour faire face à la pression du marché et pour répondre aux besoins émergents en temps de crises et austérité

Testosterone, cortisol, and status-striving personality features: A review and empirical evaluation of the dual hormone hypothesis

Decades of research in behavioral endocrinology has implicated the gonadal hormone testosterone in the reg- ulation of mating effort, often expressed in primates in the form of aggressive and/or status-striving behavior. Based on the idea that neuroendocrine axes influence each other, recent work among humans has proposed that links between testosterone and indices of status-striving are rendered conditional by the effects of glucocorti- coids. The Dual Hormone hypothesis is one particular instance of this argument, predicting that cortisol blocks the effects of testosterone on dominance, aggression, and risk-taking in humans. Support for the Dual Hormone hypothesis is wide-ranging, but considerations of theoretical ambiguity, null findings, and low statistical power pose problems for interpreting the published literature. Here, we contribute to the development of the Dual Hormone hypothesis by (1) critically reviewing the extant literature—including p-curve analyses of published findings; and, (2) “opening the file drawer” and examining relationships between testosterone, cortisol, and status-striving personality features in seven previously published studies from our laboratories (total N = 718; median N per feature = 318) that examined unrelated predictions. Results from p-curve suggest that published studies have only 16% power to detect effects, while our own data show no robust interactions between tes- tosterone and cortisol in predicting status-striving personality features. We discuss the implications of these results for the Dual Hormone hypothesis, limitations of our analyses, and the development of future research

Ethnicity-Related Variation in Sexual Promiscuity, Relationship Status, and Testosterone Levels in Men

The purpose of this study was to investigate potential ethnicity-related variation in men's relationship status, sexual promiscuity, and testosterone levels. Data from two ethnically diverse subject populations were used. The first dataset included 302 male graduate students (age range: 23-36 years; M ϭ 28); the second dataset consisted of 77 male undergraduate and graduate students (age range: 18 -38 years; M ϭ 23). For both, we collected information on ethnicity (European American, African American, Hispanic, or Asian American), relationship status (single, in a short-term or long-term relationship, or married), and sexual promiscuity (number of lifetime sexual partners, number of one-night stands, extrapair sexual activity), in addition to measuring salivary testosterone concentrations. In both datasets testosterone levels were significantly higher in single men than in men in relationships but this difference was reversed in men of Asian American ethnicity. Asian American men had the lowest number of sexual partners, one-night stands, and extrapair sexual activity across ethnic groups. Moreover, among Asian Americans, men in relationships had a higher average number of sexual partners than single men. Our results indicate that to understand the association between relationship status and testosterone levels in men, ethnicity-related variation in sexual activity in single men and men in relationships must be taken into consideration