More Than A Feeling: The Communicative Function of Regret

Rüdiger Bittner argues that regret is not useful and so it is always unreasonable to feel and express it. In this paper, I argue that regret is often reasonable because regret has a communicative function: it communicates where we stand with respect to things we have done and outcomes that we have caused. So, I not only argue that Bittner’s argument is unsuccessful, I also shed light on the nature and purpose of regret.     

Sharing is (s)caring? Interactions between buses and bicyclists on bus lanes shared with bicyclists

This paper presents the results of an observation study of interactions between bicyclists and buses on shared bus lanes. The aim of the paper is to analyse bicyclists’ safety on bus lanes shared with bicyclists. Straight sections of two bus lanes shared with bicyclists in Belgium are observed. All interactions between bicyclists and buses over two full weeks are recorded and analysed. Additionally, the lateral position and riding speed of bicyclists that are in interaction with buses are compared with the behaviour of bicyclists that are not in interaction with buses. One of the observed bus lanes is in line with road design guidelines in a number of countries that state that a sufficiently narrow bus lane (<3.5 m) is hypothesised to be safer than a somewhat wider bus lane; the other observed bus lane is deemed too wide according to these guidelines and is hypothesised to lead to close overtaking manoeuvres.The results show that close interactions between bicyclists and buses are relatively frequent on both types of analysed bus lanes. Close overtaking manoeuvres (a bus overtakes a bicyclist with a lateral distance less than 1 m) as well as close bicycle-following situations (a bus drives behind a bicyclist with a time gap less than 2 s) are quite common on both analysed bus lanes. The analyses could not confirm the hypothesis that a sufficiently narrow bus lane is safer than a wider bus lane. On the contrary, close interactions seem even slightly more common on the narrower bus lane. Slightly more close overtaking manoeuvres take place on the narrower bus lane, but the difference is not statistically significant. Additionally, more bicycle-following situations take place on the narrower bus lane because overtaking is more difficult. The results show that buses often maintain a close time gap in these situations. The overtaking speed of the buses is, however, significantly higher on the wider bus lane compared to the narrower one.Moreover, the presence of a bus has an influence on the behaviour of bicyclists. Bicyclists who get overtaken by a bus ride more closely to the edge of the road than bicyclists who are not in interaction with a bus. While the road design guidelines assume that bicyclists take up a width of one meter from the edge on bus lanes shared with bicyclists, the observations show that bicyclists take up much less space while being overtaken. The presence of a bus does not have a significant influence on the standard deviation of the lateral position of the bicyclist. On the narrower bus lane, some findings suggest that bicyclists who are involved in an interaction with a bus ride faster than bicyclists who are not involved in an interaction with a bus.     

Pedestrian temporal gap acceptance behavior at unsignalized intersections in Kanpur,India

Vehicle heterogeneity, lack of lane discipline, lack of infrastructure facilities, and weak enforcement of traffic rules are all characteristics of Indian traffic. These characteristics make Indian roads difficult for non-motorized road users, especially pedestrians. Most intersections in urban areas in India are unsignalized, which results in complex interactions between pedestrians and motorists. This study aims to understand pedestrian gap acceptance behavior at unsignalized intersections in India under heterogeneous traffic conditions. Pedestrian data were collected from six unsignalized intersections in the city of Kanpur. The critical gap was estimated using Wu’s (2006) macroscopic model, and then the effects of several variables on the critical gap were studied. A discrete choice model (binary logit model) was developed to understand the choice of accepted and rejected vehicular gaps depending on traffic, road, and peer pedestrian characteristics. The mean critical headway was 3.76 s using Wu’s model. The behavioral analysis revealed that pedestrians accept rolling gaps to cross unsignalized intersections, resulting in a reduction of the size of the critical gap. The adoption of rolling gap behavior can be attributed to the unyielding behavior of motorists, which forces pedestrians to accept short vehicular gaps in the traffic stream.     

间距和语义对阅读障碍儿童拥挤效应的影响

以14名阅读障碍儿童以及与其年龄和阅读水平相匹配的儿童为实验对象,考察了间距和语义对阅读障碍儿童拥挤效应的影响。结果发现阅读障碍儿童受拥挤效应的影响显著大于正常儿童,表明阅读障碍存在视觉加工缺陷;间距和语义均影响阅读障碍儿童的拥挤效应,表明影响阅读障碍儿童拥挤效应的因素既有刺激的低水平视觉特征,也有高水平语言信息;间距与阅读障碍儿童拥挤效应的关系呈U型。     

From Assessment to Design: What Is Really Needed in Technology Accompaniment to Achieve Subject Constitution?

Based on the argument that technologies mediate human experience and praxis, the idea of technology accompaniment has been suggested as an approach to developing human-tech relations. In light of this idea, this paper argues, firstly, that when technologies inevitably have moral relevance in influencing human perceptions and actions, the constitution of a moral subject has much to do with shaping technological mediation deliberately and creatively. While there is not always a direct connection between what humans know and what humans do, technological mediation can help to strengthen people’s motivation to do the right thing. Subsequently, we examine two approaches that have often been suggested for realizing subject-constitution-with-technology: one is Technology Assessment, and the other is Mediation Design. Although the former can equip people with knowledge about technological mediation, it is relatively weak when it comes to directly producing moral behavior. In contrast, the latter not only exerts a more direct impact on user behavior but may also improve people’s moral knowledge. Nonetheless, both approaches face the general challenge of moral education. As moral knowledge does not guarantee moral behavior, knowing facts and theories about technological mediation may not lead to subject constitution as a result of the development of the human-tech relationship. To overcome this difficulty, an extension of the latter approach is proposed. The design of meta-mediation has great potential to shift users’ attention to the aforementioned mediating effect of technology-in-use and, thereby, users’ subject constitution can be enabled.     

The Role of Science in Evangelical Hermeneutics

In this article, I argue that evangelical Christians can accommodate science within the limits of strict Biblical exegesis governed by grammatical-historical hermeneutics. To this end, I describe the grammatical-historical method to show how science enters into it. I then distinguish between theological and exegetical uses of science. Next, I use Lakatos’ philosophy of science to distinguish between ad hoc and well-motivated exegetical moves. Based upon these criteria, I then present the gap- and day-age theories as examples of hermeneutical failure in the accommodation of science. Finally, I use the framework interpretation to illustrate a hermeneutically successful accommodation of science.     

On modeling the creativity and the concept of Chef-D’oeuvre

The problem of modeling the creativity is shown to be entirely connected with another mysterious challenge — the “Explanatory Gap” between the concepts of “Brain” and “Mind”. We use the Natural Constructive Cognitive Architecture, with its important feature being the combination of two subsystems, for generation of new information and for its conservation. “Brain” is considered as records of the raw images of real objects (individual objective information), while “Mind” refers to individual subjective information created inside the cognitive system (symbols). We argued that creativity can be treated as “an effort to bring a piece of personal “Brain” into the “Mind” and World”. Specific thinking mode (intellectual panic or throes of creativity) is shown to enhance the creative work resulting in over-mobilization and even enriching personal deep inside (“Brain”) experience. It is simulated by chaotic jumps of the noise amplitude around abnormally high value. The nature of Aesthetic Emotions and the concept of Chef-D’oeuvre are analyzed. It is shown that they are caused by the “recognition paradox”: an object seems both, familiar but unusual. This occurs if the “Brain” does see its subtle features, while the “Mind” does not realize. Bright aesthetic emotions (goosebumps) are caused by irregular excitation of implicit associations provided by weak (“gray”) connections of the halo neurons (simulating the subconsciousness). General formula for Chef-D’oeuvre in science and art could be expressed as “condensed capacity to see the invisible, to combine the incompatible”.     

发展性阅读障碍的视觉拥挤效应

发展性阅读障碍的核心缺陷一直是研究者关注的焦点。近年来,国内外大量研究发现视觉加工缺陷可能是导致阅读障碍的一个重要原因,其中视觉拥挤效应与阅读障碍密切相关。本文将回顾视觉拥挤效应的概念及其理论基础、拼音文字和汉语阅读障碍者视觉拥挤效应的相关研究,提出汉语阅读障碍视觉拥挤效应研究的未来发展方向,以便更好地了解汉语阅读障碍与视觉拥挤效应之间的关系。