Lessons learned from pedestrian-driver communication and yielding patterns

Understanding the hidden patterns of tacit communication between drivers and pedestrians is crucial for improving pedestrian safety. However, this type of communication is a result of the psychological processes of both pedestrians and drivers, which are very difficult to understand thoroughly. This study utilizes a naturalistic field study dataset and explores the hidden patterns from successful and failed communication events using a pattern recognition method known as Taxicab Correspondence Analysis (TCA). The successful communication scenarios indicate the combinations of variable attributes such as eye contact, facial expression, the assertion of crossing, and effective traffic control devices are strongly associated with successful scenarios. The patterns for failed scenarios are most likely to be on the roadway with a relatively higher speed limit (e.g., 35 mph) and a relatively lower speed limit (e.g., 15 mph) under different conditions. On roadways with a higher speed limit, the failed scenarios are highly associated with passive and undecisive pedestrians, pedestrians far away from the crosswalk, regardless of pedestrian-driver eye contact and facial expression of the pedestrians. Instead of waiting for pedestrians to making a crossing decision, overspeeding drivers are more likely to speed up and pass the crosswalk. On roadways with a lower speed limit, the failed scenarios are often associated with distracted pedestrians, vehicles having the right of way, and the absence of effective traffic control devices. These findings could help transportation agencies identify appropriate countermeasures to reduce pedestrian crashes. The findings on driver-pedestrian communication patterns could provide scopes for improvement in computer vision-based algorithms designed for autonomous vehicle industries.     

存在问题的逻辑语言维度

存在问题在分析哲学的背景下取得了深入细致的研究成果。在“何谓存在”问题上,围绕“存在”是不是个体的属性从而是不是逻辑谓词的争论呈现出三派观点:弗雷格、罗素等从一阶逻辑出发,认为“存在”不是逻辑谓词,而是量词;皮尔士、斯特劳森等结合精致的自然语言分析,认为“存在”在某些特殊情况下表达了个体的属性,是一种特殊的谓词;自由逻辑学家则从自由逻辑的角度给出了肯定的答案。在“何物存在”问题上,蒯因“存在就是约束变项的值”的本体论承诺标准机智地揭示了存在问题的语言学实质。可以说,利用一阶逻辑解释存在问题的方法是比较成功的。如果将弗雷格、罗素的一阶语言扩展到高阶语言,则既能与蒯因的理论连贯一致,又能避免无谓的“存在”本体论纷争。这种做法的结果是“存在”具有了层次性的特征。掌握一定的逻辑学基础知识,有助于我们深入研究西方哲学。     

A review of Lacan's seminar on anxiety1

The seminar on anxiety marks a turning point in the development of Lacan's thought from several perspectives. First, Lacan implicitly abandons his theory that the unconscious is structured like a language. He also abandons the endeavour to identify Freud's theory with his own. He develops some original new ideas about anxiety, some of which are of great interest, such as the connection between castration anxiety and narcissism; others, such as his denial of the existence of separation anxiety, are absurd. Lacan's main point of divergence from Freud, his rejection of the inner world, also emerges clearly in this seminar.     

Item Response Theory with Estimation of the Latent Population Distribution Using Spline-Based Densities

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new method for fitting item response theory models with the latent population distribution estimated from the data using splines. A spline-based density estimation system provides a flexible alternative to existing procedures that use a normal distribution, or a different functional form, for the population distribution. A simulation study shows that the new procedure is feasible in practice, and that when the latent distribution is not well approximated as normal, two-parameter logistic (2PL) item parameter estimates and expected a posteriori scores (EAPs) can be improved over what they would be with the normal model. An example with real data compares the new method and the extant empirical histogram approach.     

中药传统文化保护的现状与问题研究

中药为我国的国民健康做出了巨大贡献,并已走向世界,但是,我国的中药产业并没有得到繁荣。出现这种现象,与我国实施与中药传统文化不相适宜的专利、商标、商业秘密、地理标志等西方创造的知识产权制度保护中药有关,我国的《中药品种保护条例》存在问题,我国缺乏中药传统文化创新激励机制和自主制定的中药国际法体系。因此,为了有效保护中药传统文化,必须建立适合我国中药文化特色的保护制度和创新激励机制。     

论医学人文属性复归的途径

医学本是自然科学和人文社会科学的统一体 ,但因历史和现实的诸多原因 ,导致医学中人文属性的严重缺失。分析了人文缺失的直接原因和深层根源 ,强调了医学人文社会属性的不可缺失性 ,提出了医学人文属性复归之途径     

Interpolation and Amalgamation; Pushing the Limits. Part II

This is the second part of the paper [Part I] which appeared in the previous issue of this journal.     

心理咨询过程-效果研究现状及展望

心理咨询过程-效果研究考察咨询过程变量对咨询效果的影响。以人为中心流派、认知流派、行为流派、精神分析流派等都为该研究领域提供了理论基础。主要研究内容有咨询师的反应方式、会谈中的当事人行为、工作同盟、会谈中的重要内容等过程变量与效果的关系。该领域积累的成果还不多,这可能与过程-效果关系本身的复杂性有关,同时研究方法尚有许多欠缺,如考察复杂关系时使用的研究设计过于简单、测量工具不统一导致结果难以比较,有些测量工具不成熟信效度不高。未来的研究除了努力克服这些问题外,还应多考虑理论构建、内隐变量的调节和中介作用、当事人变量,在研究方法上应更为综合和多样化