Psychophysiological Predictors of Soldier Performance in Tunnel Warfare: A Field Study on the Correlates of Optimal Performance in a Simulation of Subterranean Combat

ABSTRACT Tunnel operations produce unique psychophysiological activation that is correlated with cognitive impairment and lower performance. This study introduces a new concept: subterranean operational potential (SOP) and assesses its psychophysiological correlates for performance prediction in underground spaces. 138 soldiers of elite infantry battalions, with/without previous experience, who participated in a simulation of tunnel warfare. Physical, psychological, cognitive style, and performance measures were collected. SOP has three sub-components: performance, leadership, and orientation. Leadership and performance both were negatively correlated with perceived stress. Claustrophobia was negatively correlated with leadership. The cognitive style was positively correlated with performance. Saliva cortisol levels were significantly higher before the simulation. Inexperienced and experienced differed in the change in before-after saliva cortisol levels.

Aesthetic cognition of society: modern and postmodern representations in contemporary non-fiction

Patterns of representation in travel writing, travel guides, journalism and memoir are shown to amount to aesthetic cognition by comparison to social science analogues. Their postmodernity questions the supposed factuality of those genres. Travel writing and travel guides’s expected orientation to the present is contested by how the past is used. The patterns show operational potential for empirical testing of usual temporal boundaries of the postmodern. Finally, they are forms of modern and postmodern cognitive engagement of tourists and would-be tourists with society, complementing major theories of tourist motivation.

FUZZY MODEL OF THE OPERATIONAL POTENTIAL CONSUMPTION PROCESS OF A COMPLEX TECHNICAL SYSTEM

During the operation process of a system its technical state is changed. The changes take place because of the wearing factors impact. The impact depends on the flow and intensity of the operation process what is characterized by the time histories of the working parameters. Simultaneously, the changes of the technical state are correlated with the changes of the amount of the operational potential included in a system. In order to avoid the inability state occurrence the amount of this potential should be higher than the boundary value. The amount of the operational potential included in a system is determined by the values of the cardinal features of it but in the case of the real technical system the values cannot always be measured. Therefore, the amount of the operational potential and the technical state of the system cannot always be determined online. To solve this problem the model of the operational potential consumption process was created and presented in the paper. The model uses artificial intelligence techniques to calculate the change of the operational potential amount by determining the changes of the cardinal features of the system on the basis of the time histories of the working parameters. The verification of the model quality was performed using the pulverized boiler OP-650k-040 operating in the power plant. The description of the conducted research and the results of the verification were presented in the end of the paper proving the adequacy of the model implementation in the case of industrial objects.

BLINDED BY THE LIES? Toward an integrated definition of conspiracy theories

Despite widespread concern over the alleged rise of conspiracy theories, scholars continue to disagree whether it is possible to distinguish specific kinds of conspiracist accounts that can justifiably be denounced as objectionable. In this article, we review scholarship from multiple disciplines to develop a composite definition of “conspiracy theories proper” (CTP) that violate fundamental norms of democratic discourse. Besides referring to grand conspiracies to account for social phenomena, we argue, such conspiracy theories: (a) assume conspirators’ pervasive control over events and information, (b) construct dissent as a Manichean binary, and (c) employ an elusive, dogmatic epistemology. We discuss the operational potential and limitations of our definition using news user talkbacks on the U.S., British and German online editions of Russia Today (RT), a popular platform among proponents of out-of-mainstream political views. Identifying key operational challenges in the classification of natural discourse, we sketch avenues toward a more rigorous study of contentious political talk.

FORMATION OF PROCEDURES FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONTROL ALGORITHM OF EXPERT-STATISTICAL METHODS OF EVALUATION OF OPERATIONAL POSSIBILITIES OF TERRITORIAL DYSIDES

The problem of formation of procedures of expert-statistical technique of estimation of operational possibili-ties of territorial divisions of the SES of Ukraine was considered in the work. Its relevance is determined by the ever-increasing level of danger of natural, man-made, social and military nature, which requires constant com-prehensive measures aimed at improving the functional efficiency of the Civil Service of Ukraine for Emergencies. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to form a set of procedures for the implementation of the control al-gorithm of expert-statistical methods for assessing the operational capabilities of emergency rescue units of terri-torial subordination. To ensure this goal, the following interrelated tasks were solved: generalized, classified and defined the se-quence and scheme of application of procedures for implementing the control algorithm of expert-statistical methodology; developed recommendations for the use of certain groups of procedures with the aim of the possibil-ity of effective application of expert-statistical methods for assessing operational potential; Preliminary calcula-tions were made to optimize the number of personnel of emergency rescue units of the territorial subordination of the SES of Ukraine. The result of the study was the solution of the problem, namely the formation of a logical sequence of appli-cation of the control algorithm of expert-statistical methods for assessing the operational potential of the territo-rial rescue units of the SES of Ukraine. The classification, the sequence and the scheme of application of the I-III group of procedures of realization of the control algorithm of the expert-statistical technique of an estimation of operational possibilities of emer-gency rescue divisions are carried out. Developed practical recommendations for the use of procedures of different groups, which in combination with previously obtained results suggests the possibility of effective application of expert-statistical methods for assessing operational capacity and optimization measures to increase the ability of rescue units to deal with emergencies of natural and man-made nature. Preliminary results of calculations on the optimization of the number of personnel of emergency rescue units allowed, justifiably, to recommend a gradual increase in the number of personnel, taking into account the region-al nature of natural and man-made hazards. Keywords: emergency situation, operational potential, operational capability, expert-statistical methodolo-gy, procedure.