Preprint of "What predicts perceived economic inequality? The roles of actual inequality, system justification, and fairness considerations"

Past studies have mostly focused on investigating actual economic inequality with less work devoted to understanding perceived economic inequality and its antecedents. However, numerous studies have shown that perceived inequality is a strong predictor of psychological, political, and social outcomes and hence is an important outcome in and of itself. This paper aims to identify the socioecological (i.e., actual inequality) and psychological (legitimation and fairness considerations) antecedents of perceived economic inequality. We hypothesized that individuals who legitimized income inequality would perceive less inequality, whereas individuals who experienced unfairness engendered by income inequality would perceive more inequality. We utilized a nationally representative sample in China (N = 33,600 respondents nested within 25 provinces) and conducted multilevel longitudinal analyses to test our hypotheses. In line with our predictions, we found that legitimation of inequality was associated with less perceived inequality six years later, whereas unfairness was associated with more perceived inequality six years later. In addition, we found that in more unequal areas, people perceived less income inequality. These longitudinal effects were robust when controlling for prior years of perceived inequality, economic development, and sociodemographic factors. Findings have implications for system justification and economic inequality theories.

An Analysis of Errors on Mathematical Symbol as a Metaphor in Linear Programming

Symbol sense is crucial in the understanding of mathematical problems comprising various symbols. The misuses of symbols happen due to misinterpretation, which is considered the constraint to learn algebra more comprehensively, including in linear programming. The term ‘metaphor’ is defined as a means to carry over symbol sense, and is used to improve mathematical understanding. This present research was aimed at analyzing errors on mathematical symbol as a metaphor in linear programming. This research was conducted by means of descriptive qualitative design, with a test and interview as the instruments. The test was made essay, and its results were analyzed qualitatively. The test, further, was administered to five eleventh graders selected according to highest rates of errors committed. This research has shown that the students committed a number of errors in some cases, such as representing symbols as variables, representing numbers, and interpreting symbols as relational operators. In addition, errors which the students committed in constructing mathematical models covered defining the final value, representing numbers, applying inequality system, and interpreting symbols as operation counts. This present research has provided some ways for symbol sense, and thus the errors on mathematical symbol as a metaphor could be lessened. Next, this research can be further followed up by reviewing the effectiveness of remedial instruction according to the committed errors on mathematical symbols.

Take one for the team: on the time efficiency of application-level buffer-aided relaying in edge cloud communication

Background Adding buffers to networks is part of the fundamental advance in data communication. Since edge cloud computing is based on the heterogeneous collaboration network model in a federated environment, it is natural to consider buffer-aided data communication for edge cloud applications. However, the existing studies generally pursue the beneficial features of buffering at a cost of time, not to mention that many investigations are focused on lower-layer data packets rather than application-level communication transactions. Aims Driven by our argument against the claim that buffers “can introduce additional delay to the communication between the source and destination”, this research aims to investigate whether or not (and if yes, to what extent) the application-level buffering mechanism can improve the time efficiency in edge-cloud data transmissions. Method To collect empirical evidence for the theoretical discussion, we built up a testbed to simulate a remote health monitoring system, and conducted both experimental and modeling investigations into the first-in-first-served (FIFS) and buffer-aided data transmissions at a relay node in the system. Results An empirical inequality system is established for revealing the time efficiency of buffer-aided edge cloud communication. For example, given the reference of transmitting the 11th data entity in the FIFS manner, the inequality system suggests buffering up to 50 data entities into one transmission transaction on our testbed. Conclusions Despite the trade-off benefits (e.g., energy efficiency and fault tolerance) of buffering data, our investigation argues that the buffering mechanism can also speed up data transmission under certain circumstances, and thus it would be worth taking data buffering into account when designing and developing edge cloud applications even in the time-critical context.

Take one for the team: On the time efficiency of application-level buffer-aided data relaying in edge cloud communication

Background: Adding buffers to networks is part of the fundamental advance in data communication. Since edge cloud computing is based on the heterogeneous collaboration network model in a federated environment, it is natural to consider buffer-aided data communication for edge cloud applications. However, the existing studies generally pursue the beneficial features of buffering at a cost of time, not to mention that many investigations are focused on lower-layer data packets rather than application-level communication transactions.Aims: Driven by a counterintuitive argument against the claim that buffers "can introduce additional delay to the communication between the source and destination", this research aims to investigate whether or not (and if yes, to what extent) the application-level buffering mechanism can improve the time efficiency in edge-cloud data transmissions.Method: To collect empirical evidence for the theoretical discussion, we built up a testbed to simulate a remote health monitoring system, and conducted both experimental and modeling investigations into the first-in-first-served (FIFS) and buffer-aided data transmissions at a relay node in the system.Results: An empirical inequality system is established for revealing the time efficiency of buffer-aided edge cloud communication. For example, given the reference of transmitting the 11th data entity in the FIFS manner, the inequality system suggests buffering up to 50 data entities into one transmission transaction on our testbed.Conclusions: Despite the trade-off benefits (e.g., energy efficiency and fault tolerance) of buffering data, our investigation argues that the buffering mechanism can also speed up data transmission under certain circumstances, and thus it would be worth taking data buffering into account when designing and developing edge cloud applications even in the time-critical context.

Three generations of Ukrainians in stratification hierarchies: a comparative perspective

The article analyzes the differences in positions in the stratification hierarchies of different generations. Based on the data of the sociological survey “Ukrainian Society”, conducted by the Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine in 1995–1997 and 2018–2020, four subsamples which represented three age cohorts (grandparents, parents (measured at two points) and children) were formed. Comparison of their characteristics made by combining three types of research designs (cross-sectional, cohort, and trend). The measurement of positions in the space of inequalities carried out with three groups of indicators (objective parameters, subjective perception and recognition of the legitimacy of stratification orders). On their basis, three typologies were constructed (objective, integral and economic position), consisting of an agreed high, medium and low status, as well as an inconsistent status. The study indicated many positive generational changes in the distributions of individuals along the main stratification hierarchies. The most dramatic changes fixed in the people’s perception of their social position and recognition of the legitimacy of the inequality system. There weren’t generational differences in status crystallization, although the links between status characteristics differed somewhat. In modern Ukrainian society, a large proportion of people belonged to the higher levels of hierarchies and smaller ones at the lower.

A New Algorithm for the Common Solutions of a Generalized Variational Inequality System and a Nonlinear Operator Equation in Banach Spaces

We study a new algorithm for the common solutions of a generalized variational inequality system and the fixed points of an asymptotically non-expansive mapping in Banach spaces. Under some specific assumptions imposed on the control parameters, some strong convergence theorems for the sequence generated by our new viscosity iterative scheme to approximate their common solutions are proved. As an application of our main results, we solve the standard constrained convex optimization problem. The results here generalize and improve some other authors’ recently corresponding results.