Type A affine shuffles are compared with riffle shuffles followed by a cut. Although these probability measures on the symmetric group Sn are different, they both satisfy a convolution property. Strong evidence is given that when the underlying parameter q satisfies gcd(n, q−1) = 1, the induced measures on conjugacy classes of the symmetric group coincide. This gives rise to interesting combina...

Background and Objectives: The lives of all people without mental disorders are not equally healthy and fruitful, and not necessarily healthier and more fruitful than the lives of people with such disorders. Therefore, identifying psychological variables that affect well-being can play a significant role in applying these variables in practical situations. The aim of this study was to codify a ...

People tend to react more strongly to a dread risk, a rare event that kills many people at once, than to a continuous risk, a relatively frequent event that kills many people over a longer period of time, even when both cause the same number of fatalities. This different reaction to the dread risk is often considered a bias, but we show that it is an ecologically rational strategy. In a series ...

A low-probability, high-damage event in which many people are killed at one point of time is called a dread risk. Dread risks can cause direct damage and, in addition, indirect damage mediated though the minds of citizens. I analyze the behavioral reactions of Americans to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and provide evidence for the dread hypothesis: (i) Americans reduced their air...