Defining a good distance (dissimilarity) measure between patterns is of crucial importance in many classification and clustering algorithms. While a lot of work has been performed on continuous attributes, nominal attributes are more difficult to handle. A popular approach is to use the value difference metric (VDM) to define a real-valued distance measure on nominal values. However, VDM treats the attributes separately and ignores any possible interactions among attributes. In this paper, we propose the use of adaptive dissimilarity matrices for measuring the dissimilarities between nominal values. These matrices are learned via optimizing an error function on the training samples. Experimental results show that this approach leads to better classification performance. Moreover, it also allows easier interpretation of (dis)similarity between different nominal values.

The present study assessed how empathy and vertical collectivism are related to moral competency in a sample of Hong Kong Chinese university students (N = 153; 70 men, 83 women). The Emotional Tendency Scale, Individualism-Collectivism Scale, and Moral Judgment Test were used to quantify empathy, vertical collectivism, and moral competency, respectively. Results showed that empathy was not statistically significantly correlated with moral judgment. The interaction of vertical collectivism and empathy predicted a theoretically important portion of the variance in moral competency. The role of culture in moral development was discussed.

The relationship between the belief in yuan and coping mechanisms, as well as an individual's psychological well-being, was explored in this study. Self-report questionnaires were administered to a total of 155 local Hong Kong men and women. Hierarchical regression analyses and factorial analysis of variance were run. No gender differences were found in adaptive or maladaptive coping and psychological well-being amongst the participants. Findings indicated that the belief in yuan contributed to the prediction of psychological well-being after controlling for coping. Significant gender differences have also been found in the level of the belief in yuan. Men and women were found to hold different attitudes towards yuan, which impacted their psychological well-being differently when the effect of coping had been partial out. There was a significant interaction effect between gender and the belief in yuan. Men were found to be firmer believers in yuan and such belief had a positive effect on their psychological well-being while the opposite was found for women. It was suggested that such a relationship is due to men's tendency to employ rationalization as a defence and that yuan provided men with a greater sense of security. On the contrary, the stronger women believed in yuan, the less self-perceived healthy they were, thereby indicating that yuan could be a form of coping strategy employed differently by contemporary men and women. It was hence concluded that although yuan appeared to be a traditional concept, it still continues to play a crucial role in influencing one's psychological well-being.