This paper uses the distribution and interpretation of antonymous adjectives in comparative constructions as an empirical basis to argue that abstract representations of measurement, or ‘degrees’, must be modeled as intervals on a scale, rather than as points, as commonly assumed. I begin by demonstrating that the facts in this domain must be accounted for in terms of the interaction of the sem...

Three public opinion studies examined public attitudes toward prevalence reduction (PR; reducing the number of people engaging in an activity) and harm reduction (HR; reducing the harm associated with an activity) across a wide variety of domains. Studies 1 and 2 were telephone surveys of California adults’ views on PR and HR strategies for a wide range of risk domains (heroin, alcoholism, toba...

Electromagnetism-like Optimization (EMO) is a global optimization algorithm, particularly well-suited to solve problems featuring non-linear and multimodal cost functions. EMO employs searcher agents that emulate a population of charged particles which interact with each other according to electromagnetism’s laws of attraction and repulsion. However, EMO usually requires a large number of itera...

Slippery slope arguments (SSAs) of the form if A, then C describe an initial proposal (A) and a predicted, undesirable consequence of this proposal (C) (e.g., "If cannabis is ever legalized, then eventually cocaine will be legalized, too"). Despite SSAs being a common rhetorical device, there has been surprisingly little empirical research into their subjective evaluation and perception. Here, ...

It is truly remarkable (Gödel . . . speaks of a kind of miracle) that it has proved possible to give a precise mathematical characterization of the class of processes that can be carried out by purely machanical means. It is in fact the possibility of such a characterization that underlies the ubiquitous applicability of digital computers. In addition it has made it possible to prove the algori...

Astrology Society

Multi-Objective Optimization (MOO) metaheuristics are commonly used for solving complex MOO problems characterized by non-convexity, multimodality, mixed-types variables, non-linearity, and other complexities. However, often metaheuristics suffer from slow convergence. Opposition-Based Learning (OBL) has been successfully used in the past for acceleration of single-objective metaheuristics. The...

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generally considered to be detrimental for health because of their association with a wide variety of diseases including, but not limited to type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular complications and cancer; as such, they have been considered to be undesirable by‐products of aerobic metabolism. This concept has led to the widespread use of antioxidant food supplements t...