Autonomous trading is often seen as artificial intelligence applied to finance by AI researchers, but it may also be a way to motivate the development of autonomous agents, just like robot soccer competitions are used to motivate the research in mobile robots. In fact, some initiatives could be observed in recent years, for instance [1] and [2]. In this paper, we present a multiagent system com...

Understanding the Development of Fundamentalism We use economic theory to examine the intensity of fundamentalist sects. Leaders work to enhance their followers’ observance level. We model three stylized situations under which fundamentalist groups function, examining the intensity of observance in each. We find that, under reasonable conditions, rivalry among fundamentalists makes them more ex...

We use Wisconsin Longitudinal Study data (n = 2,678) to assess the effects of religious denomination and ideology on end-of-life treatment preferences in two hypothetical terminal illness scenarios: physical pain and severe cognitive impairment. We found no statistically significant differences when comparing traditionally defined religious denominational groups (i.e., conservative, moderate an...

Add Health measures the physical attractiveness of its respondents both objectively and subjectively. At the end of each interview, the interviewer rates the physical attractiveness of the respondent objectively on the following five-point scale: 1 = very unattractive, 2 = unattractive, 3 = about average, 4 = attractive, 5 = very attractive. The physical attractiveness of each Add Health respon...

The role of religious orientation in group boundary maintenance was explored in the context of Fundamentalist Mormon polygamy. A sample of 2330 Protestants, Catholics, Mormons, Fundamentalist (polygamous) Mormons, and religious ‘‘nones’’ responded to a series of questions regarding sexuality, polygamy, religious orientation, religious doubt, and whether Mormons are considered Christian. Regress...

Results of qualitative biographical research on Christian fundamentalist converts and de-converts, and on occultist adolescents are presented and documented using case studies. Research focused on life themes and on biographical processes and transformations. Contrastive comparison of the cases resulted in typologies of Christian fundamentalist biographies and of "ways of dis-enchantment". Thes...

We use Wisconsin Longitudinal Study data (n=2,678) to assess the effects of religious denomination and ideology on end-of-life treatment preferences in two hypothetical terminal illness scenarios: physical pain and severe cognitive impairment. We found no statistically significant differences when comparing traditionally defined religious denominational groups (i.e., conservative, moderate, and...