In 1988, the control of the American Psychological Association shifted to those advocating the interests of professional practice and a substantial segment of the scientific community in psychology seceded to form the American Psychological Society, devoted to scientific psychology and scientific-based practice. In this climate, it has become increasingly difficult for scientists and practitioners to maintain analytical discussions of the philosophical and methodological issues that divide these two groups. For over 25 years, the authors have been fortunate to have the (...) professional and intellectual luxury of just such a discussion, and present here a dialogue that attempts to capture their initial stark differences in perspective and the process by which differences have been clarified, and areas of agreement established. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

© 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.We present new observations of the low-mass companion to HD 984 taken with the Gemini Planet Imager as a part of the GPI Exoplanet Survey campaign. Images of HD 984 B were obtained in the J and H bands. Combined with archival epochs from 2012 and 2014, we fit the first orbit to the companion to find an 18 au orbit with a 68% confidence interval between 14 and 28 au, an eccentricity (...) of 0.18 with a 68% confidence interval between 0.05 and 0.47, and an inclination of 119°with a 68% confidence interval between 114°and 125°. To address the considerable spectral covariance in both spectra, we present a method of splitting the spectra into low and high frequencies to analyze the spectral structure at different spatial frequencies with the proper spectral noise correlation. Using the split spectra, we compare them to known spectral types using field brown dwarf and low-mass star spectra and find a best-fit match of a field gravity M6.5 ±1.5 spectral type with a corresponding temperature of K. Photometry of the companion yields a luminosity of log=2.88 ± 0.07 dex with DUSTY models. Mass estimates, again from DUSTY models, find an age-dependent mass of 34 ±1 to 95 ±4 M Jup. These results are consistent with previous measurements of the object. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In Power Without Knowledge, Jeffrey Friedman contends that ideational complexity can stymie social-scientific understanding and prevent the reliable predictive knowledge required of a well-functioning technocracy. However, even this somewhat pessimistic outlook may understate the problem. Ideational complexity has both cognitive and phenomenal dimensions, each of which poses unique dilemmas. Further, due to its methodological individualism, Friedman’s vision may neglect emergent layers of knowledge produced through social interaction, creating yet another source of unknowns. Given these two factors, social science (...) should embrace a pluralism regarding levels of analysis. This would recognize the multifaceted limitations on social-science knowledge production, furthering epistemic humility about the potential role of social science in technocratic policymaking. (shrink)

Rather than proclaiming the "death of God," in the fashion of Nietzsche's madman, F. LeRon Shults proudly proclaims the "birth of God" in his incendiary, radically iconoclastic book Theology after the Birth of God. Shults argues, drawing on the multidisciplinary findings of the biocultural study of religion, that the commonplace belief in supernatural agents is the result of a variety of evolved cognitive and coalitional mechanisms that cause human beings to overdetect agency and that contribute to in-group cohesion—traits that would (...) have been selected because they aided the survival of early hominids living in hunter-gatherer societies, but that are maladaptive in our contemporary context. In his most recent book... (shrink)

In contrast to the views put forth by Stein & Glasier, we support the use of inbred strains of rodents in studies of the immunobiology of neural transplants. Inbred strains demonstrate homology of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Virtually all experimental work in transplantation immunology is performed using inbred strains, yet very few published studies of immune rejection in intracerebral grafts have used inbred animals.

The Huntington, Salamonie, and Mississinewa reservoirs in northern Indiana control seasonal flooding in the Upper Wabash River drainage area. They appeared in the 1960s after a long period of study and planning in response to large-scale flooding in central and southern Indiana in the first half of the twentieth century. Their construction disrupted the pattern of human ecology along the Wabash and its tributaries for many of the watershed’s inhabitants. Supporters touted the projects’ economic and recreational benefits, while opponents experienced (...) the change as a desecration of sacred space. The projects saved millions in property damage and perhaps many human lives, but at the cost of an enduring sense of place amid the advent of a new regime of scientific watershed management and state control over natural resources in the region. (shrink)

From the perspective of ecological psychology, perception and action are not separate, linear, and mechanistic processes that refer to the immediate present. Rather, they are reciprocal and continuous and refer to the impending future. Therefore, from the perspective of ecological psychology, delays in perception and action are impossible, and delay compensation mechanisms are unnecessary.

Wynn suggests that the imposition of symmetry on stone tools is indicative of the evolutionary development of cognitive abilities of the tool makers, particularly that of creating mental images. I suggest that it is more likely indicative of the evolutionary development of the perceptual ability to detect resources for behavior of hand-held objects.

Order and pattern abound in the natural world. However, whereas the emergence of order and pattern in physical or biological systems is typically explained by means of self-organization and field dynamics, the emergence of order and pattern in psychological systems is typically explained by means of mediating endogenous entities or mechanisms . I review a self-organization and field-based approach to understanding order and patterns in a variety of physical and biological systems. I then provide a sketch of recent research that (...) has applied such an approach to understanding order and pattern in psychological phenomena . Such an approach promises to reduce the explanatory burden associated with psychological phenomena and brings explanations of such phenomena into greater congruence with natural law. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

In the "cratylus", Plato presents two theories about the correctness of names, I.E., Names are correct by nature and names are correct by convention. In this paper, I argue that plato holds both views because he recognizes that the word 'name' is ambiguous as between type and token. Name tokens (individual strings of marks and noises) are conventional for plato. But name types (the role played by the tokens or the concept expressed by the tokens) are not conventional for plato.

Theory in Africa, Africa in Theory explores the place of Africa in archaeological theory, and the place of theory in African archaeology. The centrality of African models in reconstructions is explored, focusing on materiality and agency in the past. The differences between how African models are used in western theoretical discourse and the use of that theory within Africa are also highlighted, as a means to explore the nature of theory itself. Thus, this dual purposed volume is a timely intervention (...) into archaeological theory, deconstructing the taken-for-granted foundations of the ways we approach the past. (shrink)

We consider the version of Pure Inductive Logic which obtains for the language with equality and a single unary function symbol giving a complete characterization of the probability functions on this language which satisfy Constant Exchangeability.

We investigate the complexity of finding solutions to infinite recursive constraint satisfaction problems. We show that, in general, the problem of finding a solution to an infinite recursive constraint satisfaction problem is equivalent to the problem of finding an infinite path through a recursive tree. We also identify natural classes of infinite recursive constraint satisfaction problems where the problem of finding a solution to the infinite recursive constraint satisfaction problem is equivalent to the problem of finding an infinite path through (...) finitely branching recursive trees or recursive binary trees. There are a large number of results in the literature on the complexity of the problem of finding an infinite path through a recursive tree. Our main result allows us to automatically transfer such results to give equivalent results about the complexity of the problem of finding a solution to a recursive constraint satisfaction problem. (shrink)

A computable graph is constructed which is not computably isomorphic to any polynomial-time graph with a standard universe . Conditions are given under which a computable graph is computably isomorphic to a polynomial-time graph with a standard universe — for example, if every vertex has finite degree. Two special types of graphs are studied. It is shown that any computable tree is recursively isomorphic to a p-time tree with standard universe and that any computable equivalence relation is computably isomorphic to (...) a p-time equivalence relation with standard universe. (shrink)

Index sets are used to measure the complexity of properties associated with the differentiability of real functions and the existence of solutions to certain classic differential equations. The new notion of a locally computable real function is introduced and provides several examples of Σ04 complete sets.

As the 20th century began, few effective therapies existed. This soon changed with major therapeutic discoveries turning the century into what has been called the golden age of therapeutics.1 The emphasis of most of these developments was on medicines for common disorders as they presented the greatest need. However, it also allowed pharmaceutical manufacturers to produce blockbuster drugs that provided a large return on investment. Rare disorders were overlooked because most are genetic in origin and scientific knowledge was lacking, making (...) it difficult to find treatments. The first genetic disorder with a therapy was phenylketonuria. The biochemist who proposed the first successful treatment in the 1950s was actively discouraged as phenylketonuria was genetic and ‘incurable’.2 Another reason was an absence of incentives to invest in developing medicines for which the return was limited, given the small numbers of potential patients. This changed from 1983 as several countries began introducing orphan drug policies, with Canada being a notable exception. As the millennium changed, some drugs for rare disorders were available, but the sequencing of the human genome in the early 2000s provided scientific knowledge to develop many more. The new therapies are often costly because they require millions, even billions, of dollars and years to develop, test and satisfy regulatory standards. …. (shrink)

Although we agree with Hommel et al. that perception and action refer to one another, we disagree that they do so via a code. Gibson (1966; 1979) attempted to frame perception-action as a field phenomenon rather than as a particle phenomenon. From such a perspective, perception and action are adjoint, mutually interacting through an information field, and codes are unnecessary.

In this paper, we study the lattice of r.e. subspaces of a recursively presented vector space V ∞ with regard to the various complexity-theoretic speed-up properties such as speedable, effectively speedable, levelable, and effectively levelable introduced by Blum and Marques. In particular, we study the interplay between an r.e. basis A for a subspace V of V ∞ and V with regard to these properties. We show for example that if A or V is speedable , then V is levelable (...) . We also show that if A is an r.e. subset of a recursive basis for V ∞ , then A is levelable iff V is speedable while it is not the case that A is levelable iff V is speedable. We also provide several contrasts between the lattice of r.e. subspaces and the lattice of r.e. sets with respect to these speed-up properties. For example, every maximal set is levelable but we show that there exist supermaximal spaces which are nonspeedable in all possible r.e. degrees as well as supermaximal spaces which are levelable in all r.e. degrees which contain levelable sets. (shrink)

An ω-language is a set of infinite sequences on a countable language, and corresponds to a set of real numbers in a natural way. Languages may be described by logical formulas in the arithmetical hierarchy and also may be described as the set of words accepted by some type of automata or Turing machine. Certain families of languages, such as the equation image languages, may enumerated as P0, P1, … and then an index set associated to a given property R (...) of languages is just the set of e such that Pe has the property. The complexity of index sets for 7 types of languages is determined for various properties related to the size of the language. (shrink)

We give resource bounded versions of the Completeness Theorem for propositional and predicate logic. For example, it is well known that every computable consistent propositional theory has a computable complete consistent extension. We show that, when length is measured relative to the binary representation of natural numbers and formulas, every polynomial time decidable propositional theory has an exponential time (EXPTIME) complete consistent extension whereas there is a nondeterministic polynomial time (NP) decidable theory which has no polynomial time complete consistent extension (...) when length is measured relative to the binary representation of natural numbers and formulas. It is well known that a propositional theory is axiomatizable (respectively decidable) if and only if it may be represented as the set of infinite paths through a computable tree (respectively a computable tree with no dead ends). We show that any polynomial time decidable theory may be represented as the set of paths through a polynomial time decidable tree. On the other hand, the statement that every polynomial time decidable, relative to the tally representation of natural numbers and formulas, is equivalent to P = NP. For predicate logic, we develop a complexity theoretic version of the Henkin construction to prove a complexity theoretic version of the Completeness Theorem. Our results imply that that any polynomial space decidable theory △ possesses a polynomial space computable model which is exponential space decidable and thus △ has an exponential space complete consistent extension. Similar results are obtained for other notions of complexity. (shrink)

The first-order theory of the lattice of recursively enumerable closed subsets of an effective topological space is proved undecidable using the undecidability of the first-order theory of the lattice of recursively enumerable sets. In particular, the first-order theory of the lattice of recursively enumerable closed subsets of Euclidean n -space, for all n , is undecidable. A more direct proof of the undecidability of the lattice of recursively enumerable closed subsets of Euclidean n -space, n ⩾ 2, is provided using (...) the method of reduction and the recursive inseparability of the set of all formulae satisfiable in every model of the theory of SIBs and the set of all formulae refutable in some finite model of the theory of SIBs. (shrink)