Common-Sense Rejected by Physicists:

We propose a new integration of relativity and quantum mechanics (QM). Your cell phone or smart phone is a rich source of empirical information about relativity. It tells time based on a system called Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) which assumes absolute simultaneity: all observers in all inertial frames observe the same sequence of all events. You must choose whether to trust the time on your cell phone, or trust Einstein’s incompatible ideas about a space-time continuum. As concerns QM, the existence of “weirdness” means a mistake was made in QM’s starting assumptions. This article finds and corrects that mistake and presents for the first time, a quantum world free of all weirdness. There is another half to nature, previously unrecognized. It is devoid of energy and matter, namely zero-energy Elementary Waves which move within the medium of aether. We derive the linear wave PDE’s. There is evidence that Elementary Waves are in control of nature, despite their lack of energy. The existence of UFO’s (Unidentified Flying Objects) suggests that someone has learned how to control Elementary Waves. If we could learn from the UFO’s, we might acquire a decisive advantage in our battle against climate change.

Memory Constraints on Cross Situational Word Learning

A simple memory component is amended to local (“Pursuit”; Stevens, Gleitman, Trueswell, and Yang (2017)) and globa l(e.g., Yu and Smith (2007); Fazly, Alishahi, and Stevenson (2010)) models of cross-situational word learning. Only a finite (and small) number of words can be concurrently learned; successfully learned words are removed from the memory buffer and stored in the lexicon. The memory buffer improves the empirical coverage for both local and global learn-ing models. However, the complex task of homophone learning (Yurovsky & Yu, 2008) proves a more decisive advantage for the local model (dubbed Memory Bound Pursuit; MBP). Implications and limitations of these results are discussed.

Machine Learning and Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity operators have increasingly relied on machine learning to address a rising number of threats. But will machine learning give them a decisive advantage or just help them keep pace with attackers? This report explores the history of machine learning in cybersecurity and the potential it has for transforming cyber defense in the near future.

Arbeitsrecht für Nicht-Juristen

Labour law is case law. Even for non-lawyers, a rudimentary understanding is of utmost importance in professional life. Whether as an employee or employer, knowing the rights and obligations of the actors is a decisive advantage - even long before a conflict arises. This book clarifies the basics of labour law for you using practical advice, cases, and understandable language. For students and beginning practitioners, this book will provide you with a quick gain in knowledge. A special focus is on the impact of digitalisation on labour law and the growing importance of mediation procedures in and out of court.

Introducing Biosemiotic Ethics

In this introduction to the special issue on Biosemiotic Ethics, we introduce major concepts and themes corresponding to the topic. With reference to Ivar Puura’s notion of “semiocide”, we ask: what are the ethical responsibilities that attention to semiotics carries? We argue that if life is fundamentally semiotic, then biosemiotics and moral theory should be explored in conjunction, rather than separately. Biosemiotic ethics becomes relevant whenever one complex of signs impinges on another; particularly whenever human sign usage impinges on the wellbeing or sustainable functioning of human or non-human semiotic agents. Stable coexistence of sign systems is far from inevitable, but it is a meaningful goal that can be pursued. In complex ecosystems, for example, certain types of coexistent relationships have evolved to share space despite competitive needs and expressions. We describe the ways in which authors in this volume articulate various justifications for the view that what is morally relevant is semiosis. Given these perspectives in a growing approach to understanding moral relationships, biosemiotic ethics has the decisive advantage of drawing on contemporary biosemiotics’ empirically-informed biological acuity within a rich semiotic framework.

India’s and China’s Economic Standing in Asia

Although entwined with other motivations, the primary objective of the Look East Policy was and remains economic. Indian policy makers felt the need to bridge the gap caused by China’s twelve years year head start in liberalizing its economy or risk being marginalized in Asia. The two countries choose, however, radically different strategies:, China becoming became in the process a massive exporter of manufactured goods while India while India specializedspecialized in high-skill service exports, alongside manufactures but failing failed to expand the latter as much as expected. Foreign direct investment played a key role in the strategies of both countries, leading to substantial differences in export output. Because it was meant to develop an export strategy, FDI gave China a decisive advantage in the region. In India, FDI essentially targeted the domestic market and its contribution to manufactured product exports remained limited. China rapidly emerged as the pivot of the Asian export platform, a position that also enhanced its political influence across Asia.

The prevalence of extra-lethal violence across cultures in warfare

Extra-Lethal Violence, a form of physical aggression that goes beyond the necessity to kill someone, presents a conundrum: it is inefficient and dangerous to produce, especially during warfare. Extra-Lethal Violence, particularly when it manifests in warfare, does not contribute to the immediate survival of individuals; the time, effort, and lack of awareness of surroundings or other attack suggests that Extra-Lethal Violence could be maladaptive at the individual level or in the short term. Yet this individually risky behavior that seems to have no direct benefit to the aggressor is both common and persistent across time and space. We utilized the electronic Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) to conduct a cross cultural analysis of the prevalence and potential predictors of Extra-Lethal Violence. Our research indicates that Extra-Lethal Violence is present across all populated regions of the world, for the entire timespan of the ethnographic record up to the ethnographic present, across subsistence, marriage, and social complexity levels. Our research suggests that Costly Signaling Theory (CST) is currently the best explanation for this behavior. Extra-Lethal Violence can be characterized as a difficult to fake, clear indicator of martial skill and physical fitness that has a high broadcast efficiency, both within and between groups. Rather than allowing behaviors such as Extra-Lethal Violence to be labeled as 'abhorrent' or 'disgusting,' we must view Extra-Lethal Violence in the same light as the cavalry, the ironclads, or nuclear weapons: societies seeking a decisive advantage over their enemies, utilizing available resources, be they material or behavioral.

The US–China Naval Balance in the Asia-Pacific: An Overview

A truism in strategic studies holds that warfare is highly complex and unpredictable. What appears to be a stable and predictable military balance can be suddenly overthrown by innovative doctrines or cunning strategies. This paper attempts to fill a perceived gap in strategic studies analysis with respect to US–China naval conflict scenarios. The author is concerned that most Western analyses on the subject tend to be simplistic and unduly optimistic. The approach in this paper follows a “Chinese style” in that it examines the Asia-Pacific strategic balance as a series of interacting military campaigns. The results of the analysis yield that the US retains a strong advantage in certain warfare domains, to be sure. Yet, the assumption that the US military has a decisive advantage in the relevant scenarios becomes dubious in light of the potentially devastating blow against US and allied bases that could be made by PLA conventional missile forces. Moreover, a Chinese advantage in the use of offensive mine warfare, when combined with China's ability to prevent US and allied aerial anti-submarine forces from flying, could combine to roll back, or at least significantly limit, Washington's heretofore decisive undersea advantage.

The Inevitability of Assessing Reasons in Debates about Conscientious Objection in Medicine

This article first critically reviews the major philosophical positions in the literature on conscientious objection and finds that they possess significant flaws. A substantial number of these problems stem from the fact that these views fail to assess the reasons offered by medical professionals in support of their objections. This observation is used to motivate the reasonability view, one part of which states: A practitioner who lodges a conscientious refusal must publicly state his or her objection as well as the reasoned basis for the objection and have these subjected to critical evaluation before a conscientious exemption can be granted (the reason-giving requirement). It is then argued that when defenders of the other philosophical views attempt to avoid granting an accommodation to spurious objections based on discrimination, empirically mistaken beliefs, or other unjustified biases, they are implicitly committed to the reason-giving requirement. This article concludes that based on these considerations, a reason-giving position such as the reasonability view possesses a decisive advantage in this debate.