bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Noninvasive Genotyping for Vertebrate Conservation
Authors: Morin Phillip A , Woodruff David S
Published: November 2023

The documentation of vertebrate diversity traditionally involved the collection of specimens for further study. Properly curated collections constitute treasure troves for biologists interested in systematics, biogeography, and evolutionary biology. The collection of specimens and their preservation was justified on the grounds that our understanding of nature depended upon it. This is no longer always the case, and in situations involving rare or threatened species it may be completely unjustified. Collections that were well-intended at the time can seem appalling in today’s conservation-minded world. Four examples illustrate the conflicts between the need to conduct scientific research and the need to conserve the subjects of that research:

The 1906 California Academy of Sciences expedition to the Galapagos dis¬ covered that the Pinzon island race of giant tortoises was, in fact, not extinct and accordingly collected the remaining 86 for study (Thornton, 1971).
Estimation of Effective Population Size and Migration Parameters from Genetic Data
Authors: Neigel Joseph E
Published: November 2023

In recent years, the arrival of molecular genetic data has brought forth a renaissance in the field of population genetics. Classical population genetic models defined the allele as the unit of variation, and were formulated in terms of the frequencies of alleles within populations. Now DNA sequence data has redefined the description of genetic variation in terms of the nucleotide sequence differences that distinguish alleles. In those cases in which these differences are the result of an orderly stepwise process of change, they can be used to infer relationships of descent among sequences. New theoretical models, often referred to as “coalescent models” (Hudson, 1990) have been developed to incorporate this richer, more historical view of genetic variation. Other developments include methods that can detect highly variable portions of the genome. While these methods have gained most attention in applications to forensics and paternity analysis, they are now being applied to population genetics as well (see other chapters in this volume, and references therein).
Paternity Studies in Animal Populations
Authors: Parker Patricia G , Waite T A , Peare T
Published: November 2023

The number of mates attained by members of each sex defines the mating system of animal populations. Under social (apparent) monogamy, one male and one female form an exclusive mating partnership for one or more reproductive attempts. In promiscuous systems, members of each sex typically mate with multiple partners. In polygynous systems, competition among males over mating opportunities with females leads to higher variance in apparent reproductive success (RS) among males than among females; the converse is true for polyandry.
Culture In Mind
Authors: Shore Bradd
Published: November 2023

Culture in Mind is an ethnographic portrait of the human mind. Using case studies from both western and nonwestern societies. Shore argues that “cultural models” are necessary to the functioning of the human mind. Drawing on recent developments in cognitive science as well as anthropology, Culture in Mind explores the cognitive world of culture in the ongoing production of meaning in everyday thinking and feeling.
Introduction
Authors: Simons Ronald C
Published: November 2023

Everyone startles. Everyone knows the wrenching dislocation that lies alert and waiting just under the surface of the most ordinary experience. A foot slips, a car backfires, and wherever one is, like it or not, one finds oneself doing and thinking things quite unplanned. Startle is a reflex, something that happens in and to the body, but it is more than that. When one is startled one’s soul is troubled, and one’s mind finds itself, if only for a moment, in a strange and surprising place. Being startled changes, if ever so briefly, one’s relationship with the entire experienced universe.
Affective Neuroscience
Authors: Panksepp Jaak
Published: November 2023

Some investigators have argued that emotions, especially animal emotions, are illusory concepts outside the realm of scientific inquiry. With advances in neurobiology and neuroscience, however, researchers are proving this position wrong while moving closer to understanding the biology and psychology of emotion. In Affective Neuroscience, Jaak Panksepp argues that emotional systems in humans, as well as other animals, are necessarily combinations of innate and learned tendencies; there are no routine and credible ways to really separate the influences of nature and nurture in the control of behavior. The book shows how to move toward a new understanding by taking a psychobiological approach to the subject, examining how the neurobiology and neurochemistry of the mammalian brain shape the psychological experience of emotion. It includes chapters on sleep and arousal, pleasure and pain systems, the sources of rage and anger, and the neural control of sexuality. The book will appeal to researchers and professors in the field of emotion.
Game Theory and Cooperation
Authors: Dugatkin Lee Alan
Published: November 2023

Philosophers, economists, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, mathematicians and behavioral ecologists have all pondered over the origin and stability of cooperative behavior (Axelrod 1984). Despite this, as well as a huge human literature base and a growing empirical foundation on cooperation in nonhu-mans, it is actually quite difficult to come up with an accepted definition of cooperation. The opening quote of this chapter is meant to illustrate how the term cooperation can be twisted in ways that seem grossly counterintuitive. In fact, even within the field of animal behavior and behavioral ecology, attempts to describe terms like cooperation and altruism sometimes produce almost oxymoronic phrases such as “self-interested refusal to be spiteful” (Grafen 1984), “quasi-altruistic selfishness” (West-Eberhard 1975), and ‘joint stock individualism” (Kropotkin 1908; see Wil son&Dugatkin 1992 for more on these terms and the semantic confusion surrounding them).
Game Theory and Learning
Authors: Stephens David W , Clements Kevin C
Published: November 2023

The basic idea of applied game theory is the Nash equilibrium together with Maynard Smith’s subsidiary idea of the evolutionarily stable state. We say that two players have adopted Nash equilibria if each is playing a strategy that is the best reply to the other’s strategy. These mutual-best-replies are equilibria in the sense that a player deviating from this strategy will do worse, and so we might expect that economic forces will punish the deviator and bring the system back into equilibrium.

The empirical validity of game theory hinges on the existence of some mechanism or mechanisms that return players to equilibrium after a deviation or perturbation. (We defer, for the moment, the problem of finding the equilibrium in the first place.) Most students of evolutionary game theory follow Maynard Smith (1982) in thinking of these “restoring forces” as evolutionary and genetic: Suppose an allele a codes for Nash equilibrium strategy A, then in a population dominated by a some deviant a’ will be selected against by definition (where, conveniently, we’re imagin ing a population of sexual haploids). Of course, fundamentally the “restoring” force we’re interested in must be, at some level, an evolutionary force.
Game Theory and Human Behavior
Authors: Wilson David Sloan
Published: November 2023

Game theory has long been used by economists, psychologists, and other social scientists to predict the behavior of people in a variety of situations. More recently, evolutionary biologists have used game theory to predict the behavior of nonhuman species. It is safe to say that evolutionary game theory has transformed the study of animal behavior, although theory has so far outpaced empirical studies.

Evolutionary approaches to human behavior are not new, but they have recently gathered momentum and show signs of being accepted by the human sciences. As might be expected, evolutionary predictions about human behavior are often framed in the language of evolutionary game theory. Are these predictions really new, or do they merely restate the predictions of traditional game theory? What can evolutionary game theory say about human nature that its much larger and older parent tradition cannot?

In traditional game theory, strategies are assumed to be adopted by rational choice. In evolutionary game theory, strategies are assumed to simply exist in the population and to compete with each other in Darwinian fashion. As a result, the strategies that emerge from evolutionary game theory maximize the relative fitness of individuals in the population. Traditional game theory can make no such claim, because the utilities that are assumed to be maximized by rational choice are not defined.
Coping with Uncertainty
Authors: Hammond Kenneth R
Published: November 2023

Traditionally, two forms of cognition—analysis and intuition—have been distinguished. This sharp dichotomy was made early; indeed, it is as old as the history of thought. Plato, Aristotle, Hume, and Kant all recognized that the difference between the two forms of cognition is fundamental. Even today, almost every study of human judgment employs these concepts, implicitly or explicitly. As I will show, they are an integral part of our daily lives.

First, let me define these terms. The meaning of analysis or analytical thought in ordinary language is clear; it signifies a step-by-step, conscious, logically defensible process. The ordinary meaning of intuition signifies the opposite—a cognitive process that somehow produces an answer, solution, or idea without the use of a conscious, logically defensible, step-by-step process. Analysis has always had the advantage over intuition with respect to the clarity of its definition for two reasons: (1) Its meaning could be explicated by the overt reference to a logical and/or mathematical argument, and (2) analytical thought forms the basis of rationality, because rational argument calls for an overt, step-by-step, defensible process. Thus, analytical thought and explicit, overt definition are part of the same system of thought. Not so with intuition; throughout its history it has acquired powerful claims to efficacy despite its ineffable, undefinable character.
Tension Between Coherence and Correspondence Theories of Competence
Authors: Hammond Kenneth R
Published: November 2023

The use of the terms “coherence” and “correspondence” in the history of judgment and decision making will be unfamiliar to most readers, and although I offered a description of each in the introduction to Part II, the reader will want to see some examples of the difference between these metatheories. I therefore begin this chapter with examples from three different fields in order to demonstrate the cogency and the practical value of making the distinction.
Task Structure and Cognitive Structure
Authors: Hammond Kenneth R
Published: November 2023

In this chapter I further develop the idea that cognitive activity is influenced by the structure of the task, by the nature of the information environment. Here I describe the effect of differences in task structure on cognition, and show how the structure of cognition is induced to change as the information environment changes. I also address the correspondence-coherence distinction in terms of functional relations and pattern recognition.
The Kerr Metric By An Elementary Brute Force Method
Authors: Snygg John
Published: November 2023

As already observed, Schwarzschild constructed a spherically symmetric solution to Einstein’s system of field equations in 1916. However, the exact solution for a cylindrically symmetric rotating body was not discovered until 1963 by Roy P. Kerr. This solution has since become the focus of almost all mathematical investigations into the nature of black holes.
Variability in the Mating Systems of Parasitic Birds
Authors: Barnard Phoebe
Published: November 2023

Brood parasitic birds are perplexing creatures in many ways. Evolutionarily, their strategy of reproductive freeloading has been highly successful. Many species, such as some of the cowbirds (Icterinae), have combined a strategy of generalist parasitism with a behavioral plasticity that has allowed them to expand their range greatly in historic times. Parasites and their hosts also make intriguing studies in coevolution (Rothstein, 1990), as explored by other contributors to this book. Obligate brood parasitism, like other types of parasitism, has profound consequences for the evolutionary ecology of parasites. Reproduction often dominates the lives of nonparasitic birds, and the establishment of pair bonds, building of nests, and raising of young to independence are demanding and energetically costly tasks. Parasitic birds, of course, are freed from many of these constraints. Therefore, we should expect that parasitism is a pivotal strategy that in­fluences many other aspects of a bird’s behavior and ecology.
Density-Dependent lntraspecific Nest Parasitism and Anti-Parasite Behavior in the Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica
Authors: M0ller Anders P
Published: November 2023

One of the most fascinating recent discoveries of behavioral ecology is that the behavior of conspecifics is variable and can consist of several distinct entities, or strategies. Intraspecific nest parasitism, where individual females lay eggs in the nests of other females without caring for the offspring, is one such strategy. The alternative strategy is ordinary reproduction during which individuals only lay eggs in their own nest and care for their own offspring. Individuals may either adopt a fixed strategy or play different strategies at different times. Nest parasitism of conspecifics has been found to be relatively common in a large number of different bird species, and individuals may adopt a parasitic as well as a parental strategy (reviews in Yom-Tov 1980; Andersson 1984; Rohwer and Freeman 1989; Petrie and MS’iller 1991).
Major Unanswered Questions in the Study of Avian Brood Parasitism
Authors: Rothstein Stephen I , Robinson Scott K
Published: November 2023

We emphasized in chapter 1 that the heuristic nature of brood parasitism is one of the features that make it such an attractive phenomenon for research. Therefore, it is fitting to end this book with a brief section on major questions. Some of these questions have already been noted, at least implicitly, by various authors or by us in chapter 1, but restating them here in explicit terms will make them more identifiable and, we hope, better help to direct future research on parasitic birds. The 16 questions listed below are not the only “big” questions as regards brood parasitism but they are the important questions whose answers are the most uncertain.
R
Authors: Bunson Margaret
Published: November 2023

Ra’djedef third king (2528–2520 b.c.) of the 4th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, the son of khufu and one of his lesser wives. It is believed that Ra’djedef murdered his brother, Prince kewab, who was the rightful heir to the throne. He did bury Khufu, however, and presided over his mortuary rites. He married Queen hetepheres ii, the widow of Kewab, and his chief wife was Kentetenka. Ra’djedef’s reign ended abruptly. His pyramid was discovered at abu rowash.
Generalized Distances and Generalized Projections
Authors: Censor Yair , Zenios Stavros A
Published: November 2023

Many of the algorithms that we study in this book employ projections onto convex sets in order to achieve either feasibility or optimization. A projection of a given point onto a convex set is defined as another point which has two properties. First, it belongs to the set onto which the projection operation is performed and, second, it renders a minimal value to the distance between the given point and any point of the set. If the Euclidean distance II x -y II is used in this context then the projection is called a metric projection. But it turns out to be very useful to employ additionalmeans to measure the “distance” between the vectors x and y. The main purpose of this chapter is to present a theory of generalized distances and generalized projections, which include the classic metric projections as a special case. These generalized distances and projections were first proposed by Bregman in 1967, from whose work the specific, more focused version given here was subsequently developed.
Iterative Algorithms for Linearly Constrained Optimization Problems
Authors: Censor Yair , Zenios Stavros A
Published: November 2023

In this chapter we discuss mainly row-action methods. Their distinctive feature is that they are iterative procedures which, without making any changes to the original constraints matrix A, use the rows of A one at a time. Such methods appear in several areas of applications, and have demonstrated effectiveness for problems with large and sparse matrices that do not have any detectable or usable sparsity pattern, apart from a high degree of sparsity.We present row-action methods for handling huge and sparse systems (with numbers of unknowns, equations, or inequalities in the range of hundreds of thousands), and examine linear and nonlinear systems of equalities or inequalities. In describing many different row-action methods together, in a coherent presentation, we have two aims in mind: To facilitate cross-fertilization be tween various fields of applications where row-action methods are or could be used, and to pave the way for better insight into their mathematical nature. The row-action methods for linearly constrained optimization are treated in a unified manner within the framework of generalized Bregman distances and generalized projections (see Chapter 2).
The Inverse Problem in Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning
Authors: Censor Yair , Zenios Stavros A
Published: November 2023

In this chapter we introduce the problem of therapy treatment planning in radiation oncology. There are some good reasons to construct a fully discretized model of this problem, to which we can apply the various row action algorithms and block-iterative methods discussed in earlier chapters. We will explain our reasons and also present some computational results. Radiation therapy maintains a prominent place in the treatment of neoplastic lesions (tumors). Over the past ninety years, medical experience and laboratory studies have established the principles whereby radiation can be used as an effective modality for oncological treatment.
Decompositions for Parallel Computing
Authors: Censor Yair , Zenios Stavros A
Published: November 2023

This chapter examines the parallel implementation of several of the algorithms developed earlier whose structure-often in conjunction with that of the application-makes them suitable for decomposition into independent tasks. The decomposition is sometimes facilitated by the structure of the mathematical algorithm; simultaneous and block-iterative algorithms (as characterized in Section 1.3) are natural candidates for parallel computations. Sometimes the decomposition is facilitated by the structure of the problem, such as in image reconstruction where we can partition a discretized image into domains that are reconstructed independent of each other. In order to implement a parallel algorithm we must first partition its operations, or the problem data, into independent tasks that can be mapped on multiple processors (see also Section 1.2). That is, we must partition the operations of the algorithm into sets of independent operations that can proceed concurrently, or we must partition the problem data into blocks of data without interdependencies, so that multiple blocks can be processed in parallel. This is called task partitioning. Once a partition has been determined the tasks must be assigned to one or more processors for execution; this is known as the problem of task scheduling. Finally it may be necessary to impose some ordering to task execution and specify when information must be exchanged among the processors performing different tasks in order to guarantee correctness of the results. This is known as task synchronization.
Images, Models, and Propositional Representations
Authors: Johnson-laird Philip N
Published: November 2023

How many sorts of mental representation are there? One answer is: none. Mental representations according to this view are figments in the minds of cognitive psychologists. They do not really exist. Versions of this view—or at least of views suspiciously close to it—have been held by followers of Heidegger, by Behaviorists, by Gibsonians, by advocates of “situated action,” and by a further chorus of philosophical skeptics. There are a priori arguments to the contrary—dreams, hallucinations, vivid images, and even figments in the minds of cognitive scientists all suggest that there are mental representations, and in some of these cases, ironically, representations that do not correspond to anything in the world. On a different tack, any attempt to construct computer models of perception seems bound to postulate representations—e.g., the sequence from the gray-level array to three-dimensional models of the world proposed by the late David Marr (1982). These arguments fail to convince resolute defenders of the skeptical position. Like solipsists, they seem impervious to any case to the contrary, theoretical or empirical.
W
Authors: Bunson Matthew
Published: November 2023

WALLIA (d. 418 A.D.) King of the VISIGOTHS from 415 to 418 and the leader who was responsible for their settlement in Roman territory. In September of 415, the Visigoth monarch ATHAULF was stabbed to death and replaced by Singeric, a cruel and brief-reigning usurper. Singeric was also slain, after only a week, and an election was held to find a legitimate successor. The Visigoths chose a little known warrior, Wallia, who was selected because of his desire to have nothing to do with ROME, ironic given his subsequent actions. Wallia first restored Galla PLACIDIA, Athaulf’s Roman widow, to her rightful position of respect within the Visigoth community, making up for the harsh treatment meted out to her by Singeric. The most pressing problem, however, was securing the site of a permanent Visigothic settlement. Spain, their current home, was overcrowded and blockaded by the Roman navy. When ships designed to carry the Visigoths to AFRICA were wrecked in a storm, Wallia looked northward to Gaul and began negotiations with the Roman government, resulting in a treaty in 416 between Wallia and CONSTANTIUS 111. The Visigoths pledged to serve as clients or federates of Rome, which meant making war upon the VANDALS, Suebi and ALANS in Spain. In return the Visigoths received massive amounts of badly needed com and, ultimately, permission to take up residence in Gallia Aquitania and large sections of GALLIA NARBONENSIS as well. Over the next year, Wallia waged relentless war upon the barbarians in Spain and was so successful that by 418 the Visigoths were able to move into Gaul, according to their agreement with the Romans. This was Wallia’s legacy, for he died in 418. He was succeeded by Theoderic I, a grandson of ALARIC.
Ecological Experiments with Model Systems The Ecotron Facility in Context
Authors: Lawton John H
Published: November 2023

Experimental ecology is not something you have to do in the field. Indeed, many experiments are both easier and less expensive to do in a laboratory. But by definition, laboratory experiments are less natural and more artificial than field experiments. There is therefore a trade-off between experimental tractability and ecological realism whenever ecologists do experiments in the laboratory. But as I hope to show in this chapter, that trade-off will often be worth making, not as a substitute for fieldwork, but as one of several powerful approaches to understanding and predicting the behavior of ecological systems, ranging from mathematical models, through analysis of large-scale data sets, to laboratory and field manipulation experiments. All have their place in an ecologist’s armory.
Experimental Approaches to Studying the Population Dynamics and Evolution of Microorganisms
Authors: Mongold J A
Published: November 2023

Theoretical ecology has provided clear, unambiguous formulations of many of the questions with which ecologists are concerned (reviewed in Roughgarden et al. 1989). Experimental tests of theory in ecology and evolutionary biology have increased in recent decades (for reviews see Stearns 1982, Hairston 1991), yet much of this body of theory remains untested, and there is still a great need for experimental verification (Kareiva 1989). The call for more experimentation in ecology, however, has focused mainly on field experiments (Hairston 1991). Laboratory experiments are sometimes criticized on the grounds that they involve oversimplified environments and utilize organisms whose field relationships are poorly understood. Unfortunately, the richness of field studies comes at the cost of experimental ease and control. Expense, labor, and physical constraints can make it difficult or impossible to obtain sufficient replication for strong statistical inference (Hurlbert 1984). This problem is intensified by the very complexity that makes field experiments so attractive. Uncontrollable vaiiation in weather, habitat quality, abundance of predators, or other aspects of the environment frequently confounds the interpretation of results (see Endler 1986 for a discussion of some of the difficulties to be faced). Laboratory microcosms are, of course, restricted environments, and one must be careful to avoid overgeneralization of conclusions from such studies. The same must be said, however, of a study of a single pond or stretch of streambed. Thus, one must always weigh the costs and benefits of experimental control versus generality (see Morin, this volume, for a discussion of these issues). A multilevel approach achieved by an increased use of laboratory models to complement field observations could be very profitable for the field of ecology.
The Motivation for and Context of Experiments in Ecology
Authors: Wootton Timothy , Pfister Catherine A
Published: November 2023

Over the past three decades, experimentation in ecology has become increasingly common (Connell 1972, 1983; Paine 1977; Schoener 1983; Hairston 1989). The experimental method has provided ecologists with a technique for examining the origins of pattern and the role of various processes in natural systems. As experimentation has proliferated in ecology, specific prescriptions for the design and implementation of experiments have emerged (e.g., Bender et al. 1984, Hurlburt 1984, Underwood 1986, Hairston 1989, Underwood and Petraitis 1993, Wootton 1994b). While there is merit in prescribing rigorous requirements for the design of experiments, it should not be carried out so as to limit the range of possible experimental approaches that can be usefully applied. For this reason, it is helpful to keep in mind the varied uses of experiments in ecology. In this chapter, we examine what we consider to be the three primary motivations for the use of experiments in ecology, illustrating them with examples drawn both from our work and from the wider literature. We then discuss how different philosophical approaches and different questions of interest in ecology call for different types of (equally valid) experimental designs and advocate applying experiments in an integrated program of ecological study.
The Logic, Value, and Necessity of Grounding Experiments in Reality An Essential Link in the Inferential Chain Back to Nature
Authors: Bernardo Joseph
Published: November 2023

Experiments are an essential part of, and serve multiple roles in, ecological research (Lawton, this volume; Morin, this volume; Wooten and Pfister, this volume). In addition, experiments vary in their levels of realism, in their intimacy with natural variation, and in the sophistication of their designs along these continua. However, all appropriately replicated experiments share the key property of involving directed (intentional) manipulations of one or more supposed causal variables with the expressed purpose of estimating the impact of those manipulations upon one or more focal variables. It is from this purposeful manipulation of hypothesized causal factors that experiments derive their property of allowing unambiguous partitioning of trait variance among putative causes. This property is the unique contribution that experiments make to ecological and evolutionary inference, and it is the reason that many ecologists consider experiments indispensable in any inferential chain that hypothesizes causation.
Landscape Ecology of Transformed Neotropical Environments
Authors: Carroll C Ronald , Kane Deborah
Published: November 2023

The American tropics contain slightly more than half of the world’ s tropical moist forests (Somner, 1976), but these forests are being rapidly converted to other land uses. Between 1980 and 1990, 32 countries in Latin America lost approximately 830,000 square kilometers of forest area for an annual deforestation rate of 0.9 percent (FAO, 1990b). Central America is losing approximately 3,400 square kilometers of lowland and montane forest each year (Nations and Komer, 1983). Much of the early deforestation that followed European contact occurred during the 19th century with the ex pansion of rubber plantations in Brazil and the spread of cattle ranching throughout the American tropics.
Aquatic Ecosystem Deterioration in Latin America and the Caribbean
Authors: Scatena Catherine M Pringle Frederick N
Published: November 2023

On a global scale, the most serious aquatic pollution problems are found in rapidly developing countries (Meybeck, Chapman, and Helmer, 1989). Here, pollutants that gradually appeared in industrialized regions over the passage of a century or more are rapidly building up in the compressed time span of decades (Boon, 1992). Pollution has emerged as a significant and alarming feature of many water bodies in Latin America and the Caribbean during the last 30 years. The control of water pollution is consequently a major challenge for water management in many areas of the region (UN ECLAC, 1990c).
Globalization, Population Growth, and Agroforestry in Mesoamerica: Perspectives for the 21st Century
Authors: Szott Lawrence T
Published: November 2023

Mesoamerican farmers face three especially important challenges. (1) The globalization of markets may negatively affect demand and prices for their products. (2) They must increase production to provide for a growing population. (3) At the same time, farmers need to maintain environmental resources that provide the basis for agricultural production and the well-being of both urban and rural dwellers. These forces are likely to change production systems, resource use, and patterns of human settlement and activities irrevocably in the coming years.
Challenges to Sustainability: The Central American Shrimp Mariculture Industry
Authors: Stonich Susan C , Bort John R , Ovares Luis L
Published: November 2023

The sustainable agriculture movement was originally centered mainly on environmental conservation, farm level production, and short-term economic strategies. Later, the movement’ s concerns expanded to encompass broader social, economic, and policy issues (Allen et al., 1992, 1993; Allen and Sachs, 1993; Allen and Van Dusen, 1990; Altieri, 1988). The risks and benefits to different interest groups and stakeholders in the food and agricultural system, defined by divisions of race, ethnicity, gender, and class, were analyzed. Social, economic and environmental justice were promoted. For example, The Asilomar Declaration for Sustainable Development called for agriculture to build and support healthy rural communities (Committee for Sustainable Agriculture, 1990).
Using Evolution as a Tool for Controlling Infectious Diseases
Authors: Ewald Paul W
Published: November 2023

At first glance it may seem surprising that the integration of evolution with the health sciences is occurring at the end of the twentieth century, a century and a half after Darwin provided the framework for understanding the “why” questions of biology. The health sciences, after all, are essentially applied areas of biology with a focus on the well-being of individuals of one species. A peek below the surface, however, resolves this paradox. The health sciences have been quick to incorporate areas of biology as soon as the first clear-cut example of an effective intervention is demonstrated. Within a decade of Jenner’s demonstration of an effective vaccine against smallpox in 1796, vaccination was accepted as a viable part of the medical arsenal, and has been so now for nearly for two centuries. The demonstration of penicillin’s effectiveness quickly transformed chemical therapy from an intervention of questionable value or even ridicule into a mainstay of modern medicine. The improved recovery of patients in response to disinfection of surgical tools, the surgical environment, and the patient prior to surgery led to a similarly rapid adoption of disinfection procedures. Interventions that prevent or cure disease through the treatment of individuals are especially prone to be rapidly accepted because effectiveness can be readily observed. A person who was vaccinated against smallpox did not develop smallpox. A person who was treated with penicillin before the emergence of antibiotic resistance rapidly recovered from an otherwise serious disease. Because the benefits of such treatments were readily observable, the health sciences almost immediately recognized the importance of the biological disciplines that fostered these interventions in their primitive and modern phases-namely, cell biology, microbiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology.
Human Evolution, Low Back Pain, and Dual-Level Control
Authors: Anderson Robert
Published: November 2023

The Ubiquity of Back Pain “Oh, my aching back!” is a cry familiar to everyone, and for good reason. From 18% to 26% of the general population in urban industrial societies will be experiencing low back pain (LBP) at any one moment in time (the point prevalence rate). Each year, as much as 45% of a population may experience an attack of LBP (the annual prevalence rate). The lifetime prevalence of LBP in urban industrial societies ranges from 50% to 80%. That is, at one time or another, from half to three-quarters of all men and women are likely to experience at least one episode of back pain severe enough to incapacitate them for up to a month. It is not clear that lifetime prevalence is lower in smallscale or less technologically developed societies, as some have stated (Fahrni, 1976). The evidence on that point is equivocal (Anderson, 1987). Most sufferers recover, but 2% or 3% of those afflicted in any society do not fully recover. They continue to experience back pain as a chronic and more or less incapacitating affliction. Almost all of the LBP that creates these remarkable prevalence rates is mechanical in origin, as will be explained below (Allan and Waddell, 1989, Anderson, 1992; Frymoyer, 1990; Papageorgiou and Rigby, 1991).
What Darwinian Medicine Offers Psychiatry
Authors: Nesse Randolph
Published: November 2023

Since the late 1970s, psychiatry has accumulated an enormous, base of knowledge and remarkably effective new treatments. Despite this new knowledge, however, fundamental disagreements persist about the very nature of psychopathology. While the need for a “bio-psycho-social model” of mental disorders is widely acknowledged, psychiatry remains split into factions, some that emphasize genetic/physiological factors and others that focus on life events and psychological mechanisms. Some emphasize that mental disorders are “diseases like all others” while others decry this “medical model” and insist that many mental disorders can only be understood in their social context.
Evolution, Substance Abuse, and Addiction
Authors: Smith E O
Published: November 2023

Magnitude of the Problem Darwinian evolutionary theory made little impact on the study of human behavior for almost a century. The application of Darwinian theory to the behavior of modern humans was attempted in the 1920s-30s, but with little success. The primary weakness of this attempt, loosely referred to as “social Darwinism” was the failure to differentiate between what is and what ought to be. Darwinian theory, for all its strengths and analytical power, does not dictate a preferred course of action, one that is consistent with the general assumptions of progress, improvement, and competition. Darwinian theory simply provides an explanation for what exists at present and does not offer a master plan. As Beckstrom (1993:2) noted, evolutionary science “can act like travel agents. They cannot tell you where to go, but they can give you information about the costs and benefits of various destinations and help you get there once you finalize your decision.”
Menopause In Evolutionary Perspective
Authors: Leidy Lynnitte E
Published: November 2023

Menopause, the cessation of menses, is an event experienced by all human females who live beyond 60 years of age (Diczfalusy 1986). From a life-history perspective, emphasizing life span stages, it is the universal aspect of menopause that draws the attention of evolutionary biologists, physical anthropologists, and physicians. Although other mammals experience reproductive senescence (Comfort 1979; Packer et al. 1998), and individual primates have demonstrated endocrinologic and histologic changes similar to the human menopause (Gould et al. 1981; Graham et al. 1979; Hodgen et al. 1977; Lapin et al. 1979; Walker 1995), no other species of primates has yet demonstrated a universally experienced, permanent cessation of reproductive cyclicity followed by such a prolonged period of postreproductive life (Lancaster and Lancaster 1983; Pavelka and Fedigan 1991).
The Relative Contributions of GABAA and GABAB Receptors to Presynaptic Inhibition of Group Ia EPSPs
Authors: Redman Stephen J
Published: November 2023

In the mammalian spinal cord, presynaptic inhibition of transmitter release from primary afferent fibers is mediated by the release of y-aminobutyric acid (GABA) at axoaxonic synapses (Eccles et al., 1963; Curtis and Lodge, 1982; Maxwell et al., 1990). Much progress has been made by Rudornin and his colleagues in determining the central pathways that control presynaptic inhibition. However, the mechanism by which GABA reduces transmitter release remains unclear.
Some Unanswered Questions About the Mechanisms and Function of Presynaptic Inhibition
Authors: Wall Patrick D
Published: November 2023

For me, the work on this topic has proceeded in four stages. First was the work of Barron and Matthews (1938), who observed the prolonged negative dorsal root potential, DRP, following the arrival of an afferent volley and recorded its associated dorsal root reflex. This discovery had a considerable impact on thinking for two reasons. It moved the time course of the impact of single action potentials from the millisecond range into the tens and hundreds of milliseconds range. This was a crucial step because, up to that time, the only accepted mechanism by which the nervous system could prolong its action was by the repetitive generation of action potentials.
Presynaptic Inhibition of Synaptic Transmission from Sensory, lnterneuronal, and Supraspinal Neurons to Spinal Target Cells in Lamprey
Authors: Manira Ahdeljabbar El , Parker David , Krieger Patrik , Wikström Martin , Grillner Sten
Published: November 2023

The lamprey nervous system may be considered a simple vertebrate prototype nervous system for which a significant amount of information on the neural networks controlling locomotion and body orientation is available (see Grillner et al., 1995). In this chapter we will review the evidence for presynaptic inhibition (modulation) at three levels in the spinal cord:trans mission from primary afferents, from excitatory and inhibitory premotor interneurons, and from reticulospinal cells.
Presynaptic Mechanisms During Locomotion
Authors: Rossignol Serge , Beloozerova Irina , Gossard Jean-Pierre , Dubuc Rejean
Published: November 2023

Neuronal networks that generate basic rhythmic motor patterns such as locomotion must have intrinsic properties and connectivity that primarily ensure robust repetition of the basic locomotor cycle. In a realistic environment, however, such centrally generated patterns must also be modified through descending commands for changes in speed and direction and must be adapted to the terrain by afferent feedback signals reaching the networks through segmental or suprasegmental pathways (Rossignol et al., 1988). There must then be a balance between the autonomy needed by such net works to repeat the cycle regularly and the modifiability that is essential to adjust the step cycle to the constantly changing environment and demands.
The Natural Numbers
Authors: Courant Richard , Robbins Herbert
Published: November 2023

Created by the human mind to count the objects in various assemblages, numbers have no reference to the individual characteristics of the objects counted. The number six is an abstraction from all actual collections containing six things; it does not depend on any specific qualities of these things or on the symbols used. Only at a rather advanced stage of intellectual development does the abstract character of the idea of number become clear. To children, numbers always remain connected with tangible objects such as fingers or beads, and primitive languages display a concrete number sense by providing different sets of number words for different types of objects.
Space and Objects
Authors: Tomasello Michael , Call Josep
Published: November 2023

Nothing is as critical to the survival and procreation of primates, or indeed to animals in general, as the ability to deal effectively with space and the objects that occupy it. Food and mates must be located, and predators must be avoided. Consequently, many animal species, including numerous species of birds, fish, and insects, have evolved highly specialized devices for finding particular locations on the planet, sometimes at great distances, so that they can mate, lay eggs, avoid cold weather, seek safety, and perform other such vital functions (see Alcock, 1984, for a review). These specialized devices seem to involve little learning of any sort, however, and do not seem to be organized flexibly so that the individual may modify them to meet novel exigencies. Seemingly more flexible spatial skills are displayed by many animal species as they navigate in complex local environments; for example, lions pursue a fleeing prey by adjusting their direction of travel to match that of the prey, and mountain goats navigate effectively on extremely uneven terrain in totally novel contexts. However, spatial skills such as these are primarily perceptual, since they rely almost totally on an organism’s “direct perception” of a spatial layout or event without any need to go beyond the information given (Gibson, 1979).
Nonhuman Primate Cognition
Authors: Tomasello Michael , Call Josep
Published: November 2023

Given all of the studies and observations we have reviewed in the preceding chapters, it is clear that primates as an order have evolved a number of cognitive adaptations of central importance to their survival and procreation. In the physical domain, virtually all species studied have demonstrated a basic knowledge of permanent objects and some of the ways they may be related to one another spatially, quantitatively, and in terms of their perceptual similarities. In the social domain, virtually all species studied have demonstrated a recognition of individual groupmates and a knowledge of some of the important ways they may be related to one another socially and behaviorally. In both domains individuals have demonstrated the ability to use this knowledge to formulate various types of strategies, ranging from efficient foraging and tool use to coalition strategies and social learning, that help them attain their goals with respect to such basic adaptive functions as feeding and mating.
Human Cognition
Authors: Tomasello Michael , Call Josep
Published: November 2023

Approximately 6 to 8 million years ago, a population of African apes began evolving into the species known today as Homo sapiens. The process of speciation resulted in the emergence of a number of unique characteristics along the way, including bipedal locomotion, the loss of much body hair, and the making of stone tools. The most dramatic developments, however, occurred during the latter stages of this period as human beings began to create a bewildering array of cognitive products not seen in other primate species: such things as natural languages, symbolic art, multifunctional technologies, higher mathematics, and cultural institutions such as governments and religions. One of the deepest mysteries in the evolution of primate cognition is how it happened that this particular species came to specialize so dramatically in the complex cognitive processes that are embodied in these products. The basic puzzle is that, although 6-8 million years is a very long time historically, it is a very short time evolutionarily. Thus, H. sapiens is as genetically similar to its nearest primate relatives, Pan troglodytes and P. paniscus, as horses are to zebras, lions are to tigers, and rats are to mice, sharing something on the order of 98% of their genetic profiles (King & Wilson, 1975). Given this evolutionary proximity, any cognitive differences that we observe must be based on a very delimited set of biological adaptations. In attempting to characterize human cognition as a special case of primate cognition, therefore, the challenge is to find a small difference that made a big difference-a small change, or set of changes, that transformed the process in fundamental ways.
Story Elements
Authors: Sternberg Robert J
Published: November 2023

Our story about a relationship, and the elements that go with it, may change, but the story is always our story. Even if a partner helps us “write” the story, it is our creation, and the partner is likely never fully to understand what our story involves. This story is apt to have enormous staying power.
Some Kinds of Stories
Authors: Sternberg Robert J
Published: November 2023

All our lives we have heard stories of various kinds, many with love as a leitmotif. We thus have an array of stories we can draw on when composing our own. The ones we choose to carry through life reflect what interests us; they can be classified loosely according to their content, rather like the way books are grouped into various interest sections in a bookstore. These stories form the heart of this book; the second part of the text will elaborate upon them.
The Plinian Eruption of Vesuvius in A.O. 79
Authors: Sigurdsson Haraidur
Published: November 2023

When the Greeks colonized Italy, they named the volcanic region west of Naples the Phlegraean Fields (burning fields), which must have been in direct reference to the volcanic activity in the area. And in 16 B.c. the architect and military engineer Vitruvius remarked: “Let it be recorded, that heats in antiquity grew and abounded under Mount Vesuvius, and thence belched forth flame round the country.” The larger region that includes both the Phlegraean Fields and Mount Vesuvius is known as Campania, famed among the Greeks and Romans for its fertility and benign climate.
Entering the Education Pipeline
Authors: Malcom Shirley , Anderson Bernice
Published: November 2023

In 1993, Ph.D.s in the natural sciences were awarded by U.S. universities to 149 African Americans, 251 Hispanics, and 19 American Indians, representing in creases of 66 percent, 170 percent, and 36 percent, respectively, over 1983 figures. In the same year, doctorates in engineering were awarded to 50 African Americans, 65 Hispanics, and 2 American Indians, increases of 72 percent, 124 percent, and 100 percent, respective] y, over 1983 figures (National Science Foundation 1993). These numbers reflect changes at the end of the education pipeline for American m inorities. Understanding these results requires that we look much earlier in the lives of these scientists and engineers, at the education climate they faced as they moved through the system.