bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
a neuropsychological perspective
Authors: Vallar Giuseppe
Published: November 2023

One basic difference between elementary sensory and motor processes and higher-order mental functions concerns the hemispheric lateralization of their neural basis. The cerebral correlates of language and visuospatial processing are largely asymmetric, with the well-known specialization of the left hemisphere for many linguistic processes, and of the right hemisphere for a variety of spatial processes. By contrast, the neurological organization of sensory motor systems has a ‘ contralateral’ architecture, so that each hemisphere is primarily concerned with the opposite side of personal (i.e. the body) and extrapersonal space (for example, visual or auditory objects). This state of affairs has implications in the domain of clinical neurology. It is a current view that damage to the specifically committed regions of each cerebral hemisphere brings about somatosensory (hemianaesthesia), visual (hemianopia), and motor (hemiplegia) deficits, contralateral to the side of the lesion (contralesional) with no relevant left-right asymmetries (Rowland 1995; Adams et al. 1997).
A new view of hemineglect based on the response properties of parietal neurones
Authors: Pouget Alexandre , Sejnowski Terrence J
Published: November 2023

The representation of space in the brain is thought to involve the parietal lobes, in part because large lesions of the parietal cortex lead to hemineglect, a syndrome characterized by a lack of response to sensory stimuli that appear in the hemispace contralateral to the lesion (Heilman et al. 1985). In what coordinate system are objects represented in the parietal cortex? The answer to this question is not straightforward because neglect appears to affect multiple frames of reference simultaneously, and, to a first approximation, independently of the task. Here, a recent model of the response properties of neurones in the parietal cortex that can account for this observation is presented.
Robotic and neuronal simulation of the hippocampus and rat navigation
Authors: Burgess Neil , Donnett James G , Jeffery Kathryn J , Keefe John O’
Published: November 2023

The hippocampus has been implicated as the neural basis of mammalian navigation ever since the discovery of spatially tuned neurons (place cells) in the hippocampus of freely moving rats (O’ Keefe & Dostrovsky 1971). The fact that each place cell (PC) tends to fire at a high rate only when the rat is in a particular portion of its environment, independently of local sensory cues such as the odour of the floor covering, prompted the idea that they provide the neural representation of the location of the rat within its environment (O’ Keefe & Nadel 1978). It has recently been shown that the firing of PCs does indeed contain sufficient information to localize the rat (Wilson & McNaughton 1993). Lesions of the rat’ s hippocampus impair its navigational ability, specifically in tasks requiring an internal representation of space such as returning to an unmarked goal location from novel starting positions (see, for example, Morris et al. 1982; Jarrard 1993).
Dissociation of exteroceptive and idiothetic orientation cues: effect on hippocampal place cells and place navigation
Authors: Bures Jan , Fenton Andre A , Kaminsky Yulii , Rossier Jerome , Sacchetti Benedetto , Zinyuk Larissa
Published: November 2023

The discovery of hippocampal place cells (PCs) by O’ Keefe & Dostrovsky (1971) and the ensuing systematic study of their properties (McNaughton et al. 1983; Muller et al. 1987; Sharp et al. 1990; Bostock et al. 1991; O’ Keefe & Reece 1993; O’ Keefe & Burgess 1996) created an extremely fruitful approach to the study of the cellular substrate of cognition. The idea that a PC firing in a specific region of a familiar environment participates in the neural processes that enable an animal to recognize its position in the charted world has inspired a deluge of ingenious experiments, high-lighted by the papers in this volume.
Variable place-cell coupling to a continuously viewed stimulus: evidence that the hippocampus acts as a perceptual system
Authors: Rotenberg Alexander , Muller Robert U
Published: November 2023

Although place-cell discharge is reliably affected in a variety of ways by the configuration of external (‘ allothetic’ ) and internal (‘ idiothetic’ ) cues available to a freely moving rat, a great deal of work has consistently shown that place cells do not behave as if they are sensory units. Place cells do not act as if they are triggered by specific stimulus conditions; they are neither pattern-recognition units nor path integrators. Instead, place cells have been interpreted as components of neural representations of space or ‘ cognitive maps’ since their discovery (O’ Keefe & Dostrovsky 1971; O’ Keefe 1976; O’ Keefe & Nadel 1978; Muller et al. 1991), a view that is assumed in this paper.
The hippocampus and spatial memory in humans
Authors: Robin G Morris , Julia A Nunn , Sharon Abrahamsn , Janet D Feigenbaum , Michael Recce
Published: November 2023

In common with many other species, human subjects determine their spatial orientation in novel environments and are able to do this using a combination of directional cues and establishing a cognitive representation of their spatial domain (Gallistel 1990). It is fair to say that the neuronal structures or mechanisms that support these processes have not been investigated extensively in humans to date; the main developments in this area relate to studies of rodents and non-human primates. The purpose of this chapter is to review a series of recent investigations that we have conducted into spatial memory in humans with focal temporal lobe lesions, all involving the hippocampus. Such studies have had the primary aim of elucidating the pattern of memory function through the development of novel paradigms and relating spatial memory impairment to structural brain lesions.
Representation of allocentric space in the monkey frontal lobe
Authors: Olson Carl R , Gettner Sonya N , Tremblay Leon
Published: November 2023

In discussions of how the brain represents space, it is common to make a contrast between environment-centred spatial information (encoded in the hippocampal system to be used in the service of spatial orientation) and body-centred spatial information (encoded in the parietal cortex to be used in the service of action and attention). However, this distinction, while fundamental, is not exhaustive. There is a third form of spatial information of great importance for cognition and behaviour in humans, namely, information about the locations of things relative to other things: of parts relative to an object and of objects relative to each other. Object-centred spatial information is allocentric in that it concerns locations defined relative to an external reference frame, but this reference frame, rather than encompassing the environment at large, is confined to the micro¬ environment of a particular object. Object-centred spatial judgments come into play in numerous situations including: when we direct actions to a particular location, as defined relative to an object; when we make judgments about topology, as in characterizing a closed curve as a knot; and when, in reading a word, we take into account the relative locations of the letters.
A computational theory of visual attention
Authors: Bundesen Claus
Published: November 2023

A computational theory of visual attention is presented. The basic theory (TVA) combines the biased-choice model for single-stimulus recognition with the fixed-capacity independent race model (FIRM) for selection from multi-element displays. TVA organizes a large body of experimental findings on performance in visual recognition and attention tasks. A recent development (CTVA) combines TVA with a theory of perceptual grouping by proximity. CTVA explains effects of perceptual grouping and spatial distance between items in multi-element displays. A new account of spatial focusing is proposed in this article. The account provides a framework for understanding visual search as an interplay between serial and parallel processes.
Human cortical mechanisms of visual attention during orienting and search
Authors: Corbetta Maurizio , Shulman Gordon L
Published: November 2023

Functional anatomical studies indicate that a set of neural signals in parietal and frontal cortex mediates the covert allocation of attention to visual locations across a wide variety of visual tasks. This fronto-parietal network includes areas, such as the frontal eye field and supplementary eye field. This anatomical overlap suggests that shifts of attention to visual locations or objects recruit areas involved in oculomotor programming and execution. Finally, the fronto-parietal network may be the source of spatial attentional modulations in the ventral visual system during object recognition or discrimination.
Interactions between perception and action systems: a model for selective action
Authors: Ward Robert
Published: November 2023

A model of selective processing in vision and action is described. The selective action network is an alternative to traditional accounts describing the relationship between visual processing and action. Standard one-way models assume that action is the terminal output stage of processing, with no impact on previous processes of visual perception and attention. In contrast, the selective action model proposes simultaneous influence among many systems, processing spatial and non-spatial visual attributes of objects, spatial and non-spatial components of action, and intention or goals. In the model, plans for location serve to bias selective perceptual processing towards relevant objects, in much the same way that visual processing can be biased towards particular locations or particular object features. Selective processing in the network emerges in a gradual and coordinated way, so that representations of a single object and its implications for action comes to dominate across multiple systems of perception and action.
The Metabolic Functions of Glial Cells
Authors: Pellerin L , Therianos S , Magistretti P J
Published: November 2023

The cellular and molecular processes that underlie brain development during embryonic and early postnatal life are critically dependent on energy substrate availability. From a strictly energetic point of view, the brain has long been considered as being homogeneous, with the full oxidation of circulating glucose as the exclusive provider of energy sources. However, there is emerging evidence that brain energy metabolism is spatially and temporally regulated in-register with locally determined neural patterns of activity. In addition, a tightly controlled exchange of cell-specific neuronal signals and energy substrates occurs. Analysis of activity-determined metabolic fluxes at the cellular level has revealed the existence in the adult nervous system of a functional partnership between glial cells, particularly astrocytes, and neurons. While the role of glia in developmental processes such as neuronal migration and myelination is relatively well characterized, much less is known about the way in which these cells contribute to energy metabolism regulation during development. Specific questions such as ‘how do glial cells energetically sustain the formation of the nervous system’, ‘which metabolic pathways are preferentially active during early development’ and ‘what is the role of particular energy-related enzymes in determining the neuronal or glial fate from precursor cells?’ are only now beginning to be addressed.
General linear models for longitudinal data
Authors: Diggle Peter J , Heagerty Patrick J , Liang Kung-yee. , Zeger Scott L
Published: November 2023

In this and the next chapter, our aim is to develop a general linear modelling framework for longitudinal data, in which the inferences we make about the regression parameters of primary interest recognize the likely correlation structure in the data. Two ways of achieving this are to build explicit parametric models of the covariance structure whose validity can be checked against the available data or, where possible, to use methods of inference which are robust to misspecification of the covariance structure.
Parametric models for covariance structure
Authors: Diggle Peter J , Heagerty Patrick J , Liang Kung-yee. , Zeger Scott L
Published: November 2023

In this chapter, we continue with the general linear model (GLM) (4.2.1) for the data, but assume that the covariance structure of the sequence of measurements on each experimental unit is to be specified by the values of a few unknown parameters. Examples include the uniform correlation model (4.2.2) and the exponential correlation model (4.2.4), each of which uses two parameters to define the covariance structure.
Marginal models
Authors: Diggle Peter J , Heagerty Patrick J , Liang Kung-yee. , Zeger Scott L
Published: November 2023

This chapter describes regression methods that characterize the marginal expectation of a discrete or continuous response, Y , as a function of explanatory variables. The methods are designed to permit separate modelling of the regression of Y on x, and the association among repeated observations of Y for each individual. Marginal models are appropriate when inferences about the population-average are the focus. For example, in a clinical trial the average difference between control and treatment is most important, not the difference for any one individual. Marginal models are also useful for epidemiological studies. For example, in the Indonesian Children’s Health Study (ICHS), a marginal model can be used to address questions such as:
Kinetic analysis of ribozyme cleavage
Authors: Bevilacqua Philip C , Brown Trevor S , Chadalavada Durga M , Parente Amy Diegelman , Yajima Rieko
Published: November 2023

This chapter provides an introduction to kinetic analysis of catalytic RNAs (ribozymes). We discuss choosing a ribozyme and designing experiments to test hypotheses. Practical issues are emphasized including preparing an active and uniform RNA population (Protocol 1), deriving kinetics equations (Protocol 2), and fitting and simulating data (Protocol 3). Later sections provide protocols for designing and preparing RNA (Protocol 4), and for kinetics experiments (Protocol 5). We conclude with a brief overview of other kinetics methods.
A fluorescent sensor to assay inorganic phosphate
Authors: Webb Martin R
Published: November 2023

Inorganic phosphate (Pi) is a simple anion that can undergo rapid turnover in cells, especially due to its incorporation into the nucleoside triphosphate pool via the mitochondrial ATP synthase. Phosphate, particularly as esters and anhydrides, participates in many metabolic processes, before finally Pi is released via enzymes such as phosphatases and nucleoside triphosphatases. Functionally many phosphatases are important control elements, for example, controlling the level of phosphorylation of a protein and hence its activity. Nucleoside triphosphatases are involved in a wide range of biological processes, including nitrogen fixation, motility, transport, and signal transduction as well as many aspects of DNA processing and expression of proteins.
What to do if there is no signal: using competition experiments to determine binding parameters
Authors: Thomä Nicolas , Goody Roger S
Published: November 2023

When characterizing protein-protein or protein-ligand interactions, intrinsic absorbance or fluorescence signals are often not available in sufficient quality to monitor binding. Extrinsic signals originating from fluorescent substrate or ligand analogues, or from proteins carrying fluorescent reporter groups, have been widely used to circumvent this shortcoming. Routinely this approach allows determination of affinities as well as rate constants between the labelled ligand and its binding partner. However, the question of the binding parameters of the non-fluorescent, natural ligand or the unmodified protein often remains unanswered.
The complex plane
Authors: Priestley H A
Published: November 2023

Complex analysis has its roots in the algebraic, geometric, and topological structure of the complex plane. This chapter starts to explore these foundations. It is assumed that the reader has previously been introduced to complex numbers, and has had some practice in manipulating them. Consequently the first part of the chapter is designed to be a refresher course. It contains a summary of basic properties, presented without undue formality.
Multifunctions
Authors: Priestley H A
Published: November 2023

Multifunctions are hard to avoid. Many complex functions, like the complex exponential, are not globally one-to-one. We may view such a function as having an inverse, so long as we allow the inverse to be a multifunction. Constructing, at least locally, a well-behaved functional inverse will involve extracting a suitable value from this multifunction at each point of the domain. We have already seen how to make a selection of values from the logarithm and from a fractional power of z to arrive at a holomorphic function.
Cauchy’s theorem: basic track
Authors: Priestley H A
Published: November 2023

Recall that in 4.3 we defined a contour to be a simple closed path whose image is made up of a finite number of line segments and circular arcs. Our purpose in introducing contours was to avoid the geometrical complexity that general closed paths may exhibit. In particular, we proved that a contour γ has an inside I(γ) and an outside O(γ) (Theorem 4.6, a restricted form of the Jordan curve theorem).
Cauchy’s formulae
Authors: Priestley H A
Published: November 2023

Armed with Cauchy’s theorem we can prove a host of striking results about holomorphic functions. These stem from the Cauchy formulae which we derive in this chapter. We are then able to prove the following, with relative ease.

All this is in sharp contrast to the behaviour of real-valued functions on JR. The contrast is very welcome: the theorems are not hedged around with unmemorable technical restrictions.

Cauchy’s integral formula expresses the value of a holomorphic function at a point a in terms of a ‘boundary value integral’ taken round a contour encircling the point.

In Cauchy’s theorem, the orientation of the contour did not need to be specified. In Cauchy’s integral formula, and all subsequent results giving formulae for integrals whose values are not in general zero, the contour is taken to be positively oriented.
The Laplace transform
Authors: Priestley H A
Published: November 2023

On one level, integral transforms provide a versatile and systematic method for solving equations; on another, they form the starting point for a rich theory having connections with many important branches of pure and applied mathematics. This chapter and the following one treat the rudiments of the theory and applications of the best-known and most useful integral transforms: the Laplace transform and the Fourier transform. As explained in the preface, the emphasis is on the part complex analysis plays. Readers who want to concentrate on methods, taking on trust the theory which underpins these, can simply skip the more theoretical parts of this chapter. Others will wish to understand the theory and for them we provide an introductory account of this.

The motivating idea is a very simple one: if you cannot solve a given problem, transform it into a simpler one you can solve. Find the solution of the simpler problem, and then use this to capture the solution to the original problem.
The endocrine system of herbivores listens to host-plant signals
Authors: Schoonhoven Louis M , Loon Joop J A van , Dicke Marcel
Published: November 2023

Few places on earth provide conditions for the growth of plants and animals that remain constant throughout the year. Usually favourable seasons alternate with periods of low temperatures or drought. Plants tide themselves over these adverse periods by shedding their leaves, or the aboveground parts may die back completely. Annual species wait for the new growing season as dormant seeds in the soil.
Structural brain MRI studies in childhood-onset schizophrenia and childhood atypical psychosis
Authors: Gogtay Nitin , Sporn Alexandra , Rapoport Judith L
Published: November 2023

It had long been thought that serious childhood psychiatric disorders reflect subtle abnormalities of brain development. Newer imaging technologies have been crucial for supporting and extending this view. While the use of ionizing radiation had limited the use of CAT (computerized axial tomography) and PET (positron emission tomography) scanning in children, the advent of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) has made brain imaging a key part of child psychiatric research (Go gate et al. 2001). These non-invasive and relatively simple techniques allow reliable, automated quantitative measurements of multiple brain regions (Collins et al. 1999). Generally regarded as ‘minimal risk’, it is now possible to gather both normative and disease-specific data in children (Giedd et al. 1996, 1999a; Thompson et al. 2000, 2001).
Automated analysis of structural MRI data
Authors: Thompson Paul M , Rapoport Judith L , Cannon Tyrone D , Toga Arthur W
Published: November 2023

Recent advances in medical imaging have revolutionized our ability to investigate disease. Current brain mapping initiatives are charting brain structure and function in thousands of subjects [e.g. Rapoport et al. (1999): N = 1000+ children and adolescents; Mazziotta et al. (2001): N = 7000, including 5800 genotyped subjects and 342 mono- and dizygotic twins]. An urgent goal of these projects is to analyze patterns of altered brain structure and function in disorders such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, and abnormal childhood development.
A Nonparametric Bayesian Approach to Inverse Problems
Authors: Wolpert Robert L , Hansen Katja Ickstadt Martin B
Published: November 2023

We propose a new method for making inference about an unknown measure Γ (d λ) upon observing some values of the Fredholm integral g(w) = f k(w, λ)T(d λ) of a known kernel k(w, A), using Levy random fields as Bayesian prior distributions for modelling uncertainty about T(d λ). Inference is based on simulation-based MCMC methods. The method is illustrated with a problem in polymer chemistry.
The FEM for stochastic structures based on the exact inverse of the stiffness matrix
Authors: Elishakoff Isaac , Ren Yongjian
Published: November 2023

You addressed to me a question of whether inverse stiffness matrix of say, finite element static problems, has ever been calculated analytically. Of course this HAS been done for single elements and occasionally for small assemblies, but never for any significant problems— O. C. Zienkiewicz (1993). Deflections of structures depend on the material properties—e.g. stiffness or equivalently flexibilities. These properties may be given in terms of random fields. Since these fields are the reciprocal of one another they essentially hold the same information about the random variation of material properties. However, a discretization of a stiffness field and a discretization of its corresponding flexibility field do not necessarily give equivalent representations of the material properties. Hence one is met with the problem of choosing among different formulations: which one will be the best in a given sense?—N. J. Tarp-Johansen and O. Ditlevsen (1997).
Taking Chances
Authors: Haigh John
Published: November 2023

What are the odds against winning the Lottery, making money in a casino, or backing the right horse? Every day, people make judgements on these matters and face other decisions that rest on their understanding of probability: buying insurance, following medical advice, carrying an umbrella. Yet many of us have a frightening ignorance of how probability works. Taking Chances presents an entertaining and fascinating exploration of probability, revealing traps and fallacies in the field. It describes and analyses a remarkable variety of situations where chance plays a role, including football pools, the Lottery, TV games, sport, cards, roulette, coins, and dice. The book guides the reader round common pitfalls, demonstrates how to make better informed decisions, and shows where the odds can be unexpectedly in your favour. This new edition has been fully updated, and includes information on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" and "The Weakest Link", plus a new chapter on Probability for Lawyers.
Philosophical methods in mental health practice and research
Authors: Fulford K W M , Thornton Tim , Graham George
Published: November 2023

In Chapter 2 we saw that while the term philosophy covers a broad church, an important strand in Western philosophy has been a concern with concepts, with the framework of ideas— usually of a high level or general kind—by which we organize the world around us. Problems about the concept of mental disorder, correspondingly, turned out to be a particular focus for the new philosophy of psychiatry. In Chapter 3 we filled out the basic ‘data’ from which philosophical work in this area must start, with an introduction to the wide variety of conditions widely sub- sumed within the concept of mental disorder.
Arguments good and bad: an introduction to philosophical logic for practitioners
Authors: Fulford K W M , Thornton Tim , Graham George
Published: November 2023

We will return to Lewis Carroll’s account of the debate between the Tortoise and Achilles about the effectiveness of logic a little later in this chapter. However, Achilles’s suggestion that Logic might take one by the throat and force one to a conclusion is a striking expression of the power it holds on our conception of reason and rationality. At the same time, formal logic is often thought to be a subject only for specialists. In this chapter we aim to give an outline of some of the tools available for argument and some of the general issues raised by them.
Psychopathology and the theory dependence of data
Authors: Fulford K W M , Thornton Tim , Graham George
Published: November 2023

Observation lies at the heart of psychiatry. The clinical process, as in the rest of medicine, starts with the careful articulation of symptoms of which patients complain, and signs: patients’ appearance and behaviour, including speech. Theorizing about aetiology, both as part of the diagnostic and treatment/management process and as part of general clinical research, answers to data drawn from clinical observations.
Natural classifications, realism, and psychiatric science
Authors: Fulford K W M , Thornton Tim , Graham George
Published: November 2023

This chapter is about what science is about. It is about the real world ‘out there’ as distinct from our ideas about what is there. It is about what there is as distinct from our beliefs about what there is. It is about the objects—the entities and events—of which the real world is made up as distinct from the shapes that from this or that perspective we impose on the world. It is about what in philosophy has come to be debated by way of such contrasts as objectivity versus subjectivity, realism versus idealism, essentialism versus nominalism. (See Box 13.1 for brief initial definitions of realism and related terms.)
From bioethics to values-based practice
Authors: Fulford K W M , Thornton Tim , Graham George
Published: November 2023

In this chapter we begin the process of building up the toolkit for tackling problems of values in mental health. We start by outlining three important methods of ethical reasoning widely used in bioethics—principles, casuistry, and perspectives. We review the strengths and weaknesses of these methods, for health care generally in Session 1, and specifically for mental health in Session 2. Session 3 moves on to some of the main schools of general ethical theory—deontology, con- sequentialism, and analytic ethics—again looking at their strengths and weaknesses both generally and in relation to mental health. The last of these, analytic ethics, leads, finally, in Session 4, to the theory and skills base of values-based practice (VBP).
Values in psychiatric diagnosis
Authors: Fulford K W M , Thornton Tim , Graham George
Published: November 2023

In this chapter we will follow through the key point to emerge from earlier chapters in this part, i.e. that in psychiatric ethics, at least, we need to move on from the increasingly quasi-legal form that bioethics is taking in its connections with practice, to what we have called Values-Based Practice (VBP). The essence of this move, as we indicated at the end of Chapter 18, is to start, not from prescribed values (encoded in the rules and regulations of quasi-legal bioethics), but from respect for the often very different values of the particular individuals and groups involved in particular clinical contexts. VBP, as we called the approach resulting from this move, is not a recipe for relativism and ethical chaos: to the contrary, it places strong constraints on prac- tice, illustrated in Chapter 18 with the NIMHE Values Framework (Figure 18.6). VBP, furthermore, builds on and extends the tools for clinical decision-making provided by the framework of law within which health care operates. We outlined some of these legal tools in Chapter 19. We found that, in the context of mental health at least, the use of these legal tools in practice, no less than the quasi-legal tools of mainstream bioethics, involved value judgements.
Reasons and the content of mental states: 1. reductionist theories
Authors: Fulford K W M , Thornton Tim , Graham George
Published: November 2023

One of the underlying issues facing any science of the mind is to find a place in nature for the meaning, intentionality, or ‘content’ (as it is called) of mental states. This is certainly a challenge for psychiatry, which embraces at one extreme ‘talking cures’ from a psychoanalytic tradition and also both drug intervention and psychosurgery. The former deal with the meaningful and sym- bolic nature of mental states and symptoms. The latter pair both deal with causal effects that have no need for meanings. How can these different perspectives be reconciled? Both this chapter and the next will address the question of how meaningful or ‘content- laden’ mental states and utterances can be understood as part of the same nature, the same natural world, as causal interactions. (Chapter 26 will address a different but related issue: are reason explanations a species of causal explanation and how is this related to the idea of agency?)
Agency, causation, and freedom
Authors: Fulford K W M , Thornton Tim , Graham George
Published: November 2023

One recurrent theme of this book is the relation between reasons and causes in psychiatry. Whereas many disciplines operate with one or other form of explanation and interpretation, psychiatry operates with both. Nowhere is the tension between the two as great as the issue of freedom versus causal determinism. Giving, asking for, and acting on reasons appears to presuppose freedom. Summarizing Kant, McDowell (1994, p. 5) puts this connection like this: ‘rational necessitation is not just compatible with freedom but constitutive of it. In a slogan, the space of reasons is the realm of freedom’.
Cosmology
Authors: Rowan-Robinson Michael
Published: November 2023

This is a substantially revised and updated new edition of a classic introductory textbook. Although there are a wealth of cosmology texts at postgraduate level, ‘Cosmology’ remains the classic introduction to modern cosmology for undergraduates. While designed as the main text for a course given at second or third year level, it is sufficiently self-contained for anyone with school science to understand. There is a strong emphasis on observational cosmology, with introductory chapters on the visible universe, our galaxy and other galaxies and the empirical basis for cosmological theory. After an account of the big bang model, there are chapters on the early stages of the big bang and galaxy formation. Finally, there are chapters on cosmological tests and on alternative theories. One feature of the book is its updated epilogue of twenty controversies in cosmology today. The latest results from the WMAP mission are included and a wealth of new material, including a stronger emphasis on the cosmological constant. It has an extensive glossary and the exercises have been substantially expanded. A stronger emphasis on the physical basis for cosmology is included throughout.
From the fireball to the present
Authors: Rowan-Robinson Michael
Published: November 2023

If, as is currently believed to be the case, non-baryonic matter perturbations are present and have already evolved significantly by the epoch of recombination, then at recombination the baryons will start to fall into the potential wells defined by the non-baryonic perturbations. The baryonic density fluctuations quickly catch up the non-baryonic fluctuations in amplitude and the two types of matter perturbation then evolve together (Fig. 6.1).
Ultra-Fast MRI
Authors: Jones Richard A , Brookes Jason A , Moonen Chrit T W
Published: November 2023

Brain activation is known to lead to enhanced perfusion which, together with other physiological changes (e.g. blood volume, oxygen consumption), results in a decreased deoxyhaemoglobin concentration in regions of neuronal activity (Ogawa et al. 1990). This effect is referred to as the BOLD (blood oxygenation level dependent) effect and is by far the most commonly used method for fMRI studies and manifests itself as a slight increase in the strongly T2* (or T2) weighted MR images used for fMRI studies. BOLD signal changes occur both in the tissue (extra-vascular BOLD effect) and within the vasculature (intra-vascular BOLD effect). Non-BOLD related intra-vascular signal changes can also occur within larger vessels due to in-flow effects.
Registration, atlases and cortical flattening
Authors: Jenkinson Mark
Published: November 2023

As we have seen in previous chapters, £MRI analysis involves taking a series of low resolution functional images and analysing these to produce a map of brain regions which are thought to have been significantly activated by experimental stimulation. As well as these (relatively low resolution) functional images, an £MRI experiment will also normally include a single high resolution structural MR scan. This can be used in a variety of ways to provide more advanced interpretation and analysis of the initial low resolution £MRI activation maps.
Experimental Number Theory
Authors: Villegas Fernando Rodriguez
Published: November 2023

This graduate text, based on years of teaching experience, is intended for first or second year graduate students in pure mathematics. The main goal of the text is to show how the computer can be used as a tool for research in number theory through numerical experimentation. The book contains many examples of experiments in binary quadratic forms, zeta functions of varieties over finite fields, elementary class field theory, elliptic units, modular forms, along with exercises and selected solutions. Sample programs are written in GP, the scripting language for the computational package PARI, and are available for download from the author’s website.
Analysis of Topographically Organized Patterns of Response in fMRI data: Distributed Representations of Objects in the Ventral Temporal Cortex
Authors: Haxby James V
Published: November 2023

The ventral object vision pathway in the human brain has a complex functional architecture, characterized by topographically organized patterns of differential responses to faces and different object categories that can be measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We have developed a new method for analyzing these patterns of response, topographic pattern analysis. This method is a major departure from previous, standard methods for analyzing functional neuroimaging data. Whereas previous methods were designed to find clusters of voxels with similar response properties, topographic pattern analysis is designed to detect reliable patterns of differences among the responses of voxels. Previous methods increase signal-to-noise by averaging the responses across voxels, obscuring between-voxel differences.
The Cartography of Human Visual Object Areas
Authors: Malach R , Avidan G , Lerner Y , Hasson U , Levy I
Published: November 2023

A central theme underlying primate visual cortex research is the attempt to gain insight into cortical function through its parcellation, i.e. identifying the rules that subdivide the cortical surface into differentiable entities. With the advent of non-invasive functional imaging of the human brain, rapid progress has been obtained in such research. Here we will discuss our work on this issue, focusing on high-order, ventral stream, visual areas. We can identify functional division lines across all cortical scales. Most globally, on the dorsoventral axis, ventral stream areas can be segregated from dorsal stream ones by modulating the subject’s task, e.g. attending to the orientation versus the identity of an object will activate dorsal versus ventral stream regions, respectively.
Neural Representation of Object Images in the Macaque Inferotemporal Cortex
Authors: Tanifuji Manabu , Tsunoda Kazushige , Yamane Yukako
Published: November 2023

Information about visually presented objects is transmitted from the primary visual cortex (V1) to the inferotemporal cortex (IT) through multiple prestriate areas in macaque monkeys. To understand neural mechanisms of perception and recognition of objects through their visual images, response properties of neurons in the anterior part of the IT cortex, defined architectonically as area TE, have been investigated extensively. Because of the position- and size-invariant response properties of those neurons, this area is believed to correspond to lateral occipital cortex (LOC) in the human ventral visual pathway (Malach et al. 1995).
Human Brain Imaging Reveals a Parietal area Specialized for Grasping
Authors: Culham Jody
Published: November 2023

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to reveal a region of the anterior intraparietal (AIP) sulcus that is activated during visually guided grasping (versus reaching) actions for which information about object shape and size is required to preshape the hand. Human AIP is a potential homolog of macaque AIP, an area containing neurons that are activated by the viewing and grasping of specific shapes. Like macaque AIP, human AIP is active during both the vision and action phases of a delayed grasping trial. Human AIP is not activated by the visual presentation of two-dimensional images of objects, and does not seem to be an all-purpose object-processing area.
A Framework for the Investigation of Directed Cortical Interactions: Theoretical background and application to dynamic sensorimotor mapping
Authors: Goebel Rainer , Roebroeck Alard , Kim Dae-Shik , Formisano Elia
Published: November 2023

We present a general framework for the investigation of directed interactions of activated brain areas using time-resolved fMRI and vector autoregressive (VAR) modeling in the context of Granger causality. This framework can be extended by including information on anatomical connectivity patterns from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). We apply the proposed approach to a dynamic sensorimotor mapping paradigm. In an event-related fMRI experiment, subjects performed a visuomotor mapping task for which the mapping of two stimuli (‘faces’ versus ‘houses’) to two responses (‘left’ or ‘right’) alternated periodically between the two possible mappings.
Where to now?
Authors: Lindsey J K
Published: November 2023

Doing statistics is exciting. In the analysis of any new data set, surprises, both good and bad, will always occur. The results can never be fully predicted in advance-or the study would not have been carried out in the first place. No two studies, or the resulting data sets, are ever really similar, even in the same subject area, so that there is rarely a dull moment. This should be true for all users of statistics. Many of the readers of this book will become specialists in some field, only using statistics as a tool.
Systematics and evolution
Authors: Gibson David J
Published: November 2023

Grasses are the dominant plants of grasslands (Chapter 1) and of agriculture. The systematics and evolution of this large, diverse, and phylogenetically advanced family are described in this chapter. Agrostology is the science of grass classification, and, as noted by Gould (1955), is essential to the study of grassland. However, the taxonomic treatment of the grasses has a fascinating history in itself as investigators moved from the use of primary morphological and anatomical characters to include cytogenetic, physiological, and molecular characters allowing the development of increasingly evolutionarily informative classifications (Stebbins 1956). The evolution of this family, although still incompletely understood, represents an interesting example of adaptation and co-evolution with environmental and biotic factors, especially aridity and grazing.
Topics on Analysis in Metric Spaces
Authors: Ambrosio Luigi , Tilli Paolo
Published: November 2023

Based on lecture notes from the Scuola Normale this book presents the main mathematical prerequisites for analysis in metric spaces. Supplemented with exercises of varying difficulty it is ideal for a graduate-level short course for applied mathematicians and engineers. The book covers abstract measure theory, Hausdorff measures, Lipschitz functions, covering theorems, lower semicontinuity of the one-dimensional Hausdorff measure, Sobolev spaces of maps between metric spaces, and Gromov-Hausdorff theory, all developed in a general metric setting. The existence of geodesics (and more generally of minimal Steiner connections) is discussed in general metric spaces and, as an application of the Gromov-Hausdorff theory, even in some cases when the ambient space is not locally compact. A brief and very general description of the theory of integration with respect to non-decreasing set functions is presented following the Di Giorgi method of using Cavalieri's formula as the definition of the integral.
Planted forest in tropical countries
Authors: Evans Julian , Turnbull John W
Published: November 2023

Since the 1960s there has been an enormous increase in forest plantations in the tropics. By 2000 almost 40% of the global estate of 187 million ha of plantations was in the tropical and subtropical areas we are considering in this book (FAO 2001a). Though some countries commenced plantation establishment earlier than others, the recent upsurge in planting has occurred nearly everywhere and most countries have begun social forestry programmes or are committed to large afforestation projects.
What to plant?
Authors: Evans Julian , Turnbull John W
Published: November 2023

When a plantation project is initiated, which species to plant is the most important decision. The species selected not only influences silvicultural practice, but also greatly affects the management and utilization of the crop. Moreover, once the choice is made it must remain until the end of the rotation; the cost of cutting prematurely one crop to replace it with another of superior species is formidable.
Forest nurseries
Authors: Evans Julian , Turnbull John W
Published: November 2023

Each year many millions of tree seedlings are raised in nurseries for use in plantations throughout the world. In the tropics there is a great variety of forest nurseries. Size alone ranges from a villager’s own plot of perhaps only 50 or 100 seedlings in an assortment of containers, to large, highly organized, nurseries covering several hectares and producing several million plants annually. The use of nursery raised plants is generally the most efficient and effective way of establishing a plantation, although direct seeding is practised successfully by aircraft in inaccessible areas and where a protective tree cover is more important than wood production.
Plantation maintenance
Authors: Evans Julian , Turnbull John W
Published: November 2023

Several silvicultural operations are needed to ensure that a plantation is adequately established and protected up to the production stage in industrial forestry and canopy closure or desired tree-size in environmental and social forestry. They are often referred to collectively as tending operations. Globally, only 70% of new plantations established annually are judged successful (FAO 2001a). In India, state plantations have an average of 60–70% survival but private plantings vary from 25% to 50% (Bahuguna 2001) and is one reason why yields from tropical plantations in general have often been very low, frequently less than 50% of their productive capacity (Pandey 1995).
Protective afforestation
Authors: Evans Julian , Turnbull John W
Published: November 2023

This chapter concerns the role trees and forests play in protecting the environment, which is an extremely important aspect of forestry. Forests are a key element in the landscape. They provide a natural buffer, which assists in maintaining ecological balance and supply raw materials to communities as well as providing protective services. Forest poli-cies must reflect these multiple functions and forest management must respond accordingly. Forest practices need to ensure the health and vitality of forests if they are to be managed sustainably and fulfill their protective role especially the protection of water resources, soil protection, buffering local climate through control of wind and other conservation, and recreational functions (Göttle and Sene 1997).
LD mapping and the coalescent
Authors: Hein Jotun , Schierup Mikkel H , Wiuf Carsten
Published: November 2023

This chapter aims to introduce concepts that are important for understanding the challenge of finding genes underlying complex diseases through linkage disequilibrium (LD) mapping. It has a bias towards the current use of coalescent theory in the field. Consequently, important research areas such as disease etiology, linkage analysis, and family-based association mapping are only superficially treated.

LD mapping is a rapidly growing research field fuelled by the hope that it may ldea to the identification of genes and gene variants underlying com- plex, multigenic traits, such as common diseases (e.g. cancers, Alzheimer ‘s, diabetes, schizophrenia). Classical quantitative genetics and linkage map- ping, while being successful in localising genes for Mendelian diseases, have only very limited success in identifying susceptibility genes which are char- acterised by smaller and context-dependent (genetic and environmental) effects. There is no guarantee that LD mapping will be more successful, but enthusiasm for LD mapping has recently increased because of the large amount of genetic markers that have become available for humans, and soon will be available for a number of other species. More than 5 million SNP markers are now publicly available (see Table 1.1). These can be used for genome-wide scans of association between markers and disease status at densities averaging one marker per kilobase. However, typing is still expensive (even though the price per genotype decreases rapidly), and the common strategy for investigation of a given trait is to localise interesting regions of the genome by more traditional linkage mapping.
A prelude to long-term potentiation
Authors: Andersen Per
Published: November 2023

Searching for premonitory studies of hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP), there is a paucity of data. While synaptic enhancement during repetitive activation was studied in several reports from many groups between 1955 and 1967, the reported after-effects were short, at the most lasting a few minutes. Responses lasting for more than 1 hour were not reported until 1973. Keywords: long-term potentiation; synaptic plasticity; hippocampus; augmentation LTP is a highly popular topic in neuroscience research. The great interest is generated by its properties, making it a useful candidate for cellular processes supporting learning behaviour.