bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Executive Functions Of Persistent Violent Offenders: A Critical Review Of The Literature
Authors: Brito Stéphane A De , Hodgins Sheilagh
Published: November 2023

Introduction

A large body of research from diverse fields suggests that impaired neuropsychological functioning may play an important role in the aetiology of aggression and violent behaviour (Giancola, 1995; Bergvall et al., 2001; Brower & Price, 2001; Séguin et al., 2007). Most research has focused on the role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the so-called executive functions (Morgan & Lilienfeld, 2000; Séguin & Zelazo, 2005). Executive functions are ‘a collection of varying abilities that involve regulatory control over thought and behaviour in the service of goal-directed or intentional action, problem solving, and flexible shifting of actions to meet task demands’ (Lesaca, 2001; p. 1). Understanding the contribution of executive functioning to violent behaviour may prove to have important implications for rehabilitation programmes.
Why Are Programmes For Offenders With Personality Disorder Not Informed By The Relevant Scientific Findings?
Authors: Duggan Conor
Published: November 2023

One of my most striking memories from this meeting was the discontinuity between the sophistication of many of the scientific papers-especially those from a developmental perspective-and the failure to translate these findings into clinical practice. This was best illustrated by one of the speakers when, after a very erudite exposition on the developmental origins of psychopathy, seemed at a loss to explain how his findings might inform the management of a difficult, out of control, teenager when questioned by a clinician.
Reading the artifacts: gleaning language skills from the Middle Stone Age in southern Africa
Authors: Stuart Henshilwood Christopher , Benoit Dubreuil
Published: November 2023

Finding archeological evidence that hints at when people first used language, in the ‘‘modern’’ sense, has long fascinated archeologists. Most archeologists are not linguistic specialists, but speculating on the origins of language, or at least commenting on the topic, seems an innate component of many archeological publications, especially those relating to the origins of the behavior of our own species, Homo sapiens (e.g. Noble and Davidson 1996; Deacon and Wurz 1996; Ambrose 2001; Deacon 2001; Barham 2001; Wadley 2001; Henshilwood et al. 2002; Mellars 2006). The terminology used by archeologists to describe ‘‘modern’’ language varies and includes ‘‘syntactic’’ language (Barham 2002a), ‘‘symbolic’’ language (Wurz 2000), ‘‘modern, complex’’ language (Mellars 2006), and ‘‘phonemic’’ language (Klein and Edgar 2002). Broadly speaking, these terms are understood to mean the ideas or emotions that were communicated by means of symbolic elements, for example vocally, by gesture, or by marks, and that these elements can be recombined according to systematic, conventionalized criteria to create meaning. Members of society interact with one another in terms of their total culture through language,
Fossil cues to the evolution of speech
Authors: Fitch W Tecumseh
Published: November 2023

Speech (complex, articulated vocalization) is the default linguistic signaling mode for all human cultures, except for small populations (e.g. the deaf) for whom the audiomotor modality is unavailable. However, signed languages of the deaf are full, complex, grammatical languages, independent of, but equivalent in all important respects to, spoken languages (Stokoe 1960; Klima and Bellugi 1979), demonstrating that speech is not the only signaling system adequate to convey language. Therefore, a crucial distinction in language evolution is that which exists between speech (a signaling system) and language (a system for expressing thoughts, which can incorporate any one of several signaling systems). Additionally, speech can be decoupled from meaning, in certain circumstances, and be treated as a signal, pure and simple (other examples of complex articulated vocalization include infant babbling or jazz scat singing). And of course, additional and more ancient non-linguistic (non-propositional) communication via facial expression and ‘‘body language’’ is also found in all human populations. Nonetheless, speech remains the default linguistic signaling system for all unimpaired human cultures, and there is no evidence that this has ever been otherwise, until the advent of writing. Thus, the vast majority of linguistic constructions were conveyed via a speech signal during human evolution. Language evolution may well have been influenced or constrained by its reliance on the auditory/vocal modality.
Evidence against a genetic-based revolution in language 50,000 years ago
Authors: Diller Karl C , Cann Rebecca L
Published: November 2023

Africa was more than just the ‘‘cradle’’ of language, a place of nurture for language and for the anatomically modern humans who have had full capacity for language for more than 200,000 years. From an evolutionary viewpoint we would think of Africa also as something of a ‘‘womb’’ for language, nurturing the embryonic beginnings of language as it emerged in archaic species of Homo, and fostering the gradual co-evolution of language and the complex brain structures necessary for speech and fully modern language. Form and function usually evolve together. We would expect the beginnings of speech and language to undergo positive natural selection. Brain structures which improved speech and language would thereby be selected for. Control of the vocal apparatus is highly complex, involving tongue, lips, vocal cords, breathing, etc.; gaining the neural ability to exercise conscious control of all this was not likely the result of a single mutation. But many people speculate or argue that there was a revolution in language, one important genetic mutation for language, about 50,000 years ago, that brought about a revolution in culture and allowed modern humans to leave Africa for Europe and the rest of the world.
Social origins: sharing, exchange, kinship
Authors: Barnard Alan
Published: November 2023

This chapter considers three social aspects of the emergence of language: sharing, exchange, and kinship. I shall argue that the earliest full language coincided with the development of other forms of communication, including human kinship—with sharing practices and rules, marital alliance, kin classification, and ultimately kin category extension to the limits of social systems. Virtually all human hunter-gatherer societies retain completely universal systems of kin category extension (where in relation to any given individual, everyone is classified as some kind of “kin”), and the classification of kin among contemporary hunter-gatherers can provide clues to early human social structures. In both language and society, dispositions became rules. Social systems, like languages, evolved into extremely complex yet enabling structures.
Sexual selection models for the emergence of symbolic communication: why they should be reversed
Authors: Power Camilla
Published: November 2023

This chapter presents a model for the emergence of symbolic culture, focusing on costly performance in symbolism—ritual, body art, ornament, dance—rather than less costly aspects such as language. Following Knight (1998, 1999) and concurring with Watts (this volume), I argue that ritual and language necessarily co-evolved. Evidence for the presence of one can be regarded as evidence for the presence of the other. The argument in a nutshell is that language cannot evolve without cooperation between strangers; the only medium for securing such cooperation within and between groups is costly ritual (cf. Durkheim 1947 [1915]; Knight et al. 1995; Irons 2001; Sosis 2003).
Introduction
Authors: Crubellier Michel , Laks André
Published: November 2023

It is like looking into the cabin of a locomotive. We see handles all looking more or less alike. (Naturally, since they are all supposed to be handled.) But one is the handle of a crank which can be moved continuously (it regulates the opening of a valve); another is the handle of a switch, which has only two effective positions, it is either off or on.
Aporiai 1–2
Authors: Crubellier Michel
Published: November 2023

B1, 995b4–6: The first problem concerns the subject which we discussed in our prefatory remarks. It is this—whether the investigation of causes belongs to one or to more sciences. B2, 996a18–20: First then with regard to what we mentioned first, does it belong to one or to more sciences to investigate all the kinds of causes? K1, 1059a18–21: That wisdom is a science of first principles is evident from the introductory chapters, in which we have raised objections to the statements of others about the first principles; but one might ask the question whether wisdom is to be conceived as one science or as several.
Aporiai 3–5
Authors: De Haas Frans A J
Published: November 2023

In our editions aporiai 3—5 complete the second chapter of Book B of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, which contains a more elaborate discussion of the first five aporiai that were briefly introduced in B 1, 995b 4—27. This was probably the reason why the organizers of the Symposium decided to have these aporiai discussed together. Unlike the ancient editor, however, commentators have tended to set aporiai 1—4 apart as dealing with the tension between the universal scope of first philosophy on the one hand, and the Aristotelian requirement of the unity of the subject matter of a science on the other. These commentators consider the remaining aporiai, starting with 5, to deal with ‘more substantive metaphysical issues’.
Aporiai 6–7
Authors: Berti Enrico
Published: November 2023

Aporiai 6 and 7 of Metaph. B open the series dedicated to the discussion of the nature of principles (arkhai). This discussion continues until the end of the book and reference is made to it in chapter 6 with the statement: ‘These are the questions that it is necessary to raise about the principles’ (1003a5–6).1 The principles have been indicated in book Alpha—to which Beta is closely connected2—as the object of ‘the science we are searching for’, namely wisdom (sophia) or first philosophy. At times they have been identified with the ‘first causes’ (which are, as we know, of four types) and occasionally with the ‘elements’ (stoikheia). This latter term—always in Metaph. A —designates the material elements admitted by Empedocles (earth, water, air, and fire) or those proposed by Leucippus and Democritus (the full and the empty) or the elements of numbers acknowledged by the Pythagoreans (the odd and the even), as well as the elements of the Ideas and of the ideal numbers acknowledged by Plato (the One, the great and the small).
Ultrasound Guidance for Nerve Blocks: Principles and Practical Implementation
Authors: Marhofer Peter
Published: November 2023

Ultrasonographic guidance for regional anaesthetic blocks is an innovative technique that allows for the direct visualization of nerves, adjacent structures and the position of the needle, as well as for the precise observation of the spread of local anaesthetic. The advantages of the technique allow for the exact administration of moderate volumes of local anaesthetic and for the avoidance of complications. Ultrasound guidance potentially represents a significant step forward in the field of regional anaesthesia, and is certain to become the "gold standard" technique for the administration of regional blocks in future. Written by Professor Peter Marhofer and other members of the Austrian Regional Anaesthesia Group, who have been instrumental in pioneering ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia techniques and introducing them into clinical practice over the past 15 years, this handbook summarizes the basics of ultrasound technology and provides an overview of the most recent techniques in blocking peripheral nerve structures. The book will focus on the use of ultrasonography for adult peripheral regional anaesthesia in daily clinical practice and will become required reading for anaesthesiologists and pain specialists with an interest in regional anaesthesia.
An Infinity of Things
Authors: Larson Frances
Published: November 2023

An Infinity of Things tells the story of one of the largest private collections ever created, and the life of the man behind it. Welcome planned a great museum filled with treasures from all corners of the globe, charting the history of human health from prehistory to the present day. The breadth of his vision was matched only by the depth of his pockets. During the opening decades of the twentieth century he acquired a collection so large that later generations of staff took to describing its contents by the ton. But Welcome's museum was never finished, and his collection was still stored in vast warehouses when he died, unseen and incomplete. Today, after decades of work by his successors, artefacts from the collection can be seen in museums and libraries throughout the world. Demonstrating what can happen when a collector's aspirations are left unconstrained by wealth, Frances Larson explores Welcome's life through his possessions, revealing the many tensions in his character: between his talents as a businessman and his desire for scholarly recognition; his curiosity and his perfectionism; and his philanthropic aspirations and his drive for personal glory.
A very full and complete volume
Authors: Larson Frances
Published: November 2023

Burroughs Wellcome had steadily expanded their range of products. During the 1890s their price lists filled more than thirty pages. Clients could choose from a variety of photographic chemicals, cosmetic creams and soaps, sweeteners and compressed tea, as well as bandages and gauzes, medical preparations like chloroform and ether, hypodermic needles, sanitary towels, menthol snuff, and an extensive series of remedial solutions, tablets, and powders. Silas Burroughs and Henry Wellcome had created strong brands, most notably their ‘Soloid’ and ‘Tabloid’ ranges, which they defended fiercely. The firm now manufactured its own products at a large factory site at Dartford in Kent, which housed patented machines capable of producing 600 tablets a minute. Lucrative government contracts for supplying medicines and equipment to the armed services and some colonial offices guaranteed profits, and, ever innovative, Wellcome and Burroughs had established a tradition of experimental work for the development of new drugs. By 1893, they could boast a laboratory for product testing that ‘would do credit to a university’. But success had come at a price. Their personal relationship was in tatters.
An historical Exhibition of rare and curious objects
Authors: Larson Frances
Published: November 2023

In 1903, Wellcome and his closest colleagues discussed an idea that was to change the course of his collection forever. It was the idea of an exhibition. Wellcome was fifty years old, and Burroughs Wellcome and Company was established as a leading pharmaceuticals firm with the profits to match. He was increasingly freed from the daily decision-making that the business had demanded of him in the early years. He spent more time travelling with his wife. His thoughts had already turned towards more altruistic projects, like researching history books and supporting charitable ventures abroad, and a lifetime of collecting meant that he now possessed many hundreds of rare manuscripts and artefacts, which were scattered throughout his home and decorated the hallways of his business premises. He owned so many things that a considerable number of his prized pieces were already confined to storage. An exhibition would allow him to bring these dislocated treasures together for the first time, and display them to a wider audience.
When the whole is complete, it will be an exact facsimile of the original
Authors: Larson Frances
Published: November 2023

When the Hope heirlooms were offered for sale by Christie’s in 1917, The Times reported that ‘No such sale has been held in this country for several generations, and it is not likely that another collection of equal importance will be offered to the public in the time of anyone living.’ The Hope collection, first assembled by Thomas Hope at the turn of the nineteenth century and now to be sold by his descendant, Lord Francis Hope, the 8th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme, was one of the best known private collections of antiquities in the country. It was particularly admired for its exquisite Greek statues and vases; never before had so many ancient sculptures been offered in a single sale. Thompson and Wellcome were interested in two of the Hope statues. Both were more than six feet high and depicted Greek gods of medicine and healing: one was a statue of Hygeia with a snake coiled round her left shoulder, described as ‘surpassing merit’, which had been found at Ostia in 1797; the other, a figure of Aesculapius, with a serpent twined round his staff, had been found in Hadrian’s villa at Tivoli. The statues were exceptional and bound to raise enormous prices. Realizing this, Wellcome gave Thompson permission to bid up to £700 for each.
We need very complete collections of all their fabrications
Authors: Larson Frances
Published: November 2023

Despite his difficulties, Malcolm’s efforts to associate the Historical Medical Museum with the ‘practical side of anthropology’ did bring some successes. During his tenure, Wellcome began to support anthropologists working in the field. Wellcome offered them money to fund their travels, and they, in return, gave him objects they collected during the course of their research. Sponsoring anthropologists had two potential rewards: it would bring Wellcome recognition as a patron of cutting-edge research, and it would satisfy his desire for new acquisitions.
This International Historical Museum
Authors: Larson Frances
Published: November 2023

One of Wellcome’s collectors was given a much freer rein, financially and administratively, than any other during the late 1920s and 1930s. Peter Johnston-Saint, a suave and well-connected ex-army officer, spent more money buying a single batch of letters than Winifred Blackman ever received for an entire field season in Egypt. Between 1927 and 1935, Johnston-Saint went on two or three long tours, of two to five months, every year for Wellcome. He almost always began his travels in France, and frequently moved on to Italy or Spain. He went to Austria, Greece, Germany, Switzerland, Egypt, and the Middle East a number of times. He also visited India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) on behalf of the Museum. During his earlier trips he spent £100–£200 a month on artefacts; six weeks in France and Italy at the beginning of 1929 saw him spend nearly £1,100 on objects and around £35 a week on travel expenses; during thirteen weeks in the Mediterranean in 1930 he spent £1,900 on acquisitions and £600 on expenses, and a similar trip a year later cost £700 in expenses, and more than £2,300 in purchases. He secured thousands of objects for Wellcome while touring abroad as the Museum’s Foreign Secretary. It was the kind of work he had been born to do: hobnobbing with men of influence in the morning and haggling with street vendors in the afternoon.
Sir Henry Wellcome is dead
Authors: Larson Frances
Published: November 2023

Without Wellcome, the collection lost its driving force, and, almost immediately, it began to fragment. Wellcome’s successors could not defend such a great, and expensive, material legacy, particularly when most of it was stashed away, out of sight and in a state of disarray. Had Wellcome successfully transformed his collection into a museum during his lifetime no doubt the story would have been different. Once completed, the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum might have provided a service to the public that justified its maintenance in perpetuity. As it was, Wellcome’s trustees were faced with thousands of unopened packing cases, many filled with artefacts of unknown provenance and quality. Now that Wellcome’s vision could no longer hold this largely impenetrable collection together, practical and financial considerations took precedence for the first time and dictated that the collection must be rationalized.
Editor ‘s Introduction
Authors: Natali Carlo
Published: November 2023

NE book VII ( EE book VI) appears to be the sum of two different logoi, the first (VII. 1 – 10) dedicated to weakness of the will and other undesirable states of the mind, and the second (VII. 11 – 14) to pleasure. Each logos has the aspect of an independent short treatise, with its own introduction and structure. Each develops its argument with no explicit reference to the other. The discussion of weakness of the will even has its own conclusion (1152a34 – 6), whereas the discussion of pleasure lacks an explicit conclusion but ends with the quotation of a poem. After that we have a conclusion to the whole book. This is the only passage that connects the two parts of the book. I shall quote it below.
Nicomachean Ethics VII. 8-9 (115122): Akrasia, enkrateia, and Look-Alikes
Authors: Broadie Sarah
Published: November 2023

This portion of NE VII studies the boundaries of akrasia and enkrateia. The overall aim is to distinguish these qualities from various ethical look-alikes, partly for the sake of a correct descriptive taxonomy, partly so as to provide solutions to certain dialectical puzzles, and partly (I assume) in order to sharpen or refine our everyday evaluations of human character and conduct, whether others ‘ or our own. These purposes are accomplished through a thematic engagement with the notions of constancy and change as applied to ethical agency.
Nicomachean Ethics VII. 11 – 12: Pleasure
Authors: Frede Dorothea
Published: November 2023

That Aristotle should feel prompted to engage in a systematic investigation of pleasure and pain in the Nicomachean Ethics after treating self-control and its lack, softness and endurance, seems prima facie quite natural, because pleasure and pain are the objects of those dispositions. But it takes no more than a perfunctory look to see that the discussion of pleasure and pain in chapters 11 – 14 is not a continuation of what went before. Instead, Aristotle makes a fresh start from quite a different angle. He no longer focuses on the pleasures of the body, but sets out to discuss pleasure and pain in general, on the grounds that it is a topic of central interest to the political philosopher, who, as the master-architect (architekto¯n) of the end or aim in human life, serves as the arbiter of what is good and bad in all things without qualification. An investigation of pleasure and pain is also required because of their intrinsic relation to virtue and vice, and because most people associate happiness with pleasure. This introduction leads us to expect a clarification of three points: (a) the relation of pleasure and pain to the end of human life, (b) their function in virtuous and vicious actions, and (c) the special connection between pleasure and happiness
The Metaphysics of Dispositions and Causes
Authors: Handfield Toby
Published: November 2023

In explaining what happens, we commonly use both dispositional and causal concepts. A historian might refer to the belligerent disposition of a nation-state, and use this to explain why a neighbouring state was so anxious to seek an apparently unwise alliance. A physicist might have occasion to mention the disposition of a metal to expand when heated, and use this to explain why a measurement was inaccurate when taken in abnormally hot conditions. The contexts of explanation— physics and history — are very different, but the concepts are recognizably causal and dispositional in both cases.
Agent-Causal Power
Authors: O’Connor Timothy
Published: November 2023

Our universe is populated, at bottom, by a vast number of partless particulars of a few basic kinds. Each of these particulars instantiates some of a small range of primitive qualities and stands in primitive relations with other particulars. We may conceive of qualities as immanent universals that are numerically identical in their instances, along the lines championed by David Armstrong (1978), or as ‘tropes’ that are non-identical but exactly resembling in their instances, following C. B. Martin (1997). (Nothing of what follows hangs on which alternative one prefers.) In calling these qualities ‘primitive’, we are contending that they are real existents whose being does not consist, even in part, in the existence or instantiation of other entities. The nature of these qualities is irreducibly dispositional: they are tendencies to interact with other qualities in producing some effect, or some range of possible effects. (Or, in certain cases— as we shall consider below— they may instead confer upon their possessor a tendency towards, or power to produce, some such effects.) It may be that the dispositional profile of a quality does not exhaust its nature, so that it has a further ‘qualitative character’, or quiddity. Here again, we may be neutral on this question for present purposes.
From Kiev to Muscovy
Authors: Martin Janet
Published: November 2023

The formative centuries of the Russian state are perhaps best divided into three main periods: the era of Kievan thus from its roots in the ninth century to the Mongol invasion of 1237–40; a century of ‘Mongol dominance’ from 1240 to c.1340, during which Kievan traditions and structures lost their potency and the thus principalities adapted to Mongol or Tatar suzerainty; and the period from c.1340 to the mid-fifteenth century when the foundations of the new state of Muscovy were laid.
European Cities and Towns
Authors: Clark Peter
Published: November 2023

Since the Middle Ages Europe has been one of the most urbanized continents on the planet and Europe’s cities have firmly stamped their imprint on the continent’s economic, social, political, and cultural life. This study of European cities and towns from the fall of the Roman Empire to the present day looks both at regional trends from across Europe and also at the widely differing fortunes of individual communities on the roller coaster of European urbanization. Taking a wide-angled view of the continent that embraces northern and eastern Europe as well as the city systems of the Mediterranean and western Europe, it addresses important debates ranging from the nature of urban survival in the post-Roman era to the position of the European city in a globalizing world. The book is divided into three parts, dealing with the middle ages, the early modern period, and the nineteenth and twentieth centuries—with each part containing chapters on urban trends, the urban economy, social developments, cultural life and landscape, and governance. Throughout, the book addresses key questions such as the role of migration, including that of women and ethnic minorities; the functioning of competition and emulation between cities, as well as issues of inter-urban cooperation; the different ways civic leaders have sought to promote urban identity and visibility; the significance of urban autonomy in enabling cities to protect their interests against the state; and not least why European cities and towns over the period have been such pressure cookers for new ideas and creativity, whether economic, political, or cultural.
Governance 400 – 1500
Authors: Clark Peter
Published: November 2023

By the close of the Middle Ages, the essential administrative and political structures of towns, including municipal powers and civic leadership, had been constructed, at least for the greater towns, in most parts of Europe. As we shall see, the process was slow and difficult, but from the twelfth century it proved incremental. The other main development in medieval urban governance— the creation of civic autonomy from outside control— was more problematic and fraught with difficulty.
Governance 1500 – 1800
Authors: Clark Peter
Published: November 2023

In November 1576, Henry III of France and his queen made a joyous entry into the city of Orléans. Outside the gates, seated in a ceremonial grandstand, draped with rich hangings, the king watched a march past by the city’s militia, followed by 200 royal pages (dressed up in orange velvet jerkins with grey and green hats), snaking processions of aged professors and students, royal officials, and, finally, the mayor and aldermen in their coloured gowns, and other leading citizens.
Conclusion
Authors: Clark Peter
Published: November 2023

As this book has revealed, the making of urban Europe since the early Middle Ages was a slow and complex process with sudden rushes of expansion, but also numerous changes of gear and losses of momentum. Urban decline after the disintegration of the Roman Empire in the West was only slowly reversed in the eighth and ninth centuries, but by the high Middle Ages the rate of urban growth was as high as at any time before the nineteenth century, only to be followed by widespread urban deceleration after the Black Death.
Why Take the Pill?
Authors: Guillebaud John , Maccregor Anne
Published: November 2023

There are many myths and misconceptions about the pill, particularly about its safety. You can’t lead your life without some risks, and when it comes to things like contraception, doing nothing can be risky too! So we’ve written this book to guide you through all the ins and outs of taking the pill.
What are the Beneﬁts?
Authors: Guillebaud John , Maccregor Anne
Published: November 2023

The contraceptive benefi ts of the pill are obvious. But many of its benefi ts have nothing to do with contraception (Table 5.1). All the other good effects can have considerable advantages for some women—indeed, they may choose to take the pill even if they don’t need it for contraception.
What about Blood Clots, Heart Attacks, and Strokes?
Authors: Guillebaud John , Maccregor Anne
Published: November 2023

A major, rare, unwanted effect of the pill is that it increases the risk of thrombosis. This means the formation of blood clots in veins and (even more rarely) arteries. But this risk should be balanced against the fact that pill users are less likely to have thrombosis than if they were pregnant. Further, this is not just a pill problem—it can also happen in women who have never taken a pill in their lives, and in men.
The Male Pill
Authors: Guillebaud John , Maccregor Anne
Published: November 2023

Despite that fact that the only contraceptive choices for men are withdrawal, condoms, or vasectomy, male contraception actually accounts for almost one-third of contraceptive use in many countries. The male pill has long been in development and continues to be queried because of its scientific complexity and questions about its cultural acceptance.
The Semantics of Clause Linking in Akkadian
Authors: Deutscher Guy
Published: November 2023

Akkadian is the earliest known Semitic language. It was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, the ‘land between the rivers’ (Tigris and Euphrates), in an area which roughly corresponds to today’s Iraq. It was written in the cuneiform script, on clay tablets. Akkadian is one of the earliest and longest attested languages, with a history spanning more than two thousand years. The first written attestations are from around 2500 Bce, and the language was spoken until around 500 Bce, when it was displaced by Aramaic. From the second millennium Bce, two distinct dialects of Akkadian emerged, Babylonian and Assyrian.
The Semantics of Clause Linking in Iquito
Authors: Michael Lev
Published: November 2023

This chapter describes the clause linking constructions (CLCs) of Iquito, a Zaparoan language of northern Peruvian Amazonia, in terms of the distinction laid out in Chapter 1 between semantically focal clauses (FCs) and semantically supporting clauses (SCs).
Toxins of anaerobes
Authors: Lyerly David M , Wilkins Tracy D
Published: November 2023

A large number of the anaerobic bacteria, including members of the genera Clostridium, Bacteroides, Fusohacterium, and Aclinomyces, are pathogenic for man and animals. Members of the Bacteroides, Fusohacterium, and Actinomyces produce capsules, haemagglutinins, and a variety of proteolytic enzymes but the exact role of these substances as virulence factors is not clear. Diseases caused by the clostridia, on the other hand, have been shown to result from the production of tissue-damaging toxins (see references I 5 for general reviews of clostridial toxins). In this chapter, properties and assay procedures for the better known clostridial toxins are described. Some of these procedures have been described in detail in other literature and in those instances, the reader is referred to those references.
Isolation and cultivation of anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria
Authors: Tindall B J
Published: November 2023

Photosynthetic or phototrophic bacteria include two groups of organisms, the anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria and the oxygcnic cyanobactcria (often referred to as the blue-green algae). Although it has been demonstrated that certain cyanobacteria are capable of anaerobic growth, the subjects of the present chapter are the anoxygenic red, purple. and green phototrophic bacteria.
Plants
Authors: Vincent Julian F V
Published: November 2023

Plants are complex structures, very largely cellular, with the cells either under turgor or the cell walls lignified. A general approach to cellular materials (1) is very good for the prediction of stiffness and, to a lesser extent, strength of non-turgor systems such as wood and bark but cannot properly cope with cells under internal pressure. In order to analyse the plant mechanically, the con tributions of the different components would ideally be quantified, which requires mathematical models for turgid cellular systems. There are several studies which analyse the relationship between turgor and mechanical prop erties of individual cells, but such models have not yet been developed to describe assemblages of cells with their more complex interactions. There are models which do describe the properties of turgid tissues, but these have not been derived from the properties of individual cells.
Proteoglycans
Authors: Carney S L
Published: November 2023

Proteoglycans, by definition, are conjugates of protein and glycosaminoglycan which are found largely in connective tissue. Their major role is to provide swelling pressure in these tissues by virtue of a Donnan osmotic effect due to the high fixed negative charge found on these molecules. Proteoglycans by their very nature are related to glycoproteins, but are generally differentiated from this class of molecule because of their distinct glycosaminoglycan component. In glycoproteins, generally the sugar moiety composes only a small percentage of the molecular mass, the sugars are relatively small, generally uncharged (with the exception of sialic acid residues), and frequently highly branched. In contrast, glycosaminoglycans from proteo glycan are large, linear molecules which are highly charged, containing both carboxylic acid and sulfate ester groups, and comprise generally a significant proportion of the total molecular mass.
Prediction of secondary structure
Authors: King Ross D
Published: November 2023

The prediction of protein secondary structure is a major part of the general protein folding problem and is the most general method of obtaining some structural information from any newly-determined sequence. Secondary structure prediction is useful in a wide variety of problems concerned with proteins.
The prediction challenge
Authors: Saqi Mansoor a. S
Published: November 2023

Genome projects will soon be producing hundreds of kilobases of raw sequence a day. A major effort in biocomputing will be the analysis of sequence data in terms of functional and structural characterization. Homology-based predictions have proved to be useful. However, given the rate of growth of the sequence databases, homology searches are increasingly likely to spot a similarity with another sequence of unknown function. This ‘function-homology gap’ (1) is likely to increase. There is a need for both statistical analyses to maximize the amount of information that can be used to characterize function and also new algorithms and approaches for secondary and tertiary structure prediction. The level of detail required will vary from establishing function, to getting an idea of the protein fold with a view to prompting site-specific mutagenesis experiments to detailed molecular modelling.
Affinity separations of cells
Authors: Lundgren Erik
Published: November 2023

There are more than 200 different major cell types in higher eukaryotes such as mammals. The isolation of each cell type with reasonable yield and high purity has become routine in many experimental systems as a part of a general reductionistic strategy. To analyse complex interactions in any system, we need to know the components involved and their properties.
Classical and molecular cytogenetics of Arabidopsis
Authors: Jones G H , Heslop-Harrison J S
Published: November 2023

In many species of importance, either as genetical research tools or because of their economic value, cytogenetics has played a prominent role in providing a framework for genetical and molecular analyses of their genomes. The small genome size of Arabidopsis thaliana L. which confers particular advantages for molecular analysis has been a distinct hindrance to cytogenetical analysis. It has been unkindly suggested that Arabidopsis chromosomes resemble ‘mouse droppings seen through the wrong end of a telescope’! While this is perhaps too harsh a judgement, the chromosomes of Arabidopsis are certainly very small by comparison with most eukaryotes, and this limitation has with-out doubt restricted the examination of chromosome organization and behaviour during mitosis and meiosis, and their numerical and structural variants, in short– cytogenetics. Despite these difficulties, Arabidopsis has attracted the attention of cytogeneticists over a long period of time and slow but erratic progress has been made in characterizing its chromosome organization and behaviour both in normal and abnormal situations.
The Analytical Chemistry of Microbial Cultures
Authors: Mousdale David M
Published: November 2023

The immense potential of microbes for producing biomedical and pharmaceutical agents, enzymes, acids, flavours, and speciality chemicals has been realized in a continually increasing number of industrial fermentations. Such processes are, however, necessarily complex, both biologically and biochemically. Growth and primary and secondary metabolism are combined with the utilization (sometimes only partial) of inputs and the generation of a mixture of products and side-products. degradation products, and metabolites. The understanding of a fermentation process is therefore always an analytical challenge, whatever its commercial status, and the problems arc invariably increased by the development of a microbial strain and scaling-up a fermentation process. With secondary metabolites the complex regulatory networks at the genetic level preclude beneficial changes by random mutations, which act on either growth or the supply of metabolites or cofactors to biochemical pathways (sec ref. 1). Such changes can be analyses by measuring nutrient uptake and utilization, the sizes of the intracellular pools, and the fluxes through the pathways (see Chapter 9).
Protein molecular weight determination by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis
Authors: Makowski Gregory s. , Ramsby Melinda L
Published: November 2023

Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) is a widely used analytical technique for the separation and characteri1.ation of complex mixtures of proteins and peptides and for the estimation of the relative molecular weight (M,) of a protein. Despite numerous variations (l-3 and references therein), the discontinuous SDS-PAGE system described by Laemmli in 1970 (4) remains the most popular. Using this classical method as a paradigm, this article will review the principles and theory of electrophoresis, describe the essential components of SOS-PAGE, and demonstrate relevant applications including the use of SOS-PAGE for detection of enzymatic activity.
Protein analysis by mass spectrometry
Authors: Jensen Ole Norregaard , Shevchenko Andrej , Matthias Mann
Published: November 2023

The molecular weight is a highly specific characteristic of a molecule and is often the first physicochcmical property that is measured of a protein. Traditionally, SDS-PAGE (Chapter 1), analytical ultracentrifugation, or gel permeation chromatography (Chapter 9) are used for molecular weight measurements. Recently, mass spectrometric techniques have been developed that permit mass determination of intact proteins with an accuracy far superior to the above mentioned methods. At the same time biological mass spectrometry has changed from being a complex and exotic discipline performed only by specialists into being an invaluable analytical technique used by skilled biochemists at all levels of protein characterization. This change is mainly due to the emergence of two new ionization techniques that allow production of gas phase molecular ions of proteins and peptides, as well as to the availability of relatively simple and easy to operate mass spectrometers. The power of the techniques is apparent from the following performance data. Only a few picomoles of a protein arc necessary to obtain its molecular weight with an accuracy of 0.01-0.1%. Even Jess sample is necessary for peptide analysis: subpicomolc amounts can now be analysed with a mass accuracy better than 0.01%, i.e. an error of 0.1 Dain 1000 Da. Although mass spectrometry is a versatile and powerful analytical technique, it has some limitations. This chapter focuses on practical guidelines for sample preparation for mass spectrometric analysis which, if followed, should ensure good results. The principles of operation and applications of mass spectrometry in biological research can be found in recent reviews (1-5). Here, we only provide a brief overview so that the reader can appreciate the utility and limitations of the new mass spectrometric techniques.
Disulfide bonds between cysteine residues
Authors: Gray William R
Published: November 2023

Disulfide bonds between cysteinc residues, to generate cystine, are a common post-translational modification of proteins, principally of those that operate in the extracellular milieu. A full description of the covalent structure demands that the connectivity of the bridged cysteines be analysed. Although disulfidcs are chemically rather simple, two factors can make the analysis difficult. First, the number of possible isomers grows rapidly as the number of bridges increases-1, 3, 15. 105, 945, etc. Second, base and reducing agents can catalyse exchange among partners, obscuring the original connectivity (1). Native proteins under physiological conditions are deceptively stable, but once they are denatured or nicked by proteases, disulfide exchange occurs when even a trace of thiol is present. Offsetting this complexity is one’s prior knowledge of the amino acid sequence. This helps greatly in designing cleavage methods, and in simplifying peptide analysis-an accurate mass will often identify a peptide fragment, thereby defining a disulfide connection.
Optical spectroscopy to characterize protein conformation and conformational changes
Authors: Schmid Franz X
Published: November 2023

Proteins absorb light and emit radiation in the UV range of the spectrum. The absorbance is caused by the peptide groups, by the aromatic amino acids, and to a small extent, by disulfide bonds. Fluorescence emission originates from the aromatic amino acids. Some proteins that carry covalently linked cofactors, such as the haem proteins, also show absorbance in the visible range. Proteins also absorb infrared light. The latter two properties will not be dealt with in this chapter. During absorption, light energy is used to promote electrons from the ground state to an excited state. Electrons that participate in delocalized aromatic systems frequently absorb in the near-UV or the visible region. Fluorescence emission is observed when excited electrons revert from the first excited state to the ground state. When a chromophore is part of an asymmetric structure, or when it is immobilized within an asymmetric environment, left-handed and right-handed circularly-polarized light is absorbed to different extents. This phenomenon is called circular dichroism (CD).
Measuring the conformational stability of a protein
Authors: Pace C Nick , Scholtz J Martin
Published: November 2023

The stability of proteins, especially enzymes, has long been a practical concern (1), because this is usually the factor that most limits their usefulness. There are two very different aspects of protein stability. One is the chemical stability of the covalent structure, which involves covalent changes and is usually irreversible. The other is the conformational stability of the folded state, in the absence of covalent changes (2-8). The latter is the subject of this chapter, which will describe the simplest methods available for measuring how much more stable is the folded conformation of a protein than its unfolded conformations.
Purification of yeast replication origin binding proteins
Authors: Donovan Shane , Dowell Simon , Diffley John , Rowley Adele
Published: November 2023

This chapter provides practical advice on the biochemical purification of proteins that bind to replication origins in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetic and biochemical analysis in budding yeast has facilitated much of our current understanding about the initiation of replication of chromosomal DNA in eukaryotic cells, in large part because only in this organism have the DNA sequences that serve as replication origins been identified and characterized in detail. Replication origins in S. cerevisiae consist of discrete 100--300 bp sequences termed autonomously replicating (ARS) sequences that are both necessary and sufficient for replication of plasmid DNA. At least a subset of ARSs function as origins of replication in their native chromosomal context. The combined power of biochemical and genetic approaches available in yeast has led to the identification of proteins required for initiation of DNA replication that interact, either directly or indirectly, with ARS sequences. Furthermore, recent progress has demonstrated the periodic assembly of complexes involving these proteins at replication origins during the cell cycle and that this process is regulated by cyclin dependent kinases (CDKs). The goal of this chapter is to provide protocols and necessary information for the purification of three origin interacting factors: ORC, Abflp, and Cdc46p, a member of the Mcm family of proteins. Recent evidence also implicates Cdc6p, Dbf4p, and Cdc45p as origin inter acting factors. The characteristics of Cdc6p, Dbf4p, and Cdc45p will be briefly reviewed, however no protocols are yet available for the purification of these proteins from yeast. For more comprehensive discussion of ARS sequence characteristics, ARS binding proteins, and cell cycle regulation of initiation the reader is directed to a number of recent reviews (1-6).
Biotilms in the brewing process - a new approach to hygiene management
Authors: Storgards E , Pihlajamaki O , Haikara A
Published: November 2023

Detection and removal of surface contaminants are still poorly optimized. Biofilm formation was studied in order to facilitate the elimination and prevention of biofouling on the basis of accurate data. Epifluorescence microscopy, ATP bioluminescence measurements and traditional cultivation were used for studying microbial growth on stainless steel surfaces. Biofilm formation was also studied in immobilized yeast reactors used for continuous secondary fermentation. Acetobacter sp, Gluconobacter oxydans, L. lindneri, Pantoea agglomerans, Dekkera anomala (anam. Brettanomyces anomalus) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (ex. diastaticus) were strong biofilm producers. Attachment of L. lindneri to yeast cells and carrier materials in immobilized yeast reactors was intense.