bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A PCR Approach to Detection of Malaria in Hawaiian Birds
Authors: Cann Rebecca L , Feldman Robert A , Agullana Leila , Freed Leonard A
Published: November 2023

Organisms that cause disease are recognized as having an influential role in the population dynamics of host species and in the communities to which host species belong (Dobson and Hudson, 1986). Within host species, individuals may vary in tolerance or resistance to disease, with consequences for survival and reproductive competition (van Riper et al., 1986). Within communities, species may vary in the extent to which individuals tolerate or resist disease, with consequences for interspecific competition and community structure (Scott, 1988). Disease is of special concern for endangered species, and the journal Conservation Biology highlighted this concern (May, 1988). Unfortunately, our recognition of the potential importance of disease often exceeds our ability to accurately document its role in natural populations and communities and assess the significance it has for the maintenance of intraspecific genetic variation. While prevalence is a notoriously oversimplified index (Ewald, 1994), part of the larger problem is the methodological difficulty in accurately estimating prevalence of disease as a first step Molecular genetics may provide an approach to a more comprehensive study of disease by increasing the sensitivity of diagnosis and defining the pool of susceptibles. Here we illustrate this approach using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based test that can detect the DNA of an avian malarial blood parasite (Plasmodium) in part of the total DNA extracted from a blood sample from the host bird. Traditional approaches for studying malaria are reviewed to point out the need for more sensitive diagnoses. Then the basis of the PCR test for Plasmodium, which can be generalized to other blood pathogens, is presented. Results are presented of the operational use of the test with Hawaiian birds, many of which are highly susceptible to Plasmodium (van Riper et al., 1986). Diverse issues that can be addressed with the PCR test, especially those germaine to conservation biology, are discussed.
Calendars and Time Reckoning
Authors: Evans James
Published: November 2023

One may regulate a calendar by means of the Sun alone, by means of the Moon alone, or by means of the Sun and Moon together. Thus, there are three principal types of calendar: solar, lunar, and luni-solar. At various times and in various cultures, all three types of calendars have been used. Indeed, all three types are still in use today. A good example of a lunar calendar is the Muslim calendar, which is still used in some countries of the Middle East, and which is used worldwide in Muslim religious practice. The most important luni solar calendar still in use is the Jewish calendar. But the ancient Greek and Babylonian calendars were also of this type. The most familiar example of a solar calendar is the Gregorian calendar, which is used nearly worldwide today. However, to reckon time reliably in astronomical and historical work, one must also understand its relation to the Julian calendar that preceded it.
Emotional Operating Systems and Subjectivity Methodological Problems and a Conceptual Framework for the Neurobiological Analysis of Affect
Authors: Panksepp Jaak
Published: November 2023

Ultimately the emotional systems of the brain create mixtures of innate and learned action tendencies in humans, as well as in the other creatures we must study in order to fully understand the neural substrates of affective processes. As we now know, there are no credible, routine ways to unambiguously separate the influences of nature and nurture in the control of behavior that will apply across different environments. To understand the aspects of behavior that derive their organizational essence mainly from nature, we must first identify how instinctual behaviors emerge from the intrinsic potentials of the nervous system. For instance, animals do not learn to search their environment for items needed for survival, although they surely need to learn exactly when and how precisely to search. In other words, the “seeking potential” is built into the brain, but each animal must learn to direct its behaviors toward the opportunities that are available in the environment. In addition, animals do not need to learn to experience and express fear, anger, pain, pleasure, and joy, nor to play in simple rough-and-tumble ways, even though all of these processes come to modify and be modified by learning. Evidence suggests that evolution has imprinted many spontaneous psychobehavioral potentials within the inherited neurodynamics of the mammalian brain; these systems help generate internally experienced emotional feelings. Indeed, affective experience appears to be closely linked to brain programs that generate emotional behaviors, as well as the incoming sensory experiences that result from emotive behaviors. The function of subjectively experienced feeling states may be to sustain ongoing behavior patterns and to augment simple and effective learning strategies. Accordingly, in order to understand the neural nature of emotional feelings in humans, we must first seek to decode how brain circuits control the basic, genetically encoded emotional behavioral tendencies we share with other mammals. Then we must try to determine how subjective experience emerges from or is linked to those brain systems. Progress on these issues has been meager. In general, both psychology and modern neuro-science have failed to give sufficient credence to the fact that organisms are born with a variety of innate affective tendencies that emerge from the ancient organizational structure of the mammalian brain.
Sleep, Arousal, and Mythmaking in the Brain
Authors: Panksepp Jaak
Published: November 2023

Shakespeare proposed one possible function of sleep when he suggested that it “knits up the raveled sleeve of care.” A great number of functions have now been attributed to sleep and dreaming, but few have been definitively demonstrated with the tools of science. One thing is certain, though. Each day our lives cycle through the master routines of sleeping, dreaming, and waking. All our activities are guided by the age-old rhythms of nature, and many neural mechanisms assure that we remain in tune with the cycling of days and nights across the seasons. Our brains contain endogenous daily rhythm generators and also, perhaps, calendar mechanisms that respond to monthly lunar cycles, as well as the transit of the seasons. Brain scientists have been especially eager to study the mechanisms that control these processes, and our various states of vigilance have been pursued vigorously thanks to highly objective electroencephalographic (EEG) procedures to monitor the brain in action. During waking, the EEG is typically full of low-amplitude, high-frequency beta waves, which indicate that the brain is processing information.
Seeking Systems and Anticipatory States of the Nervous System
Authors: Panksepp Jaak
Published: November 2023

The desires and aspirations of the human heart are endless. It is foolish to attribute them all to a single brain system. But they all come to a standstill if certain brain systems, such as the dopamine (DA) circuits arising from midbrain nuclei, are destroyed. Such was the tragedy that overtook Leonard L. in his childhood, and it was not until he was a grown man that he was able to partake again of worldly delights. What allowed him to achieve the feelings of success described by Sacks was L-DOPA, the precursor of DA. This medicine had already alleviated the psychomotor problems of ordinary parkinsonian patients, who had weaker forms of deterioration in their ascending DA systems. In such individuals L-DOPA can dramatically alleviate the inability to initiate movements, allowing them to enjoy everyday pleasures. Now we know that ascending DA tracts lie at the heart of powerful, affectively valenced neural systems that allow people and animals to operate smoothly and efficiently in all of their day-to-day pursuits. These circuits appear to be major contributors to our feelings of engagement and excitement as we seek the material resources needed for bodily survival, and also when we pursue the cognitive interests that bring positive existential meanings into our lives. Higher areas of the motor cortex are also energized into action by the presence of DA. Without the synaptic “energy” of DA, these potentials remain dormant and still. Without DA, human aspirations remain frozen, as it were, in an endless winter of discontent. DA synapses resemble gatekeepers rather than couriers that convey detailed messages. When they are not active at their posts, many potentials of the brain cannot readily be manifested in thought or action. Without DA, only the strongest emotional messages instigate behavior. When DA synapses are active in abundance, a person feels as if he or she can do anything. Is it any wonder that humans and animals eagerly work to artificially activate this system whether via electrical or chemical means? Cocaine and amphetamines are psychologically addicting because they facilitate activity in brain DA systems. When the activities of these synapses are excessive, however, in ways that we do not fully understand, people may be in the florid early phases of schizophrenia, seeking spiritual heights and philosophical insights that may not even exist. Many schizophrenics eventually become consumed by an emotional chaos that the rest of us can only imagine. Are we justified in labeling the functions and dysfunctions of brain DA systems in unitary psychological terms? I think so, if we wish to communicate effectively. But what word or phrase shall we use? Here I will call this emotional circuitry the SEEKING system of the brain, as opposed to the expectancy or behavioral activation system as originally proposed.
Love and the Social Bond The Sources of Nurturance and Maternal Behavior
Authors: Panksepp Jaak
Published: November 2023

Although there are many bad forms of parenting, there are also good and nurturant forms. An age-old concern of pregnant women is the doubt they feel about their ability to nurture and love their first baby. However, nature tends to spontaneously take care of such concerns, at least in lower animals, as the sequence of biological events leading up to the delivery of the baby unfolds. The ongoing physiological changes that prepare the body for birth also prepare the mother’s brain for nurturance. In most animals this includes her role as the primary caregiver. Males can be trained to exhibit a high level of nurturance, but their care is rarely as natural or as intense a motive as it is for the mother. Only in species where male participation is absolutely essential for offspring survival, as in some birds and perhaps in humans, where the child is helpless for longer than any other animal, can nurturant behavior be as vigorous in males as it is in females. On the other hand, in many species of fish where external fertilization is the norm, the fathers typically remain to tend and protect the eggs while females depart to entice another receptive male. Nurturance may have emerged independently several times in the evolution of different species, but in mammals the basic urge probably comes from homologous brain circuits, even though the specific behaviors that constitute parenting can vary markedly from species to species. Humans obviously exhibit more behavioral complexity in child care endeavors than other species, but our behavior is still motivated, in part, by primitive emotional systems we share with the other mammals.
Anatomical and Functional Aspects of the Cochlear Nucleus
Authors: Romand Raymond , Avan Paul
Published: November 2023

The cochlear nucleus (CN) is the first brain center of the ascending auditory pathway. By the complexity of its structure and function that is evident in the heterogeneity of cell populations, the high number of descending fibers from central areas, the variety of intranuclear circuits and the diversity of response types of neurons, we know that it is far more than a relay station for acoustic information transfer. In light of recent observations, we can see that the CN has the important task of reencoding the rather homogeneous auditory nerve activity into various functionally different channels that transmit portions of this information to many other brain centers.
The Auditory Midbrain, a “Shunting Yard” of Acoustical Information Processing
Authors: Ehret Günter
Published: November 2023

Auditory information passing from the two ears to the cortex of the telencephalon can take many routes, especially in the brainstem, where numerous auditory nuclei are interconnected in a network of ipsi- and contralateral projections (Figures 4.1, 4.2; see also Chapters 1-3). These nuclei are centers in which certain aspects of the perceived sound, such as spectral and temporal patterns, may be reencoded by the integration of input from several projections and intrinsic neuronal interactions, or even newly created (in spatial patterns) by the convergence of ipsi-and contralateral activities. Thus, the auditory brain centers shown in Figures 4.1 and 4.2 are by no means simple “relay stations” in the auditory pathway but add well-defined complexity of encoding to the ascending information flow. For example, spatial cues as to the sound source are generated by the output of the superior olivary complex, and inhibitory pathways are created by projections of the nuclei of the lateral lemniscus. Auditory nuclei of the brain, therefore, can be regarded as centers in which new and higher-order codes or representations of sound features are established. Moreover, auditory centers of the brain, starting with the cochlear nucleus complex, give rise to descending connections to premotor and motor nuclei and thus contribute to acoustic reflexes such as the middle ear muscle reflex (e.g., Møller, 1974) and orientation responses (Masterton et al., 1968; Thompson and Masterton, 1978; Jenkins and Masterton, 1982; Leitner and Cohen, 1985, Lingenhohl and Friauf, 1994).
Clifford Algebra
Authors: Snygg John
Published: November 2023

Clifford algebras have become an indispensable tool for physicists at the cutting edge of theoretical investigations. Its applications in physics range from special relativity and the rotating top at one end of the spectrum, to general relativity and Dirac’s equation for the electron at the other. Clifford algebras have become a virtual necessity in some areas of physics and their use is expanding in other areas; for example, in algebraic manipulations involving Dirac matrices in quantum thermodynamics, in Kaluza-Klein theories and dimensional renormalization theories, and in the formation of superstring theories. The book is aimed at beginning graduate physics and math students learning mathematical physics, relativity, quantum physics, or applied mathematics; and mathematical physicists.
Host Use and Egg Color of Japanese Cuckoos
Authors: Higuchi Hiroyoshi
Published: November 2023

Different species of parasitic cuckoos deposit their eggs in nests of different host species, although a few incidental hosts are used in common by two or more species of cuckoo (e.g., Baker 1927, 1942; Kobayashi and lshizawa 1940; Friedmann 1964, 1967a; Kiyosu 1965; Jensen and Jensen 1969; Lack 1971; Gaston 1976; Payne 1977). Friedmann (1967b) proposed the term alloxenia to describe the situation in which related species of parasites tend to use different species of hosts. Host segregation probably evolved as a result of interspecific competition (Lack 1971; Wyllie 1981), but the process or mechanism of its evolution has not been proven.
Brood Parasitism, Recognition, and Response The Options
Authors: Mclean Ian G , Maloney Richard F
Published: November 2023

This chapter is about recognition. The context is one of encountering enemies; specifically, brood parasites. For a bird, recognition of an enemy involves detecting objects in the environment and determining whether that object represents a threat. Linked to recognition are the allied notions of coping, assessment and response. “Coping” is what animals do when dealing with enemies and involves two general possibilities. First, the bird may exhibit a variety of life history tactics designed to minimize the chances of encountering an enemy (e.g., behave cryptically, avoid cover that might conceal a predator). No recognition of the enemy is required although the bird presumably constantly assesses its immediate environment in terms of potential threat.
Consequences of Brown-Headed Cowbird Brood Parasitism for Host Population Dynamics
Authors: Trine Cheryll. , Robinson W Douglas , Robinson Scott K
Published: November 2023

Generalist brood parasites such as the Molothrus cowbirds potentially decrease the reproductive success of some host species they parasitize to such an extent that they can threaten entire populations or even species (Mayfield 1977; Rothstein and Robinson 1994; Robinson et al. l995a,b; Smith et al., in press). In contrast to cowbirds, the population dynamics of specialized parasites may be tightly coupled to those of the few hosts they parasitize so that a decline in a host species inevitably leads to a decline in the parasite and a recovery of the host (May and Robinson 1985; Takasu et al. 1993). Specialists therefore are unlikely to drive a host population to extinction. But the population dynamics of a generalist such as a cowbird can be uncoupled from those of some hosts (May and Robinson 1985).
Models Of Visuospatial Cognition
Authors: De Vega Manuel , Intons-Peterson Margaret Jean , Johnson-laird Philip N , Denis Michel , Marschark Marc
Published: November 2023

This is the second book in the Counterpoints series and focuses on alternative models of visual-spatial processing in human cognition. Over the last twenty years, theories and research relating to visual-spatial cognition have been of central interest to a broad range of psychologists - in areas of perception, memory, neuropsychology, and problem solving. This book offers extended chapters from three of the most respected and recognized investigators in the field: Michel Denis, Margaret Intons-Peterson, and Philip Johnson-Laird. The arguments are integrated, and ideas for new directions and new research are offered.
Voting Hopes or Fears?
Authors: Reeves Keith
Published: November 2023

Thirty years after the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, whites remain resistant to the election of blacks to public office. This widespread resistance, Keith Reeves illustrates, can be explained in large part by election campaign appeals to whites’ racial fears and sentiments. Through innovative experimental srudies, Voting Hopes or Fears? provides fresh and startling empirical evidence that the issue of race still pervades the consciousness of American society and prevents blacks from winning elections in districts where whites comprise a majority of the electorate.
A Dictionary Of the Roman Empire
Authors: Bunson Matthew
Published: November 2023

The extraordinarily rich cultural legacy of the Roman world has had a profound affect world civilization. Roman achievements in architecture, law, politics, literature, war, and philosophy serve as the foundation of modern Western society. Now, for the first time in an A-Z format, A Dictionary of the Roman Empire assembles the people, places, events, and ideas of this remarkable period in one easy-to-use source. With over 1,900 entries covering more than five hundred years of Roman history, from Julius Caesar and the Gallic Wars (59-51 B.C.) to the fall of Romulus Augustus, the last Roman emperor (476 A.D.), this accessible guide provides quick reference to one of the most studied periods of all antiquity. Every aspect of Roman life is included. Here are profiles of the great emperors, such as Marcus Aurelius, one of the most profoundly intellectual monarchs in western civilization, and the aberrant Gaius Caligula, who, after draining the Roman treasury with his eccentric behavior, made it a capital crime for citizens not to bequeath him their estates. Informative entries describe the complex workings of Roman government, such as census taking, the creation of civil service, coinage, and the venerable institution of the Senate, and offer insight into the various trends and cultural tastes that developed throughout Roman history. For example, a discussion on baths, the most common type of building in the Roman Empire, demonstrates the unique intermingling of luxury, community, recreation, and, in the provinces, an association with Rome, that served as the focus of any city aspiring to greatness. Other entries describe the practice of paganism, marriage and divorce, ludi (public games held to entertain the Roman populace), festivals of the Roman year, and gluttony (epitomized by famous gourmands such as the emperor Vitellius, who according to the historian Suetonius, lived for food, banqueting three or four times a day, routinely vomiting up his meal and starting over). Also featured are longer essays on such topics as art and architecture, gods and goddesses, and the military, as well as a chronology, a short glossary of Roman terms, and appendices listing the emperors of the Empire and diagram the often intertwined family trees of ruling dynasties. Comprehensive, authoritative, and illustrated with over sixty illustrations and maps, A Dictionary of the Roman Empire provides easy access to the remarkable civilization upon which Western society was built.
Ecological Experiments and a Research Program in Community Ecology
Authors: Werner Earl E
Published: November 2023

It is not surprising that in a relatively young science such as ecology there will be a backdrop of discussion concerning appropriate methodologies and approaches. This self-consciousness is reflected in a long series of introspective articles over the last several decades (e.g., Weins 1977; Simberloff 1981, 1983; Lehman 1986; Peters 1991; Keddy 1992; Pickett et al. 1994; Weiner 1995). This discourse has brought with it much acrimony as individuals or groups have taken extreme stances on the merits or shortcomings of different approaches (see Strong et al. 1984). It is often clearer in hindsight that the excesses of various approaches need to be sanctioned, not the approaches themselves.
Experimentation, Observation, and Inference in River and Watershed Investigations
Authors: Power Marye. , Dietrich William E , Sullivan Kathleen 0.
Published: November 2023

Ecologists seek to understand the interactions between species and their heterogeneous, changing environments. This work is made more difficult by the fact that the underlying processes are often mediated through complex community- or ecosystem-level interactions. What tools do we have for unraveling this complexity? Paine (1994) and Walters (1986, 1992) have reviewed the three fundamental methods available to field scientists: observation, modeling, and experimentation. All new information about nature is initially obtained through the first method: observation, which includes monitoring, mapping, and detecting correlations or other patterns. Observation alone, particularly when done in a hypothesis-free manner, has in the past disappointed ecologists by leaving them with messy data sets open to alternative interpretations. For this reason, ecologists in recent decades considered inferences from observations to be weak relative to inferences drawn from manipulative experiments (e.g., Connell 1974). We believe that field observations have been undervalued in contemporary community ecology, leaving ecologists poorly equipped to contribute to problems at large spatial scales at which manipulative experiments are infeasible. We will elaborate on this point later.
Design, Implementation, and Analysis of Ecological and Environmental Experiments Pitfalls in the Maintenance of Logical Structures
Authors: Underwood A J
Published: November 2023

There has been an explosion of numbers of ecological experiments during the last 20 to 30 years. There has, however, also been ample evidence of problems with experimental and analytical procedures, so that several assessments of ecological experiments have been critical, rather than appreciative (e.g., Dawkins 1981; Underwood 1981, 1986, 1988; Preece 1982; Hurlbert 1984; Seaman and Jaeger 1990; Snaydon 1991; Bennington and Thayne 1994; Hamilton 1994).
Investigating Geographic Variation in lnterspecific Interactions Using Common Garden Experiments
Authors: Fauth John E
Published: November 2023

The operational definitions that ecologists use influence research in subtle and often unintended ways (Gould 1977, Janzen 1980, Mills et al. 1993, Billick and Case 1994, Fauth et al. 1996). For example, many ecologists have a working definition of species that is distinctly typological. An individual belongs to a discrete set, and that set has particular attributes (its niche) that distinguish it from other such sets. Included in this notion of the niche is the organism’s place in the biotic environment, including its relationship to competitors, predators, and prey (Elton 1927, Whittaker 1967). This nonhistorical (or “nondimensional”; Mayr 1942, 1963; see also Frost et al. 1992) species concept subtly predisposes ecologists to assume that biotic interactions are constant over time and space (Aarssen 1983:719). However, even simple models predict that selection should alter the dynamics of biotic interactions. Past selection may influence contemporary interactions by altering fundamental parameters such as the intrinsic rate of natural increase, saturation densities, and competitive ability (MacArthur and Wilson 1967, Gill 1972), and historical factors may leave unseen marks on ecological communities (Connell 1980; Avise 1989, 1994; Ricklefs and Schluter 1993). Whether interactions between species are constant throughout most of their range or vary from location to location remains an open question of fundamental importance in community ecology (Travis 1996).
Introduction
Authors: Trevathan Wenda R , Smith E O , Mckenna James J
Published: November 2023

Evolutionary medicine talces the view that many contemporary social, psychological, and physical ills are related to incompatibility between the lifestyles and environments in which humans currently live and the conditions under which human biology evolved. Unfortunately, much of modern medical practice demonstrates a misunderstanding of the evolution of physical responses to stresses that were faced by our ancestors. The contributions in this book explore these topics, proposing ways in which questions about disease and disorders can be reframed to consider the evolutionary perspective and suggesting new approaches to treatment.
Is Neonatal Jaundice a Disease or an Adaptive Process?
Authors: Brett John , Niermeyer Susan
Published: November 2023

Most people see bilirubin only if they get a bruise or liver disease. Neonatologists and newly birthed moms see it more often, and to them it is frequently a source of concern and confusion. Concern, because the pigment itself is poisonous and occasionally the herald of deep disease. Confusion, because it is often difficult to decide which jaundiced infants require treatment and because bilirubinology has become a morass of bizarre names and structures where even experts disagree (McDonagh and Lightner 1985: 443). The Problem Jaundice of the newborn is one of the most common, complex, well-studied, and misunderstood phenomena in modern pediatric medicine. Despite thousands of studies
Breast-Feeding and Mother-Infant Cosleepi Ng in Relation to Sids Prevention
Authors: Mckenna James , Mosko Sarah , Richard Chris
Published: November 2023

Since being formally recognized as a medical entity in 1970, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS, cot death, or crib death), a presumed sleep-related disorder primarily affecting infants in the first year of life (Fitzgerald 1995), has contributed to the deaths of well more than 290,000 babies in the Western world alone. Described as a “diagnosis by exclusion,” the causes of SIDS still remain elusive; and, yet, for the first time in the history of SIDS research, death rates per 1000 live births are declining to unprecedented levels worldwide (Rognum 1995).
The Evolutionary Ecology of Childhood Asthma
Authors: Hurtado A Magdalena , Hurtado I Arenas De , Sapien Robert , Hill Kim
Published: November 2023

National practice guidelines provide the following definition of childhood asthma: a lung disease with the following characteristics: 1. airway obstruction that is reversible (but not completely so in some patients) either spontaneously or with treatment; 2. airway inflammation; and 3. increased airway hyperresponsiveness to a variety of stimuli (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services 1991: 1)
Incest Avoidance Clinical Implications of the Evolutionary Perspective
Authors: Erickson Mark T
Published: November 2023

Until recently, incest was believed to be extraordinarily rare, literally a one in a million occurrence. Research now shows, however, that it is far from uncommon; by one estimate, 1 in 20 women may be victims of father-daughter sexual abuse (Russell 1986). Research also shows that incest often has devastating psychological effects. Depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, borderline personality disorder, somatoform disorder, and dissociative disorders are all more frequently diagnosed in adults who experienced incest as children (Braun 1990; Chu and Dill 1990; Courtois 1979; Gelinas 1983; Herman 1981; Kluft 1985; Meiselman 1978; Morrison 1989; Putnam 1989; Schetky 1990; Shearer et al. 1990; Stone 1990; Summit and Kryso 1978).
Modulation of Transmitter Release From la Afferents by Their Preceding Activity-a “Post activation Depression”
Authors: Hultborn Hans , Nielsen Jens B
Published: November 2023

A precise regulation of the amount of transmitter substance released from synapses of primary afferents is crucial for the normal function of the spinal reflex circuitry, including the monosynaptic stretch reflexes. Much recent work has suggested that GABAergic presynaptic inhibition plays a central role in this regulation. Through regulation of presynaptic inhibition the brain thus modulates the synaptic efficacy of the sensory feedback to the central nervous system during voluntary movement (Hultbom et al., 1987). Presynaptic inhibition has been shown to be deficient in spastic patients with lesions of the central motor pathways, which is assumed to be at least part of the explanation for the exaggeration of the monosynaptic stretch reflexes in these patients (Faist et al., 1994; Nielsen et al., 1995).
Regulation of Primary Eighth-Nerve Synapses on the Mauthner Cell
Authors: Faber Donald S , Pereda Alberto
Published: November 2023

Presynaptic mechanisms for modulating the strength of synapses would seem to offer distinct advantages over postsynaptic ones, particulaily in the context of short-term changes restricted to a small and precisely defined subset of the numerous inputs a neuron receives. Consequently, it is not surprising that studies of presynaptic inhibition have consistently yielded important insights concerning both the regulation of synaptic transmission and the dynamic properties of neural networks (Rudomin et al., 1978, 1993; Rudomin, 1990).
Influences on Minority Participation in Mathenatics, Science, and Engineering
Authors: Clewell Beatrix Chu , II Jomills Henry Braddock
Published: November 2023

Early adolescence is a time of accelerated physical and psychosocial development where there is enormous variability in growth rates (Milgram 1992). The social environment assumes different meanings as peer norms and peer acceptance become very important and the early adolescent t seeks to move from a state of dependence on adult supervision to greater autonomy and self-regulation. Thinking and Iearning competencies also <level op du ring these years, including being able to th ink in abstract terms, explore career interests, make moral judgments, see things from another’s point of view, and be aware of one’s own multiple roles and capabilities. A survey published at the start of this decade summarized the period as a time when young adolescents need help to answer “yes” to the key self-questions they are asking themselves: “Am I competent Am I normal? Am I lovable and loving7” (Scales 1991 ).
Gaining Access A Research and Policy Agenda
Authors: Denes Ronni
Published: November 2023

As America moves toward the twenty-first century, the word minority is rapidly becoming an anachronism. African Americans, Latinos and American Indians, already more than 28 percent of the college-age population and 33 percent of the birthrate, will, by decade’s end, be one-third of the nation’s work force and the majority population in 53 of its largest cities, Vast and growing, these groups still comprise less than 6 percent of the science and engineering labor force, but a staggering 31 percent of people living in poverty.
What is Different About Different Therapies?
Authors: Beutler Larry E , Bongar Bruce , Shurkin Joel N
Published: November 2023

Timothy J was about to get married. His fiancee, Brenda was a strong young woman, bright and ambitious, while Timothy tended to be quiet and unadventurous. Nonetheless, they were in love and their attributes seemed to compliment one another. But as soon as Brenda set the date for marriage, Timothy’s life turned upside down. At times he couldn’t breath, feeling as if he were having a heart attack. The fear prevented him from doing his work, making love, even sleeping. Brenda decided Timothy needed some help and sought out a counselor at a local family service agency. They talked about their families and Timothy’s feelings about himself and his relationship with his mother. The counselor told Timothy he would need individual psychotherapy with her. But as each week passed, Timothy continued to get worse. After a frantic late-night telephone call from Brenda, the counselor sent Timothy to an internist who prescribed large amounts of Valium. Still Timothy continued to get worse. He was in danger of losing his job, and Brenda was berating him for what was happening with their relationship.
A Particle Of Life
Authors: Orme Nigel
Published: November 2023

Clouds of cold fog billow up through a circular hatch in the top of a stainless steel tank as Rob Hay pulls out the lid and its one-foot thickness of styrofoam insulation. As the fog rolls down to the floor, Hay peers into the dark tank, where the temperature is always 321 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.It is kept so cold because that is a temperature at which life, normally warm and pulsing with activity, abandons its vital dance and enters limbo-but without dying. Inside Rob Hay’s stainless steel tank are about 60 billion life-forms gathered from all over the planet. They wait in chilly repose. They neither eat nor sleep. They do not breathe. Not even the simplest chemical reactions of metabolism take place inside their bodies. By any conventional definition of life, the creatures have surrendered their claim on it.
The Living-Room Cell
Authors: Orme Nigel
Published: November 2023

Imagine that the room in which you are sitting is one gigantic cell. You are inside the cell, sitting comfortably, and simply by looking around the room you can study the internal workings of this improbably huge cell. If you are in an average—sized living room, the nucleus (which holds the genetic blueprints in the form of the chemical called DNA) would be nearly the size of a Volkswagen Beetle—parked, let’s say, over against the wall to your left.
The Immortality Within
Authors: Orme Nigel
Published: November 2023

Death, contrary to conventional wisdom, is not an essential part of life. Some forms of life are immortal. They never die. Take, for example, organisms that consist of a single cell. Unless they encounter the microbial equivalent of getting hit by a truck, many of them never encounter death. After bacterial cells or many kinds of protozoans have lived for a while, they divide, and presto, they are instantly reincarnated as two youthful individuals. The spark of life is passed to a new generation, and yet the old generation leaves no corpse. The contractile ring that cinches tighter to pinch the aged parent cell in two transforms one unit of life into two. Each daughter cell incorporates roughly half the living matter that made up the parent. Then the new little cells feed and grow larger. Eventually the cell-cycle clock tolls again and the daughters repeat the death-defying feat of cell division. If a microbial cell ages in any concrete way (it is not clear that it does), it is rejuvenated in the course of cell division.
Atomic Physics in Hot Plasmas
Authors: Salzmann David
Published: November 2023

The aim of this book is to provide the reader with a coherent and updated comprehensive treatise that covers the central subjects of the field. The style and content is suitable both for students and researchers. Highlights of the book include (among many others) the Ion-Sphere model, statistical models, Average-Atom model, emission spectrum, unresolved transition arrays, supertransition arrays, radiation transport, escape factors and x-ray lasers.
Atomic Properties in Hot Plasmas
Authors: Salzmann David
Published: November 2023

In chapter 2, we investigated the electrostatic potential generated by the plasma environment around an ion immersed in a plasma. In this chapter, we will discuss the direct effects of this potential on the properties of the ions. More explicitly, we will see how the modification of the electrostatic potential by the plasma environment affects the bound electrons’ eigenvalues and wavefunctions and related parameters.
Beyond Speciesism
Authors: Savage-Rumbaugh Sue , Shanker Stuart G , Taylor Talbot J
Published: November 2023

Do apes really have an intellect that encompasses what we would call language? And even if one were bold enough to conclude that they do, why should we think that the utterances of apes will tell us anything about human language, or the formation of the human mind? Why, for that matter, should someone be interested in the question of whether or not apes have language? If language is innate-part of the “human birthright”-then what of import is to be found in ape language research? Even more to the point: Isn’t the idea that another species should learn a human language anthropocentric? Shouldn’t we learn their “language” if we want to understand them? These are the questions that will be addressed in this concluding chapter.
Etosha
Authors: Cunningham Carol , Berger Joel
Published: November 2023

eturning to Etosha National Park, we sailed on blissfully smooth tarmac, heads bobbing to the tunes of Bruce Springstein, Neil Young, and Raffi. As the 300 kilometers that separated us from the park closed rapidly, the mopane woodlands grew thick again. Squat bushes hid water troughs and miles and miles of fences. The country had lost its wild flavor. This was “farmland.” Stringy cattle poked from shady refuges. Hands waved from donkey carts. Bright yellow signs warned of straying kudus. “You have one of the most difficult projects in Namibia,” Dr. Malan Lindeque, the new director of research at Etosha’s Ecological Institute, told us, when we met with him after we arrived. He was young, exuding confidence and energy as he explained the challenges ahead for us. We’d have to be prepared to live like nomads, not only in the desert but even at Etosha. Aerial support would be nonexistent, the distances huge.Namibian rhinos had survived, now second only to those of South Africa in population size, not because of sophisticated planning or protection but by default: Geography, low human densities, and remoteness had played crucial roles. To stem the rhino killings that were sweeping across the continent, Namibia had pinned its hopes on dehorning and translocation. (In Kenya, dehorning had been
A Tracker Appears
Authors: Cunningham Carol , Berger Joel
Published: November 2023

We inched along, on spoor above Aub Canyon, passing through hills burnt brown by heat, our cache of food and water dwindling rapidly. Mighty streaks of sunlight pierced the clouds. This was day 23 for us. Green trees lined the gullies as the two-track spoor veered between steep slopes. Music played. Raffi was singing for Sonja: “Down on grandpa’s farm, there is a big brown cow thecow, she makes a sound like this, Moooo, the cow, she makes a sound like this, Moooo. Down on grandpa’s farm, there is a “ “A rhino, Rhino, a RHINO,” shrieked Carol. “Where, Where?” I slammed on the brakes. “Ino, lno.” Sonja saw it at the same time.
Xenophobia
Authors: Cunningham Carol , Berger Joel
Published: November 2023

Even during times of plenty, landowners view strangers with suspicion. Lions, ants, and humans are among the many species that exhibit xenophobia. There’s disdain for the unfamiliar, for members of a different group, immigrants, foreigners. Kin are favored over nonkin. Although not all societies are suspicious of foreigners, distrust is more the rule than the exception. Tadpoles prefer to be with close relatives. Lions generally form coalitions with pride mates. Among chimpanzees and humans group bonds are powerful, and tribal wars are legion.
The Evolutionary Genetics Of Maternal Effects
Authors: Wade Michael J
Published: November 2023

Maternal effects occur when the phenotype of an individual is determined not only by its own genotype and the environmental conditions it experiences during development, but also by the phenotype or environment of its mother (Kempthorne 1969; Wright 1969; Falconer 1989). Indeed, in many species, the mother’s phenotype is the most important environmental condition experienced by an individual during development. The mother’s phenotype determines when and where an offspring is produced as well as the offspring’s size and quality, and in some instances the offspring’s sex (Trivers and Willard 1973; Janzen 1993). By clustering or dispersing offspring, the maternal phenotype has effects on offspring density, the postnatal competitive environment, and the vulnerability of the offspring to predators and disease. Maternal behaviors determine in many species whether and how density regulation occurs at the level of the family and the intensity of postnatal competition among the offspring for limited maternal resources.
The Influence Of Direct And Indirect Genetic Effects On The Evolution Of Behavior: Social And Sexual Selection Meet Maternal Effects
Authors: Moore Allen J , Wolf Jason B , Ill & Edmund D Brodie
Published: November 2023

lntraspecific behavioral interactions are ubiquitous. Parents caring for their off spring, dominant individuals maintaining their status over subordinates, and males using odors or sounds to signal to potential mates are just a few examples of the many types of social interchanges that require interactions among at least two individuals. In this chapter we describe two different models that address how genetically based variation among individuals might influence such interactions and therefore the evolution of interactions. To do this we adopt a quantitative genetic approach and build quantitative genetic models that are similar in perspective to maternal effects models. Our chapter is devoted to describing two different models that characterize interactions expected to result in two related but different types of selection. Our models provide insights into the potential role of genetics in the evolution of interactions. In section 2.1 we describe how genetic variation might influence the evolution of social interactions among unrelated individuals. In section 2.2 we outline the role of genetics in the evolution of a sexually selected male signal of parental quality.
What Is an Adaptive Environmentally Induced Parental Effect?
Authors: Lacey Elizabeth P
Published: November 2023

Biologists working in fields as diverse as mammalian behavior, plant ecology, microbial genetics, quantitative genetics, and insect ecology have shown that environmentally induced parental effects can be found in most kingdoms of living organisms. Such effects are diverse, have multiple causes, and can be transmitted via multiple pathways. Historically, and understandably, these effects have been studied by biologists who have focused on a particular group of organisms, such as insects or plants, or who have approached the phenomenon from a particular point of view, such as quantitative genetics, ecology, or behavior. The consequence has been the development of multiple terminologies that are not used consistently across disciplines or kingdoms. I believe these inconsistencies hinder the communication among biologists studying these effects, the development of generalized models of parental effects, and the empirical testing of adaptedness of these effects.
Maternal Environmental Effects in Plants: Adaptive Plasticity?
Authors: Schmitt Kathleen Donohue & Johanna
Published: November 2023

There is now considerable evidence that, in plants, progeny phenotype can be profoundly influenced by the parental environment. Such parental effects are of particular interest to evolutionary biologists for two reasons. First, parental effects determine the level at which selection acts (Schmitt and Antonovics 1986; Wade, this volume) and thus may strongly affect patterns of selection response (Kirkpatrick and Lande 1989; Wade, this volume). Second, parental environmental effects may be viewed as a form of phenotypic plasticity, which may in themselves evolve in response to natural selection (Lacey 1991, 1996; Schmitt et al. 1992; Platenkamp and Shaw 1993; Schmitt 1995; Mousseau and Fox, this volume). In particular, if the cue eliciting the parental effect also predicts the offspring environment, then parental effects that enhance progeny fitness in that environment may be selectively advantageous. It is therefore important to ask whether parental effects are the product of adaptive evolution.
Q and A
Authors: Eich Eric
Published: November 2023

As the Introduction noted, one of the main aims of Counterpoints is to pro vide contributors with a venue in which they can compare their personal points of view and voice their opinions on issues of wider interest. To that end, this chapter shares the answers that Professors Bower, Forgas, Kihlstrom, and Niedenthal gave to a series of questions I raised after they had read each other’s work. In addition to clarifying several specific issues that arose in the core chapters, their replies candidly assess the general state of cognition/ emotion research—its successes, its shortcomings, and its prospects for the future.

Before turning to the first question, a couple of comments are in order. First, apart from adding bibliographic references, I made no major editorial changes to the contributors’ answers—for the simple reason that none seemed necessary or useful, either to me or my co-authors (among whom all replies were circulated). Further, all questions were raised, and answers received, via electronic mail—the only viable option, given that when this book was being written, its five authors were living in four countries on three continents. As it happened, e-mail proved more than merely practical; it seemed to prompt answers that were not only scientifically informed but refreshingly informal as well. Though e-mail may not be as “hot” a medium (in the McLuhan sense of the term) as, say, radio, it is certainly “warm,” an altogether fitting attribute for a book about the interplay between emotion and cognition.