bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
C–N Ring Construction: The Fujii/Ohno Synthesis of (–)-Quinocarcin
Authors: Taber Douglass F.
Published: November 2020

Tsutomu Katsuki of Kyushu University devised (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 4658) a Ru catalyst for the enantioselective aziridination of vinyl ketones such as 1. David W.C. MacMillan of Princeton University added (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 11400) 3 to the alkene 4 under single electron conditions to give 5 with high stereocontrol. Barry M. Trost of Stanford University effected (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 4941) the Pd-catalyzed addition of 7 to an imine 6 to give the pyrrolidine 8. More recently, he used (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 2459) this approach to construct pyrrolidines containing defined quaternary centers. Christoph Schneider of the Universität Liepzig employed (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 5972) an organocatalyst to control the relative and absolute configuration not only of the nitrogen-containing ring, but also of the stereogenic center on the sidechain of the pyrrolidone 11. Wei Wang of Lanzhou University also used (Adv. Synth. Catal. 2012, 354, 2635) an organocatalyst to assemble the pyrrolidine 14bearing two stereogenic centers. Using a gold catalyst, Constantin Czekelius of the Freie Universität Berlin constructed (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 11149) the pyrrolidine 16 having a defined quaternary center. Motomu Kanai of the University of Tokyo used (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 17019) a Cu catalyst to prepare both pyrrolidines and piperidines by condensing the precursor protected aminal 17 with a ketone 18. Wolfgang Kroutil of the University of Graz effected (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 6713) selective enzymatic reductive amination of the methyl ketone of 20 to give, after cyclization and hydrogenation, the 2,6-dialkyl piperidine 21. Ramakrishna G. Bhat of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research showed (J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 11349) that the reductive cyclization of the amino acid derivative could proceed with high diastereoselectivity to give 23. Peter O’Brien of the University of York and Iain Coldham of the University of Sheffield prepared (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 5300) both pyrrolidines and piperidines by metalation of an aryl derivative such as 24, followed by alkylation. Shital K. Chattopadhyay of the University of Kalyani cyclized (J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 11056) the nitrone 26 to 27 with high diastereoselectivity.
Substituted Benzenes: The Alvarez- Manzaneda Synthesis of (–)-Akaol A
Authors: Taber Douglass F.
Published: November 2020

Ramin Ghorbani-Vaghei of Bu-Ali Sina University devised (Tetrahedron Lett. 2012, 53, 2325) conditions for the bromination of an electron-deficient arene such as 1. Yonghong Gu of the University of Science and Technology of China found (Tetrahedron Lett. 2011, 52, 4324) that an electron-rich anilide 3 could be oxidized to 4. Sukbok Chang of KAIST (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 2528) and Kouichi Ohe of Kyoto University (Chem. Commun. 2012, 48, 3127) devised protocols for the oxidative cyanation of 5 to 6. Phenylazocarboxylates and triazenes are stable, but have the reaction chemistry of diazonium salts. The aromatic substitution chemistry of these derivatives has not been much explored. As illustrated by the conversion of 7 to 8, reported (J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 1520) by Markus R. Heinrich of the Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, the benzene ring of the phenylazocarboxylate is reactive with nucleophiles. In contrast, triazene-activated benzene rings should be particularly reactive with electrophiles, as exemplified by the transformation, below, of 20 to 21. Melanie S. Sanford of the University of Michigan observed (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 1760) good selectivity for 12 in the Pd-catalyzed reaction of 10 with 11. Jérôme Waser of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne used (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 744) 14 to alkynylate 13 to give 15. Sulfonyl chlorides such as 16 are readily prepared from the corresponding arene, and many are commercially available. Jiang Cheng of Wenzhou University found (Chem. Commun. 2012, 48, 449) conditions for the direct cyanation of 16 to 17. Kenneth M. Nicholas of the University of Oklahoma effected (J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 5600) selective ortho bromination of the carbamate 18 to give 19. Stefan Bräse of KIT observed (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 3713) ortho trifluoromethylation of the triazene 20 to give 21. Ji-Quan Yu of Scripps/La Jolla designed (Nature 2012, 486, 518) the benzyl ether 22 to activate the arene for C–C bond formation at the meta position to give 23. Guo-Jun Deng of Xiangtan University employed (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 1692) a borrowed hydrogen strategy to effect aromatization of 24 with nitrobenzene to give the aniline 25.
Organocatalytic C–C Ring Construction: Prostaglandin F2α (Aggarwal)
Authors: Taber Douglass F.
Published: November 2020

Marco Lombardo of the Università degli Studi di Bologna devised (Adv. Synth. Catal. 2012, 354, 3428) a silyl-bridged hydroxyproline catalyst that mediated the enantioselective addition of 2 to cinnamaldehyde 1 to give 3. Yoann Coquerel and Jean Rodriguez of Aix Marseille Université showed (Adv. Synth. Catal. 2012, 354, 3523) that a hybrid epi-cinchonine catalyst directed the enantioselective and diastereoselective addition of the amide 4 to the nitro alkene 5 to give 6. Magnus Rueping of RWTH Aachen observed (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 12864) that a chiral Brønsted acid mediated the diastereoselective and enantioselective formation of 9 by the addition of 8 to cyclopentadiene 7. Marco Bandini, also of the University of Bologna, combined (Chem. Sci. 2012, 3, 2859) organocatalysis with gold catalysis to effect the cyclization of 10 to 11. Min Shi of the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry prepared (Chem. Commun. 2012, 48, 2764) the quaternary cyclic amino acid derivative 14 by adding 13 to the acceptor 12. Makoto Tokunaga of Kyushu University prepared (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 6178) the ketone 17 by the hydrolytic enantioselective protonation of the enol ester 15. Hiyoshizo Kotsuki of Kochi University developed (Synlett 2012, 23, 2554) a dual catalyst combination that effectively mediated the enantioselective addition of malonate even to the congested acceptor 18. Yoshitaka Hamashima and Toshiyuki Kan of the University of Shizuoka established (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 6016) a protocol for the enantioselective brominative cyclization of 21, readily available by the reductive alkylation of benzoic acid. Polycarbocyclic ring systems can also be prepared by organocatalysis. Ying-Chun Chen of Sichuan University tuned (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 19942) cinchona-derived catalysts to selectively convert 23 into either exo (illustrated) or endo 25. Peng-Fei Xu of Lanzhou University developed (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 12339) a supramolecular iminium catalyst for the intramolecular Diels-Alder cycloaddition of 26. In a spectacular illustration of the power of organocatalysis, Varinder K. Aggarwal of the University of Bristol dimerized (Nature 2012, 489, 278) succinaldehyde from the hydrolysis of commercial 28 directly to the unsaturated aldehyde 29. Diastereoselective conjugate addition led to prostaglandin F2α 30.
The Krische Synthesis of Bryostatin 7
Authors: Taber Douglass F.
Published: November 2020

The bryostatins, as exemplified by bryostatin 75, are an exciting class of natural products. In addition to being effective antineoplastic agents, they show activity against Alzheimer’s disease. The central ring-forming step in the synthesis of 5 reported (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 13876) by Michael J. Krische of the University of Texas, Austin is the triply convergent coupling of the chirons 1 and 2 with the linchpin reagent 3. The preparation of 1 and of 2 showcases the hydrogen transfer strategy for carbon–carbon bond construction developed by the Krische group. The synthesis of 2 began with the previously described double coupling of the simple starting materials 6 and 7. The product diol 8 had >99% ee. Ozonolysis of 8 was followed by a reductive coupling with the allene, which installed the gem dimethyl substituents of 2, and also the third oxygenated stereogenic center. The preparation of 1 proceeded from the aldehyde 10, prepared by Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation of 3-pentenenitrile. The chelate-controlled addition of propargyl zinc 11 led to the alkyne 12. Reductive coupling of the alkyne of 12 with the aldehyde of 13, again following a Krische procedure, delivered 1. The triply convergent Keck-Yu condensation of 1 with 3, and then with 2, gave, after some manipulation, the desired tetrahydropyran 4. Selective hydrolysis of the methyl ester in the presence of the acetates followed by selective silylation of two of the three secondary hydroxyls gave a suitable substrate for Yamaguchi cyclization to give 14. Selective oxidative cleavage of two of the three alkenes then gave an intermediate keto aldehyde that was carried on to bryostatin 7 5 following known procedures. The key to the synthesis of the complex bryostatin 7 5 was the ready supply of the chirons 1 and 2, prepared by the simple but powerful enantioselective reductive couplings developed by the Krische group. These couplings will have many other applications in target-directed synthesis.
The Dixon Synthesis of Manzamine A
Authors: Taber Douglass F.
Published: November 2020

The pentacyclic alkaloid manzamine A 4, isolated from a sponge collected in the Okinawa Sea, displays a range of antibacterial, anticancer, and antimalarial activity. The preparation of 4 reported (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 17482) by Darren J. Dixon of the University of Oxford showcases the versatility of the nitro group in organic synthesis. The nitro alkene 2 was prepared from the commercial bromide 5. Displacement with acetate followed by Swern oxidation led to the aldehyde 6, which was condensed with nitromethane to give 2. Lactam 1 was an intermediate in Professor Dixon’s synthesis (Org. Highlights May 3, 2010) of (–)-nakadomarin A. Lactam 1 was prepared from the tosylate 7, which was derived from pyroglutamic acid. The addition of 1 to the nitroalkene 2 delivered 3 as the dominant diastereomer of the four that were possible. Mannich condensation with formaldehyde and the amine 12 gave 13. The nitro group of 13 was removed by free radical reduction. Exposure of the reduced product to trimethylsilyl iodide gave, via ionization of the ketal, the primary iodide, which was carried onto the nitro compound 14. Dibal selectively reduced the δ-lactam. Partial reduction of the γ-lactam then gave an intermediate that engaged in Mannich condensation with the nitro-activated methylene to give 15. Although there are many protocols for the conversion of a nitro compound to a ketone, most of those were not compatible with the functional groups of 15. Fortunately, Ti(III) was effective. Ce-mediated addition of the Grignard reagent 16 to the ketone followed by deprotection and protection then delivered the silyl ether 17. Remarkably, the ketone 17 could be deprotonated and carried on to the enol triflate 18 without eliminating the TMSO group. Coupling with the stannane 19 then completed the synthesis of manzamine A 4. One-carbon homologation of 18 led to ircinol A, ircinal A, and methyl ircinate (not illustrated).
The Evans Synthesis of (–)-Nakadomarin A
Authors: Taber Douglass F.
Published: November 2020

(–)-Nakadomarin A (4), isolated from the marine sponge Amphimedon sp. off the coast of Okinawa, shows interesting cytotoxic and antibacterial activity. David A. Evans of Harvard University prepared (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 9338) 4 by coupling the enantiomerically pure lactam 2 with the prochiral lactam 1. The preparation of 1 began with the aldehyde 5. Following the Comins protocol, addition of lithio morpholine to the carbonyl gave an intermediate that could be metalated and iodinated. Protection of the aldehyde followed by Heck coupling with allyl alcohol gave the aldehyde 7. Addition of the phosphorane derived from 8 followed by deprotection gave 9 with the expected Z selectivity. Addition of the phosphonate 10 was also Z selective, leading to the lactam 1. The preparation of 2 began with the enantiomerically pure imine 12. The addition of 13 was highly diastereoselective, setting the absolute configuration of 15. Alkylation with the iodide 16 delivered 17, which was closed to 2 under conditions of kinetic ring-closing metathesis, using the Grubbs first generation Ru catalyst. The condensation of 1 with 2 gave both of the diastereomeric products, with a 9:1 preference for the desired 3. Experimentally, acid catalysis alone did not effect cyclization, suggesting that the cyclization is proceeding via silylated intermediates. The diastereoselectivity can be rationalized by a preferred extended transition state for the intramolecular Michael addition. Selective activation of 3 followed by reduction gave 18, which underwent Bischler-Napieralski cyclization to give an intermediate that could be reduced to (–)-nakadomarin A (4). It was later found that exposure of 3 to Tf2O and 19 followed by the addition of Redal gave direct conversion to 4. It is instructive to compare this work to the two previous syntheses of 4 that we have highlighted, by Dixon (OHL May 3, 2010) and by Funk (OHL July 4, 2011). Together, these three independent approaches to 4 showcase the variety and dexterity of current organic synthesis.
The Future of the Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency: 2015–2035
Authors: Conant James K. , Balint Peter J.
Published: November 2020

In this chapter, we consider possible futures for the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under several scenarios. Before beginning, we offer some caveats and disclaimers. “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” This quotation—often credited to physicist Niels Bohr—captures the dilemma of prediction by stating it as a truism. Statistician Nate Silver, who won fame for accurately forecasting the 2008 and 2012 U.S. presidential elections, argues that in general the record of prognostication in public affairs, the field encompassing the ideas in this book, is particularly poor. For example, in the late 1980s few specialists predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union, an event of enormous scale and importance that appears in hindsight to have been imminent and inevitable. More recently on the domestic front political experts generally failed to foresee the rise of the Tea Party, which has roiled the last three American electoral cycles and generated a significant rightward pull on the Republican Party and on U.S. politics more broadly. Psychologist Phillip Tetlock, who examined the record of expert predictions in the arena of public affairs, reports poor results. In his research he found that “expertise . . . had no across-the-board effect on forecasting accuracy.” He observed that egregious prediction errors are surprisingly common, even among experts whose prediction skills are otherwise rated as better than average. About 10 percent of the time events actually occurred that these higher-performing experts had estimated to be impossible, while about 20 percent of the time events failed to occur that these experts had estimated to be sure things. The results were 10 percentage points worse in both directions for the poorer-performing experts in Tetlock’s studies. Given these findings, the predictive limitations of the agency life cycle models we consider in this book are not surprising.
A New England Town Sprays Its Elm Trees with DDT
Authors: Wurster Charles F.
Published: November 2020

The robin was twitching, tremoring, convulsing uncontrollably, and peeping occasionally. The student handed the bird to me, and in a few minutes it was dead in my hands. It was April 23, 1963, and I was in my laboratory at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, when the student walked in with the bird. A week earlier the elm trees of Hanover had been sprayed with the insecticide DDT to control the spread of Dutch elm disease by elm bark beetles. In the following weeks 151 dead birds filled my freezer, many of them exhibiting before they died the tremors that we later learned were typical of DDT poisoning. Four of us were conducting a small-scale study of the effects, if any, of the DDT spray program in Hanover. We were shocked by what was happening to the local birds, but we would have expected this reaction to DDT if we had read the scientific literature on earlier DDT spray programs on elm trees. We had not. We soon realized that we had rediscovered what other ornithologists had already reported from DDT spray programs in the American Midwest. We also soon learned that DDT was ineffective in preventing the spread of Dutch elm disease and that another procedure, sanitation without insecticides, effectively protected the elms. This DDT spray procedure was all costs and no benefits. Hundreds of towns were killing thousands or millions of birds while not protecting their elms. The whole thing struck me as absurd and tragic. It became a life-changing event for me. I decided that DDT was a chemical that had to be stopped, although I hadn’t the slightest idea where such a conclusion was going to lead. I was 33 years old and had become what in those days was usually called a conservationist. Now such people have been renamed “environmentalists.” I had a dubious beginning as such a person. When I was about seven and living in a northern suburb of Philadelphia, I came across a couple of snakes.
Sue the Bastards on Long Island: The Power of an Idea
Authors: Wurster Charles F.
Published: November 2020

During the fall of 1965, a small group of people living on central Long Island, New York, with interests and concerns about a variety of environmental issues had begun to meet monthly in each other’s living rooms. Attendance of 25 to 30 included scientists from Brookhaven National Laboratory and the State University of New York at Stony Brook, in addition to various conservationists and a few high school students. The group called itself by the noneuphonious name of Brookhaven Town Natural Resources Committee, which quickly became BTNRC for obvious reasons. BTNRC was fascinating and enjoyable, but hardly an organization. There was no office, staff, money, bylaws, elected officers, or any of the other ingredients usually present in an organization. It was just a group of people who met occasionally to foster environmental protection policies by our local governments, and we all had other daytime jobs. We discussed various environmental issues—pollution from duck farms, dredging of wetlands, sewage pollution, DDT use on local marshes, dump sites, groundwater protection, wildlife and habitat preservation, and so forth. Meetings usually ended with one-person committees assigned to go do something during the weeks that followed, typically writing a letter to a congressman, a local politician, or a local newspaper. There was no treasury or treasurer, so occasionally we tossed a dollar or two into the middle of the room so that Myra Gelband, one of Art Cooley’s dedicated high school students, could send postcards to announce the next meeting. Attendance was excellent because meetings were fun with good company, good humor, and coffee and donuts at the end. The only feature of this nonorganization was that we had a letterhead printed to give the impression that there was, in fact, such an organization. We needed a bit of puffery to appear greater than we were, for otherwise we feared nobody would listen to us. Everyone seemed to like each other and got along well. An enjoyable social mix is surely a motivational factor that helps explain which groups continue and grow, and which ones stagnate.
DDT Goes to Trial, Finally, in Washington, DC
Authors: Wurster Charles F.
Published: November 2020

EPA was only five weeks old on January 7, 1971, when the Court of Appeals ordered the agency to cancel all DDT registrations. The situation was fluid, to say the least. EPA did not know how the cancellation process was to be carried out, since USDA before them had never executed a cancellation procedure. There was no precedent to follow, and the parties did not agree on the rules for cancellation. The cancellation process for DDT clearly would be adversarial, with the pesticide industry already objecting. Represented by Bill Butler, EDF insisted on judicial rules of evidence with qualification of expert witnesses, testimony to be relevant to the topics at issue, and full rights of cross-examination for all parties. That was a bottom line for EDF, and EPA lawyers agreed. If a witness was qualified as expert on topic A and not on topic B, he or she could testify on A but not on B. We had learned from experience that we did not want industry representatives and salesmen or lobbyists making opinion statements and then walking away, leaving a muddy record that would be little more than a popular vote open to varied interpretations. Industry wanted that. EDF wanted competent scientists to build an accurate record, and after months of haggling, EDF and EPA ultimately prevailed. There would be judicial rules of evidence. It was a triumph for Bill Butler and EDF. Little did we know then that this procedure would influence pesticide regulation by EPA far into the future. Judicial rules of evidence proved critically important in the litigation and eventual banning of aldrin, dieldrin, chlordane, heptachlor, and mirex, as we will describe in Chapter 12. Qualified scientists and experts testified in those proceedings, and some previously vocal advocates never appeared. Since EPA had been ordered by the court to consider cancellation of all registrations of DDT, it was the DDT proponents who were bringing the appeal. They were known as the Group Petitioners. It had become the burden of industry to prove DDT safe, whereas before it had been our burden to prove hazard.
The DDT Wars: Four Great Victories
Authors: Wurster Charles F.
Published: November 2020

Nearly five decades ago a group of volunteer scientists and citizens launched a campaign to save birds from the ravages of DDT. They went to court at the local level, then through several states and finally to Washington, DC, overcoming legal barriers and challenging unexpected new issues along the way. By the 1970s, DDT and five other pesticides had been banned. Viewed from the 21st century, these actions produced significant and permanent accomplishments: Preventing cancer—Techniques and procedures for evaluating and regulating carcinogens, which followed the DDT precedents, have been adopted by international treaty. Citizen standing in court—The DDT case broke down the standing barrier, allowing citizens to go to court to protect their environment. It fostered the development of environmental law as we know it today. Recovery of the birds—Populations of iconic bird species, including the Bald Eagle, that had been decimated by DDT, have now recovered their former abundance. Creation of the Environmental Defense Fund—EDF, spawned by the “DDT wars,” has grown into one of the nation’s largest and most influential environmental advocacy organizations. Top authorities in chemical carcinogenesis testified that DDT caused cancer in laboratory animals and that it was, therefore, a possible carcinogen in humans. The precedents set by DDT for identifying and regulating carcinogens then became the basis for banning another five dangerous chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides: aldrin, dieldrin, heptachlor, chlordane, and mirex (see Chapter 12). EDF had established a very high standard for protection of public health against these carcinogens, as confirmed by two EPA administrators. In 2001 the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (the POPs Treaty) was signed by 151 nations to ban the “dirty dozen,” which included all of the “dirty half-dozen” singled out and banned thanks to EDF’s actions 23 years earlier. There was one exception to the total bans: DDT could be used for only malaria control. In 2009, nine additional POPs were added to the list. By 2013, 179 nations were party to the POPs Treaty, although the United States has not yet ratified it.
Struggling for Air
Authors: Revesz Richard , Lienke Jack
Published: November 2020

Since the beginning of the Obama Administration, conservative politicians have railed against the President's "War on Coal." As evidence of this supposed siege, they point to a series of rules issued by the Environmental Protection Agency that aim to slash air pollution from the nation's power sector . Because coal produces far more pollution than any other major energy source, these rules are expected to further reduce its already shrinking share of the electricity market in favor of cleaner options like natural gas and solar power. But the EPA's policies are hardly the "unprecedented regulatory assault " that opponents make them out to be. Instead, they are merely the latest chapter in a multi-decade struggle to overcome a tragic flaw in our nation's most important environmental law. In 1970, Congress passed the Clean Air Act, which had the remarkably ambitious goal of eliminating essentially all air pollution that posed a threat to public health or welfare. But there was a problem: for some of the most common pollutants, Congress empowered the EPA to set emission limits only for newly constructed industrial facilities, most notably power plants. Existing plants, by contrast, would be largely exempt from direct federal regulation-a regulatory practice known as "grandfathering." What lawmakers didn't anticipate was that imposing costly requirements on new plants while giving existing ones a pass would simply encourage those old plants to stay in business much longer than originally planned. Since 1970, the core problems of U.S. environmental policy have flowed inexorably from the smokestacks of these coal-fired clunkers, which continue to pollute at far higher rates than their younger peers. In Struggling for Air, Richard L. Revesz and Jack Lienke chronicle the political compromises that gave rise to grandfathering, its deadly consequences, and the repeated attempts-by presidential administrations of both parties-to make things right.
Introduction to Neuropsychology and Technology
Authors: Kane Robert L. , Parsons Thomas D.
Published: November 2020

The word disruptive has become associated with the age of technology. The connotations of this term have changed drastically from years ago, when in schools it was associated with the type of behavior that would result in a trip to the principal’s office. In the 21st century, “disruptive” often refers to changes that markedly affect and reshape the way things are done, opening up new approaches that change the way we live and function. Computers in various forms, from desktop systems to handheld devices and mobile phones, have played a large role in changing the way we live and work. Researchers no longer spend days at computer centers running study statistics and now can accomplish far more sophisticated analyses using notebook computers. Despite the dramatic changes technology has made in most phases of life, its impact on the practice of clinical neuropsychology has been minimal. It is fair to say that neuropsychologists have increased their use of computers for patient assessment and that some traditional test measures have been adopted for computers, simplifying the administration and scoring process. A number of tests have been developed and designed for computer administration. While computer use has increased especially in specific areas, such as aviation, pharmaceutical studies, and in evaluating concussion both in sports and in the military, the potential use of computers and other technologies to augment assessment has barely been exploited. The goal of this volume is to present ideas and accomplished work demonstrating the use of technology to augment the neuropsychological assessment of patients. Some of the ideas presented in the introduction are forward thinking, incorporate the use of advanced technology, and are potentially disruptive. Others represent incremental changes, but changes that take obvious advantage of using technology to modernize and streamline the assessment process. The introduction reviews the current state of technology in neuropsychology and sets the stage for the succeeding chapters.
Technological Innovations to Enhance Neurocognitive Rehabilitation
Authors: Chen Anthony J.-W. , Loya Fred
Published: November 2020

In an instant, a brain injury can cause changes that affect a person for a life­time. Although traumatic brain injury (TBI) can result in almost any neurological deficit, the most common and persistent deficits tend to affect neurocognitive functioning. Functional issues may produce a tremendous chronic burden on individuals, families, and healthcare systems (Thurman, Alverson, Dunn, Guerrero, & Sniezek, 1999; Yu et al., 2003). The far-reaching impact of these seemingly “invisible” deficits is often not recognized. Individuals who have suffered a TBI may also be at increased risk for developing cognitive changes later in life (Mauri et al., 2006; Schwartz, 2009; Van Den Heuvel, Thornton, & Vink, 2007). Military veterans report even higher rates of persistent issues, especially in the context of posttraumatic stress (PTS) (Polusny et al., 2011). Despite their importance, chronic neurocognitive dysfunctions are often poorly addressed. A long-term view on care-oriented research and development is needed (Chen & D’Esposito, 2010). Even as we get deeper into the 21st century, there continue to be many gaps in the rehabilitation of neurocognitive functioning after brain injury. There is a need for increased effort to advance rehabilitation care and delivery. There are two major gaps in care that could benefit from neuroscience research and technology-assisted intervention development. First, there remains a major need for theory-driven approaches to cognitive training, accompanied by the development of innovative tools to support learning of useful skills and their generalization to help achieve real-life goals. Second, major gaps in the delivery and coordination of rehabilitation must be addressed in order to provide care to the many people with brain injury who lack access to services due to barriers imposed by distance, financial constraints, and disability. This chapter introduces and illustrates some technology-assisted innovations that may help to advance neurocognitive rehabilitation care. Examples of using technology to reach into the community via tele-rehabilitation, as well as exam­ples of reaching students in a manner aligned with their scholastic goals, are discussed.
From Cambrian Explosion to First Farmers: How Climate Made Us Human
Authors: McMichael Anthony
Published: November 2020

Details Blur As We peer back through millions of years, but the outline of the story is clear enough. During the past 2– 3 million years, our hominin forebears had to cope with an increasingly vari­able and cooling climate. Across those 100,000 Homo generations, survival and reproduction depended on maintaining biological and behavioral compatibility with constantly changing climatic and environmental conditions. Hence much of modern human biological versatility and adaptability, including several unique as­pects of brain function, comes from evolution’s selective winnowing within those ancient predecessor populations. The genes of the survi­vors, those best able to reproduce, are part of our genetic inheritance today. That climate change has been a major source of natural selec­tive pressure has long been known. Alfred Russel Wallace, the over­shadowed younger contemporary of Charles Darwin and codis­coverer of evolution by natural selection, wrote that, among the variations occurring in every fresh generation, survival of the fittest occurred in response to the “changes of climate, of food, of en­emies always in progress.” The corollary, of course, is that since biological evolution must focus on surviving the present, oblivious of the future, it provides no guarantee against extinction. Even so, a multivalent brain that enables cultural and behavioral adaptability and strategic forward thinking would surely help an animal spe­cies cope better with subsequent environmental changes. Indeed, it seems to have worked sufficiently well for our Homo genus an­cestors during two million years of ever- changing climatic condi­tions for at least one Homo species to have carried the baton of survival into the present. In the next two centuries, our species faces a new challenge of greater, faster, and protracted climate change. Since the Cambrian Explosion of new life forms around 540 million years ago, there have been five great natural extinctions and many lesser ones. The earliest extinction of multicellular life, though less destructive than its successors, occurred around 510 million years ago, apparently due to acute sulfurous shrouding, cooling, and oxygen deprivation caused by a massive volcanic eruption in northwest Australia. Most of these catastrophic transitions were marked by climate extremes, volcanic activity, and altered ocean chemistry, especially rapid surface acidification of shallow coastal waters.
Weather Extremes in Modern Times
Authors: McMichael Anthony
Published: November 2020

In 1816, Against A foreboding climatic background, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. She might well have begun: “It was a dark and stormy decade …” During the previous year, much of the world had been shrouded by the great ashen veil cast across the skies by the massive Tambora volcanic eruption in April 1815. Europe’s 1815– 1816 was a cold, gloomy, and tumultuous time. Crops failed and tem­peratures fell. Bonaparte was consigned to the rocky island of St. Helena, Beethoven entered his more radical and introspective late period, and minor autocratic monarchies around the continent came under increasing political siege as democratic impulses stirred. This chapter examines some of the shorter- term climate shifts and extreme weather events that have occurred over the last two centuries. The disrupted weather following the Tambora eruption, for example, shows how small changes in temperature and rainfall can have major consequences, including failed harvests and epidemic outbreaks. In mid- nineteenth- century Ireland, the failure of the potato crop in wet and relatively warm conditions contributed to food insecurity that devastated the local population. Unusual weather extremes in late- nineteenth- century China, including a period of cooling, facilitated the Third Pandemic of bubonic plague, which spread rapidly through populations already under stress due to harvest failures, conflict, and political turmoil. Such events may intensify in the coming decades as the Earth’s average temperature rises and climatic cycles are disrupted and become more variable. Additionally, the consequences for human population health are amplified by social and political mismanagement and turmoil. We can expect climate change to act as a “force multiplier,” exacerbating many of the world’s health problems. From the mid- nineteenth century, the northern hemisphere’s Little Ice Age receded as solar activity regained its twelfth- century peak level. The depths of the cold had been reached around 1700 C.E., and the cool­ing influence of the Siberian High was now receding. The almost year- round ice and snow in northern Europe during those super- chilled earlier times were long gone, and the snowbound, though increasingly grimy, White Christmases of early- 1800s Dickensian London were waning.
The Politics of Competence
Authors: Lupia Arthur
Published: November 2020

To increase another person’s knowledge or competence, it is necessary to attract attention to the information and for attentive persons to find the information credible. What attributes of information induce an audience to respond in these ways? To answer this question, I offer a framework called the politics of competence. This framework offers a way to organize and use information about psychological and contextual factors that affect how prospective learners think about what information is worth learning. The politics of competence has four components: value diversity, issue complexity, political roles, and learning costs. Individually and collectively, these four components affect what educational strategies are feasible, unfeasible, successful, and unsuccessful. They have this power because they produce divergent views of what strategies, knowledge, and competence are beneficial. They lead people to reach different conclusions about educational strategy questions such as “What information should educators convey?” and “Who should know what?” Educators can benefit from understanding the politics of competence. To see how, consider that a necessary condition for an educational endeavor to increase knowledge or competence is that prospective learners choose to participate. Some educators also need people to support their educational endeavors with money or labor. To draw the needed participation, potential learners, partners, and supporters must perceive that the endeavor will produce sufficiently positive net benefits. That is, all who are asked to sacrifice something of value as a means of advancing an educational endeavor must see the newly created knowledge or competence as providing benefits that are large when compared to the personal costs of achieving these goals. If sufficiently few people perceive an educational venture in this way, they will not participate. When success depends on producing outcomes that offer substantial net benefits from the perspective of essential participants, educators can benefit from understanding how the politics of competence affects the kind of information that different people find valuable. Designing educational endeavors that can deliver such benefits can be difficult. People who have gone a lifetime without knowing much about a particular issue may wonder why they need to learn about it now.
How Chemistry Shaped History
Authors: McFarland Ben
Published: November 2020

Evolution accomplished its final major innovation 125 million years ago. Not brains—complex brains had already been around for a few hundred million years. Not flight—animals with wings can be found as far back as brains, although the birds that really flew developed during this time. It was something that is so commonplace that it seems more annoying than astounding. Evolution invented the hive. Hives are annoying because of their success. Only 2% of insect species form hives, but all hive-makers weigh as much as the other 98%. The most complex hive-making species exhibit “obligatory eusociality”: their genes encode physically different levels, or “castes,” each with a specialized job, led by a queen that reproduces for the entire hive. The physical hive itself is easy to see, but the true innovation is the network of life protected inside. The hive acts as a skull for the hive mind. Eusociality was a step forward, on par with the inventions of mitochondria and multicellularity. These other two great evolutionary innovations made specialized organelles inside cells and specialized organs inside organisms. Eusociality made specialized roles outside organisms. Eusocial species changed externally in protection, specialization, and communication. A hive protects; the queen specializes in reproducing (like muscles specialize in movement, and the brain specializes in fast sensing); and external chemical signals like pheromones form parallels to internal chemical signals like hormones. The most telling sign of eusociality may seem mundane: organized, communal child care. One extraordinary day, a termite tended a child not its own. Such au pair termites cannot directly pass on genes to the next generation. But loss is gain—the individual took one step back while the species took two steps forward. Ants and termites succeeded by losing the ability to reproduce. This specialization is coordinated through a chemical communication, mediated by small molecules messaging from bee to bee and termite to termite. Queen bees make a carbon-chain “perfume” molecule that suppresses reproduction in the surrounding bees, which communicate back with molecules of their own.
Alexander Fleming’s “Eureka” Moment
Authors: Allchin Douglas
Published: November 2020

Alexander Fleming shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the “discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases.” According to the story as commonly told, a stray spore of Penicillium mold, borne by fortune through an open window, landed on an open bacterial culture in Fleming’s lab in 1928. Fleming later happened to notice a clear zone on the plate, where no bacteria grew (Figure 21.1). “Seeing that halo was Fleming’s ‘Eureka’ moment, an instant of great personal insight and deductive reasoning,” Time magazine celebrated on its website 100 Persons of the Century. “When it was finally recognized for what it was—the most efficacious life-saving drug in the world—penicillin would alter forever the treatment of bacterial infections. By the middle of the century, Fleming’s discovery had spawned a huge pharmaceutical industry, churning out synthetic penicillins that would conquer some of mankind’s most ancient scourges, including syphilis, gangrene, and tuberculosis.” Millions of lives were saved, it seems, based on one astute observation. Fleming’s story reflects an ideal about science: a moment of genius cascades into monumentality. At the same time, the discovery of penicillin is also one of the most famous cases of chance, or accident, in science. Fleming himself often underscored the role of chance in his work. Despite his numerous honors and awards, he was fond of reminding others: “I did not invent penicillin. Nature did that. I only discovered it by accident.” Yet one may recall Pasteur’s famous dictum that “chance favors the prepared mind.” That is, Fleming was surely being modest. He seems not just lucky. He seems exceptionally perceptive. What but intuitive genius could have guided the “great personal insight and deductive reasoning” hailed by Time and marked by the Nobel Prize? The role of “Eureka” moments in propelling scientific progress is certainly ingrained in popular lore—so deeply as to escape questioning. However, with a bit more historical awareness, one may well wish to challenge this sacred bovine. Ironically, the episode exhibits even more “chance” than is often told.
The Changing Views of a Philosopher of Chemistry on the Question of Reduction
Authors: Scerri Eric R.
Published: November 2020

The question of the reduction of chemistry to quantum mechanics has been inextricably linked with the development of the philosophy of chemistry since the field began to develop in the early 1990s. In the present chapter I would like to describe how my own views on the subject have developed over a period of roughly 30 years. A good place to begin might be the frequently cited reductionist dictum that was penned in 1929 by Paul Dirac, one of the founders of quantum mechanics. . . . The underlying laws necessary for the mathematical theory of a larger part of physics and the whole of chemistry are thus completely known, and the difficulty is only that exact applications of these laws lead to equations, which are too complicated to be soluble. (Dirac 1929) . . . These days most chemists would probably comment that Dirac had things backward. It is clear that nothing like “the whole of chemistry” has been mathematically understood. At the same time most would argue that the approximate solutions that are afforded by modern computers are so good as to overcome the fact that one cannot obtain exact or analytical solutions to the Schrödinger equation for many-electron systems. Be that as it may, Dirac’s famous quotation, coming from one of the creators of quantum mechanics, has convinced many people that chemistry has been more or less completely reduced to quantum mechanics. Another quotation of this sort (and one using more metaphorical language) comes from Walter Heitler who together with Fritz London was the first to give a quantum mechanical description of the chemical bond. . . . Let us assume for the moment that the two atomic systems ↑↑↑↑ . . . and ↓↓↓↓ . . . are always attracted in a homopolar manner. We can, then, eat Chemistry with a spoon. (Heitler 1927) . . . Philosophers of science eventually caught up with this climate of reductionism and chose to illustrate their views with the relationship with chemistry and quantum mechanics.
Science, φ-Science, and the Dual Character of Chemistry
Authors: Vihalemm Rein
Published: November 2020

A central question in philosophy of chemistry is the status of chemistry as a science: Is chemistry simply a physical science, a science of its own type, or something else? In traditional philosophy of science, physics has been considered the epitome of science, and chemistry was long regarded as a physical science. Recently, however, the “physical” interpretation of chemistry has become unpopular, because it implies in one way or another that chemistry can be reduced to physics—an idea which has come to be seriously questioned. Philosophers of chemistry now emphasize that all sciences need not be similar to physics. They have argued that chemistry is its own type of science, as, for example, biology has been recognized as a science in its own right. This view has been most directly expressed and systematically developed by Joachim Schummer, who observes: “Because it seems hard to decide whether chemistry more resembles physics, biology, technology, or whatever, I propose to handle it as its own type of science” (Schummer 1997, 329–330; cf. Schummer 2006; see also, e.g., van Brakel 1999, 134; 2000, 71–73). Understanding chemistry as its own type of science emphasizes the experimental nature of chemistry and its contrast to the experimental basis of physics. Drawing on historical and scientometric studies, it has been argued that in contrast to natural history; to biology as an initially descriptive, empirical-inductive science; and to physics—as the epitome of mathematical, hypothetico-deductive science for which experiments(in which measurements are primary) are only tools for testing theories, thus keeping theoretical knowledge connected with “empirical reality”; and, on the other hand, of natural history—“chemistry has always been the laboratory science per se, such that still in the nineteenth century the term ‘laboratory’ denoted a place for experimental research in which chemical operations were performed” (Nye 1993, 50). The chemical laboratory became the model for all the other laboratory sciences when they replaced “thought experiments” by real experiments. Although chemistry is no longer the only experimental science, it is by far the biggest one and historically the model for all others” (Schummer 2004, 397–398).