bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
SWL is More Cost-Effective than Ureteroscopy and Holmium:YAG Laser Lithotripsy for Ureteric Stones: A Comparative Analysis for a Tertiary Referral Centre
Authors: Argyropoulos A.N. , Tolley D.A.
Published: February 2010

Background:

To identify the most cost-effective treatment for ureteric stones ≤15 mm in our department, by using an economic model to compare the total cost of shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) versus ureteroscopy with Holmium:YAG laser lithotripsy (URSL).

Patients and methods:

Data for patients treated with the same lithotriptor were retrospectively analyzed. The financial department provided data about the cost of procedures. This model accepted a 100% stone-free rate for URSL in outpatients, and a 50% rate of insertion of a ureteric stent. The cost for each procedure to render a patient stone-free was estimated by the following equations: costSWL = cost(initial SWL session) + [cost(SWL session) × retreatment rate] + [cost(URSL) × SWL failure rate] + [cost(stent insertion and removal) × rate] + [cost(KUB film) × 4] costURSL = cost(URSL) + [cost(stent removal) × 50%] + [cost(KUB film) × 2]

Results:

Records of 228 patients with previously untreated solitary radiopaque ureteric stones ≤15 mm were reviewed. The total cost for SWL (cSWL) was £1491/patient, while the total cost for URSL (cURSL) was £2195/patient. The difference was highest in the upper ureter (over £1000), and lowest in the distal part (URSL about 40% more expensive). For lower ureteric stones >10 mm, SWL was over £500 more expensive than URSL.

Conclusion:

Using data from the department to calculate cost-effectiveness for ureteric stones ≤15 mm a difference in favour of SWL versus URSL was found. Uniform guidelines incorporating cost are impossible considering differences between countries; each centre should probably assess their data individually.
Identification of Local Recurrence and Radiofibrosis by Computed Tomography Perfusion on Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma after Radiotherapy
Authors: Su Danke , Jin Guanqiao , Xie Dong , Liu Younan
Published: February 2010

Purpose

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of perfusion computed tomography (CT) for identification of local recurrence (LR) and radiofibrosis (RF) in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma after radiotherapy.

Methods

Forty-eight prospective patients were recruited for this study. NPC diagnosis was confirmed by pathologic biopsy examination. Immunohistochemistry staining was used on biopsy specimens, and microvessel density was calculated by microscopy. Perfusion CT was performed on both the LR group ( n = 31) and the RF group ( n = 17) after intravenous injection of contrast medium. Time-density curve, blood flow, blood volume, and mean transit time, as well as permeability surface area product, were analyzed as perfusion CT parameters. The microvessel density was compared between both the LR and RF groups.

Results

There is a significant difference between the LR and RF groups in microvessel density, the time density curve, blood flow blood volume, mean transit time, and the permeability surface area product ( P < .01).

Conclusions

The results demonstrate that perfusion CT is a reliable and accurate method to identify LR and RF after radiotherapy in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
Autophagy in skeletal muscle
Authors: Sandri Marco
Published: February 2010

Muscle mass represents 40–50% of the human body and, in mammals, is one of the most important sites for the control of metabolism. Moreover, during catabolic conditions, muscle proteins are mobilized to sustain gluconeogenesis in the liver and to provide alternative energy substrates for organs. However, excessive protein degradation in the skeletal muscle is detrimental for the economy of the body and it can lead to death. The ubiquitin‐proteasome and autophagy‐lysosome systems are the major proteolytic pathways of the cell and are coordinately activated in atrophying muscles. However, the role and regulation of the autophagic pathway in skeletal muscle is still largely unknown. This review will focus on autophagy and discuss its beneficial or detrimental role for the maintenance of muscle mass.
Ryanodine receptor mutations in arrhythmia: The continuing mystery of channel dysfunction
Authors: Thomas N. Lowri , Maxwell Chloé , Mukherjee Saptarshi , Williams Alan J.
Published: February 2010

Mutations in RyR2 are causative of an inherited disorder which often results in sudden cardiac death. Dysfunctional channel behaviour has been the subject of many investigations varying from single channel analysis through to complex animal models. This review discusses recent advances in the field, describes the controversy surrounding the exact consequences of RyR2 mutation and how the disparate data may be reconciled. This heterogeneity of function with respect to the effects of polymorphisms, phosphorylation, cytosolic and luminal Ca2+ as well as inter‐domain interactions may have important implications for the recent pharmaceutical therapies which have been put forward. We surmise that a comprehensive characterisation of mutations on a case‐by‐case basis may be beneficial for the development of specifically targeted therapies.
Positron emission tomography imaging of DMBA/TPA mouse skin multi‐step tumorigenesis
Authors: Ishikawa Tomo-o , Kumar Indracanti Prem , Machado Hidevaldo B. , Wong Koon-Pong , Kusewitt Donna , Huang Sung-Cheng , Fischer Susan M. , Herschman Harvey R.
Published: February 2010

Many tumor cells have elevated rates of glucose uptake that can be measured quantitatively, noninvasively and repeatedly by positron emission tomography (PET) with 2‐deoxy‐2‐[18F]‐fluoro‐D‐glucose (18F‐FDG). Clinical imaging with 18F‐FDG PET has been used for detection and staging of primary and metastatic tumors. High‐resolution microPET scanning and murine cancer models make it possible to analyze longitudinally glucose metabolism during the appearance, development and progression of individual experimental tumors. In this study, we used 18F‐FDG microPET and micro computerized tomography (microCT) to investigate glucose uptake in the DMBA/TPA chemically‐induced multistage mouse skin carcinogenesis model. 18F‐FDG uptake is significantly higher in all papillomas than in surrounding skin. Elevated 18F‐FDG uptake is observed when tumors can be identified morphologically, but not before. Although 18F‐FDG uptake is high in all fully invasive, malignant skin squamous cell carcinomas, uptake in papillomas and microinvasive malignant squamous cell carcinomas is variable and does not exhibit any correlation with tumor stage.
Commoners
Authors: Neeson J. M.
Published: February 2010

This is one of the most important and original contributions to English rural history to be published in the past generation. Winner of the Whitfield Prize of the Royal Historical Society in 1994, Commoners challenges the view that England had no peasantry or that it had disappeared before industrialization: rather it shows that common rights and petty landholding shaped social relations in English villages, and that their loss at enclosure sharpened social antagonisms and imprinted on popular culture a pervasive sense of loss.
Unknown Boundaries
Authors: Foley R. A.
Published: February 2010

The last twenty years have seen a resurgence of interest in human evolution in many aspects. A distinction can be made between 'narrow' (general acceptance that human evolution occurred, historically) and 'broad' (evolutionary ideas that stretch much further into all aspects of humanity, past and present) human evolution. The broad perspective is beginning to make its presence felt, for example, through the developments in evolutionary genetics, evolutionary psychology and behavioural ecology. There must, therefore, be, among the variety of human adaptations, natures and behaviours, phenomena which are not susceptible to an evolutionary analysis, which are beyond the bounds of evolution. The problem is, though, that we do not really know where that boundary lies. Here, the limits of human evolution are explored, using two approaches - first, finding where humans 'fit' the expectations of evolutionary principles; and second, applying evolutionary methods to particular human contexts, whilst looking for an evolutionary signal.
Logarithmic Forms and Diophantine Geometry
Authors: Baker A. , Wüstholz G.
Published: February 2010

There is now much interplay between studies on logarithmic forms and deep aspects of arithmetic algebraic geometry. New light has been shed, for instance, on the famous conjectures of Tate and Shafarevich relating to abelian varieties and the associated celebrated discoveries of Faltings establishing the Mordell conjecture. This book gives an account of the theory of linear forms in the logarithms of algebraic numbers with special emphasis on the important developments of the past twenty-five years. The first part covers basic material in transcendental number theory but with a modern perspective. The remainder assumes some background in Lie algebras and group varieties, and covers, in some instances for the first time in book form, several advanced topics. The final chapter summarises other aspects of Diophantine geometry including hypergeometric theory and the André-Oort conjecture. A comprehensive bibliography rounds off this definitive survey of effective methods in Diophantine geometry.
Richardson's 'Clarissa' and the Eighteenth-Century Reader
Authors: Keymer Tom
Published: February 2010

Written as a collection of letters in which very different accounts of the action are unsupervised by sustained authorial comment, Richardson's novel Clarissa offers an extreme example of the capacity of narrative to give the reader final responsibility for resolving or construing meaning. It is paradoxical then that its author was a writer committed to avowedly didactic goals. Tom Keymer counters the tendency of recent critics to suggest that Clarissa's textual indeterminacy defeats these goals by arguing that Richardson pursues subtler and more generous means of educating his readers by making them 'if not Authors, Carvers' of the text. Discussing Richardson's use of the epistolary form throughout his career, Keymer goes on to focus in detail on the three instalments in which Clarissa was first published, drawing on the documented responses of its first readers to illuminate his technique as a writer and set the novel in its contemporary ethical, political and ideological context.
Spinoza and the Irrelevance of Biblical Authority
Authors: Preus J. Samuel
Published: February 2010

Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise (1670) is a landmark both in democratic political theory and in the history of biblical interpretation. Spinoza championed liberty of thought, speech and writing by discrediting the Bible as the standard for truth and a source of public law. Applying a new historical criticism, he showed that biblical teaching and law were irrelevant for a modern pluralistic state and its intellectual life. J. Samuel Preus highlights Spinoza's achievement by reading the Treatise in the context of a literary conflict among his contemporaries about biblical interpretation - a conflict fraught with political implication. Preus's exposition of neglected primary sources surrounding Spinoza's work offers evidence regarding his rhetorical strategy and intent in the Treatise. The book provides not only a valuable contribution to Spinoza scholarship but an important account of the origins of modern methods of biblical interpretation.
The Origins of the European Legal Order
Authors: Lupoi Maurizio
Published: February 2010

This translation of Alle radici del mondo giuridico europeo published in Italy in 1994 is a comprehensive reappraisal of thinking on the common structural features of the various European jurisdictions. Professor Lupoi argues the case for the existence of an earlier system of common law as far back as between the sixth and eleventh centuries. Based on vulgar Roman legal culture and various Germanic customs, this law was codified in Latin and survives in modified form in modern English common law. Legal sources from all over Europe are compared and discussed. Cultures formerly considered to be 'barbarian' emerge in a different light and common strands are seen to emerge.
The Government of England under Henry I
Authors: Green Judith A.
Published: February 2010

The is a full-length analysis of the machinery and men of government under Henry I, which looks in much greater detail than is possible for other contemporary states at the way government worked and at the careers of royal servants. Royal government in England in the early twelfth-century was developing fast under political and military pressures. At the centre, above all during the king's long absences in Normandy, new ways of supervision were found, especially in the financial field. Government also provided distinct opportunities in administration, and for the first time it is possible to identify a number of men who were effectively professional administrators. The book will therefore become essential reading on the reign of Henry I and on the general development of English government in the twelfth century.
Red Black and Green
Authors: Pinkney Alphonso
Published: February 2010

From the first slaves who rose up against their master in the early period of American history to the prominent modern figures such as Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammed, Eldridge Cleaver, Red, Black, and Green traces the origins, the struggles and the accomplishments of black nationalism. Its broad discussion of the ideology of black nationalism and of the conditions that gave rise to this ideology provides the foundation for a thorough account of the black nationalist movement in the peak years of its momentum, roughly the decade 1963 to 1973. The author deals both with specific milestones, such as Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association in the early twentieth century, and with the far-reaching implications of the movement for the black community and for the United States as a whole. He looks at the many facets of black nationalism - revolutionary nationalism, cultural nationalism, religious nationalism, and educational nationalism - analyses the relationship between this movement and liberation movements in general.
Spinors and Space-Time
Authors: Penrose Roger , Rindler Wolfgang
Published: February 2010

This volume introduces and systematically develops the calculus of 2-spinors. This is the first detailed exposition of this technique which leads not only to a deeper understanding of the structure of space-time, but also provides shortcuts to some very tedious calculations. Many results are given here for the first time.
Workers and Peasants in the Modern Middle East
Authors: Beinin Joel
Published: February 2010

Joel Beinin's 2001 survey of subaltern history in the Middle East demonstrates lucidly and compellingly how the lives, experiences and culture of working people can inform our historical understanding. Beginning in the middle of the eighteenth century, the book charts the history of peasants, urban artisans and modern working-classes across the lands of the Ottoman empire and its Muslim-majority successor-states, including the Balkans, Turkey, the Arab Middle East and North Africa. Inspired by the approach of the Indian Subaltern Studies school, the book is the first to offer a synthesized critical assessment of the scholarly work on the social history of this region for the last twenty years. It offers insights into the political, economic and social life of ordinary men and women and their apprehension of their own experiences. Students will find it rich in narrative detail, and accessible and authoritative in presentation.
Vorticity and Incompressible Flow
Authors: Majda Andrew J. , Bertozzi Andrea L.
Published: February 2010

This book is a comprehensive introduction to the mathematical theory of vorticity and incompressible flow ranging from elementary introductory material to current research topics. While the contents center on mathematical theory, many parts of the book showcase the interaction between rigorous mathematical theory, numerical, asymptotic, and qualitative simplified modeling, and physical phenomena. The first half forms an introductory graduate course on vorticity and incompressible flow. The second half comprises a modern applied mathematics graduate course on the weak solution theory for incompressible flow.
Law and Protestantism
Authors: Witte John , Marty Martin E.
Published: February 2010

The Lutheran Reformation of the early sixteenth century brought about immense and far-reaching change in the structures of both church and state, and in both religious and secular ideas. This book investigates the relationship between the law and religious ideology in Luther's Germany, showing how they developed in response to the momentum of Lutheran teachings and influence. Profound changes in the areas of education, politics and marriage were to have long-lasting effects on the Protestant world, inscribed in the legal systems inherited from that period. John Witte, Jr. argues that it is not enough to understand the Reformation either in theological or in legal terms alone but that a perspective is required which takes proper account of both. His book should be essential reading for scholars and students of church history, legal history, Reformation history, and in adjacent areas such as theology, ethics, the law, and history of ideas.
The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Model Revisited
Authors: Segal Jeffrey A. , Spaeth Harold J.
Published: February 2010

This book, authored by two leading scholars of the Supreme Court and its policy making, systematically presents and validates the use of the attitudinal model to explain and predict Supreme Court decision making. In the process, it critiques the two major alternative models of Supreme Court decision making and their major variants: the legal and rational choice. Using the US Supreme Court Data Base, the justices' private papers, and other sources of information, the book analyzes the appointment process, certiorari, the decision on the merits, opinion assignments, and the formation of opinion coalitions. The book will be the definitive presentation of the attitudinal model as well as an authoritative critique of the legal and rational choice models. The book thoroughly reflects research done since the 1993 publication of its predecessor, as well as decisions and developments in the Supreme Court, including the momentous decision of Bush v. Gore.
Topological Solitons
Authors: Manton Nicholas , Sutcliffe Paul
Published: February 2010

Topological solitons occur in many nonlinear classical field theories. They are stable, particle-like objects, with finite mass and a smooth structure. Examples are monopoles and Skyrmions, Ginzburg-Landau vortices and sigma-model lumps, and Yang-Mills instantons. This book is a comprehensive survey of static topological solitons and their dynamical interactions. Particular emphasis is placed on the solitons which satisfy first-order Bogomolny equations. For these, the soliton dynamics can be investigated by finding the geodesics on the moduli space of static multi-soliton solutions. Remarkable scattering processes can be understood this way. The book starts with an introduction to classical field theory, and a survey of several mathematical techniques useful for understanding many types of topological soliton. Subsequent chapters explore key examples of solitons in one, two, three and four dimensions. The final chapter discusses the unstable sphaleron solutions which exist in several field theories.
Statistical Analysis of Stochastic Processes in Time
Authors: Lindsey J. K.
Published: February 2010

This book was first published in 2004. Many observed phenomena, from the changing health of a patient to values on the stock market, are characterised by quantities that vary over time: stochastic processes are designed to study them. This book introduces practical methods of applying stochastic processes to an audience knowledgeable only in basic statistics. It covers almost all aspects of the subject and presents the theory in an easily accessible form that is highlighted by application to many examples. These examples arise from dozens of areas, from sociology through medicine to engineering. Complementing these are exercise sets making the book suited for introductory courses in stochastic processes. Software (available from www.cambridge.org) is provided for the freely available R system for the reader to apply to all the models presented.
Integral Geometry and Geometric Probability
Authors: Santaló Luis A. , Kac Mark
Published: February 2010

Now available in the Cambridge Mathematical Library, the classic work from Luis Santaló. Integral geometry originated with problems on geometrical probability and convex bodies. Its later developments, however, have proved to be useful in several fields ranging from pure mathematics (measure theory, continuous groups) to technical and applied disciplines (pattern recognition, stereology). The book is a systematic exposition of the theory and a compilation of the main results in the field. The volume can be used to complement courses on differential geometry, Lie groups or probability or differential geometry. It is ideal both as a reference and for those wishing to enter the field.
Waves in Oceanic and Coastal Waters
Authors: Holthuijsen Leo H.
Published: February 2010

Waves in Oceanic and Coastal Waters describes the observation, analysis and prediction of wind-generated waves in the open ocean, in shelf seas, and in coastal regions with islands, channels, tidal flats and inlets, estuaries, fjords and lagoons. Most of this richly illustrated book is devoted to the physical aspects of waves. After introducing observation techniques for waves, both at sea and from space, the book defines the parameters that characterise waves. Using basic statistical and physical concepts, the author discusses the prediction of waves in oceanic and coastal waters, first in terms of generalised observations, and then in terms of the more theoretical framework of the spectral energy balance. He gives the results of established theories and also the direction in which research is developing. The book ends with a description of SWAN (Simulating Waves Nearshore), the preferred computer model of the engineering community for predicting waves in coastal waters.
The Work of Global Justice
Authors: Kurasawa Fuyuki
Published: February 2010

Human rights have been generally understood as juridical products, organizational outcomes or abstract principles that are realized through formal means such as passing laws, creating institutions or formulating ideals. In this book, Fuyuki Kurasawa argues that we must reverse this 'top-down' focus by examining how groups and persons struggling against global injustices construct and enact human rights through five transnational forms of ethico-political practice: bearing witness, forgiveness, foresight, aid and solidarity. From these, he develops a new perspective highlighting the difficult social labour that constitutes the substance of what global justice is and ought to be, thereby reframing the terms of debates about human rights and providing the outlines of a critical cosmopolitanism centred around emancipatory struggles for an alternative globalization.
Politics and Trade Cooperation in the Nineteenth Century
Authors: Pahre Robert
Published: February 2010

This book examines international trade cooperation in 1815–1914. Basing the theoretical analysis on the domestic political economy of states, Pahre develops theories of international cooperation, the spread of trade cooperation, and the effect of trade regimes. The book examines trade politics in the entire century from 1815 to 1914 around the world, using a database of trade agreements. It will appeal to students of international relations, comparative political economy, economic history, trade law, and international organizations.
The Social Interpretation of the French Revolution
Authors: Cobban Alfred , Lewis Gwynne
Published: February 2010

Alfred Cobban's The Social Interpretation of the French Revolution is one of the acknowledged classics of post-war historiography. This 'revisionist' analysis of the French Revolution caused a furore on first publication in 1964, challenging as it did established orthodoxies during the crucial period of the Cold War. Cobban saw the French Revolution as central to the 'grand narrative of modern history', but provided a salutary corrective to many celebrated social explanations, determinist and otherwise, of its origins and development. A generation later this concise but powerful intervention was reissued in this 1999 edition with an introduction by Gwynne Lewis, providing students with both a context for Cobban's own arguments, and assessing the course of Revolutionary studies in the wake of The Social Interpretation. This book remains a handbook of revisionism for Anglo-Saxon scholars, and is essential reading for all students of French history at undergraduate level and above.
Turbulence, Coherent Structures, Dynamical Systems and Symmetry
Authors: Holmes Philip , Lumley John L. , Berkooz Gal
Published: February 2010

For turbulent flows at relatively low speeds there exists an excellent mathematical model in the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. Why then is the 'problem of turbulence' so difficult? One reason is that these nonlinear partial differential equations appear to be insoluble, except through numerical simulations, which offer useful approximations but little direct understanding. Three recent developments offer new hope. First, the discovery by experimentalists of coherent structures in certain turbulent flows. Secondly, the suggestion that strange attractors and other ideas from finite-dimensional dynamical systems theory might play a role in the analysis of the governing equations. And, finally, the introduction of the Karhunen-Loève or proper orthogonal decomposition. This book introduces these developments and describes how they may be combined to create low-dimensional models of turbulence, resolving only the coherent structures. This book will interest engineers, especially in the aerospace, chemical, civil, environmental and geophysical areas, as well as physicists and applied mathematicians concerned with turbulence.
Modern Cosmology and the Dark Matter Problem
Authors: Sciama D. W.
Published: February 2010

This book shows how modern cosmology and astronomy have led to the need to introduce dark matter in the universe. Some of this dark matter is in the familiar form of protons, electrons and neutrons, but most of it must have a more exotic form. The favoured, but not the only, possibility is neutrinos of non-zero rest mass, pair-created in the hot big bang and surviving to the present day. After a review of modern cosmology, this book gives a detailed account of the author's recent theory in which these neutrinos decay into photons which are the main ionising agents in hydrogen and nitrogen in the interstellar and intergalactic medium. This theory, though speculative, explains a number of rather different puzzling phenomena in astronomy and cosmology in a unified way and predicts values of various important quantities such as the mass of the decaying neutrino and the Hubble constant. Written by a cosmologist of the first rank, this topical book will be essential reading to all cosmologists and astrophysicists.
Representations and Cohomology
Authors: Benson D. J.
Published: February 2010

This is the second of two volumes which will provide an introduction to modern developments in the representation theory of finite groups and associative algebras. The subject is viewed from the perspective of homological algebra and the theory of representations of finite dimensional algebras; the author emphasises modular representations and the homological algebra associated with their categories. This volume concentrates on the cohomology of groups, always with representations in view, however. It begins with a background reference chapter, then proceeds to an overview of the algebraic topology and K-theory associated with cohomology of groups, especially the work of Quillen. Later chapters look at algebraic and topological proofs of the finite generation of the cohomology ring of a finite group, and an algebraic approach to the Steenrod operations in group cohomology. The book cumulates in a chapter dealing with the theory of varieties for modules. Much of the material presented here has never appeared before in book form. Consequently students and research workers studying group theory, and indeed algebra in general, will be grateful to Dr Benson for supplying an exposition of a good deal of the essential results of modern representation theory.
An Introduction to Hankel Operators
Authors: Partington Jonathan R.
Published: February 2010

Hankel operators are of wide application in mathematics (functional analysis, operator theory, approximation theory) and engineering (control theory, systems analysis) and this account of them is both elementary and rigorous. The book is based on graduate lectures given to an audience of mathematicians and control engineers, but to make it reasonably self-contained, the author has included several appendices on mathematical topics unlikely to be met by undergraduate engineers. The main prerequisites are basic complex analysis and some functional analysis, but the presentation is kept straightforward, avoiding unnecessary technicalities so that the fundamental results and their applications are evident. Some 45 exercises are included.
Papers in Ethics and Social Philosophy
Authors: Lewis David
Published: February 2010

This volume is devoted to Lewis's work in ethics and social philosophy. Topics covered include the logic of obligation and permission; decision theory and its relation to the idea that beliefs might play the motivating role of desires; a subjectivist analysis of value; dilemmas in virtue ethics; the problem of evil; problems about self-prediction; social coordination, linguistic and otherwise; alleged duties to rescue distant strangers; toleration as a tacit treaty; nuclear warfare; and punishment. This collection, and the two preceding volumes, will disseminate more widely the work of an eminent and influential contemporary philosopher.
Christianity and Democracy
Authors: Gruchy John W. de
Published: February 2010

The need for global democratisation is now widely recognised, but there is considerable debate about what this means and how it can be achieved. In this important study John de Gruchy examines the historic and contemporary roles of Christianity in the development of democracy. He traces the gestation of modern democracy in medieval Christendom, and then describes the virtual breakdown of the relationship as democracy becomes the polity of modernity. Five twentieth-century case studies - the USA, Nicaragua, sub-Saharan Africa, Germany and South Africa - demonstrate the extent to which ecumenical Christianity has begun to reconnect with democracy and act as its contemporary midwife. De Gruchy argues that democracy needs to rediscover its spiritual heritage, while Christianity needs to develop a theology adequate for its participation in the realisation of a just democratic world order.
William James on Ethics and Faith
Authors: Slater Michael R.
Published: February 2010

This book offers a new interpretation of William James's ethical and religious thought. Michael Slater shows that James's conception of morality, or what it means to lead a moral and flourishing life, is intimately tied to his conception of religious faith, and argues that James's views on these matters are worthy of our consideration. He offers a reassessment of James's 'will to believe' or 'right to believe' doctrine, his moral theory, and his neglected moral arguments for religious faith. And he argues that James's pragmatic account of religion is based on an ethical view of the function of religion and a realist view of the objects of religious belief and experience, and is compatible with his larger conception of pragmatism. The book will appeal to readers interested in the history of modern philosophy, especially pragmatism, as well as those interested in moral philosophy, religion, and the history of ideas.
Experiments in Financial Democracy
Authors: Musacchio Aldo
Published: February 2010

This book provides a detailed historical description of the evolution of corporate governance and stock markets in Brazil in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The analysis details the practices of corporate governance, in particular the rights that shareholders have to restrict the actions of managers, and how that shaped different approaches to corporate finance over time. In the case of Brazil, even if the protections for investors included in national laws were relatively weak before 1940, corporate charters contained a series of provisions that protected minority shareholders against the abuses of large shareholders, managers, or other corporate insiders. The investigation uses the Brazilian case to challenge some of the key findings of a recent literature that argues that legal systems (e.g., common vs. civil law) shape the extent of development of stock and bond markets in different nations.
Semiconductor Devices for High-Speed Optoelectronics
Authors: Ghione Giovanni
Published: February 2010

Providing an all-inclusive treatment of electronic and optoelectronic devices used in high-speed optical communication systems, this book emphasizes circuit applications, advanced device design solutions, and noise in sources and receivers. Core topics covered include semiconductors and semiconductor optical properties, high-speed circuits and transistors, detectors, sources, and modulators. It discusses in detail both active devices (heterostructure field-effect and bipolar transistors) and passive components (lumped and distributed) for high-speed electronic integrated circuits. It also describes recent advances in high-speed devices for 40 Gbps systems. Introductory elements are provided, making the book open to readers without a specific background in optoelectronics, whilst end-of-chapter review questions and numerical problems enable readers to test their understanding and experiment with realistic data.
A Critical Introduction to Law and Literature
Authors: Dolin Kieran
Published: February 2010

Despite their apparent separation, law and literature have been closely linked fields throughout history. Linguistic creativity is central to the law, with literary modes such as narrative and metaphor infiltrating legal texts. Equally, legal norms of good and bad conduct, of identity and human responsibility, are reflected or subverted in literature's engagement with questions of law and justice. Law seeks to regulate creative expression, while literary texts critique and sometimes openly resist the law. Kieran Dolin introduces this interdisciplinary field, focusing on the many ways that law and literature have addressed and engaged with each other. He charts the history of the shifting relations between the two disciplines, from the open affiliation between literature and law in the sixteenth-century Inns of Court to the less visible links of contemporary culture. Originally published in 2007, this book provides an accessible guide to one of the most exciting areas of interdisciplinary scholarship.
Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms
Authors: Richards Jack C. , Lockhart Charles
Published: February 2010

This text introduces techniques for teachers to explore their classroom experiences and for critical reflection on teaching practices.

This book introduces teachers to techniques for exploring their own classroom experiences. Numerous books deal with classroom observation and research, but this is the first to offer a carefully structured approach to self-observation and self-evaluation. Richards and Lockhart aim to develop a reflective approach to teaching, one in which teachers collect data about their own teaching; examine their attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions; and use the information they obtain as a basis for critical reflection on teaching practices. Each chapter includes questions and activities appropriate for group discussion or self-study.
Evangelical Audiences and “Hollywood” Film: Promoting Fireproof (2008)
Authors: RUSSELL JAMES
Published: February 2010

By any criteria, Evangelical Christians constitute a significant segment of the American population, but they have always been a difficult audience for the American film industry to target, because many Evangelicals view themselves as ideologically opposed to Hollywood – a fraught relationship often referred to as the “Culture Wars.” This essay uses the recent hit Fireproof (2008) to examine the complex relationship between Hollywood, Evangelical audiences and independent Christian film producers.
Scruton's Musical Experiences
Authors: Zangwill Nick
Published: February 2010

Roger Scruton's account of the nature of music and our experience of it foregrounds theimagination. It is a particularly interesting and promising ‘non-realist’ view in the aesthetics of music, in the sense that it does not postulate aesthetic properties of music that we represent in musical experience. In this paper I critically examine both Scruton's view and his main argument for it.
Childhood traumata, Dexamethasone Suppression Test and psychiatric symptoms: a trans-diagnostic approach
Authors: Faravelli C. , Amedei S. Gorini , Rotella F. , Faravelli L. , Palla A. , Consoli G. , Ricca V. , Batini S. , Sauro C. Lo , Spiti A. , dell'Osso M. Catena
Published: February 2010

Background

Childhood traumatic events and functional abnormalities of the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis have been widely reported in psychiatric patients, although neither is specific for any diagnosis. Among the limited number of studies that have evaluated these topics, none has adopted a trans-diagnostic approach. The aim of the present research is to explore the relationship between childhood stressors, HPA axis function and psychiatric symptoms, independent of the diagnosis.

Method

A total of 93 moderate to severely ill psychiatric out-patients of Florence and Pisa University Psychiatric Units and 33 healthy control subjects were recruited. The assessment consisted of salivary cortisol pre- and post-low dose (0.5 mg) Dexamethasone, early and recent life events, 121 psychiatric symptoms independent of diagnosis, SCID, BPRS.

Results

In total, 33.5% of patients were Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST) non-suppressors, compared with 6.1% of controls (p=0.001). Among patients, non-suppression was associated with particular symptoms (i.e. depressive and psychotic), but not to any specific diagnosis. Early stressful life events were significantly associated with higher salivary cortisol levels, with DST non-suppression and with approximately the same subset of symptoms. A recent stressful event seemed to be associated to the HPA response only in those subjects who were exposed to early traumata.

Conclusions

Our report suggests a relationship between life stress, HPA axis and psychopathology. A cluster of specific psychiatric symptoms seems to be stress related. Moreover, it seems that an abnormal HPA response is possibly triggered by an excessive pressure in vulnerable individuals.
Kierkegaard on emotion: a critique of Furtak's Wisdom in Love
Authors: TURNBULL JAMIE
Published: February 2010

In Wisdom in Love: Kierkegaard and the Ancient Quest for Emotional Integrity, Rick Furtak argues that emotions are cognitive phenomena to be understood in terms of the relation between subject and object. Furtak uses his conception of emotion to argue (in what he takes to be a Kierkegaardian spirit) that love is the source of meaning and value in human (and, specifically, Christian) life. This paper places Kierkegaard's views, and the role love plays in them, in his historical context. I argue that Furtak's approach fails to account for the subtle and complex role religious love plays in Kierkegaard's thought, and ultimately leaves him at odds with Kierkegaard methodologically and metaphysically.
The functional organization of posterior parietal association cortex
Authors: Lynch James C.
Published: February 2010

Posterior parietal cortex has traditionally been considered to be a sensory association area in which higher-order processing and intermodal integration of incoming sensory information occurs. In this paper, evidence from clinical reports and from lesion and behavioral-electrophysiological experiments using monkeys is reviewed and discussed in relation to the overall functional organization of posterior parietal association cortex, and particularly with respect to a proposed posterior parietal mechanism concerned with the initiation and control of certain classes of eye and limb movements. Preliminary data from studies of the effects of posterior parietal lesions on oculomotor control in monkeys are reported.

The behavioral effects of lesions of posterior parietal cortex in monkeys have been found to be similar to those which follow analogous damage of the minor hemisphere in humans, while behavioral-electrophysiological experiments have disclosed classes of neurons in this area which have functional properties closely related to the behavioral acts that are disrupted by lesions of the area. On the basis of current data from these areas of study, it is proposed that the sensory association model of posterior parietal function is inadequate to account for the complexities of the present evidence. Instead, it now appears that many diverse neural mechanisms are locatedin partin parietal cortex, that some of these mechanisms are involved in sensory processing and perceptual functions, but that others participate in motor control, and that still others are involved in attentional, motivational, or emotional processes. It is further proposed that the elementary units of these various neural mechanisms are distributed within posterior parietal cortex according to the columnar hypothesis of Mountcastle.
Variation in lateralization: Selected samples do not a population make
Authors: Robinson Terry E. , Becker Jill B.
Published: February 2010

The two major points of Denenberg's article are (1) that animals have lateralized brains, and (2) that the pattern of cerebral lateralization is consistent across species (i.e., “the left hemisphere will be primarily involved in communicative functions,” the right hemisphere with processing “spatial and affective information.” In addition, there is an unstated assumption that the pattern of lateralization is consistentwithinspecies. The evidence reviewed by Denenberg leaves little doubt that nonhuman animals have asymmetrically organized brains. However, there are problems with the suggestion that there is a consistent pattern of cerebral lateralization within or across different populations of species.
Dominance: The baby and the bathwater
Authors: Bernstein Irwin S.
Published: February 2010

The concept of dominance is used in the behavioral and biological sciences to describe outcomes in a variety of competitive interactions. In some taxa, a history of agonistic encounters among individuals modifies the course of future agonistic encounters such that the existence of a certain type of relationship can be inferred. If one is to characterize such relationships as dominance, however, then they must be distinguished from other kinds of interaction patterns for which the term tends to be used, as well as from factors such as territoriality and "trained" winners and losers, which may also influence the expression of agonistic behavior. Operational definitions based on causal, functional, evolutionary, and ontogenetic considerations have been proposed. Reliability and validity problems have been discussed, but the dominance concept has proved useful despite methodological difficulties. The confusion of dominance relationships (which involve two or more individuals) with dominance ranks (which are assigned to a single individual) has obscured the possible evolutionary basis of dominance relationships. If benefits accrue to dominant members of pairs, then those attributes which allow an animal to establish dominance can be selected. Dominance per se and dominance ranks, on the other hand, cannot be genetically transmitted since they constitute relationships with other individuals rather than absolute attributes. Dominance rankings in particular may be useful for describing behavioral patterns within a group, but they may reflect our own ability to count rather than any important variable in social organization.
Précis ofGenes, Mind, and Culture
Authors: Lumsden Charles J. , Wilson Edward O.
Published: February 2010

Despite its importance, the linkage between genetic and cultural evolution has until now been little explored. An understanding of this linkage is needed to extend evolutionary theory so that it can deal for the first time with the phenomena of mind and human social history. We characterize the process of gene-culture coevolution, in which culture is shaped by biological imperatives while biological traits are simultaneously altered by genetic evolution in response to cultural history. A case is made from both theory and evidence that genetic and cultural evolution are inseverable, and that the human mind has tended to evolve so as to bias individuals toward certain patterns of cognition and choice rather than others. With the aid of mathematical models we trace the coevolutionary circuit: The genes prescribe structure in developmental pathways that lay down endocrine and neural systems, imposing regularities in the development of cognition and behavior; these regularities (loosely labeled “epigenetic rules”) translate upward into holistic patterns of culture, which can be predicted in the form of probability density distributions (ethnographic curves); natural selection acts within human history to favor certain epigenetic rules over others; and the selection alters the frequencies of the underlying genes. The effects of genetic and cultural changes reverberate throughout the circuit and are consequently tested with the passage of each life cycle. In addition to modeling gene-culture coevolution, we apply methods from island biogeography and information theory to examine the cultural capacity of the genes, the factors determining the magnitude of cultural diversity, and the possible reasons for the uniqueness of the human achievement.
Evolution and ontogeny of neural circuits
Authors: Ebbesson Sven O. E.
Published: February 2010

Recent studies on neural pathways in a broad spectrum of vertebrates suggest that, in addition to migration and an increase in the number of certain select neurons, a significant aspect of neural evolution is a “parcellation” (segregation-isolation) process that involves the loss of selected connections by the new aggregates. A similar process occurs during ontogenetic development. These findings suggest that in many neuronal systems axons do not invade unknown territories during evolutionary or ontogenetic development but follow in their ancestors' paths to their ancestral targets; if the connection is later lost, it reflects the specialization of the circuitry.

The pattern of interspecific variability suggests (1) that overlap of circuits is a more common feature in primitive (generalized) than in specialized brain organizations and (2) that most projections, such as the retinal, thalamotelencephalic, corticotectal, and tectal efferent ones, were bilateral in the primitive condition. Specialization of these systems in some vertebrate groups has involved the selective loss of connections, resulting in greater isolation of functions. The parcellation process may also play an important role in cell diversification.

The parcellation process as described here is thought to be one of several underlying mechanisms of evolutionary and ontogenetic differentiation.