bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Smectic Elastomers
Authors: Warner M , Terentjev E M 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Smectic elastomers and gels are permanently crosslinked networks of polymers that spontaneously form smectic or lamellar phases. They are as common as nematic networks. From the symmetry point of view there is a great variety of possible phases, combining one-dimensional layered order with various degrees of structure and alignment of mesogenic groups. We shall first consider the most simple smectic order, appropriately called ‘smectic A’ or lamellar Lαa phase, where the molecular anisotropy is coaxial with the layer normal. In other words, the nematic director (which is the principal axis of uniaxial optical birefringence) is locked perpendicular to the smectic layers.
Environmental Exposure Assessment
Authors: Nieuwenhuijsen Mark , Brunekreef Bert 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Nowadays, health risks associated with environmental exposures are generally small; therefore, exposure assessment needs to be of a high quality to detect a risk when there truly is a risk. Part of the exposure assessment process is to optimize exposure estimates with the aim to detect possible risk and optimize the exposure–response relationship. This can be achieved, for example, by optimizing the distribution of the variance of the exposure estimates [1]. Exposure assessment in environmental epidemiological studies should, and has frequently, made use of both temporal and spatial variability in environ- mental and exposure levels to optimize the estimates, and determining the main sources of variance in each is one of the important aspects of the assessment.
Special Study Designs And Analyses In Environmental Epidemiology
Authors: Nieuwenhuijsen Mark 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
This chapter deals with more special designs in environmental epidemiology. A number of these designs are data intensive (time-series, spatial epidemiology and cluster analyses) and use specific statistical methods. These studies generally rely on routinely collected environmental or health data and have a history of statistical method development. The time-series studies specifically make use of temporal variability in both environmental and health data to examine any relationship, while spatial epidemiological studies specifically make use of spatial variability in environmental and health data.
Stakeholder And Participant Involvement
Authors: Rojas Primitivo , Neutra Raymond 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Environmental epidemiology studies range from analyses of existing data, which involves no contact with study subjects, to sample surveys involving a few percent of a dispersed population where there is not a ‘natural community’ to involve, to disease registry or case control studies where an association of diseased persons may form a community, to particular geographical communities which experience unexplained disease clusters or unusual hazard exposures. For all of these studies there are potential policy implications of the results, and each type of study has different types of potential for stakeholder involvement.
Ethics And Environmental Epidemiology
Authors: Soskolne Colin 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Epidemiologists, as with other professionals, are paying increasing attention to the topic of ethics; that is, the norms of professional conduct. This is partly because publicly funded enterprises and agencies–many of which employ epidemiologists–need to be held accountable for the activities of their members. This said, it was only recently, in the mid-1980s, that epidemiologists introduced the discussion and consideration of ethics to their profession [1]. Environmental epidemiologists formally acknowledged this topic through the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE), which stimulated discussion of ethical issues when it established its Standing Committee on Ethics and Philosophy in 1991.
Using Integrated Assessment To Analyze And Forecast The Future Effects Of Global Environmental Change
Authors: Martens Pim , Huynen Maud 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Global environmental changes are a manifestation of a larger pattern of change in the scale and intensity of human affairs. Global climate change is one of the most widely discussed of these global environmental changes. In 1996, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that human-made changes in the global atmosphere were probably already beginning to change world climate [1]. During 1997 and 1998, global temperatures reached their highest levels since record keeping began in the mid-nineteenth century. Overall, ten of the twelve hottest years of the twentieth century occurred after 1988.
The Role And Limits Of Epidemiology In Policy Arguments
Authors: Neutra Raymond 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
For the purposes of this chapter, ‘environmental health policy arguments’ is taken to refer to arguments related to decisions about ongoing practices with regard to the physical and chemical environment that are likely to affect rates of disability, disease and death in the human population. This chapter will focus on ways that etiological epidemiology enters into the policy process. The many ways that descriptive epidemiology can be used to inform policy will not be covered here, for it has been admirably discussed elsewhere [1].
Selecting the items
Authors: Streiner David L , Norman Geoffrey R 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Except for scales that are aimed at a selected group whose educational level is known, the usual rule of thumb is that the scale should not require reading skills beyond that of a 12-year-old. This may seem unduly low, but many people who are high-school graduates are unable to comprehend material much above this level. Many ways have been proposed to assess the reading level required to understand written material. Some methods, like the ‘cloze’ technique (Taylor 1957), eliminate every nth word to see at what point meaning disappears; the easier the material, the more words can be removed and accurately ‘filled in’ by the reader. Other methods are based on the number of syllables in each word or the number of words in each sentence (e.g. Flesch 1948; Fry 1968). However, these procedures can be laborious and time- consuming, and others may require up to 300 words of text (e.g. McLaughlin 1969). These are usually inappropriate for scales or questionnaires, where each item is an independent passage, and meaning may depend on one key word.
Validity
Authors: Streiner David L , Norman Geoffrey R 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
In the previous chapters, we examined various aspects of reliability; that is, how reproducible the results of a scale are under different conditions. This is a necessary step in establishing the usefulness of a measure, but it is not sufficient. The next step is to determine if the scale is measuring what we think it is; that is, the scale’s validity. To illustrate the difference, imagine that we are trying to develop a new index to measure the degree of headache pain. We find that patients get the same score when they are tested on two different occasions, that different interviewers get similar results when assessing the same patient, and so on; in other words, the index is reliable. However, we still have no proof that differences in the total score reflect the degree of headache pain: the scale may be measuring pain from other sources; or it may be tapping factors entirely unrelated to pain, such as depression or the tendency to complain of bodily ailments. In this chapter, we will examine how to determine if we can draw valid conclusions from the scale.
Methods of administration
Authors: Streiner David L , Norman Geoffrey R 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Having developed the questionnaire, the next problem is how to administer it. This is an issue which not only affects costs and response rates but, as we shall see, may influence which questions can be asked and in what format. The three methods commonly used to administer questionnaires are: face-to-face interviews, over the telephone, and by mail.
Nanofabrication
Authors: Jones Richard A L 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
I do not Jike to think of myself as old, but, in the time it has taken me to grow up, an industry which dominates our world has itself grown to maturity from virtually nothing. That industry is of course the personal computer industry, and the technology on which it is based, in its modern form, is the integrated circuit. When I was fourteen or so, I was being taught to do calculations with a strange analogue device called a slide rule, while one of the richest and most cosmopolitan of my fellow pupils amazed the rest of the class with his new, and very expensive, pocket electronic calculator. By the time that I had left school, I had seen my first personal computer, though of course such devices were far too new-fangled to play any part in my undergraduate education (I went to a very ancient and conservative university). During the time I did my Ph.D., IBM launched their Personal Computer, bringing corporate respectability to what had previously been the domain of hobbyists, and pretty much every aspect of the modern world changed for ever.
Making soft machines
Authors: Jones Richard A L 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Successful scientists are just as aware of the power of an image as any advertiser or marketer. The image that has, more than any other, defined the promise of nanotechnology was made in 1989 by Don Eigler; appropriately it depicted the logo of a company—IBM—picked out in individual xenon atoms (see figure 5. 1 ). To make the image, individual atoms were moved across a surface into place using a scanning tunnelling microscope, an instrument that was invented in IBM. Enthusiastic disciples of extreme nanotechnology have seized on this image as proof that their goal—the manufacture of nanoscale machines an atom at a time—is now in sight. I think this is wrong. These experiments are a magnificent technical achievement, and they have allowed scientists to study some fascinating new physics. But they are not a step on the path to the development of true nanoscale machines, because they encourage us to think about making these machines in ways that do not take into account how different physics is at these very small scales. It is all too easy to visualise a cantilever that picks up an atom and sets it in its place as being just like a robot arm that picks up some component in a car factory and bolts it onto the engine. This kind of analogy between the macroworld and the nanoworld is both seductive and dangerous. Thinking about nanoscale design in this way leads to the risk that our designs will not work.
Electrophysiology and brain imaging of biological motion
Authors: Puce Aina , Perrett David 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
The movements of the faces and bodies of other conspecifics provide stimuli of considerable interest to the social primate. Studies of single cells, field potential recordings and functional neuroimaging data indicate that specialized visual mechanisms exist in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) of both human and non-human primates that produce selective neural responses to moving natural images of faces and bodies. STS mechanisms also process simplified displays of biological motion involving point lights marking the limb articulations of animate bodies and geometrical shapes whose motion simulates purposeful behaviour. Facial movements such as deviations in eye gaze, important for gauging an individual’s social attention, and mouth movements, indicative of potential utterances, generate particularly robust neural responses that differentiate between movement types.
A Unifying Computational Framework for Motor Control and Social Interaction
Authors: Wolpert Daniel M , Doya Kenji , Kawato Mitsuo 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Recent empirical studies have implicated the use of the motor system during action observation, imitation and social interaction. In this paper, we explore the computational parallels between the processes that occur in motor control and in action observation, imitation, social interaction and theory of mind. In particular, we examine the extent to which motor commands acting on the body can be equated with communicative signals acting on other people and suggest that computational solutions for motor control may have been extended to the domain of social interaction.
Critical assessment of economic evaluation
Authors: Drummond Michael E , Sculpher Mark J , Torrance George W , O’Brien Bernie J , Stoddart Greg L 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Those who receive or read an economic evaluation are often faced with the difficult task of assessing study results. The question that readers of evaluations are most likely to ask themselves is’Are these results useful to me in my setting?’ The answer to this question is determined by the answers to the following specific questions.
Cost analysis
Authors: Drummond Michael E , Sculpher Mark J , Torrance George W , O’Brien Bernie J , Stoddart Greg L 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
The analysis of the comparative costs of alternative treatments or health care programmes is common to all forms of economic evaluation and therefore most of the methodological issues discussed in this chapter are likely to be of relevance to all analyses. Although many of the issues surrounding costing are context specific and the analyst’s options are often limited by the availability of data, it is possible to give some general guidance. Three particularly thorny issues, the treatment of overhead costs (techniques for allocating shared overhead costs to individual projects), the allowance for differential timing of costs (the techniques of discounting and annuitization of capital expenditure), and the role and estimation of productivity costs will be discussed in some detail. However, the chapter begins by covering some of the basic questions that an evaluator might have when embarking on a costing study in the health field.
Cost-utility analysis
Authors: Drummond Michael E , Sculpher Mark J , Torrance George W , O’Brien Bernie J , Stoddart Greg L 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Cost-utility analysis (CUA) is a form of evaluation that focuses particular attention on the quality of the health outcome produced or forgone by health programmes or treatments. It has many similarities to cost-effectiveness analysis {CEA), and thus all the points discussed in Chapter 4 on cost analysis and many of those discussed in Chapter 5 on CEA also apply here. The first section of this chapter reviews some of the general issues the analyst would need to consider when undertaking a CUA. Later sections discuss particular issues in more detail.
Vocal expression of affect
Authors: Juslin Patrik N , Scherer Klaus R 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Imagine yourself sitting in a cafeteria. Suddenly, you can overhear another person’s conversation without being able to see the person in question. Within a few seconds of hearing that person’s voice, you are able to infer the person’s gender (a female), age (a young woman), and perhaps even her origin (from the south), social status (upper class), and physical health (having a cold). All this you can tell from hearing her voice, even though you are unable to understand the verbal contents of her conversation.
Introduction to the Mathematical Theory of Compressible Flow
Authors: Novotný A , Straškraba I 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the mathematical theory of compressible flow, describing both inviscid and viscous compressible flow, which are governed by the Euler and the Navier-Stokes equations respectively. The method of presentation allows readers with different backgrounds to focus on various modules of the material, either in part or more fully. Chapters include detailed heuristic arguments providing motivation for technical aspects that are rigorously presented later on in the text; for instance, the existence theory for steady and unsteady Navier-Stokes equations of isentropic compressible flow, and two-by-two systems of Euler equations in one space dimension. These parts are presented in a textbook style with auxiliary material in supporting sections and appendices. The book includes a rich index and extensive bibliography, thus allowing for quick orientation among the vast collection of literature on the mathematical theory of compressible flow, as well as in the book itself.
Weak Solutions For Nonsteady Navier–Stokes Equations Of Compressible Barotropic Flow
Authors: Novotný A , Straškraba I 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
This chapter is devoted to the weak solvability of nonstationary compressible Navier–Stokes equations in the barotropic regime, and to the investigation of some of their qualitative properties. In Section 7.1 we formulate the problem in bounded and exterior domains with homogenous Dirichlet boundary conditions and state the main results. In the next section (Section 7.2), we study the continuity with respect to time of the linear momentum and of the total energy. The main ideas to prove existence and the main difficulties of the proof are explained in Section 7.3. Then, in Section 7.4 we introduce the chain of approximations which we use to solve the original problem. Section
Foundations of Modern Cosmology
Authors: Hawley John F , Holcomb Katherine A 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Recent discoveries in astronomy, especially those made with data collected by satellites such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, have revolutionized the science of cosmology. These new observations offer the possibility that some long-standing mysteries in cosmology might be answered, including such fundamental questions as the ultimate fate of the universe. Foundations of modern cosmology provides an accessible, thorough and descriptive introduction to the physical basis for modern cosmological theory, from the big bang to a distant future dominated by dark energy. This second edition includes the latest observational results and provides the detailed background material necessary to understand their implications, with a focus on the specific model supported by these observations, the concordance model. Consistent with the book’s title, emphasis is given to the scientific framework for cosmology, particularly the basics concepts of physics that underlie modern theories of relativity and cosmology; the importance of data and observations is stressed throughout. The book sketches the historical background of cosmology, and provides a review of the relevant basic physics and astronomy. After this introduction, both special and general relativity are treated, before proceeding to an in-depth discussion of the big bang theory and physics of the early universe. The book includes current research areas, including dark matter and structure formation, dark energy, the inflationary universe, and quantum cosmology.
Lighting the Worlds
Authors: Hawley John F , Holcomb Katherine A 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Humanity contemplates the cosmos from the restricted vantage point of a small planet near the edge of an out-of-the-way galaxy. How it is that we can learn anything at all about so vast a thing as the universe? The universe is more than its contents alone; the physical laws that govern the interactions among objects tell us the properties of the cosmos. From the smallest elementary particles to the largest galaxy cluster, the rules of the universe leave their mark.
Infinite Space and Absolute Time
Authors: Hawley John F , Holcomb Katherine A 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
What is the universe? If the universe is everything, can there be anything beyond it? Where do we fit into the universe? How was the universe created? What will be its eventual fate? With all the complexity that we see immediately around us, how can we hope to understand something so intricate on even larger scales? Such questions have been asked for as long as we have any traces of human thoughts. The answers that have been imagined have been profound, or philosophical, or fanciful, or stern; but until the development of modern science, the explanations offered had less to do with the way the universe was, than the way humans imagined it might be. The universe remained mysterious and ineffable.
Modeling the Universe
Authors: Hawley John F , Holcomb Katherine A 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Two major developments, Hubble’s observations and Einstein’s theory of general relativity, moved the subject of cosmology out of the realm of the mainly philosophical and firmly into the arena of science. Now the task of developing an actual model of a dynamic universe lies before us. While at first glance it may seem an impossible undertaking, we are aided by the adoption of the cosmological principle. This is an enormous simplification, for it implies that the metric which describes space and time, and specifies their evolution, must be the Robertson–Walker metric.
The Early Universe
Authors: Hawley John F , Holcomb Katherine A 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
The recognition that the universe is expanding leads naturally to the question of its origins. From what might the universe have expanded? What might the universe have been like when it was much smaller? What does “smaller” mean for a universe? Within the standard models, a straightforward projection to earlier time leads to the conclusion that the universe was once much denser and more compact than it is today. Indeed, taking this to its ultimate limit, the universe was infinitely dense at that cosmic time when the scale factor R was zero.
A Message from the Big Bang
Authors: Hawley John F , Holcomb Katherine A 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
When the Sun sets the night sky darkens, lit up only here and there by points of lights we now know to be distant suns. But why is the sky dark at night? The sky is bright during the day because the Sun is so close, and therefore its light fills the sky when it is visible; at night, conversely, it might be argued that the distant stars cannot brighten the sky. But this argument is inadequate, a fact which Kepler was one of the first to recognize. If the universe is infinite, and contains an infinite number of stars that live forever, then every line of sight must end on a star. It is true that a star’s light diminishes as the square of the distance, but the volume of space sampled increases by exactly the same factor as distance becomes greater.
Knots and Surfaces
Authors: Gilbert N D , Porter T 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
The main theme of this book is the mathematical theory of knots and its interaction with the theory of surfaces and of group presentations. Beginning with a simple diagrammatic approach to the study of knots, reflecting the artistic and geometric appeal of interlaced forms, Knots and Surfaces takes the reader through recent advances in our understanding to areas of current research. Topics included are straightforward introductions to topological spaces, surfaces, the fundamental group, graphs, free groups, and group presentations. These topics combine into a coherent and highly developed theory to explore and explain the accessible and intuitive problems of knots and surfaces. Both as an introduction to several areas of prime importance to the development of pure mathematics today, and as an account of pure mathematics in action in an unusual context, this book presents novel challenges to students and other interested readers.