94 results for "Science"

Methods in neuronal modeling

Christof Koch,Idan Segev
Methods in Neuronal Modeling is the first technical handbook on computational neuroscience. Written for researchers and theoreticians alike, it outlines methods and techniques used for simulating on digital computers the functional properties of single neurons from synapses, dendrites, single cells; and small invertebrate networks to large scale neural networks in the mammalian nervous system. The use of new experimental tools such as selective staining methods, membrane patch electrodes, voltage and calcium-dependent dyes, and multielectrode recordings, together with the, advent of universally available powerful computing, makes it possible to construct detailed and realistic models of neuronal systems. Methods in Neuronal Modeling addresses such questions as what can and should be simulated and what techniques should be used; what experimental parameters are crucial for such simulations, and whether these models may be verified experimentally. Chapters cover simulation of passive dendritic trees, compartmental models of single cells including neurons with a number of different ionic channels, calcium current dynamics, simulations of small invertebrate networks, simulations of the mammalian cortex, connectionists' models, and the use of parallel computers in modeling neural networks. Although the chapters were written by several authors, they are uniform in structure and notation. Detailed examples are given to clarify the different approaches. Each chapter concludes with a description of the model discussed and the details of its implementation on the computer. Christof Koch is an Assistant Professor of Computation and Neural Systems at the California Institute of Technology. Idan Segev is a Lecturer in Neurobiology at the Institute of Life Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Methods in Neuronal Modeling inaugurates the new series in Computational Neuroscience, edited by Terrence J. Sejnowski and Tomaso Poggio. A Bradford Book.
MIT Press 1989-01 524 pages

Atom and archetype: the Pauli/Jung letters, 1932-1958

Pauli, Wolfgang,Jung, C. G.,Meier, C. A.
In 1932, world-renowned physicist Wolfgang Pauli had already done the work that would win him the 1945 Nobel Prize. He was also suffering after a series of troubling personal events. He was drinking heavily, quarrelling frequently, and experiencing powerful, disturbing dreams. Pauli turned to C. G. Jung for help, forging an extraordinary intellectual conjunction not just between a physicist and a psychologist but between physics and psychology. As their acquaintance developed, Jung and Pauli discussed the nature of dreams and their relation to reality, finding surprising common ground between depth psychology and quantum physics and profoundly influencing each other's work. This portrait of an incredible friendship will fascinate readers interested in psychology, science, creativity, and genius.
Princeton University Press 2014-07-21 320 pages

Slanted Truths: Essays on Gaia, Symbiosis and Evolution

Margulis, Lynn,Sagan, Dorion
This enticing collection is as devoted to the profound power of figures of speech as any oration of old Hellas. Metaphor reigns as we encounter the identification of our Earth as a Single, integrative organism, a tale told in image and passion. The discoveries and conjectures upon which this grand view rest are here as well. I have enjoyed these two dozen pieces hugely. No family tree of animal life but must somewhere disclose a cousinly infolding. We are compact of life past, and the looped handing down is more complex than the Mendel-Morgan dance of chromosomes and genes. That dance is essential, certainly, but it is the vital editing of an epic and many-rooted work, a book more like the Bible than like one great artists Remembrance of Things Past. We follow a few old shelves of bound DNA, not just a single book. Our major biochemical package for oxidative metabolism was de scribed in a small DNA manual, somehow engulfed to become an or ganelle within a lucky ancient ancestral anaerobe, and passed ever since viii FOREWORD from mother to offspring outside of the chromosome shuffie. The sperm do carry half the compact genetic message of the human DNA, but they are too small to transfer this equally essential symbiotic one that comes down from the mothers, within roomy egg after roomy egg.
Copernicus 2011-11-25 396 pages

Animal machines

Harrison, Ruth
This is the long-awaited reprint of the classic work of ground-breaking importance on animal welfare. Ruth Harrison's classic Animal Machines, had a profound impact on public opinion and the quality of life of farmed animals when it was published in 1964. Reprinted in its entirety, it gives an accurate, and sometimes shocking, account of intensive farming in the 1960's, still current in large parts of the world today. Harrison's work greatly increased public awareness of animal welfare and led to legal reforms, shaping our better understanding of farm conditions today. It provides a fascinating insight into the system we continue to live with as the global population increases. It includes new chapters by international experts in animal welfare including Marion Stamp Dawkins, discussing the book's significant legacy and impact today. It is suitable for animal welfare researchers, academics and students, welfare associations and charities, veterinary schools, agricultural colleges, agriculturalists, farmers, food quality professionals, farm inspection professionals and the general public.
CABI 2013-03-05 211 pages

Frege's puzzle

Salmon, Nathan U.
The nature of the information content of declarative sentences is a central topic in the philosophy of language. The natural view that a sentence like "John loves Mary" contains information in which two individuals occur as constituents is termed the naive theory, and is one that has been abandoned by most contemporary scholars. This theory was refuted originally by philosopher Gottlob Frege. His argument that the naive theory did not work is termed Frege's puzzle, and his rival account of information content is termed the orthodox theory. In this detailed study, Nathan Salmon defends a version of the naive theory and presents a proposal for its extension that provides a better picture of information content than the orthodox theory gives. He argues that a great deal of what has generally been taken for granted in the philosophy of language over the past few decades is either mistaken or unsupported, and consequently, much current research is focused on the wrong set of questions. Salmon dissolves Frege's puzzle as it is usually formulated and demonstrates how it can be reconstructed and strengthened to yield a more powerful objection to the naive theory. He then defends the naive theory against the new Frege puzzle by presenting an idea that yields both a surprisingly rich and powerful extension of the naive theory and a better picture of information content than that of the original orthodox theory. Nathan Salmon is Professor of Philosophy, University of California at Santa Barbara. A Bradford Book.
Ridgeview Publ. Comp 1991 189 pages

The Structure of Intelligence: A New Mathematical Model of Mind

Goertzel, Ben
0. 0 Psychology versus Complex Systems Science Over the last century, psychology has become much less of an art and much more of a science. Philosophical speculation is out; data collection is in. In many ways this has been a very positive trend. Cognitive science (Mandler, 1985) has given us scientific analyses of a variety of intelligent behaviors: short-term memory, language processing, vision processing, etc. And thanks to molecular psychology (Franklin, 1985), we now have a rudimentary understanding of the chemical processes underlying personality and mental illness. However, there is a growing feeling-particularly among non-psychologists (see e. g. Sommerhoff, 1990) - that, with the new emphasis on data collection, something important has been lost. Very little attention is paid to the question of how it all fits together. The early psychologists, and the classical philosophers of mind, were concerned with the general nature of mentality as much as with the mechanisms underlying specific phenomena. But the new, scientific psychology has made disappointingly little progress toward the resolution of these more general questions. One way to deal with this complaint is to dismiss the questions themselves. After all, one might argue, a scientific psychology cannot be expected to deal with fuzzy philosophical questions that probably have little empirical signifi cance. It is interesting that behaviorists and cognitive scientists tend to be in agreement regarding the question of the overall structure of the mind."
Springer 2011-10-04 240 pages

Brain Imaging - An Illustrated Guide to the Future of Neuroscience

Moran Cerf
Can we download our consciousness, and if so where should the backup be stored? Why is it that we can drive tired, but not drunk (when sleepiness has caused many more accidents)? What senses would we want to add if we could expand our perception? What types of crimes might we face in an era of neural implants? What would learning look like if humans could transmit thoughts across brains? How can we improve (/ruin) relationships, sex, and intimacy using cross-brain communication? And what can the business world do as it prepares for a world of mind reading? Those and other issues that are at the forefront of current neuroscience research are addressed in a sequence of comical and thought-provoking illustrations by Moran Cerf, professor of neuroscience and business. This graphical visualization of our future makes readers of all ages - kids and adults alike - laugh, and then think.
Mindcraft 2025-05-20 84 pages

Demonstrations of Auditory Scene Analysis: The Perceptual Organization of Sound

Bregman, Albert S.,Ahad, Pierre A.
This compact disk contains 41 audio illustrations of the principles underlying the human perceptual organization of sound that were first described in Albert Bregman's book, "Auditory Scene Analysis" (MIT Press 1990). The CD can be played on any home CD player; for the most part the audio demonstrations can be listened to over loudspeakers, but a few are in stereo and require headphones. While referring readers to the relevant pages in the book, the CD can be used on its own. Each demonstration is described in the companion 78-page booklet, along with a diagram, an explanation, technical details and suggested readings. There is also a 58-item bibliography. The CD can also provide a set of perceptual phenomena that any computational mode of auditory scene analysis should be able to explain. As such, it can serve as a test bed for theory.
Mit Pr 1996

Introducing social psychology

Henri Tajfel,Colin Fraser
This book offers an accessible and broadly conceived introduction to social psychology. Written in a lucid and lively style, it assumes no prior knowledge of the field, and is the ideal textbook to get students thinking about the subject. The volume covers the main issues of social psychology ? as well as many classic studies ? such as self and personality, interpersonal relations, language and communication, altruism and aggression, group processes, attitudes, and intergroup relations. What sets this book apart is its coverage of less orthodox topics which are often neglected in introductions of this kind. These areas include emotions, social and moral development, social representations, health and illness, employment and unemployment, and the implications of these fields for social policy. The result is an unusually rich and wide-ranging presentation of social psychology, drawing together a deliberately varied range of methodology and theory. The currently dominant cognitive and psychological approach to social psychology receives systematic consideration in a number of chapters, but its focus on individuals and face-to-face interaction is continually related to broader social concerns and contexts. This is achieved through the use of cross-cultural and historical comparisons, together with an awareness of the contributions that can be made by related social sciences. The authors aim to show that social psychology illuminates the whole of social life, including everyday issues faced by all of us.
Penguin Books 1978 490 pages

Handbook of stress, medicine, and health

Cary L. Cooper
A vast amount of research linking stress and health has been done throughout the last decade in the fields of heart disease, cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, and many other potentially stress-related illnesses. The Handbook of Stress, Medicine, and Health brings together the most distinguished authors in the world and presents the role of stress in illness and health. This exciting book sets the agenda for the new field of stress medicine. Filled with valuable practical information, this comprehensive resource investigates the health effects of life events and work. The physiological impact of critical life changes is discussed, and general occupational stress as well as the stress, from exposure on the job to HIV and AIDS are examined. The relationship between personality types, behavior patterns, and the risk of disease is explored. The guide also reviews the importance of social support during times of illness. It details how families can help alleviate or exacerbate stress. The Handbook offers guidelines for preventing and treating stress-related illnesses and includes insightful steps for coping with the stress of cancer. The Handbook of Stress, Medicine, and Health provides-under one cover-an overview of research, important information that can readily be used, plus recommendations for the direction of future study.
CRC Press 1996 388 pages

The evolution of the emotion-processing mind: with an introduction to mental Darwinism

Langs, Robert
In this ground breaking work, Langs turns to evolutionary biology, the fundamental theory of biological sciences, to derive a set of principles that deeply reform psychoanalytic theory and practice. In doing so he makes a profound announcement of the new field of Evolutionary Psychoanalysis and continues his long-standing project of expanding classical psychoanalysis by forging connections with other biological sciences.
International Universities Press 1996 223 pages

On Giving Up

Adam Phillips
One of The New York Times Critics' Picks of the Year From acclaimed psychoanalyst Adam Phillips, a meditation on what we must give up to feel more alive. To give up or not to give up? The question can feel inescapable but the answer is never simple. Giving up our supposed vices is one thing; giving up on life itself is quite another. One form of self-sacrifice feels positive, something to admire and aspire to, while the other is profoundly unsettling, if not actively undesirable. There are always, it turns out, both good and bad sacrifices, but it is not always clear beforehand which is which. We give something up because we believe we can no longer go on as we are. In this sense, giving up is a critical moment—an attempt to make a different future. In On Giving Up , the acclaimed psychoanalyst Adam Phillips illuminates both the gaps and the connections between the many ways of giving up and helps us to address the central question: What must we give up in order to feel more alive?
Picador 2025-03-25 160 pages

Contesting tears: the Hollywood melodrama of the unknown woman

Cavell, Stanley
What is marriage? Can a relationship dedicated to equality, friendship, and mutual education flower in an atmosphere of romance? What are the paths between loving another and knowing another? Stanley Cavell identified a genre of classic American films that engaged these questions in his study of comedies of remarriage, Pursuits of Happiness . With Contesting Tears , Cavell demonstrates that a contrasting genre, which he calls "the melodrama of the unknown woman," shares a surprising number and weave of concerns with those comedies. Cavell provides close readings of four melodramas he finds definitive of the genre: Letter from an Unknown Woman , Gaslight , Now Voyager , and Stella Dallas . The women in these melodramas, like the women in the comedies, demand equality, shared education, and transfiguration, exemplifying for Cavell a moral perfectionism he identifies as Emersonian. But unlike the comedies, which portray a quest for a shared existence of expressiveness and joy, the melodramas trace instead the woman's recognition that in this quest she is isolated. Part of the melodrama concerns the various ways the men in the films (and the audiences of the films) interpret and desire to force the woman's consequent inaccessibility. "Film is an interest of mine," Stanley Cavell has written, "or say a love, not separate from my interest in, or love of, philosophy." In Contesting Tears Cavell once again brilliantly unites his two loves, using detailed and perceptive musings on melodrama to reflect on philosophical problems of skepticism, psychoanalysis, and perfectionism. As he shows, the fascination and intelligence of such great stars as Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, and Barbara Stanwyck illuminate, as they are illuminated by, the topics and events of these beloved and enduring films.
University of Chicago Press 1996 255 pages

Will they do it again? risk assessment and management in criminal justice and psychiatry

Prins, Herschel
Focus in the media on the risks posed to ordinary people has become increasingly strong in recent years - particularly on those risks popularly perceived to be posed by the mentally ill. But how justified is this concern? How do we best manage so-called dangerous people? In Will They Do It Again? Herschel Prins considers the issue of public protection within a broad context of risk in society generally, examining the concerns arising in contemporary society from dealing with uncertainty. It is argued that public fear over the danger posed by the mentally ill is at odds with the evidence, and that much of the concern is focused on a small number of high-profile cases. Prins goes on to examine such cases where management of the mentally ill has failed and sets out suggestions for improvements in practice. Will They Do It Again? cuts through popular misunderstanding and media hype over risk to give a clear, unbiased picture of the real risks to society from the mentally ill and how best they can be contained and managed, and will prove invaluable to a range of practitioners involved in the fields of criminal justice and psychiatry.
Routledge 1999-09-09 171 pages

Wider than the sky: the phenomenal gift of consciousness

Edelman, Gerald M.
A neuroscientist demystifies the subject of consciousness in this up-to-date discussion of mind-body connections. How does the firing of neurons give rise to subjective sensations, thoughts, and emotions? How can the disparate domains of mind and body be reconciled? The quest for a scientifically based understanding of consciousness has attracted study and speculation across the ages. In this direct and non-technical discussion of consciousness, Dr. Gerald M. Edelman draws on a lifetime of scientific inquiry into the workings of the brain to formulate answers to the mind-body questions that intrigue every thinking person. Concise and understandable, the book explains pertinent findings of modern neuroscience and describes how consciousness arises in complex brains. Edelman explores the relation of consciousness to causation, to evolution, to the development of the self, and to the origins of feelings, learning, and memory. His analysis of the brain activities underlying consciousness is based on recent remarkable advances in biochemistry, immunology, medical imaging, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology, yet the implications of his book extend farther--beyond the worlds of science and medicine into virtually every area of human inquiry.
Yale University Press 2004-01-01 201 pages