The Cloning Sourcebook

The Cloning Sourcebook

Animal cloning has developed quickly since the birth of Dolly the sheep. Yet many of the first questions to be raised still need to be answered. What do Dolly and her fellow mouse, cow, pig, goat and monkey clones mean for science? And for society? Why do so many people respond so fearfully to cloning? What are the ethical issues raised by cloning animals, and in the future, humans? How are the makers of public policy coping with the stunning fact that an entire animal can be reconstructed from a single adult cell? And that humans might well be next? The Cloning Source Book addresses all of these questions in a way that is unique in the cloning literature, by grounding what is effectively an interdisciplinary conversation in solid science. In the first section of the book, the key scientists responsible for the early and crucial developments in cloning speak to us directly, and other scientists evaluate and comment on these developments. The second section explores the context of cloning and includes sociological, mythological, and historical perspectives on science, ethics, and policy. The authors also examine the media’s treatment of the Dolly story and its aftermath, both in the United States and in Britain. The third section, on ethics, contains a broad range of papers written by some of the major commentators in the field. The fourth section addresses legal and policy issues. It features individual and collective contributions by those who have actually shaped public policy on reproductive cloning, therapeutic cloning, and similarly contentious bioethical issues in the United States, Britain, and the European Union. Animal cloning continues for agricultural and medicinal purposes, the latter in combination with transgenics. Human cloning for therapeutic purposes has recently been made legal in Britain. The goal is to produce an early embryo and then derive stem cells that are immunologically matched to the donor. Two human reproductive cloning projects have been announced, and there are almost certainly others about which we know nothing. Sooner or later a cloned human will be born. Many lessons can be learned from the cloning experience. Most importantly, there needs to be a public conversation about the permissible uses of new and morally murky technologies. Scientists, journalists, ethicists and policy makers all have roles to play, but cutting-edge science is everybody’s business. The Cloning Sourcebook provides the tools required for us to participate in shaping our own futures.

The Cloning Sourcebook

Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing

Ever since the term ‘crowdsourcing’ was coined in 2006 by ‘Wired’ writer Jeff Howe, group activities ranging from the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary to the choosing of new colors for M&Ms have been labeled with this most buzz-generating of media buzzwords. In this accessible but authoritative account, grounded in the empirical literature, Daren Brabham explains what crowdsourcing is, what it is not, and how it works. Crowdsourcing, Brabham tells us, is an online, distributed problem solving and production model that leverages the collective intelligence of online communities for specific purposes set forth by a crowdsourcing organization — corporate, government, or volunteer. Uniquely, it combines a bottom-up, open, creative process with top-down organizational goals. Crowdsourcing is not open source production, which lacks the top-down component; it is not a market research survey that offers participants a short list of choices; and it is qualitatively different from predigital open innovation and collaborative production processes, which lacked the speed, reach, rich capability, and lowered barriers to entry enabled by the Internet. Brabham describes the intellectual roots of the idea of crowdsourcing in such concepts as collective intelligence, the wisdom of crowds, and distributed computing. He surveys the major issues in crowdsourcing, including crowd motivation, the misconception of the amateur participant, crowdfunding, and the danger of ‘crowdsploitation’ of volunteer labor, citing real-world examples from Threadless, InnoCentive, and other organizations. And he considers the future of crowdsourcing in both theory and practice, describing its possible roles in journalism, governance, national security, and science and health.

Crowdsourcing

The Catalyzing Mind

The Catalyzing Mind

How do we understand and explain phenomena in psychology? What does the concept of causality mean when we discuss higher psychological functions and behavior? Is it possible to generate laws in a psychological and behavioral sciencelaws that go beyond statistical regularities, frequencies, and probabilities? An international group of authors compare and contrast the use of a causal model in psychology with a newer modelthe catalytic model. The Catalyzing Mind: Beyond Models of Causality proposes an approach to the qualitative nature of psychological phenomena that focuses on the psychological significance and meaning of conditions, contexts, and situations as well as their sign-mediating processes. Contributors develop, apply, and criticize the notion of a catalyzing mind in hopes of achieving conceptual clarity and rigor. Disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, semiotics and biosemiotics are used for an interdisciplinary approach to the book. Research topics such as history and national identity, immigration, and transitions to adulthood are all brought into a dialogue with the concept of the catalyzing mind. With a variety of disciplines, theoretical concepts, and research topics this book is a collective effort at an approach to move beyond models of causality for explaining and understanding psychological phenomena.

The Catalyzing Mind

Clusters in Nuclei, Volume 1

Clusters in Nuclei, Volume 1

Following the pioneering discovery of alpha clustering and of molecular resonances, the field of nuclear clustering is presently one of the domains of heavy-ion nuclear physics facing both the greatest challenges and opportunities. After many summer schools and workshops, in particular over the last decade, the community of nuclear molecular physics decided to team up in producing a comprehensive collection of lectures and tutorial reviews covering the field. This first volume, gathering seven extensive lectures, covers the follow topics: * Cluster Radioactivity * Cluster States and Mean Field Theories * Alpha Clustering and Alpha Condensates * Clustering in Neutron-rich Nuclei * Di-neutron Clustering * Collective Clusterization in Nuclei * Giant Nuclear Molecules By promoting new ideas and developments while retaining a pedagogical nature of presentation throughout, these lectures will both serve as a reference and as advanced teaching material for future courses and schools in the fields of nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics.

Clusters in Nuclei, Volume 1

Dynamics of Magnetically Trapped Particles - Second Edition

Dynamics of Magnetically Trapped Particles - Second Edition

This book is a new edition of Roederers classic Dynamics of Geomagnetically Trapped Radiation, updated and considerably expanded. The main objective is to describe the dynamic properties of magnetically trapped particles in planetary radiation belts and plasmas and explain the physical processes involved from the theoretical point of view. The approach is to examine in detail the orbital and adiabatic motion of individual particles in typical configurations of magnetic and electric fields in the magnetosphere and, from there, derive basic features of the particles collective macroscopic behavior in general planetary environments. Emphasis is not on the what but on the why of particle phenomena in near-earth space, providing a solid and clear understanding of the principal basic physical mechanisms and dynamic processes involved. The book will also serve as an introduction to general space plasma physics, with abundant basic examples to illustrate and explain the physical origin of different types of plasma current systems and their self-organizing character via the magnetic field. The ultimate aim is to help both graduate students and interested scientists to successfully face the theoretical and experimental challenges lying ahead in space physics in view of recent and upcoming satellite missions and an expected wealth of data on radiation belts and plasmas.

Dynamics of Magnetically Trapped Particles - Second Edition

Rethinking History, Reframing Identity

Rethinking History, Reframing Identity

This book contributes to the theoretical and methodological discussion about how the diverging experiences of generations and their historical memories play a role in the process of national identity formation. Drawing from narratives gathered within the Ukrainian minority in northern Poland and centered on the collective trauma of Action Vistula, where in 1947 about 140,000 Ukrainians were resettled from south-eastern Poland and relocated to the north-western areas, this study shows that three generations vary considerably with regard to their understandings of home, integration, history and religion. Thus, generational differences are an essential element in the analysis and understanding of social and political change. The findings of this study provide a contribution to debates about the process based nature of national identity, the role of trauma in creating generational consciousness and how generations should be conceptualized.

Rethinking History, Reframing Identity

In the Beginning

In the Beginning

‘Applying extensive original sources and social movement theory, Lienesch begins with fundamentalism, describing how early twentieth-century fundamentalists worked to form a collective identity, to develop their own institutions, and to turn evolution from an idea into an issue. He traces the emerging antievolution movement through the 1920s, examining debates over Darwinism that took place on college campuses and in state legislatures throughout the country. With fresh insights and analysis, Lienesch retells the story of the 1925 Scopes monkey trial and reinterprets its meaning. In tracking the movement from that time to today, he explores the rise of creation science in the 1960s, the alliance with the New Christian Right in the 1980s, and the development of the theory of intelligent design in our own time. He concludes by speculating on its place in the politics of the twenty-first century.

In the Beginning

Nature-Inspired Algorithms for Optimisation

Nature-Inspired Algorithms for Optimisation

Sect. I. Introduction — Why Is Optimization Difficult? / Thomas Weise, Michael Zapf, Raymond Chiong, Antonio J. Nebro — The Rationale behind Seeking Inspiration from Nature / Kent C.B. Steer, Andrew Wirth, Saman K. Halgamuge — Sect. II. Evolutionary Intelligence — The Evolutionary-Gradient-Search Procedure in Theory and Practice / Ralf Salomon, Dirk V. Arnold — The Evolutionary Transition Algorithm: Evolving Complex Solutions out of Simpler Ones / Tom Lenaerts, Anne Defaweux, Jano van Hemert — A Model-Assisted Memetic Algorithm for Expensive Optimization Problems / Yoel Tenne — A Self-Adaptive Mixed Distribution Based Uni-variate Estimation of Distribution Algorithm for Large Scale Global Optimization / Yu Wang, Bin Li — Differential Evolution with Fitness Diversity Self-Adaptation / Ville Tirronen, Ferrante Neri — Central Pattern Generators: Optimisation and Application / Leena N. Patel — Sect. III. Collective Intelligence — Fish School Search / Carmelo J.A. Bastos Filho … [et al.] — Magnifier Particle Swarm Optimization / Ying Tan, Junqi Zhang — Improved Particle Swarm Optimization in Constrained Numerical Search Spaces / Efren Mezura-Montes, Jorge Isacc Flore-Mendoza — Applying River Formation Dynamics to Solve NP-Complete Problems / Pablo Rabanal, Ismael Rodriguez, Fernando Rubio — Sect. IV. Social-Natural Intelligence — Algorithms Inspired in Social Phenomena / Antonio Neme, Sergio Hernandez — Artificial Immune Systems for Optimization / Heder S. Bernardino, Helio J.C. Barbosa — Sect. V. Multi-Objective Optimisation — Ranking Methods in Many-objective Evolutionary Algorithms / Antonio Lopez Jaimes, Luis Vicente Santana Quintero, Carlos A. Coello Coello — On the Effect of Applying a Steady-State Selection Scheme in the Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm NSGA-II / Antonio J. Nebro, Juan J. Durillo — Improving the Performance of Multiobjective Evolutionary Optimization Algorithms using Coevolutionary Learning /Tse Guan Tan, Jason Teo — Evolutionary Optimization for Multiobjective Portfolio Selection Under Markowitzs Model with Application to the Caracas Stock Exchange / Feijoo Colomine Duran, Carlos Cotta, Antonio J. Fernandez.

Nature-Inspired Algorithms for Optimisation

Morphogenetic Engineering

Morphogenetic Engineering

Edited and authored by leading researchers in the field First comprehensive monograph on this newly emerging field Suitable as both self-study tutorial and reference text Generally, spontaneous pattern formation phenomena are random and repetitive, whereas elaborate devices are the deterministic product of human design. Yet, biological organisms and collective insect constructions are exceptional examples of complex systems that are both self-organized and architectural. This book is the first initiative of its kind toward establishing a new field of research, Morphogenetic Engineering, to explore the modeling and implementation of ‘self-architecturing’ systems. Particular emphasis is placed on the programmability and computational abilities of self-organization, properties that are often underappreciated in complex systems science-while, conversely, the benefits of self-organization are often underappreciated in engineering methodologies. Altogether, the aim of this work is to provide a framework for and examples of a larger class of ‘self-architecturing’ systems, while addressing fundamental questions such as > How do biological organisms carry out morphogenetic tasks so reliably? > Can we extrapolate their self-formation capabilities to engineered systems? > Can physical systems be endowed with information (or informational systems be embedded in physics) so as to create autonomous morphologies and functions? > What are the core principles and best practices for the design and engineering of such morphogenetic systems? The intended audience consists of researchers and graduate students who are working on, starting to work on, or interested in programmable self-organizing systems in a wide range of scientific fields, including computer science, robotics, bioengineering, control engineering, physics, theoretical biology, mathematics, and many others.

Morphogenetic Engineering

Locating Privacy in Tudor London

Locating Privacy in Tudor London

Locating Privacy in Tudor London asks new questions about where private life was lived in the early modern period, about where evidence of it has been preserved, and about how progressive and coherent its history can be said to have been. The Renaissance and the Reformation are generally taken to have produced significant advances in individuality, subjectivity, and interiority, especially among the elite, but this study of middling-sort culture shows privacy to have been an object of suspicion, of competing priorities, and of compulsory betrayals. The institutional archives of civic governance, livery companies, parish churches, and ecclesiastical courts reveal the degree to which society organized itself around principles of preventing privacy, as a condition of order. Also represented in the discussion are such material artifacts as domestic buildings and household furnishings, which were routinely experienced as collective and monitory agents rather than spheres of exclusivity and self-expression. In ‘everyday’ life, it is argued, economic motivations were of more urgent concern than the political paradigms that have usually informed our understanding of the Renaissance. Locating Privacy pursues the case study of Alice Barnham (1523-1604), a previously unknown merchant-class woman, subject of one of the earliest family group paintings from England. Her story is touched by many of the changes-in social structure, religion, the built environment, the spread of literacy, and the history of privacy-that define the sixteenth century.

Locating Privacy in Tudor London

Integration of Fuzzy Logic and Chaos Theory

Integration of Fuzzy Logic and Chaos Theory

This book attempts to present some current research progress and results on the interplay of fuzzy logic and chaos theory. More specifically, this book includes a collections of some state-of-the-art surveys, tutorials, and application examples written by some experts working in the interdisciplinary fields overlapping fuzzy logic and chaos theory. The content of the book covers fuzzy definition of chaos, fuzzy modeling and control of chaotic systems using both Mamdani and Takagi-Sugeno models, fuzzy model identification using genetic algorithms and neural network schemes, bifurcation phenomena and self-referencing in fuzzy systems, complex fuzzy systems and their collective behaviours, as well as some applications of combining fuzzy logic and chaotic dynamics, such as fuzzy-chaos hybrid controllers for nonlinear dynamic systems, and fuzzy-model-based chaotic cryptosystems. This book can serve as a handy reference for researchers working in the interdisciplines related, among others, to both fuzzy logic and chaos theory.

Integration of Fuzzy Logic and Chaos Theory

Bose-Einstein Condensation in Dilute Gases

Bose-Einstein Condensation in Dilute Gases

In 1925 Einstein predicted that at low temperatures particles in a gas could all reside in the same quantum state. This gaseous state, a BoseEinstein condensate, was produced in the laboratory for the first time in 1995 and investigating such condensates has become one of the most active areas in contemporary physics. The study of BoseEinstein condensates in dilute gases encompasses a number of different subfields of physics, including atomic, condensed matter, and nuclear physics. The authors of this graduate-level textbook explain this exciting new subject in terms of basic physical principles, without assuming detailed knowledge of any of these subfields. Chapters cover the statistical physics of trapped gases, atomic properties, cooling and trapping atoms, interatomic interactions, structure of trapped condensates, collective modes, rotating condensates, superfluidity, interference phenomena, and trapped Fermi gases. Problem sets are also included in each chapter.

Bose-Einstein Condensation in Dilute Gases