Our age is characterized by global access to information, places and cultures: we can gain more and more knowledge about "the others": other people and their cultures by "indirect knowledge"--Learning about them via the global information net assisted by electronic and other high-tech communication channels, as well as by "direct knowledge": personally visiting various parts of the world and meeting local people in their own natural and social environments. East and West, two major worlds of aspirations, cultures, world-views, theoretical and practical approaches to life and death, have come closer by personal experiences of both Westerners and Easterners. But do we really understand the similarities and differences between the cultural-cognitive-behavioural-emotional patterns of the East and the West, with special regard to their neurobiological underpinnings in the human brain? The contents of this book focus on cultural patterns and cognitive patterns in the East and West, with special regard to those patterns which are determined by our natural-genetic endowments in contrast to those patterns which are influenced by our cultural ("East-West") influences, and within this context a unique flavour is given to the "good life" aspects of adapting to this global community.

Nuclear planetary science has come to play an important role in our understanding of the origin and evolution of the planetary bodies in our solar system. A newly established branch of planetary science, its study aids in humankind's exploration of the present states of the structures of various planetary bodies (including the Earth), their atmospheres and their satellites, as well as small celestial bodies (e.g. asteroids), through direct observation. Knowing the elemental composition of the planetary bodies is essential in order to understand the formation and evolution of planetary bodies -- just as important as it is to know the mass, radius, density and orbit of the celestial body. Suitable for students and specialists interested in the much wider field of Earth and Planetary Science, topics related to the planets and asteroids in the solar system are dealt with in this book. Techniques related to nuclear planetary science's nuclear cosmochemical and geological methods are also covered in this book

This volume comprises refereed papers and abstracts from the 6th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (EVOLANG6). The biennial EVOLANG conference focuses on the origins and evolution of human language, and brings together researchers from many disciplines including anthropology, archaeology, artificial life, biology, cognitive science, computer science, ethology, genetics, linguistics, neuroscience, palaeontology, primatology, and psychology. The collection presents the latest theoretical, experimental and modeling research on language evolution, and includes contributions fro

This magnificent book reveals the critical role of synergy in evolution and in all of biology, including especially in humankind. Synergy is fundamental in so many areas of science and knowledge. And in his final chapter, on how to change our current dysfunctional course as a species and avoid the destruction of our planet, Peter Corning offers us a unique and hopeful new vision.

This book is intended as a textbook providing a deliberately simple introduction to finite element methods in a way that should be readily understandable to engineers, both students and practising professionals. Only the very simplest elements are considered, mainly two dimensional three-noded “constant strain triangles”, with simple linear variation of the relevant variables. Chapters of the book deal with structural problems (beams), classification of a broad range of engineering into harmonic and biharmonic types, finite element analysis of harmonic problems, and finite element analysis of biharmonic problems (plane stress and plane strain). Full FORTRAN programs are listed and explained in detail, and a range of practical problems solved in the text. Despite being somewhat unfashionable for general programming purposes, the FORTRAN language remains very widely used in engineering. The programs listed, which were originally developed for use on mainframe computers, have been thoroughly updated for use on desktops and laptops. Unlike the first edition, the new edition has problems (with solutions) at the end of each chapter.