- Table View
- List View
Suturing Principles and Techniques in Laboratory Animal Surgery: Manual and DVD
by John J. BogdanskeSuturing Principles and Techniques in Laboratory Animal Surgery: Manual and DVD introduces the basic principles of, and the materials and instruments required for, suturing and wound closure on animals in a research or veterinary facility. The manual provides descriptions and pictures portraying proper tissue handling and aseptic technique during w
Suzaku Studies of White Dwarf Stars and the Galactic X-ray Background Emission
by Takayuki YuasaThis thesis presents a study of the origin of an apparently extended X-ray emission associated with the Galactic ridge. The study was carried out with broadband spectra obtained from mapping observations in the Galactic bulge region conducted in 2005-2010 by the Suzaku space X-ray observatory. The spectra were analyzed with a newly constructed X-ray spectral model of an accreting white dwarf binary that is one of the proposed candidate stars for the origin of the Galactic ridge emission in the higher energy band. Fitting of the observed Galactic ridge spectra with the model showed that there is another spectral component that fills the gap between the observed X-ray flux and the component expected from the accreting white dwarf spectral model in the lower energy band. This additional soft spectral component was nicely explained by an X-ray spectral model of normal stars. The result, together with previously reported high-resolution imaging results, strongly supports the idea that the Galactic ridge X-ray emission is an assembly of dim, discrete X-ray point sources.
SV40 Protocols
by Leda RaptisA panel of highly experienced investigators describe in step-by-step fashion key techniques for experimentally detecting SV40 in human tumors, for exploiting its use in human gene therapy, and for studying its replication and its mechanisms of neoplastic transformation. Included are methods for growing SV40 and related viruses in tissue culture, for in vivo and in vitro replication and transcription of SV40 DNA, for the use of retroviral vectors to express SV40 tumor antigens in cultured cells, and the use of transgenic mouse models based on the SV40 large T antigen. Detailed and highly practical, SV40 Protocols offers both clinical and basic researchers powerful, well-tested tools for research on SV40 replication and neoplastic transformation, as well as techniques for its detection in human tumors and for creating and using powerful new gene therapy vectors.
The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise
by Michael GrunwaldThe Everglades was once reviled as a liquid wasteland, and Americans dreamed of draining it. Now it is revered as a national treasure, and Americans have launched the largest environmental project in history to try to save it. The Swamp is the stunning story of the destruction and possible resurrection of the Everglades, the saga of man's abuse of nature in southern Florida and his unprecedented efforts to make amends. Michael Grunwald, a prize-winning national reporter for The Washington Post, takes readers on a riveting journey from the Ice Ages to the present, illuminating the natural, social and political history of one of America's most beguiling but least understood patches of land. The Everglades was America's last frontier, a wild country long after the West was won. Grunwald chronicles how a series of visionaries tried to drain and "reclaim" it, and how Mother Nature refused to bend to their will; in the most harrowing tale, a 1928 hurricane drowned 2,500 people in the Everglades. But the Army Corps of Engineers finally tamed the beast with levees and canals, converting half the Everglades into sprawling suburbs and sugar plantations. And though the southern Everglades was preserved as a national park, it soon deteriorated into an ecological mess. The River of Grass stopped flowing, and 90 percent of its wading birds vanished. Now America wants its swamp back. Grunwald shows how a new breed of visionaries transformed Everglades politics, producing the $8 billion rescue plan. That plan is already the blueprint for a new worldwide era of ecosystem restoration. And this book is a cautionary tale for that era. Through gripping narrative and dogged reporting, Grunwald shows how the Everglades is still threatened by the same hubris, greed and well-intentioned folly that led to its decline.
The Swamp Peddlers: How Lot Sellers, Land Scammers, and Retirees Built Modern Florida and Transformed the American Dream
by Jason VuicFlorida has long been a beacon for retirees, but for many, the American dream of owning a home there was a fantasy. That changed in the 1950s, when the so-called "installment land sales industry" hawked billions of dollars of Florida residential property, sight unseen, to retiring northerners. For only $10 down and $10 a month, working-class pensioners could buy a piece of the Florida dream: a graded home site that would be waiting for them in a planned community when they were ready to build. The result was Cape Coral, Port St. Lucie, Deltona, Port Charlotte, Palm Coast, and Spring Hill, among many others—sprawling communities with no downtowns, little industry, and millions of residential lots. In The Swamp Peddlers, Jason Vuic tells the raucous tale of the sale of residential lots in postwar Florida. Initially selling cheap homes to retirees with disposable income, by the mid-1950s developers realized that they could make more money selling parcels of land on installment to their customers. These "swamp peddlers" completely transformed the landscape and demographics of Florida, devastating the state environmentally by felling forests, draining wetlands, digging canals, and chopping up at least one million acres into grid-like subdivisions crisscrossed by thousands of miles of roads. Generations of northerners moved to Florida cheaply, but at a huge price: high-pressure sales tactics begat fraud; poor urban planning begat sprawl; poorly-regulated development begat environmental destruction, culminating in the perfect storm of the 21st-century subprime mortgage crisis.
Swamp Rice Farming: The Indigenous Pahang Malay Agricultural System
by Donald H LambertThis first detailed ethnographic account of the Pahang Malay people of peninsular Malaysia focuses on the society's traditional agricultural system, particularly on its specialization in the production of rice on largely unmodified natural swampland. Dr. Lambert discusses the historical development of Pahang Malay rice farming, its dependence on indigenous knowledge of local ecology, and its adaptability to adverse conditions. Farmers experimenting with cultivars, adapting new technologies to local conditions, and using their own seed selection skills have over several decades substantially improved their rice yields. Dr. Lambert suggests that well-adapted indigenous farming systems found throughout the world should be studied and the adoption of these successful agricultural practices should be encouraged by governments and development planners.
The Swan: A Biography (The Bird Biography Series #4)
by Stephen MossFrom the renowned naturalist Stephen Moss comes the must-have gift for bird lovers this Christmas. 'Wherever there is a stretch of water for them to find food and make their nest, you will come across swans' With beautiful illustrations throughout, this eye-opening biography reveals the hidden secrets of one of Britain's best-known birds. The Mute Swan is not so much a bird, as a national treasure: the avian equivalent of Sir David Attenborough or the Queen. These huge and stately creatures are part of our urban and rural landscapes, a constant presence on lakes, rivers and ponds throughout Britain. Yet despite their familiarity, they are often misunderstood; and while many people love swans, others fear them. Swans also feature in myths and legends, art and literature, dance and music, not just in Britain but all around the world. Stephen Moss delves into the facts and fiction about these charismatic birds, describes their seasonal life cycle and examines their central role in our history and culture. He also includes stories about 'wild swans' - Whooper and Bewicks - that visit us in winter; and the Black Swan of Australia. 'A superb naturalist and writer' Chris Packham 'Moss has carved out an enviable niche as a chronicler of the natural world' Daily Mail
Swans (Nature's Children)
by Tim HarrisDescribes the physical characteristics, habits, and habitats of swans.
Swans (WorldLife Library)
by Dafila ScottIn many legends and myths, swans represent beauty, purity. Dafila Scott details everything from the appearances of these graceful creatures in myth to their ecology and life history. All eight kinds of swans are described, including information on their distribution worldwide, their population sizes, and features unique to each species. The book also introduces breeding, migration, social behavior, and mortality, along with conservation, domestication, and management issues. Gorgeous color photographs accompany the text.
Swansea Copper: A Global History
by Chris Evans Louise MiskellThe first book to detail the global impact of copper production in Swansea, Wales, and how a major technological shift transformed the British Isles into the world's most dynamic center of copper smelting.Eighteenth-century Swansea, Wales, was to copper what nineteenth-century Manchester was to cotton or twentieth-century Detroit to the automobile. Beginning around 1700, Swansea became the place where a revolutionary new method of smelting copper, later christened the Welsh Process, flourished. Using mineral coal as a source of energy, Swansea's smelters were able to produce copper in volumes that were quite unthinkable in the old, established smelting centers of central Europe and Scandinavia. After some tentative first steps, the Swansea district became a smelting center of European, then global, importance. Between the 1770s and the 1840s, the Swansea district routinely produced one-third of the world's smelted copper, sometimes more.In Swansea Copper, Chris Evans and Louise Miskell trace the history of copper making in Britain from the late seventeenth century, when the Welsh Process transformed Britain's copper industry, to the 1890s, when Swansea's reign as the dominant player in the world copper trade entered an absolute decline. Moving backward and forward in time, Evans and Miskell begin by examining the place of copper in baroque Europe, surveying the productive landscape into which Swansea Copper erupted and detailing the means by which it did so. They explain how Swansea copper achieved global dominance in the years between the Seven Years' War and Waterloo, explore new commercial regulations that allowed the importation to Britain of copper ore from around the world, and connect the rise of the copper trade to the rise of the transatlantic slave trade. They also examine the competing rise of the post–Civil War US copper industry.Whereas many contributions to global history focus on high-end consumer goods—Chinese ceramics, Indian cottons, and the like—Swansea Copper examines a producer good, a metal that played a key role in supporting new technologies of the industrial age, like steam power and electricity. Deftly showing how deeply mineral history is ingrained in the history of the modern world, Evans and Miskell present new research not just on Swansea itself but on the places its copper industry affected: mining towns in Cuba, Chile, southern Africa, and South Australia. This insightful book will be of interest to anyone concerned with the historical roots of globalization and the Industrial Revolution as a global phenomenon.
Swap'd (Click'd #2)
by Tamara Ireland StoneAfter her Click'd catastrophe, Allie Navarro is determined to redeem herself. So when the class gets an assignment to create a mobile game from recycled code, Allie pairs up with Courtney, her best friend from CodeGirls camp, to create the perfect app: Swap'd. Kids buy, sell, and trade stuff at school all the time. Candy. Clothes. Video games. Slime. Why not make a fiercely competitive, totally anonymous, beat-the-clock game out of it? Once Swap'd is in full-swing, Allie is certain that it's the answer to all her problems. She's making quick cash to help Courtney buy that really expensive plane ticket to come visit her. It's giving her an excuse to have an actual conversation with her super-secret crush. And it looks like she might finally beat her archenemy-turned-friend, Nathan. She's thought of everything. Or? has she? The second book in the Click'd series by New York Times best-selling author Tamara Ireland Stone weaves together middle school friendship, first crushes, and serious coding skills in another fun, fast-paced, and empowering novel that will have readers cheering Allie on from the first page to the last.
Swarm Enemy: Book 2 (Swarm Rising #2)
by Tim Peake Steve ColePerfect for fans of Alex Rider, Young Bond and Cherub, this fast-paced action-adventure is the second thrilling story from astronaut Tim Peake and bestselling author Steve Cole. The alien Swarm is rising once more... When Danny's best friend Jamila goes missing, and no one remembers she exists, Danny knows the alien Swarm are back on Earth. They've tracked the digital energy signals Jamila has been unintentionally transmitting. Her alien-enhanced DNA can be used to clone super-strong beings with super-powers, and now it's not just the Swarm who are after her. Danny needs to find Jamila - and a new version of Adi, the friendly Swarm scout - and together they must stop both humans and aliens from destroying the human race.'Hi-powered, hi-concept and hi-jinks. Swarm Rising has it all!' Eoin Colfer, author of Artemis Fowl, on Swarm Rising
Swarm Enemy: Book 2 (Swarm Rising #2)
by Tim Peake Steve ColePerfect for fans of Alex Rider, Young Bond and Cherub, this fast-paced action-adventure is the second thrilling story from astronaut Tim Peake and bestselling author Steve Cole. The alien Swarm is rising once more... When Danny's best friend Jamila goes missing, and no one remembers she exists, Danny knows the alien Swarm are back on Earth. They've tracked the digital energy signals Jamila has been unintentionally transmitting. Her alien-enhanced DNA can be used to clone super-strong beings with super-powers, and now it's not just the Swarm who are after her. Danny needs to find Jamila - and a new version of Adi, the friendly Swarm scout - and together they must stop both humans and aliens from destroying the human race.'Hi-powered, hi-concept and hi-jinks. Swarm Rising has it all!' Eoin Colfer, author of Artemis Fowl, on Swarm Rising
Swarm Intelligence: From Social Bacteria to Humans
by Andrew SchumannThe notion of swarm intelligence was introduced for describing decentralized and self-organized behaviors of groups of animals. Then this idea was extrapolated to design groups of robots which interact locally to cumulate a collective reaction. Some natural examples of swarms are as follows: ant colonies, bee colonies, fish schooling, bird flocking, horse herding, bacterial colonies, multinucleated giant amoebae Physarum polycephalum, etc. In all these examples, individual agents behave locally with an emergence of their common effect. An intelligent behavior of swarm individuals is explained by the following biological reactions to attractants and repellents. Attractants are biologically active things, such as food pieces or sex pheromones, which attract individuals of swarm. Repellents are biologically active things, such as predators, which repel individuals of swarm. As a consequence, attractants and repellents stimulate the directed movement of swarms towards and away from the stimulus, respectively. It is worth noting that a group of people, such as pedestrians, follow some swarm patterns of flocking or schooling. For instance, humans prefer to avoid a person considered by them as a possible predator and if a substantial part of the group in the situation of escape panic (not less than 5%) changes the direction, then the rest follows the new direction, too. Some swarm patterns are observed among human beings under the conditions of their addictive behavior such as the behavior of alcoholics or gamers. The methodological framework of studying swarm intelligence is represented by unconventional computing, robotics, and cognitive science. In this book we aim to analyze new methodologies involved in studying swarm intelligence. We are going to bring together computer scientists and cognitive scientists dealing with swarm patterns from social bacteria to human beings. This book considers different models of simulating, controlling, and predicting the swarm behavior of different species from social bacteria to humans.
Swarm Intelligence: Trends and Applications
by Wellington Pinheiro dos Santos Juliana Carneiro Gomes Valter Augusto de Freitas BarbosaThis book presents the fundamentals of swarm intelligence, from classic algorithms to emerging techniques. It presents comprehensive theoretical foundations and examples using the main Computational Intelligence methods in programming languages such as Python, Java and MATLAB®. Real-world applications are also presented in areas as diverse as Medicine, Biology and industrial applications. The book is organized into two parts. The first part provides an introduction to swarming algorithms and hybrid techniques. In the second part, real world applications of swarm intelligence are presented to illustrate how swarm algorithms can be used in applications of optimization and pattern recognition, reviewing the principal methods and methodologies in swarm intelligence.
Swarm Intelligence and Deep Evolution: Evolutionary Approach to Artificial Intelligence
by Hitoshi IbaThe book provides theoretical and practical knowledge about swarm intelligence and evolutionary computation. It describes the emerging trends in deep learning that involve the integration of swarm intelligence and evolutionary computation with deep learning, i.e., deep neuroevolution and deep swarms. The study reviews the research on network structures and hyperparameters in deep learning, and attracting attention as a new trend in AI. A part of the coverage of the book is based on the results of practical examples as well as various real-world applications. The future of AI, based on the ideas of swarm intelligence and evolution is also covered. The book is an introductory work for researchers. Approaches to the realization of AI and the emergence of intelligence are explained, with emphasis on evolution and learning. It is designed for beginners who do not have any knowledge of algorithms or biology, and explains the basics of neural networks and deep learning in an easy-to-understand manner. As a practical exercise in neuroevolution, the book shows how to learn to drive a racing car and a helicopter using MindRender. MindRender is an AI educational software that allows the readers to create and play with VR programs, and provides a variety of examples so that the readers will be able to create and understand AI.
Swarm Intelligence and Evolutionary Algorithms in Healthcare and Drug Development
by Sandeep Kumar Anand Nayyar Anand PaulHealthcare sector is characterized by difficulty, dynamism and variety. In 21st century, healthcare domain is surrounded by tons of challenges in terms of Disease detection, prevention, high costs, skilled technicians and better infrastructure. In order to handle these challenges, Intelligent Healthcare management technologies are required to play an effective role in improvising patient’s life. Healthcare organizations also need to continuously discover useful and actionable knowledge to gain insight from tons of data for various purposes for saving lives, reducing medical operations errors, enhancing efficiency, reducing costs and making the whole world a healthy world. Applying Swarm Intelligence and Evolutionary Algorithms in Healthcare and Drug Development is essential nowadays. The objective of this book is to highlight various Swarm Intelligence and Evolutionary Algorithms techniques for various medical issues in terms of Cancer Diagnosis, Brain Tumor, Diabetic Retinopathy, Heart disease as well as drug design and development. The book will act as one-stop reference for readers to think and explore Swarm Intelligence and Evolutionary Algorithms seriously for real-time patient diagnosis, as the book provides solutions to various complex diseases found critical for medical practitioners to diagnose in real-world. Key Features: Highlights the importance and applications of Swarm Intelligence and Evolutionary Algorithms in Healthcare industry. Elaborates Swarm Intelligence and Evolutionary Algorithms for Cancer Detection. In-depth coverage of computational methodologies, approaches and techniques based on Swarm Intelligence and Evolutionary Algorithms for detecting Brain Tumour including deep learning to optimize brain tumor diagnosis. Provides a strong foundation for Diabetic Retinopathy detection using Swarm and Evolutionary algorithms. Focuses on applying Swarm Intelligence and Evolutionary Algorithms for Heart Disease detection and diagnosis. Comprehensively covers the role of Swarm Intelligence and Evolutionary Algorithms for Drug Design and Discovery. The book will play a significant role for Researchers, Medical Practitioners, Healthcare Professionals and Industrial Healthcare Research and Development wings to conduct advanced research in Healthcare using Swarm Intelligence and Evolutionary Algorithms techniques.
Swarm Intelligence and Evolutionary Computation: Theory, Advances and Applications in Machine Learning and Deep Learning
by Georgios N. KouziokasThe aim of this book is to present and analyse theoretical advances and also emerging practical applications of swarm and evolutionary intelligence. It comprises nine chapters. Chapter 1 provides a theoretical introduction of the computational optimization techniques regarding the gradient-based methods such as steepest descent, conjugate gradient, newton and quasi-Newton methods and also the non-gradient methods such as genetic algorithm and swarm intelligence algorithms. Chapter 2, discusses evolutionary computation techniques and genetic algorithm. Swarm intelligence theory and particle swarm optimization algorithm are reviewed in Chapter 3. Also, several variations of particle swarm optimization algorithm are analysed and explained such as Geometric PSO, PSO with mutation, Chaotic PSO with mutation, multi-objective PSO and Quantum mechanics – based PSO algorithm. Chapter 4 deals with two essential colony bio-inspired algorithms: Ant colony optimization (ACO) and Artificial bee colony (ABC). Chapter 5, presents and analyses Cuckoo search and Bat swarm algorithms and their latest variations. In chapter 6, several other metaheuristic algorithms are discussed such as: Firefly algorithm (FA), Harmony search (HS), Cat swarm optimization (CSO) and their improved algorithm modifications. The latest Bio-Inspired Swarm Algorithms are discussed in chapter 7, such as: Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) Algorithm, Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA), Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm (GOA) and other algorithm variations such as binary and chaotic versions. Chapter 8 presents machine learning applications of swarm and evolutionary algorithms. Illustrative real-world examples are presented with real datasets regarding neural network optimization and feature selection, using: genetic algorithm, Geometric PSO, Chaotic Harmony Search, Chaotic Cuckoo Search, and Evolutionary Algorithm and also crime forecasting using swarm optimized SVM. In chapter 9, applications of swarm intelligence on deep long short-term memory (LSTM) networks and Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are discussed, including LSTM hyperparameter tuning and Covid19 diagnosis from chest X-Ray images. The aim of the book is to present and discuss several state-of-theart swarm intelligence and evolutionary algorithms together with their variances and also several illustrative applications on machine learning and deep learning.
Swarm Intelligence Applications for the Cities of the Future
by Leonor Marques Mano Domingos Maria José SousaThis book explores the transformative power of swarm intelligence and digital innovations in shaping the cities of the future. It presents a comprehensive analysis of how social learning, citizen engagement, advanced technology, design, construction, planning and public policies converge to create cities that are sustainable, resilient, and inclusive.The initial chapters stress the importance of collective intelligence in urban development, using technologies like Virtual Reality to increase citizen participation and democratise decision-making. Public policies play a key role in driving the digital transformation needed for greener cities, with frameworks and tools to enhance transparency and accountability. Digital technologies in policymaking ensure that policies are adaptive, data-driven, and responsive to real-time challenges. Internet of Things systems are explored for their role in improving public safety, urban resilience, and energy efficiency through digital twins, blockchain, and sensor networks. Swarm intelligence is highlighted for optimising energy management, reducing consumption, and promoting renewable resources. Healthcare integration into urban planning and sustainability is also discussed, with a comparative analysis of cities showing how tech innovation enhances resilience against climate change. Swarm intelligence beyond cities is also explored, such as for disaster response, healthcare, environmental conservation, and agriculture. Autonomous systems like drones and nanobots are shown to improve efficiency across various sectors.Overall, this book advocates for a holistic approach to urban development, integrating digital technologies and collective intelligence to create cities that are technologically advanced, socially equitable, and environmentally sustainable.
Swarm Optimization for Biomedical Applications
by Saurav Mallik Zhongming Zhao Nanda Dulal Jana Prabhu Jayagopal Tapas Si Sandeep Kumar MathivananBiomedical engineering is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary area that is providing solutions to biological and medical problems and improving the healthcare system. It is connected to various applications like protein structure prediction, computer-aided drug design, and computerized medical diagnosis based on image and signal data, which accomplish low-cost, accurate, and reliable solutions for improving healthcare services. With the recent advancements, machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) techniques are widely used in biomedical engineering to develop intelligent decision-making healthcare systems in real-time. However, accuracy and reliability in model performance can be a concern in tackling data generated from medical images and signals, making it challenging for researchers and practitioners. Therefore, optimized models can produce quality healthcare services to handle the complexities involved in biomedical research. Various optimization techniques have been employed to optimize parameters, hyper-parameters, and architectural information of ML/DL models explicitly applied to biological, medical, and signal data. The swarm intelligence approach has the potential to solve complex non-linear optimization problems. It mimics the collective behavior of social swarms such as ant colonies, honey bees, and bird flocks. The cooperative nature of swarms can search global settings of ML/DL models, which efficiently provide the solution to biomedical engineering applications. Finally, the book aims to provide the utility of swarm optimization and similar optimization techniques to design ML/DL models to improve the solutions related to biomedical engineering.
Swarm Rising (Swarm Rising #1)
by Tim Peake Steve ColeFor fans of Alex Rider, Young Bond and Cherub, this exciting action-adventure is the first children's book by astronaut Tim Peake and bestselling author Steve Cole, and it's based on space-age science and technology.When Danny is kidnapped by Adi - who can run through brick walls and make cars drive on water - he realises that all humans are in danger. Adi is part of a super-advanced hive mind, the Swarm, which intends to protect the Earth from the environmental catastrophe caused by the human race. Adi - Alien Digital Intelligence in the form of a girl - can bend the laws of physics and control digital data, but as a digital being she wants to know what it's like to be human. Which is where Danny comes in.But what exactly is the 'help' the secretive Swarm is offering? Can Danny and his friend Jamila help Adi stop the Swarm Agents and give humanity a second chance?
Swarm Rising: Book 1 (Swarm Rising #1)
by Tim Peake Steve ColeFrom astronaut Tim Peake and bestselling author Steve Cole: exciting action-adventure rooted in cutting-edge space-age science and technology.When Danny is kidnapped by Adi - who can run through brick walls and make cars drive on water - he realises that all humans are in danger. Adi is part of a super-advanced hive mind, the Swarm, which intends to protect the Earth from the environmental catastrophe caused by the human race. Adi - Alien Digital Intelligence in the form of a girl - can bend the laws of physics and control digital data, but as a digital being she wants to know what it's like to be human. Which is where Danny comes in.But what exactly is the 'help' the secretive Swarm is offering? Can Danny and his friend Jamila help Adi stop the Swarm Agents and give humanity a second chance?This audiobook also contains an exclusive interview with Tim Peake and Steve Cole where they discuss their inspirations for writing this book covering everything from important environmental issues, exciting tech and superpowers! (P)2021 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Swearing Is Good For You: The Amazing Science of Bad Language
by Dr. Emma ByrneIn the vein of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat comes a fascinating and fun look at the new science of bad language.Did you know that chimpanzees can swear? Or that we do most of our swearing in our first language? Have you ever noticed that swearing is an excellent painkiller? In delightfully fun and accessible language, backed by riveting historical case studies and the latest cutting-edge research, Dr. Emma Byrne explores the science behind swearing and why bad language might actually be good for us. Swearing, it turns out, is socially and emotionally essential. Not only has some form of swearing been around since the earliest humans began to communicate, but it has been shown to reduce physical pain, prevent violence, help stroke victims recover their language, and help people work together as a team. Swearing Is Good For You is a fascinating and fun look at the new science of bad language.
Swearing Is Good for You: The Amazing Science Of Bad Language
by Emma ByrneAn irreverent and impeccably researched defense of our dirtiest words. We’re often told that swearing is outrageous or even offensive, that it’s a sign of a stunted vocabulary or a limited intellect. Dictionaries have traditionally omitted it and parents forbid it. But the latest research by neuroscientists, psychologists, sociologists, and others has revealed that swear words, curses, and oaths—when used judiciously—can have surprising benefits. In this sparkling debut work of popular science, Emma Byrne examines the latest research to show how swearing can be good for you. With humor and colorful language, she explores every angle of swearing—why we do it, how we do it, and what it tells us about ourselves. Not only has some form of swearing existed since the earliest humans began to communicate, but it has been shown to reduce physical pain, to lower anxiety, to prevent physical violence, to help trauma victims recover language, and to promote human cooperation. Taking readers on a whirlwind tour through scientific experiments, historical case studies, and cutting-edge research on language in both humans and other primates, Byrne defends cursing and demonstrates how much it can reveal about different cultures, their taboos and their values. Packed with the results of unlikely and often hilarious scientific studies—from the “ice-bucket test” for coping with pain, to the connection between Tourette’s and swearing, to a chimpanzee that curses at her handler in sign language—Swearing Is Good for You presents a lighthearted but convincing case for the foulmouthed.
Sweden’s Research Aid Policy: The Role of Science in Development (Routledge Explorations in Development Studies)
by Veronica Brodén GybergScience and technology have long been considered key for development, problem solving and education in low-income countries, and Sweden has been at the forefront of efforts in this area, as one of the first countries to formalise research aid. This book analyses how The Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries (SAREC) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) have worked to promote science in low-income countries. In doing so, the book tackles challenging questions around whose knowledges and capacities count, who sets the research agenda, how knowledge resources are distributed, and how complex donor-recipient relationships serve both to address and inflate these issues. Through a discursive analysis of policy material and interviews with former directors at Sarec and Sida as well as other key persons, the book traces how perceptions of the relationship between research and development have shifted over the last five decades. Pointing to why long-term collaboration is necessary in order to contribute significantly to capacity building, as well as highlighting more general tensions relating to the production of knowledge, Sweden’s Research Aid Policy: The Role of Science in Development will be a valuable resource for advanced students and researchers of foreign aid, development cooperation, and the history of science and technology.