Homeostasis. The health of an organism is influenced by external and internal changes that may lead to the loss of homeostasis. Under healthy conditions organisms compensate these changes. If compensation fails disease ensues. Attention will be paid to lifestyle, environmental changes, genetic makeup and health system. It will be answered how lifestyle, environment, genetic makeup and social conditions help to maintain or upset the biological balance and lead to cancer. Tumor formation. To understand this process the transfer of intracellular and the pathways of extracellular information (signal transduction) will be reviewed briefly. Loss of cellular balance may lead to cell death (.e.g. apoptosis) or to rapid cell growth of cells leading to tumor formation. Metastasis. Animal tumor models serve to understand the spread of the primary tumor cells to distant locations of the organism. Different types of tumors and metastases will be reviewed.

Every coordination within or between animals depends on communication processes. Although the signaling molecules, vocal and tactile signs, gestures and its combinations differ throughout all species according their evolutionary origins and variety of adaptation processes, certain levels of biocommunication can be found in all animal species:  (a) Abiotic environmental indices such as temperature, light, water, etc. that affect the local ecosphere of an organism and are sensed, interpreted. (b) Trans-specific communication with non-related organisms. (c) Species-specific communication between same or related species. (d) Intraorganismic communication, i.e., sign-mediated coordination within the body of the organism. This book gives an overview of the manifold levels of animal communication exemplified by a variety of species and thereby broadens the understanding of these organisms.

Negotiations in professional or private life often take an unsatisfactory course due to stress, confrontation with aggressive or unfair behavior, or because of overwhelming situations. Negotiations generally require a thorough preparation, strategy and a sophisticated tactic to make us feel safe in the presentation of our goals and arrive at a mutually satisfactory outcome. Conventional books about negotiations are usually limited to strategies and techniques, but leave out elements of psychological communication and emotional intelligence, which include non-verbal communication and empathy, which in turn are essential for successful negotiation. Therefore, this book on the one hand constitutes the essential techniques and strategies in the context of negotiation, but also considers "soft skills" without which negotiations cannot be successful. This book presents practical examples in dealing with situations such as salary, contract and sales negotiations. In particular on context and time appropriate negotiation techniques; analyzing negotiation partners and their motives; interpret group processes, and how to successfully implement negotiation psychology.

Uniquely wide-ranging in its coverage of key concepts, themes and issues relating to human growth and development in adults, this textbook explores the crucial challenges and transitions that adults negotiate in their lives. It examines key topics and issues within professional practice with adults and their families, covering a wide range of practice areas and fusing essential theory and research with practical application. Drawing on insights and debates from across sociology, psychology, criminology and aligned disciplines, this textbook is thoughtfully structured to provide an accessible and supportive resource. Key features include: * chapter-by-chapter summaries, case studies and practice examples; * active learning activities to consolidate knowledge; * a broad range of tools to develop critical thinking and reflective practice. With a companion volume that addresses children and young people, this is an essential tool for students and a valuable refresher resource for experienced practitioners.

This book deals with the development of so-called fourth generation mobile communications or 4G. It covers all aspects of the technology in a form comprehensible to the general reader, a history of its implementation on a worldwide basis and information on how it will be used to improve business transactions. It is up-to-date, comprehensive, and is based upon information acquired from well over one thousand individual sources. All of the data are set up in a manner that simplifies comparisons between countries and service providers. Based on the extensive analysis of the different contexts and progress of 4G technology, future prospects for high-speed mobile communications are also presented. ​      

This handbook contains surveys of state-of-the-art concepts, systems, applications, best practices as well as contemporary research in the intersection between IT and finance. Included are recent trends and challenges, IT systems and architectures in finance, essential developments and case studies on management information systems, and service oriented architecture modeling. The book shows a broad range of applications, e.g. in banking, insurance, trading and in non-financial companies. Essentially, all aspects of IT in finance are covered.

Cyberspace is everywhere in today’s world and has significant implications not only for global economic activity, but also for international politics and transnational social relations. This compilation addresses for the first time the “cyberization� of international relations - the growing dependence of actors in IR on the infrastructure and instruments of the internet, and the penetration of cyberspace into all fields of their activities. The volume approaches this topical issue in a comprehensive and interdisciplinary fashion, bringing together scholars from disciplines such as IR, security studies, ICT studies and philosophy as well as experts from everyday cyber-practice. In the first part, concepts and theories are presented to shed light on the relationship between cyberspace and international relations, discussing implications for the discipline and presenting fresh and innovative theoretical approaches. Contributions in the second part focus on specific empirical fields of activity (security, economy, diplomacy, cultural activity, transnational communication, critical infrastructure, cyber espionage, social media, and more) and address emerging challenges and prospects for international politics and relations.

Social media such as instant messaging (IM), social networking sites (SNS), blogs and microblogs are an integral part of adolescents’ lives in China. Anecdotal evidence reported in the news has suggested that the increasing popularity of social media could make adolescents more vulnerable to being addicted. This exploratory study proposes the concept of “social media addiction� and examines (a) whether social media addiction exists among adolescents in urban China and, if so, who the addicts are, what their symptoms are and to what extent they are addicted; (b) whether sociopsychological traits (e.g., need for affiliation, impression management, narcissism and leisure boredom) can predict social media addiction among adolescents; (c) what gratifications are obtained by adolescents from their use of social media and whether these gratifications can predict social media addiction and (d) to what degree social media addiction influences adolescents’ academic performance and social capital. This study employed quantitative questionnaire surveys among adolescents as the main research method, supplemented by qualitative pre-survey focus groups among adolescents and post-survey in-depth interviews among parents and teachers. Questionnaire surveys were conducted based on a multi-stage cluster sampling of seven middle schools in five urban Chinese cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Xiamen. The final sample consisted of 1,549 adolescents, of whom 90% had used social media. Using Young’s classic definition of Internet addiction, 15.6% of participants were classified as social media addicts. The addicted adolescents were often self-absorbed, bored with their leisure time, and good at using manipulation through social media for impression management. Addicts experienced four major social media addiction symptoms: preoccupation, adverse consequences, alleviation of negative emotions and loss of interest in social activities. The seven social media gratifications identified in this study can be categorized into social, information and entertainment gratifications. Among these, entertainment gratifications had the most power to predict social media addiction, while information gratifications were the least likely to lead to addiction. Furthermore, these gratifications were found to be powerful mediators between the adolescents’ sociopsychological traits and social media addiction. Finally, the results also indicated that social media addiction and its symptoms had a significant negative impact on adolescents’ academic performance and social capital.

Modern information and communication technologies, together with a cultural upheaval within the research community, have profoundly changed research in nearly every aspect. Ranging from sharing and discussing ideas in social networks for scientists to new collaborative environments and novel publication formats, knowledge creation and dissemination as we know it is experiencing a vigorous shift towards increased transparency, collaboration and accessibility. Many assume that research workflows will change more in the next 20 years than they have in the last 200. This book provides researchers, decision makers, and other scientific stakeholders with a snapshot of the basics, the tools, and the underlying visions that drive the current scientific (r)evolution, often called ‘Open Science.’

Since the discovery of a collagen-degrading protease in the tadpole tail in 1962, matrix metalloproteinase research has led to the discovery of more than twenty distinct vertebrate MMPs, along with a variety of homologues from diverse organisms such as the sea urchin, plants, insects, and nematode worms. Fully updating and adding to the popular first edition, Matrix Metalloproteinase Protocols, Second Edition includes a series of state-of-the-art techniques provided by eminent experts in the field. Beginning with a brief overview of the MMP arena, from how these enzymes fit into the larger degradome to what occurs when their expression and function in the mouse is modulated, the volume continues with sections on the expression and purification of MMPs and TIMPs, the detection of MMPs and TIMPs at both the protein and mRNA level, and our ability to assay MMP and TIMP activities in a wide variety of circumstances. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series format, chapters contain introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Comprehensive and cutting-edge, Matrix Metalloproteinase Protocols, Second Edition is an ideal source for many of the essential laboratory techniques for both novice and seasoned researchers alike collected in one convenient volume.

Goesta Mittag-Leffler (1846-1927) played a significant role as both a scientist and entrepreneur. Regarded as the father of Swedish mathematics, his influence extended far beyond his chosen field because of his extensive network of international contacts in science, business, and the arts. He was instrumental in seeing to it that Marie Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize twice. One of Mittag-Leffler's major accomplishments was the founding of the journal Acta Mathematica , published by Institut Mittag-Leffler and Sweden's Royal Academy of Sciences. Arild Stubhaug's research for this monumental biography relied on a wealth of primary and secondary resources, including more than 30000 letters that are part of the Mittag-Leffler archives. Written in a lucid and compelling manner, the biography contains many hitherto unknown facts about Mittag-Leffler's personal life and professional endeavors. It will be of great interest to both mathematicians and general readers interested in science and culture.

During the 1980s and 1990s Asian 'developmental states' attracted much attention in political science and economics literature, but the role of law in the economic development was neglected. It was only after the Asian crisis of 1997 that many analysts began to focus on a lack of regulation and transparency as a major factor triggering the crisis. The crucial questions now are how successful the current reforms will be, and which features of the Asian approach to commercial law will be resistant to reform pressures. This book examines the prospects for commercial law reform in Asia, giving particular attention to Japan and Singapore, as frequently cited role models for Asian developmentalism, and also examining development related business laws in countries such as China, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Contributors from diverse disciplinary, ideological, and theoretical perspectives examine the multiple aspects and dimensions of globalization in this impressive collection. By employing a variety of methodological approaches, the authors provide insights into the role of numerous agents in furthering the process and project or present and future globalization(s), as manifested in economic, political and cultural domains.

Manfred Rühl rekonstruiert öffentliche Kommunikation anhand von Kommunikation/Gesellschafts-Konzeptionen bei Christian Thomasius und Kaspar Stieler, Albert Schäffle und Karl Bücher, Jürgen Habermas und Niklas Luhmann. Das essential erläutert die Prinzipien, wonach sich jedes Publizistiksystem mit Politik, Wirtschaft, Technik, Ethik, Recht, Religion, Kunst, Sport und weiteren Funktionssystemen auseinandersetzen kann. Seit dem 19. Jahrhundert wird Publizistik weltweit als Journalismus, Public Relations, Werbung und in Form von weiteren Persuasionssystemen ausdifferenziert. Diese werden auf der Gesellschaftsebene, auf der Marktebene und auf der Organisationsebene voneinander abgegrenzt. Als übergreifende Funktion der Publizistik wird vorgeschlagen: Die Welt für die Weltgesellschaft transparenter, lesbarer und verstehbarer zu machen.

'Transdisciplinarity' is a form of research and practice that synthesises knowledge from a range of academic disciplines and from the community. There is now global interest and a significant body of work on transdisciplinarity and its potential to address the apparently intractable problems of society. This creates the opportunity for a specific focus on its practical application to sustainability issues. Transdisciplinary Research and Practice for Sustainability Outcomes examines the role of transdisciplinarity in the transformations needed for a sustainable world. After an historical overview of transdisciplinarity, Part I focuses on tools and frameworks to achieve sustainability outcomes in practice and Part II consolidates work by a number of scholars on supporting transdisciplinary researchers and practitioners. Part III is a series of case studies including several international examples that demonstrate the challenges and rewards of transdisciplinary work. The concluding chapter proposes a future research pathway for understanding the human factors that underpin successful transdisciplinary research. As Emeritus Professor Valerie Brown AO notes in her Preface, this book moves transdisciplinary inquiry into the academic and social mainstream. It will be of great interest to researchers and practitioners in the fields of sustainability, qualitative research methods, environmental impact assessment and development studies.

Overall, this book illustrates the complexities of the regulation and deregulation of genes mediated through epigenetics in the development and progression of human malignancies. All the articles have been carefully chosen to represent several cancer systems with state of our knowledge on the role of epigenetic deregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) and their target mRNAs along with epigenetic deregulation of mRNAs. This book also illustrates the role of several dietary agents, collectively called nutraceuticals or natural agents in modulating the epigenetic reprogramming of miRNAs and mRNAs for the prevention and/or treatment of human malignancies. It is well known that genetic aberrations, especially inherited through parents (somatic genetic alterations) contribute to the development of less than 10% of all cancer yet epigenetic alterations in genes especially through selective methylation and acetylation appears to be responsible for the development and progression of the vast majority of all cancers. Therefore, understanding the role of epigenetics in the regulation of genes especially through deregulated expression of miRNAs as presented in this book will allow scientists to devise targeted therapeutic strategies for re-expression of the lost genes or down-regulate the genes that are over-expressed in order to eradicate cancer. It is hoped that targeting epigenetics will not only target cancer cells but it will also target the tumor microenvironment (more like the entire tumor environment such as the entire host) for achieving better treatment outcomes for patients diagnosed with cancer which will lead to achieve the long-term objective for complete eradication of cancer. This book contains fifteen chapters which begins with the concept of systems and network biology for investigating the epigenetics of cancer followed by a series of articles on the role of miRNAs and their target genes in the biology of pancreatic cancer and other cancers such as breast, kidney, prostate and and colon. Since it is becoming increasingly clear that cancer stem cells (CSCs) are important in the development and progression of cancer, and CSCs are important in therapeutic resistance, treatment failure and tumor recurrence, thus the importance of CSCs and epigenetics has been highlighted by a very timely article on epigenetic variations of stem cell markers in cancer including miRNAs. Moreover, just targeting heterogeneous cancer cell populations may not be optimal to eradicate tumors and for which one must take a holistic approach for developing drugs that could also target the tumor microenvironment and tumor dormancy that are regulated through epigenetics. Keeping abreast with this thought process the concluding chapter provides a concept towards curative cancer therapy with maspin, which could be a unique window of opportunity to target tumor dormancy. Therefore, it suggest that targeting the tumor dormancy and the tumor microenvironment using novel therapeutics specifically by targeting epigenetics would become the future of medicine.

Biomedical research is increasingly carried out in low- and middle-income countries. International consensus has largely been achieved around the importance of valid consent and protecting research participants from harm. But what are the responsibilities of researchers and funders to share the benefits of their research with research participants and their communities? After setting out the legal, ethical and conceptual frameworks for benefit sharing, this collection analyses seven historical cases to identify the ethical and policy challenges that arise in relation to benefit sharing. A series of recommendations address possible ways forward to achieve justice for research participants in low- and middle-income countries.

Unparalleled in its coverage of concepts and themes, this textbook uses insights from across sociology, psychology, criminology and other areas of expertise to show how children and young people negotiate crucial challenges and transitions in their lives. It considers a wide range of theories, issues and practice dimensions and clearly shows how they connect, with fresh insights on topics including mental health, bereavement and disability in children. Foregrounding cultural diversity as a crucial dimension of sensitive practice and placing an emphasis on thinking critically and practicing reflectively throughout, this book also: * includes helpful chapter introductions, summaries and annotated further readings; * features a range of case studies, linking theory to practice; * provides active learning exercises, enabling you to apply and consolidate learning. With a companion volume that addresses human growth and development in adults, this is an invaluable tool for students as well as a useful refresher resource for experienced practitioners.

This book was first published in 2004. Plato, Aristophanes and the creators of the 'Orphic' gold tablets employ the traditional tale of a journey to the realm of the dead to redefine, within the mythic narrative, the boundaries of their societies. Rather than being the relics of a faded ritual tradition or the products of Orphic influence, these myths can only reveal their meanings through a close analysis of the specific ways in which each author makes use of the tradition. For these authors, myth is an agonistic discourse, neither a kind of sacred dogma nor a mere literary diversion, but rather a flexible tool that serves the wide variety of uses to which it is put. The traditional tale of the journey to the Underworld in Greek mythology is neither simple nor single, but each telling reveals a perspective on the cosmos, a reflection of the order of this world through the image of the other.

Case studies explore the Million Trees initiative in Los Angeles; the relationship of cap-and-trade policy, public health, greenhouse gas emissions and environmental justice in Southern California; Urbanization, vulnerability and environmental justice in the Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba and Sao Paulo, and in Antofagasta, Greater Concepcion and Valparaiso in Chile; Sociospatial patterns of vulnerability in the American southwest; and Urban flood control and land use planning in Greater Taipei, Taiwan ROC.

Volume 11 provides in an authoritative and timely manner in 16 stimulating chapters, written by 40 internationally recognized experts from 11 nations, and supported by more than 2600 references, 35 tables, and over 100 illustrations, many in color, a most up-to-date view on the role of cadmium for life, presently a vibrant research area. MILS-11 covers the bioinorganic chemistry of Cd(II), its biogeochemistry, anthropogenic release into the environment, and speciation in the atmosphere, waters, soils, and sediments. The analytical tools for Cd determination, its imaging in cells, and the use of 113Cd NMR to probe Zn(II) and Ca(II) proteins are summarized, as are Cd(II) interactions with nucleotides, nucleic acids, amino acids, and proteins including metallothioneins. The phytoremediation by Cd(II)-accumulating plants, etc., the toxicology of Cd(II), its damage to mammalian organs, and its role as a carcinogen for humans, are highlighted.

The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher Education provides a single compendium on the nature, function, and applications of critical thinking. This book brings together the work of top researchers on critical thinking worldwide, covering questions of definition, pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, research, policy, and application.

The last work published by Moses Mendelssohn during his lifetime, Morning Hours (1785) is also the most sustained presentation of his mature epistemological and metaphysical views, all elaborated in the service of presenting proofs for the existence of God. But Morning Hours is much more than a theoretical treatise. It also plays a central role in the drama of the Pantheismusstreit, Mendelssohn's "dispute" with F. H. Jacobi over the nature and scope of Lessing's attitude toward Spinoza and "pantheism." As the latest salvo in a war of texts with Jacobi, Morning Hours is also Mendelssohn's attempt to set the record straight regarding his beloved Lessing in this connection, not least by demonstrating the absence of any practical (i.e., religious or moral) difference between theism and a "purified pantheism."

Sadly enough, war, conflicts and terrorism appear to stay with us in the 21st century. But what is our outlook on new methods for preventing and ending them? Present-day hard- and software enables the development of large crisis, conflict, and conflict management databases with many variables, sometimes with automated updates, statistical analyses of a high complexity, elaborate simulation models, and even interactive uses of these databases. In this book, these methods are presented, further developed, and applied in relation to the main issue: the resolution and prevention of intra- and international conflicts. Conflicts are a worldwide phenomenon. Therefore, internationally leading researchers from the USA, Austria, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and Switzerland have contributed.

This volume is the first of its kind on focusing gamma-ray telescopes. Forty-eight refereed papers provide a comprehensive overview of the scientific potential and technical challenges of this nascent tool for nuclear astrophysics. The book features articles dealing with pivotal technologies such as grazing incident mirrors, multilayer coatings, Laue- and Fresnel-lenses - and even an optic using the curvature of space-time.