Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior, Second Edition, Four Volume Set the latest update since the 2010 release, builds upon the solid foundation established in the first edition. Updated sections include Host-parasite interactions, Vertebrate social behavior, and the introduction of 'overview essays' that boost the book's comprehensive detail. The structure for the work is modified to accommodate a better grouping of subjects. Some chapters have been reshuffled, with section headings combined or modified.

Though much has already been written on religious freedom in the United States, these treatments have come mostly from historians, legal scholars, and advocates, with relatively little attention from rhetorical critics. In The Rhetoric of Religious Freedom in the United States, fifteen scholars from this field address the variety of forms that free, public religiosity may assume, and which rhetorical techniques are operative in a public square populated by a diversity of religious-political actors. Together they consider the arguments, evidences, and strategies defining what religious freedom means and who is entitled to claim it in the contemporary United States.

The 8th International Congress of Ecology was held in Seoul, South Korea in August 2002, and was hosted by the Ecological Society of Korea. The Congress theme was 'Ecological Issues in a Changing World', and this volume includes selected contributions to illustrate some of the important topics which were discussed during the Congress.

Problems of scale have exercised the minds of ecologists for many years, and will continue to do so into the future. This volume deals with this subject and with mathematical approaches to improve our understanding of complex ecological systems. The book also concentrates on monitoring the responses of ecosystems, especially to human impacts upon them. The importance of spatial separation of function at both the landscape and ecosystem level forms an important theme. Finally, this special book focuses on large-scale issues, discussing in particular important applied ecological problems and how these can be managed through a variety of planning processes. Many examples of major ecological problems in the mainstream ecological literature are drawn from Europe and North America. In contrast, many of the most pressing ecological problems are to be found elsewhere in the World.

This volume is composed of four parts according to scale, objectives and application of modern ecological research. Part I covers emerging concepts and models in the ecosystem complex and in the landscape. Part II. Biological responses to environmental changes: pattern and process, Part III. Ecological networking and restoration technology: theory and practice, and finally a summary of 8th INTECOL Congress and possible future directions are covered in Part IV.

The series "Studies in Computational Intelligence" (SCI) publishes new developments and advances in the various areas of computational intelligence quickly and with a high quality. The intent is to cover the theory, applications, and design methods of computational intelligence, as embedded in the fields of engineering, computer science, physics and life science, as well as the methodologies behind them. The series contains monographs, lecture notes and edited volumes in computational intelligence spanning the areas of neural networks, connectionist systems, genetic algorithms, evolutionary computation, artificial intelligence, cellular automata, self-organizing systems, soft computing, fuzzy systems and hybrid intelligent systems. Critical to both contributors and readers are the short publication time and world-wide distribution this permits a rapid and broad dissemination of research results.

The field of Artificial Intelligence developed important concepts for simulating human intelligence. Its sister field, Applied Intelligence, has focused on techniques for developing intelligent systems for solving real life problems in all disciplines including science, social science, art, engineering, and finance. The objective of the International Conference on Industrial, Engineering & Other Applications of Applied Intelligent Systems (IEA-AIE) is to promote and disseminate research in Applied Intelligence. It seeks quality papers on a wide range of topics in applied intelligence that are employed in developing intelligent systems for solving real life problems in all disciplines. Every year this conference brings together scientists, engineers and practitioners, who work on designing and developing applications that use intelligent techniques or work on intelligent techniques and apply them to application domains. The book is comprised of seventeen chapters providing up-to-date and state-of-the-art research on the applications of applied Intelligence techniques."

This book presents recent advances in the study of nitric oxide (NO) biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and physiology in plants. It provides an overview of current understanding of the NO actions involved in adaptive responses of plant fitness to environmental constraints. Coverage places special emphasis on NO-dependent signaling, molecular adjustments, and targets as key elements in plant growth, development, and stress physiology.

Though much has already been written on religious freedom in the United States, these treatments have come mostly from historians, legal scholars, and advocates, with relatively little attention from rhetorical critics. In The Rhetoric of Religious Freedom in the United States, fifteen scholars from this field address the variety of forms that free, public religiosity may assume, and which rhetorical techniques are operative in a public square populated by a diversity of religious-political actors. Together they consider the arguments, evidences, and strategies defining what religious freedom means and who is entitled to claim it in the contemporary United States.

The series "Studies in Computational Intelligence" (SCI) publishes new developments and advances in the various areas of computational intelligence quickly and with a high quality. The intent is to cover the theory, applications, and design methods of computational intelligence, as embedded in the fields of engineering, computer science, physics and life science, as well as the methodologies behind them. The series contains monographs, lecture notes and edited volumes in computational intelligence spanning the areas of neural networks, connectionist systems, genetic algorithms, evolutionary computation, artificial intelligence, cellular automata, self-organizing systems, soft computing, fuzzy systems and hybrid intelligent systems. Critical to both contributors and readers are the short publication time and world-wide distribution this permits a rapid and broad dissemination of research results.

The field of Artificial Intelligence developed important concepts for simulating human intelligence. Its sister field, Applied Intelligence, has focused on techniques for developing intelligent systems for solving real life problems in all disciplines including science, social science, art, engineering, and finance. The objective of the International Conference on Industrial, Engineering & Other Applications of Applied Intelligent Systems (IEA-AIE) is to promote and disseminate research in Applied Intelligence. It seeks quality papers on a wide range of topics in applied intelligence that are employed in developing intelligent systems for solving real life problems in all disciplines. Every year this conference brings together scientists, engineers and practitioners, who work on designing and developing applications that use intelligent techniques or work on intelligent techniques and apply them to application domains. The book is comprised of seventeen chapters providing up-to-date and state-of-the-art research on the applications of applied Intelligence techniques."

The 8th International Congress of Ecology was held in Seoul, South Korea in August 2002, and was hosted by the Ecological Society of Korea. The Congress theme was 'Ecological Issues in a Changing World', and this volume includes selected contributions to illustrate some of the important topics which were discussed during the Congress.

Problems of scale have exercised the minds of ecologists for many years, and will continue to do so into the future. This volume deals with this subject and with mathematical approaches to improve our understanding of complex ecological systems. The book also concentrates on monitoring the responses of ecosystems, especially to human impacts upon them. The importance of spatial separation of function at both the landscape and ecosystem level forms an important theme. Finally, this special book focuses on large-scale issues, discussing in particular important applied ecological problems and how these can be managed through a variety of planning processes. Many examples of major ecological problems in the mainstream ecological literature are drawn from Europe and North America. In contrast, many of the most pressing ecological problems are to be found elsewhere in the World.

This volume is composed of four parts according to scale, objectives and application of modern ecological research. Part I covers emerging concepts and models in the ecosystem complex and in the landscape. Part II. Biological responses to environmental changes: pattern and process, Part III. Ecological networking and restoration technology: theory and practice, and finally a summary of 8th INTECOL Congress and possible future directions are covered in Part IV.

The two volume set LNAI 6703 and LNAI 6704 constitutes the thoroughly refereed conference proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Other Applications of Applied Intelligent Systems, IEA/AIE 2011, held in Syracuse, NY, USA, in June/July 2011.
The total of 92 papers selected for the proceedings were carefully reviewed and selected from 206 submissions. The papers cover a wide number of topics including feature extraction, discretization, clustering, classification, diagnosis, data refinement, neural networks, genetic algorithms, learning classifier systems, Bayesian and probabilistic methods, image processing, robotics, navigation, optimization, scheduling, routing, game theory and agents, cognition, emotion, and beliefs.

The two volume set LNAI 6703 and LNAI 6704 constitutes the thoroughly refereed conference proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Other Applications of Applied Intelligent Systems, IEA/AIE 2011, held in Syracuse, NY, USA, in June/July 2011.
The total of 92 papers selected for the proceedings were carefully reviewed and selected from 206 submissions. The papers cover a wide number of topics including feature extraction, discretization, clustering, classification, diagnosis, data refinement, neural networks, genetic algorithms, learning classifier systems, Bayesian and probabilistic methods, image processing, robotics, navigation, optimization, scheduling, routing, game theory and agents, cognition, emotion, and beliefs.

Rebellion Dogs Publishing is proud to announce a 21st century daily reflection book. Beyond Belief's 2014 second printing is now available with a Foreword by Ernie Kurtz and updated links and End Notes. What are "agnostic musings"? It is not news to anyone that the war of worldviews makes for sporting debate; does an intervening God grant sobriety, serenity, wisdom and courage or is conscious contact a delusion? Sorry, while we might be as amused as anyone with this question, Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life doesn't enter this debate. Hate the game; don't hate the players. A good idea is a good idea. Why dismiss valid experience because of the beliefs that someone harbors? Beliefs aren't facts. Beyond our belief is where life is happening: chances have to be taken; processes have to be evaluated; life has to be lived. Atheists, humanists, skeptics and agnostics will feel included in these daily reflections. Believers won't feel mocked or belittled. Everyone in recovery is included. No one needs to adopt the beliefs of someone else nor deny our own beliefs to get clean and sober. Believing and belonging are not synonymous. We are well into Century 21. Anyone should feel free to doubt or believe with impunity. Everyone's experience is a valid currency. The 12 Step community has no experts. Rebellion Dogs Publishing neither canonizes nor vilifies 12 Step culture. This book draws on philosophy, psychology, entertainment, art, spiritual musings, skeptical inquiry and the uncanny wisdom of the rooms. Professional and 12&12 Member reviews: Melissa D., Clinical Psychologist, California says, "I have never seen a daily devotional book written for agnostics. I found the readings to be extremely thought provoking. I wonder sometimes since there is such talk about God at meetings, what kind of turn-off that must be for agnostics. I think this book will be very helpful to both the newcomer and the mature 12 Step member." Bob K, contributor to AAagnositca.org says, "I expected his book to be good. It's WAY, WAY better than good. The book is outstanding. Two decades of not being a 'daily reflections' kind of guy, are over. Now I have reflections worth reflecting over Buy this book or you will suffer a horrible and painful death Well, maybe not, but you'll be missing out on something very good." Michel D. says, "AA can, and must, adapt to changing circumstances and Bill Wilson was the first one to admit it. Unfortunately, members who have come after him are more zealous than our first members. We have seen this dogmatism in history before of course, especially in religion. This is a very slippery slope. I really like the fact that these reflections are for anyone who has an open mind. It does not cater to a specific group to the exclusion of others. " Denis K. says, "Many thanks for this great book; my Monday night group and I are having some great discussions related to the daily musings both at the group and often during the week over coffee. All of us were quickly losing interest in the local meetings; Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life gave all of us a much needed spark that has renewed our interest in the fellowship." Dr. Amy, MSW, PhD, adds, "One criticism of the 12 Step movement of course is that its dogma can be limiting-Beyond Belief seems to have addressed this. The quotes are cogent, the organization superb and the contributors are diverse." The book includes an index of over 120 topics, extensive notes and a bibliography.

Insects and arachnids display the most impressive diversity of mating and social behavior among all animals. This book investigates sexual competition in these groups, and the variety of ways in which males and females pursue, persuade, manipulate, control and help one another, enabling us to gain a better understanding of how conflicts and confluences of interest evolve together. Each chapter provides a comprehensive review of mating systems in particular insect and arachnid groups, discusses intrinsic and extrinsic factors responsible for observed mating strategies, and suggests fruitful avenues for further research. The book culminates in a synthesis, reviewing the data in terms of the theory of sexual conflict. This broad-based book will be of immense value to students and researchers interested in reproductive strategies, behavioral ecology, entomology and arachnology.

'Social' insects and arachnids exhibit forms of complex behaviour that involve cooperation in building a nest, defending against attackers or rearing offspring. This book is a comprehensive, up-to-date guide to sociality and its evolution in a wide range of taxa. In it, leading researchers review the extent of sociality in different insect and arachnid groups, analyse the genetic, ecological and demographic causes of sociality from a comparative perspective and suggest ways in which the field can be moved on. It contains fascinating accounts of the social lives of many different insects and arachnids, as well as tests of current theories of the evolution of social behaviour. The Evolution of Social Behaviour in Insects and Arachnids provides essential reading and insight for students and researchers interested in social behaviour, behavioural ecology, entomology and arachnology.