Several theoretical frameworks have been proposed to explain the physiological basis of pain, although none yet completely accounts for all aspects of pain perception. Here, we provide a historical overview of the major contributions, ideas, and competing theories of pain from ancient civilizations to Melzack and Wall's Gate Control Theory of Pain.

The concept of number and its generalization has played a central role in the development of mathematics over many centuries and many civilizations. Noteworthy milestones in this long and arduous process were the developments of the real and complex numbers which have achieved universal acceptance. Serious attempts have been made at further extensions, such as Hamiltons quaternions, Grassmann’s...

It is generally recognized that life is becoming more complex. This article analyzes the human social environment using the "complexity profile," a mathematical tool for characterizing the collective behavior of a system. The analysis is used to justify the qualitative observation that complexity of existence has increased and is increasing. The increase in complexity is directly related to swe...

Aztec culture flourished in the highlands of central Mexico between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, AD. As the last in a series of complex urban civilizations in Mesoamerica, the Aztecs adopted many traits and institutions from their predecessors such as the Maya and Teotihuacan. The Aztecs also devised many innovations, particularly in the realms of economics and politics. Aztec civilizat...

Casing collapse is one of the major problems in oil fields, imposing a lot of costs on oil companies. This problem occurs not only at drilling times in some formations but also after the completion and production can lead to many problems. Analysis of the behavior of casing collapse in terms of geo-mechanics and solid mechanics could significantly meet the needs of the oil industry of Iran. In ...

Allochthonous masses are common structures in Zagros fold-thrust belt. They are generally considered as collapse structures formed by the influence of gravity and in rock units with competency contrast. However, large allochthonous masses mapped in Dowgonbadan area in Dezful Embayment near the Mountain Front Fault (MFF) of Zagros show characteristics different from the belt common collapse stru...

The author questions the extent to which Freud's theory of culture can justify Freud’s postulated claim concerning the social causation of neuroses. Since the premises on which Freud bases his cultural theory are untenable, it is argued that this justification cannot be supplied by it. This is followed by an examination of Freud’s arguments against historical materialism, and a further reasoned...

In line with the current research on the ultimate strength assessment of ship hull girders, careful understanding of the collapse behaviour of unstiffened plate elements within the ship hull girders is an important and necessary task. In this paper, the collapse behaviour of unstiffened plates under longitudinal and transverse thrust is studied by elastoplastic large deflection FEM and the char...

Progressive collapse is defined as the spread of an initial failure from element to element, eventually resulting in the collapse of an entire structure or a disproportionately large part of it. The current progressive collapse analyses and design methods in guidelines and codes focus on the alternate load path method. This method is suitable especially in the case of blast-induced progressive ...

This paper considers the economic and environmental impacts of emerging regional commerce that accompanied the rise and collapse of early Near Eastern urbanism. We integrate regional data on settlement and vegetation with detailed evidence of rural agriculture from two Bronze Age villages in the Jordan Valley. This approach is explicitly rural, in light of the largely rural character of Levanti...