An evolutionary approach to behavior is wonderful because is poses fundamentally new questions. It is also difficult, however, precisely because these questions are new and therefore hard to formulate clearly and even harder to answer. The papers in this special issue (Dudley 2002; Gerald & Higley 2002; Hill & Chow 2002; Lende & Smith 2002; Newlin 2002; Panksepp et al. 2002; Sullivan & Hagen 20...

In the future world of ubiquitous computing, interactive devices ranging in size from pocket to wall will be strewn about the user’s environment. Display and digitizer surfaces will be merged so that users appear to interact directly on display surfaces using an electronic pen or touchscreen. Within some size range of these devices, and for some tasks, traditional “widget” style interfaces may ...

Biological functions - studied by molecular, systems and behavioral biology - are referred to as proximate mechanisms. Why and how they have emerged from the course of evolution are referred to as ultimate mechanisms. Despite the conceptual and technical schism between the disciplines that focus on each, studies from one side can benefit the other. Experimental evolution is an emerging field at...

MAPL is a journaling file system providing advanced data management features like snapshots and clones. It is also designed to show read/write performance near that of raw disk access for both random and sequential access patterns. Further, the system is designed to show stable I/O performance over time, regardless of the workload placed on it. Important goals of the design are that MAPL seeks ...

Because there is not definite scientific knowledge about posttraumatic neurosis, a psychiatrist involved in evaluating allegations of psychiatric impairment in negligence law cases can make only a circumscribed contribution. Nevertheless, the contribution can be an important one.

Consider a set P of points in the plane sorted by x-coordinate. A point p in P is said to be a proximate point if there exists a point q on the x-axis such that p is the closest point to q over all points in P. The proximate point problem is to determine all the proximate points in P. Our main contribution is to propose optimal parallel algorithms for solving instances of size n of the proximat...

Strong reciprocity (SR) has recently been subject to heated debate. In this debate, the "West camp" (West et al. in Evol Hum Behav 32(4):231-262, 2011), which is critical of the case for SR, and the "Laland camp" (Laland et al. in Science, 334(6062):1512-1516, 2011, Biol Philos 28(5):719-745, 2013), which is sympathetic to the case of SR, seem to take diametrically opposed positions. The West c...

Proximate composition (moisture, protein, total fat, and total ash) and textural characteristics (hardness, adhesiveness, springiness, cohesiveness, chewiness and firmness and work of shear) of cooked sausages formulated from mechanically deboned chicken meat (MDCM) with addition of chicken offal (heart, gizzard or liver) were investigated. Chicken offal replaced equal weight (15 kg) of MDCM in...

For a better understanding of development, we are interested in why in the long run some countries or societies forge ahead, while others stagnate or fall behind. We are especially interested in the conditions under which growth and catchup can be realised in developing countries. In section 1 of this paper, we develop a framework of proximate, intermediate and ultimate sources of growth and de...

Twenty-eight varieties of cowpea seeds from Nigeria and USA origins showed significant variation in physical characteristics and proximate composition. Seed size dimensions namely; seed length, width and thickness had range values of 6-10mm, 4-7mm and 3-5mm, respectively. Seed hydration index had values between 95-137; 100seed weight ranged between 11-26g and seed hardness recorded values betwe...