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found 66 book(s). | Modify Search | Displaying 1 - 20 of 66 book(s) | |
| 1. |  | Title: The Hawaiian spinner dolphin Author: Norris, Kenneth S. (Kenneth Stafford) Published: University of California Press, 1994 Subjects: Science | Biology | Ecology | Science Publisher's Description: Twenty years in the making by a distinguished dolphin expert and his associates, The Hawaiian Spinner Dolphin is the first comprehensive scientific natural history of a dolphin species ever written. From their research camp at Kealakeakua Bay in Hawaii, these scientists followed a population of wild spinner dolphins by radiotracking their movements and, with the use of a windowed underwater vessel, observing the details of their underwater social life.The authors begin with a description of the spinner dolphin species, its morphology and systematics, and then examine the ocean environment, the organization of dolphin populations, and the way this school-based society of mammals uses shorelines for rest and instruction of the young. The dolphins' reproductive cycle, their vision, vocalization, hearing, breathing, and feeding, and the integration of the school are carefully analyzed. The authors conclude with a comprehensive evolutionary analysis of this marine cultural system, with its behavioral flexibility and high levels of cooperation.This absorbing book is the richest source available of new scientific insights about the lives of wild dophins and how their societies evolved at sea. [brief] Similar Items |
| 2. |  | Title: Tupai: a field study of Bornean treeshrews  Author: Emmons, Louise Published: University of California Press, 2000 Subjects: Science | Zoology Publisher's Description: Treeshrews suffer from chronic mistaken identity: they are not shrews, and most are not found in trees. These squirrel-sized, brownish mammals with large, dark, lashless eyes were at one time thought to be primates. Even though most scientists now believe them to belong in their own mammalian order, Scandentia, they still are thought to resemble some of the earliest mammals, which lived alongside the dinosaurs. This book describes the results of the first comparative study of the ecology of treeshrews in the wild. Noted tropical mammalogist Louise H. Emmons conducted this pathbreaking study in the rainforests of Borneo as she tracked and observed six species of treeshrews. Emmons meticulously describes their habitat, diet, nesting habits, home range, activity patterns, social behavior, and many other facets of their lives. She also discusses a particularly interesting aspect of treeshrews: their enigmatic parental care system, which is unique among mammals. [brief] Similar Items |
| 3. |  | Title: The Dinosauria Author: Weishampel, David B 1952- Published: University of California Press, 1990 Subjects: Science | Paleontology | Geology | Biology Publisher's Description: The Dinosauria provides a state-of-the-science view of current world research on dinosaur behavior, evolution, and extinction. Its internationally renowned authors, all specialists on the various members of the Dinosauria, contribute definitive descriptions and illustrations of these magnificent Mes . . . [more] Similar Items |
| 4. |  | Title: Snakes: the evolution of mystery in nature Author: Greene, Harry W 1945- Published: University of California Press, 1997 Subjects: Science | Biology | Natural History Publisher's Description: This is a book about some of nature's most alluring and forbidding creatures, written by a man with an abiding passion for snakes, as well as for science, the fate of the planet, and the wonder of life. Harry Greene presents every facet of the natural history of snakes - their diversity, evolution, and conservation - and at the same time makes a personal statement of why these animals are so compelling.This book provides an up-to-date summary of the biology of snakes on a global basis. Eight chapters are devoted to general biology topics, including anatomy, feeding, venoms, predation and defense, social behavior, reproduction, evolution, and conservation; eight chapters survey the major snake groups, including blindsnakes, boas, colubrids, stiletto snakes, cobras, sea snakes, and vipers. Details of particular interest, such as coral snake mimicry and the evolution of the0 rattle, are highlighted as special topics. Chapter introductory essays are filled with anecdotes that will tempt nonspecialists to read on, while the book's wealth of comprehensive information will gratify herpeto-culturalists and professional biologists.Greene's writing is clear, engaging, and full of appreciation for his subject. Michael and Patricia Fogden are known internationally for their outstanding work, and their stunning color photographs of snakes in their natural habitats are a brilliant complement to Greene's text. Here is a scientific book that provides accurate information in an accessible way to general readers, strongly advocates for a persecuted group of animals, encourages conservation - not just of snakes but of ecosystems - and credits science for enriching our lives. In helping readers explore the role of snakes in human experience, Greene and the Fogdens show how science and art can be mutual pathways to understanding. [brief] Similar Items |
| 5. |  | Title: Understanding heart disease Author: Selzer, Arthur Published: University of California Press, 1992 Subjects: Medicine | Science Publisher's Description: Diseases of the heart are the leading cause of death in the Western world. Health professionals and the general public alike eagerly watch advances in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heart disease. Yet the more spectacular aspects of medical progress in the field are often reported prematurely and their potential benefits exaggerated.Written in clear, accessible language, this book presents an authoritative and balanced picture of how heart diseases are recognized and managed. From his many years of experience, Dr. Selzer believes a well-informed patient can cooperate more successfully with a physician, and his book includes information vital to anyone confronting heart problems and cardiac emergencies. [brief] Similar Items |
| 6. |  | Title: Hypochondria: woeful imaginatings Author: Baur, Susan Published: University of California Press, 1989 Subjects: Medicine | Science Publisher's Description: Writing with grace, humor, and an expert's eye for revealing detail, Susan Baur illuminates the processes by which hypochondriacs come to adopt and maintain illness as a way of life. Similar Items |
| 7. |  | Title: Blood saga: hemophilia, AIDS, and the survival of a community Author: Resnik, Susan 1940- Published: University of California Press, 1999 Subjects: Science | Sociology | Medicine | Anthropology Publisher's Description: For thousands of years boys known as "bleeders" faced an early, painful death from hemophilia. Dubbed "the Royal Disease" because of its identification with Queen Victoria, the world's most renowned carrier, hemophilia is a genetic disease whose sufferers had little recourse until the mid-twentieth century. In the first book to chronicle the emergence and transformation of the hemophilia community, Susan Resnik sets her story within our national political landscape - where the disease is also a social, psychological, and economic experience. Blood Saga includes many players and domains: men with hemophilia and their families, medical personnel, science researchers, and the author herself, who was Director of Education of the National Hemophilia Foundation in the early 1980s. At that time the "miracle treatment" of freeze-dried pooled plasma blood products enabled men with hemophilia to lead full, normal lives. Then the AIDS virus infiltrated the treatment system and over fifty percent of the hemophilia community became HIV-positive. But rather than collapsing, this community refocused its priorities, extended its reach, and helped shape blood safety policies to prevent further tragedy.The hemophilia community includes people from every socioeconomic and ethnic group, and Resnik's narrative and use of oral histories never lose touch with those affected by the disease. Her extensive informant interviewing allows much of this social history to be told by participants on all levels: parents, wives, nurses, doctors, government agency directors, health care providers, and many others.Gene insertion therapy now holds the promise of a cure for hemophilia in the near future. Scientific breakthroughs inevitably become intertwined with the industry and academic medical centers that govern the national health care system. And in that system, says Resnik, costs and safety are sometimes contending issues. She makes clear that the lessons learned in Blood Saga apply to all of us. [brief] Similar Items |
| 8. |  | Title: Land mammals of Oregon Author: Verts, B. J Published: University of California Press, 1998 Subjects: Science | Zoology | Biology | Natural History Publisher's Description: This is the first comprehensive, up-to-date treatment of mammals in the state of Oregon since 1936, when Vernon Bailey's The Mammals and Life Zones of Oregon was published. It provides a basic reference for mammalogists, wildlife biologists, students, and anyone interested in mammalian life in the northwestern United States. Indeed, researchers in states adjacent to Oregon will find much useful information regarding the mammals their regions share with Oregon. Descriptions of all 136 extant or recently extirpated mammal species in Oregon are in the book, with information on geographical variation, diet, reproduction, ontogeny, mortality, and behavior. The authors provide range maps and lists of collection localities based on their examination of 55,265 museum specimens and brief accounts of morphology, species diversity, distribution, and fossil records. Keys to orders, families, and species are provided for identification of unknown specimens. Also helpful is the introductory section with its discussion of skull morphology, evolutionary history, basic taxonomy, zoogeography, zoonotic diseases, and the history of mammalogy in Oregon. A bibliography of 2,925 references makes the volume especially useful for anyone wishing to do further research. [brief] Similar Items |
| 9. |  | Title: Elephant seals: population ecology, behavior, and physiology Author: Le Boeuf, Burney J Published: University of California Press, 1994 Subjects: Science | Natural History | Biology | Ecology Publisher's Description: The largest of all seals, elephant seals rank among the most impressive of marine mammals. They are renowned for their spectacular recovery from near-extinction at the end of the nineteenth century when seal hunters nearly eliminated the entire northern species. No other vertebrate has come so close to extinction and made such a complete recovery. The physiological extremes that elephant seals can tolerate are also remarkable: females fast for a month while lactating, and the largest breeding males fast for over one hundred days during the breeding seasons, at which times both sexes lose forty percent of their body weight. Elephant seals dive constantly during their long foraging migrations, spending more time under water than most whales and diving deeper and longer than any other marine mammal.This first book-length discussion of elephant seals brings together worldwide expertise from scientists who describe and debate recent research, including the history and status of various populations, their life-history tactics, and other findings obtained with the help of modern microcomputer diving instruments attached to free-ranging seals. Essential for all marine mammalogists for its information and its methodological innovations, Elephant Seals will also illuminate current debates about species extinctions and possible means of preventing them. [brief] Similar Items |
| 10. |  | Title: Frontiers of supercomputing II: a national reassessment Author: Ames, Karyn R Published: University of California Press, 1994 Subjects: Science | Computer Science | Physics Publisher's Description: This uniquely comprehensive book brings together the vast amount of technical, economic, and political information and the analyses of supercomputing that have hitherto been buried in the frequently inaccessible "gray literature." Seventy-nine distinguished participants in the second Frontiers of Su . . . [more] Similar Items |
| 11. |  | Title: Phase diagrams of the elements Author: Young, D. A. (David A.) 1942- Published: University of California Press, 1991 Subjects: Science | Physics Publisher's Description: The behavior of solid and liquid matter at high pressures and temperatures is best described in a phase diagram, which shows the regions of stability of different phases of the material. Thanks to the diamond-anvil cell, which has made possible much higher pressures, and to new and very accurate theoretical models and methods, Phase Diagrams of the Elements presents the most up-to-date information on the phase behavior of all the chemical elements from hydrogen to fermium.The book summarizes, with the aid of tables and illustrations, the experimental data and the theoretical calculations. Each element is discussed in a separate section. Other chapters deal with methods, the liquid-vapor transition, and an overview of the elements. While comprehensively reviewing all that has been done in this important area, the author also points to questions that need much more experimental and theoretical work. [brief] Similar Items |
| 12. |  | Title: Volcanology and geothermal energy Author: Wohletz, Kenneth Published: University of California Press, 1992 Subjects: Science | Physical Sciences | Earth Sciences Publisher's Description: Most high-temperature geothermal resources develop in volcanic regions, but very few have been successfully explored and developed despite the ever-growing need for renewable energy resources. This is particularly true of the many developing countries that exist in volcanic regions with potential geothermal resources. Because exploration techniques, which must be adapted from the oil industry, are expensive and uncertain, economic growth in these countries remains contingent on the availability and cost of oil.Bridging the gap between academic geologists and drilling engineers, Volcanology and Geothermal Energy is a practical and thorough guide to planning and operating a successful exploration project. It describes the potential geothermal reservoirs associated with volcanoes and volcanic regions and uses recent advances in volcanology to offer many examples of how geological field data give evidence of the location, nature, and size of a geothermal resource. [brief] Similar Items |
| 13. |  | Title: Heavy drinking: the myth of alcoholism as a disease Author: Fingarette, Herbert Published: University of California Press, 1988 Subjects: Science | Medicine Publisher's Description: Heavy Drinking informs the general public for the first time how recent research has discredited almost every widely held belief about alcoholism, including the very concept of alcoholism as a single disease with a unique cause. Herbert Fingarette presents constructive approaches to heavy drinking, . . . [more] Similar Items |
| 14. |  | Title: Natural conflict resolution Author: Aureli, Filippo 1962- Published: University of California Press, 2000 Subjects: Science | Zoology | Psychology | Cultural Anthropology | Politics | Sociology Publisher's Description: Aggression and competition are customarily presented as the natural state of affairs in both human society and the animal kingdom. Yet, as this book shows, our species relies heavily on cooperation for survival as do many others - from wolves and dolphins to monkeys and apes. A distinguished group of fifty-two authors, including many of the world's leading experts on human and animal behavior, review evidence from multiple disciplines on natural conflict resolution, making the case that reconciliation and compromise are as much a part of our heritage as is waging war. Chimpanzees kiss and embrace after a fight. Children will appeal to fairness when fighting over a toy. Spotted hyenas, usually thought to be a particularly aggressive species, use reconciliation to restore damaged relationships. As these studies show, there are sound evolutionary reasons for these peacekeeping tendencies. This book also addresses the cultural, ecological, cognitive, emotional, and moral perspectives of conflict resolution. [brief] Similar Items |
| 15. |  | Title: The molecular biology of plant cells Author: Smith, H. (Harry) 1935- Published: University of California Press, 1978 Subjects: Science | Botany | Biology Similar Items |
| 16. |  | Title: Understanding relativity: a simplified approach to Einstein's theories Author: Sartori, Leo Published: University of California Press, 1996 Subjects: Science | Physics | History and Philosophy of Science Publisher's Description: Nonspecialists with no prior knowledge of physics and only reasonable proficiency with algebra can now understand Einstein's special theory of relativity. Effectively diagrammed and with an emphasis on logical structure, Leo Sartori's rigorous but simple presentation will guide interested readers through concepts of relative time and relative space.Sartori covers general relativity and cosmology, but focuses on Einstein's theory. He tracks its history and implications. He explores illuminating paradoxes, including the famous twin paradox, the "pole-in-the-barn" paradox, and the Loedel diagram, which is an accessible, graphic approach to relativity. Students of the history and philosophy of science will welcome this concise introduction to the central concept of modern physics. [brief] Similar Items |
| 17. |  | Title: From Genesis to genetics: the case of evolution and creationism Author: Moore, John Alexander 1915- Published: University of California Press, 2002 Subjects: Science | Christianity | History of Science Publisher's Description: The clash between evolution and creationism is one of the most hotly contested topics in education today. This book, written by one of America's most distinguished science educators, provides essential background information on this difficult and important controversy. Giving a sweeping and balanced historical look at both schools of thought, John A. Moore shows that faith can exist alongside science, that both are essential to human happiness and fulfillment, but that we must support the teaching of science and the scientific method in our nation's schools. This highly informative book will be an invaluable aid for parents, teachers, and lawmakers, as well as for anyone who wants a better understanding of this debate. From Genesis to Genetics shows us why we must free both science and religion to do the good work for which each is uniquely qualified. Using accessible language, Moore describes in depth these two schools of thought. He begins with an analysis of the Genesis story, examines other ancient creation myths, and provides a nuanced discussion of the history of biblical interpretation. After looking at the tenets and historical context of creationism, he presents the history of evolutionary thought, explaining how it was developed, what it means, and why it is such a powerful theory. Moore goes on to discuss the relationship of nineteenth-century religion to Darwinism, examine the historic Scopes trial, and take us up to the current controversy over what to teach in schools. Most important, this book also explores options for avoiding confrontations over this issue in the future. Thoughtfully and powerfully advocating that the teaching of science be kept separate from the teaching of religion, Moore asks us to recognize that a vigorous and effective scientific community is essential to our nation's health, to our leadership role in the world, and to the preservation of a healthy environment. [brief] Similar Items |
| 18. |  | Title: Glaciers of California: modern glaciers, ice age glaciers, origin of Yosemite Valley, and a glacier tour in the Sierra Nevada Author: Guyton, Bill 1932- Published: University of California Press, 1998 Subjects: Science | Geology | Natural History | California and the West | Geography Publisher's Description: Glaciers in sunny California? Many people will be surprised to learn that there are several hundred in this state, ranging in size from the impressive Whitney Glacier on Mt. Shasta and the Palisade Glacier in the Sierra Nevada to tiny glacierets. While California's glaciers are small compared to those in the northern Rockies or the European Alps, each one is interesting and some are suitable for exploring. Also of note is the fact that Ice Age glaciers carved California's most spectacular mountain scenery - the High Sierra was glaciated several times and glacial landforms are prominent features of the Sierran landscape today.Bill Guyton summarizes the history of the discovery of Ice Age glaciation and modern-day glaciers in California, as well as the development of modern ideas about the state's glacial history. He describes the controversy about the origin of Yosemite Valley and quotes from the colorful accounts of early mountain explorers such as John Muir, Josiah Whitney, and François Matthes. His book provides a primer on glaciers and glacial landforms, a glossary of technical terms, helpful illustrations, and a 100-mile Sierra field trip guide for readers who want to see glaciers and glacial features for themselves. Glaciers of California will make any visit to the mountains more interesting, whether one is carrying a camera, crampons, or a fishing pole. [brief] Similar Items |
| 19. |  | Title: Analogies between analogies: the mathematical reports of S.M. Ulam and his Los Alamos collaborators Author: Ulam, Stanislaw M Published: University of California Press, 1990 Subjects: Science | Mathematics | Physical Sciences Similar Items |
| 20. |  | Title: Burying uncertainty: risk and the case against geological disposal of nuclear waste Author: Shrader-Frechette, K. S. (Kristin Sharon) Published: University of California Press, 1993 Subjects: Science | Ecology | Public Policy Publisher's Description: Shrader-Frechette looks at current U.S. government policy regarding the nation's high-level radioactive waste both scientifically and ethically.What should be done with our nation's high-level radioactive waste, which will remain hazardous for thousands of years? This is one of the most pressing problems faced by the nuclear power industry, and current U.S. government policy is to bury "radwastes" in specially designed deep repositories.K. S. Shrader-Frechette argues that this policy is profoundly misguided on both scientific and ethical grounds. Scientifically - because we cannot trust the precision of 10,000-year predictions that promise containment of the waste. Ethically - because geological disposal ignores the rights of present and future generations to equal treatment, due process, and free informed consent.Shrader-Frechette focuses her argument on the world's first proposed high-level radioactive waste facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Analyzing a mass of technical literature, she demonstrates the weaknesses in the professional risk-assessors' arguments that claim the site is sufficiently safe for such a plan. We should postpone the question of geological disposal for at least a century and use monitored, retrievable, above-ground storage of the waste until then. Her message regarding radwaste is clear: what you can't see can hurt you. [brief] Similar Items |