Life and Time are very closely linked, because life needs the patience of eons to emerge and evolve, and also due to the precision timing of neural networks in the perception of the world, encoding information, and performing actions. A dozen renowned biologists and neuroscientists collaborate in this volume to explore the various facets of timing in the living world. The temporal programming of the activity of the genetic code controls the essential mechanisms of individual development from zygote to adult, while evolution uses the succession of generations to accomplish its work. For its part, the brain accomplishes the miracle of justifying presentism and reconstructing the continuity of present time from the fragmented data accessible to the senses, as well as measuring durations and dating events. To this end, the brain uses a multilevel temporal coding to transport and decode sensory information and prepare motor responses. It is only gradually that we have discovered the temporal precision of the mechanisms involved, of the order of a few milliseconds or less, for the adjustment of neural networks, or the synaptic plasticity used for memory formation. Today, the perfection of natural neural networks, the energy saving use of spikes of electrical impulses to categorize the sensory environment and to guess its probable future is an example to the modelers and engineers of artificial intelligence.

Prominent scientists and philosophers of science address contemporary debates on the nature of Time. Their contributions freely discuss its unity and reality, its compatibility with the orders of classical philosophy (present, past and future) and with the disputed idea of free will (Volume 1). They also present a detailed and updated state of the role of Time in the so-called exact sciences: biology — or more precisely genetics, evolution, neurosciences, natural and artificial intelligence (Volume 2) , and physics — relativity, quantum mechanics and quantum gravity, and cosmology (Volume 3).

Women's Studies Serials: A Quarter-Century of Development examines the history, growth, and present status of women's studies collections available in the United States and around the world. This text investigates the accessibility to women's studies periodicals, how they are used and by whom, and identifies areas where further research is needed to help collection managers and librarians make the best selection decisions for their serials collections. Women's Studies Serials will help you choose serials that meet the needs of your patrons and that comply with the limitations of your budget. Offering you charts, tables, and statistical data, Women's Studies Serials covers many topics that will help you build a thorough and accessible women's studies collection or renovate an existing collection, including: the problems, influences, and expectations involved in women's studies faculty's daily work with magazines and journals choosing the best CD-Rom products for women's studies research based on cost, coverage, content, and recommendations for acquisition techniques and insights for teaching cataloging in an interdisciplinary, dynamic, and evolving information environment examining academic women's studies serials on the World Wide Web and determining whether they are helpful to students and faculty suggestions that may alleviate the inadequacies of subject description and access to current periodical literature concerning African-American women and Latinas in the United States how women's studies serials published in Ireland are adding support and recognition to the discipline of women's studies examining popular women's periodicals in the Popular Culture Collection at Bowling Green State University and how they help reveal and document the history of women's roles in society the management and collection methods of the International Centre and Archives of the Women's Studies Movement located in the NetherlandsProviding you with information on how other academic libraries choose their collection material, Women's Studies Serials will help you determine what journals in your library are most widely read and if they are meeting the informational and research needs of faculty and students. The information in Women's Studies Serials will help make your women's studies serials current, cost-efficient, and relevant to your patrons’needs.

Lists citations with abstracts for aerospace related reports obtained from world wide sources and announces documents that have recently been entered into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Database.

Exploration and Discovery - Life Sciences - Mathematics - Medicine - Physical Sciences - Technology and Invention.

"This series discusses how the major fields of science developed during specific time periods. Each volume focuses on a range of years and includes developments in exploration, life sciences, mathematics, physical sciences, and technology. When the series is completed, the seven volumes will cover 2000 B.C. to the present."--"Outstanding Reference Sources," American Libraries, May 2001.