Indian scientific achievements in the early twentieth century are well known, with a number of heralded individuals making globally recognized strides in the field of astrophysics. Covering the period from the foundation of the Asiatick Society in 1784 to the establishment of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science in 1876, Sen explores the relationship between Indian astronomers and the colonial British. He shows that from the mid-nineteenth century, Indians were not passive receivers of European knowledge, but active participants in modern scientific observational astronomy.

Peter Greally first encountered asthma as a young boy when he would wake in the middle of the night, gasping for air. He was brought to an eminent professor of pediatrics, who proclaimed that his symptoms were due to anxiety. Eventually, one morning after such an episode, a young, enlightened family doctor saw him and diagnosed asthma. Most doctors now recognize that although there can be powerful mind-body interactions, the evidence for the inflammatory basis for asthma is undisputed. Thanks to the many drugs which can control asthma, virtually all asthmatic children can now lead normal lives. Childhood Asthma details what exactly can cause an asthmatic attack, how best to prevent them, and what to do when they occur. This book explains inflammation; different forms of allergies; eczema; the causes of asthma; the signs of an asthmatic attack; common triggers, and ensures any asthma sufferer and their parent, guardian or teacher is able to safely deal with an occurrence. Managed effectively there could potentially be little or no effect on a sufferer; this is evident in the number of high-profile athletes in particular that have asthma. These include Ireland and Manchester United footballer John O'Shea; his fellow Manchester United player Paul Scholes, Irish rubgy player Ronan O'Gara and former player Denis Hickie; and GAA's Martin Comerford, Aidan O'Mahony and Tommy Dowd.

This candid examination by campaigner, Irish Heart Foundation founder and former St Vincent's consultant cardiologist Risteárd Mulcahy looks back and forward at the Irish health system and its evolution, current difficulties and probable future state. Is The Health Service for Healing? is an honest and often critical examination of the way the Irish health system has evolved and the difficulties it finds itself in now. As Prof. Risteárd Mulcahy spent most of his professional life as a consultant in St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin he is uniquely placed to comment on the health system's expansion, challenges, achievements and increasingly its numerous difficulties. Ireland's two tier system; the crisis in accident and emergency departments; the medical and nursing professions; the health boards; and local and national government are all examined, discussed and often singled out for critical comments and scrutiny. For anyone within, or with a serious interest in the nation's health and its health system, this book is essential reading.

Toxic Airs brings together historians of medicine, environmental historians, historians of science and technology, and interdisciplinary scholars to address atmospheric issues on a spectrum of scales from body to place to planet. The chapters analyze airborne and atmospheric threats posed to humans, and contributors demonstrate how conceptions of toxicity have evolved and how humans have both created and mitigated toxins in the air. Specific topics discussed include medieval beliefs in the pestilent breath of witches, malarial theory in India, domestic and military use of tear gas, Gulf War Syndrome, Los Angeles smog, automotive emissions control, the epidemiological effects of air pollution, transboundary air pollution, ozone depletion, the contributions of contemporary artists to climate awareness, and the toxic history of carbon “die”-oxide. Overall, the essays provide a wide-ranging historical study of interest to students and scholars of many disciplines.

Whether it is the binding of shattered bones or the creation of herbal remedies, human agency is a central feature of the healing process. Both archaeological and anthropological research has contributed much to our understanding of the performative aspects of medicine. The papers contained in this volume, based on a session conducted at the 2010 Theoretical Archaeology Conference, take a multi-disciplinary approach to the topic, addressing such issues as the cultural conception of disease; the impact of gender roles on healing strategies; the possibilities afforded by syncretism; the relationship between material culture and the body; and the role played by the active agency of the sick.

In The Challenge of the Social and the Pressure of Practice, philosophers, sociologists, and historians of science offer a multidisciplinary view of the complex interrelationships of values in science and society in both contemporary and historic contexts. They analyze the impact of commercialization and politicization on epistemic aspirations, and, conversely, the ethical dilemmas raised by \u201cpractically relevant\u201d science in today's society. For example, much scientific research over the past quarter century has been guided by the financing that supports it. What effect has this had on the quality of research produced and the advancement of real knowledge? The contributors reveal how social values affect objectivity, theory, and the direction of inquiry, and examine the byproducts of external value systems in topics such as \u201cexpertise\u201d and \u201csocially robust knowledge,\u201d among others. They view science's own internal value systems, the earlier disconnection of societal values from the scientific process, and the plausibility of \u201cvalue free\u201d science.The Challenge of the Social and the Pressure of Practice presents an in-depth analysis that places the role of values at the center of philosophical debate and raises questions of morality, credibility, and the future role of values in scientific inquiry.

In Shifting Standards, Allan Franklin provides an overview of notable experiments in particle physics. Using papers published in Physical Review, the journal of the American Physical Society, as his basis, Franklin details the experiments themselves, their data collection, the events witnessed, and the interpretation of results. From these papers, he distills the dramatic changes to particle physics experimentation from 1894 through 2009. Franklin develops a framework for his analysis, viewing each example according to exclusion and selection of data; possible experimenter bias; details of the experimental apparatus; size of the data set, apparatus, and number of authors; rates of data taking along with analysis and reduction; distinction between ideal and actual experiments; historical accounts of previous experiments; and personal comments and style.From Millikan's tabletop oil-drop experiment to the Compact Muon Solenoid apparatus measuring approximately 4,000 cubic meters (not including accelerators) and employing over 2,000 authors, Franklin's study follows the decade-by-decade evolution of scale and standards in particle physics experimentation. As he shows, where once there were only one or two collaborators, now it literally takes a village. Similar changes are seen in data collection: in 1909 Millikan's data set took 175 oil drops, of which he used 23 to determine the value of e, the charge of the electron; in contrast, the 1988-1992 E791 experiment using the Collider Detector at Fermilab, investigating the hadroproduction of charm quarks, recorded 20 billion events. As we also see, data collection took a quantum leap in the 1950s with the use of computers. Events are now recorded at rates as of a few hundred per second, and analysis rates have progressed similarly. Employing his epistemology of experimentation, Franklin deconstructs each example to view the arguments offered and the correctness of the results. Overall, he finds that despite the metamorphosis of the process, the role of experimentation has remained remarkably consistent through the years: to test theories and provide factual basis for scientific knowledge, to encourage new theories, and to reveal new phenomenon.

The measurement and analysis of space is central to archaeological study, such as through the recording of site plans and sections and the interpretation of spatial relationships between artefacts and features. Modelling Hidden Landscapes details a different approach to the study of past patterns of environmental change within the broader framework of landscape archaeology. It utilizes a range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies and GIS modelling to investigate spatial and temporal patterns of Holocene landscape change for two raised mires in south Yorkshire: Hatfield and Thorne Moors. Whilst concerned with specific aspects of landscape evolution, such as peat growth and spread, the volume aims to illustrate the synergy which is generated through integrating spatial models with chronological modelling and stratigraphic, cartographic, topographical, environmental and archaeological information in order to better understand past landscapes, human activity and the archaeological record. Building on a rich legacy of previous palaeoenvironmental research on these moors, the data generated by this combined methodology has practical applications for current management concerns, including in situ preservation, heritage and policy.

The analysis of animal bone assemblages from archaeological sites provides much valuable data concerning economic and husbandry practices in the past, as well as insights into cultural and symbolic or ritual activity. Animal palaeopathology can identify diseases in archaeozoological assemblages but little interest has been expressed in investigating and understanding the cultural aspects of the diseases identified. Such assemblages represent the cumulative effects of human attitudes, decisions and influences regarding the keeping, care, treatment, neglect and exploitation of animals which result in a range of conditions, non-infectious diseases and injuries that can be recognised on ancient skeletal material. Additionally, ever since the domestication of a handful of animal species around 10,000 years ago, close physical proximity has been a mutual source of infectious disease and traumatic injury for humans and animals alike. Shuffling Nags, Lame Ducks provides an invaluable guide to the investigation of trauma and disease in archaeozoological assemblages. It provides a clear methodological approach, and describes and explains the wide range of traumatic lesions, infections, diseases, inherited disorders and other pathological changes and anomalies that can be identified. In so doing, it explores the impact that “man-made” decisions have had on animals, including special aspects of culture that may be reflected in the treatment of diseased or injured animals often incorporating powerful symbolic or religious roles, and seeks to enhance our understanding of the relationship between man and beast in the past. Chapters include:· History of studying pathological animal remains· Differences between human and animal palaeopathology· Methodology· Growth, development and ageing· Traumatic lesions· Inflammatory diseases and bone· Pathological lesions in working animals· Diseases connected to the environment

Shell middens are ubiquitous archaeological features on coastlines throughout the world that have been variously analysed and interpreted as mounds of food, burial places, or simply as convenient receptacles for the preservation of stratified remains. This volume brings together information about little known, or recently discovered, concentrations of shell mounds in areas including Africa, the near East, South-east Asia and the Americas as well as new work on mounds in the classic areas including Denmark, the Pacific NW coast and Japan. Discussions are presented on new approaches to interpretation involving the use of ethnographic studies, analysis of molluscs, the use of shell as a raw material for making artefacts and in construction, and the variable formation processes associated with mound formation.

This book is an ambitious project uniting various fields in a multidisciplinary venture drawing on academics and clinicians from medicine, psychology and educational sciences. The interdisciplinary approach has assembled medical, educational and health specialists - many of whom are a rare assemble of outstanding academics and clinicians - with scholarly contributions from many different countries and institutes. It provides a plethora of essays and reviews by clinicians and academics, many contributions self-confessional, disclosing details of their own personal pain and suffering with critical life events including either physical or psychological illnesses, and a description of their own resources and strengths. There are also chapters provided by academics with creative and novel ideas drawing on insight derived from literature, arts and psychology as well as medicine, creating models for encouraging personal development coping despite adversity and eventually finding meaning towards recovery both physically and psychologically. This process of recovery frequently required the support of trusted families and friends, teachers, and fellow physicians and psychologists, enabling them to pursue interesting and outstanding careers "despite" these apparent disadvantages. The authors are all very reflective, providing good advice for young practitioners and "afflicted" alike. The distinguished contributors show the power of the role of psycho-history and biography in understanding who researchers have been influenced by, and what and why. This book will be useful for practitioners and researchers, but also for laymen and social policy makers. The intended readership thus includes those interested in health psychology, sociology, anthropology, public health and mental health sciences.

Contemporary philosopher John Searle has characterized Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) as \u201cthe most intelligent human being who has ever lived.\u201d The German philosopher, mathematician, and logician invented calculus (independently of Sir Isaac Newton), topology, determinants, binary arithmetic, symbolic logic, rational mechanics, and much more. His metaphysics bequeathed a set of problems and approaches that have influenced the course of Western philosophy from Kant in the eighteenth century until the present day. On Leibniz examines many aspects of Leibniz’s work and life. This expanded edition adds new chapters that explore Leibniz’s revolutionary deciphering machine; his theoretical interest in cryptography and its ties to algebra; his thoughts on eternal recurrence theory; his rebuttal of the thesis of improvability in the world and cosmos; and an overview of American scholarship on Leibniz.Other chapters reveal Leibniz as a substantial contributor to theories of knowledge. Discussions of his epistemology and methodology, its relationship to John Maynard Keynes and Talmudic scholarship, broaden the traditional view of Leibniz. Rescher also views Leibniz’s scholarly development and professional career in historical context. As a \u201cphilosopher courtier\u201d to the Hanoverian court, Leibniz was associated with the leading intellectuals and politicians of his era, including Spinoza, Huygens, Newton, Queen Sophie Charlotte, and Tsar Peter the Great.Rescher extrapolates the fundamentals of Leibniz’s ontology: the theory of possible worlds, the world’s contingency, space-time frameworks, and intermonadic relationships. In conclusion, Rescher positions Leibniz as a philosophical role model for today’s scholars. He argues that many current problems can be effectively addressed with principles of process philosophy inspired by Leibniz’s system of monadology.

Scientists have used models for hundreds of years as a means of describing phenomena and as a basis for further analogy. In Scientific Models in Philosophy of Science, Daniela Bailer-Jones assembles an original and comprehensive philosophical analysis of how models have been used and interpreted in both historical and contemporary contexts.Bailer-Jones delineates the many forms models can take (ranging from equations to animals; from physical objects to theoretical constructs), and how they are put to use. She examines early mechanical models employed by nineteenth-century physicists such as Kelvin and Maxwell, describes their roots in the mathematical principles of Newton and others, and compares them to contemporary mechanistic approaches. Bailer-Jones then views the use of analogy in the late nineteenth century as a means of understanding models and to link different branches of science. She reveals how analogies can also be models themselves, or can help to create them.The first half of the twentieth century saw little mention of models in the literature of logical empiricism. Focusing primarily on theory, logical empiricists believed that models were of temporary importance, flawed, and awaiting correction. The later contesting of logical empiricism, particularly the hypothetico-deductive account of theories, by philosophers such as Mary Hesse, sparked a renewed interest in the importance of models during the 1950s that continues to this day. Bailer-Jones analyzes subsequent propositions of: models as metaphors; Kuhn's concept of a paradigm; the Semantic View of theories; and the case study approaches of Cartwright and Morrison, among others. She then engages current debates on topics such as phenomena versus data, the distinctions between models and theories, the concepts of representation and realism, and the discerning of falsities in models.

This book discusses the 19th-century historic landscape of Devon though the creation, manipulation and querying of a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) database to examine physical evidence of change and development through field and settlement patterns. Making use of tithe surveys, the relationship between field and settlement morphologies and patterns of landholding is discussed for three case-study areas in Devon, developing the idea of landscape pays and the identification of regional differences in the study of the historic landscape.

South Cambridgeshire has some of the richest arable land in England and has been cultivated for millennia. By the turn of the nineteenth century industrialisation and massive population growth had resulted in an enormous increase in the demand for food, which in turn led to enclosure. But this desire to plough every available piece of land resulted in the destruction of many valuable and distinctive habitats that had existed for centuries. The Ecology of Enclosure breaks new ground in comparing the effect of Parliamentary Enclosure with the findings of the enthusiastic 'Botanisers' from Cambridge; this reveals not only the effect of enclosure on the ecology of the land but also on the people whose link with the land was broken. The first section presents a study of social and agricultural life before enclosure, describing geology and climate; the fold-course open field system of farming and the strict stinting rules which governed how land could be used for grazing and stock movement; and the crop rotation systems employed. The second part describes the process of enclosure, including opposition to it; the changes that occurred to the landscape and within village communities as work in industry gradually replaced rural occupations; the effects of fencing on movement; and of the loss of common land to the plough. The third section is an analysis of the new study of Botany which the University of Cambridge was enjoying in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries based on their own records and a review of some of the specific effects on the flora and fauna of the area.

Although the Assyrian kingdom that dominated the Ancient Near East between the ninth and seventh centuries BC had a rich material culture, attested particularly by the distinctive stone wall reliefs and colossal gateway figures, practically nothing is known about Assyrian metalwork. There has been no previous survey of this subject, largely because most of the material was not accessible. This volume makes available for the first time a vast amount of previously unpublished metalwork, much of it from the Assyrian capital city of Nimrud, excavated first by Sir Henry Layard between 1845 and 1851 and then by the British School of Archaeology in Iraq between 1949 and 1963. It emerges that Assyria had a thriving metalworking industry probably superior to any contemporary state in the region, and was producing large quantities of sophisticated bronze and ironwork, of high technical quality and sometimes elaborately decorated. This book will therefore be of interest to archaeologists, art historians and metallurgists. It is the publication of a PhD thesis that was successfully submitted in 1979. It is published here in its original form in order to make the large amount of primary data that it contains available to a wider circle of scholars.