"For more than 50 years, researchers ... have identified pheromones as the triggers for a wide range of mammalian behaviors and endocrine responses. In this book, [author] rejects this idea and states bluntly that, in contrast to insects, mammals do not have pheromones. ... [book title] directly challenges ideas about the role chemicals play in mammalian behavior and reproductive processes."--Book jacket.

Intraspecific communication involves the activation of chemoreceptors and subsequent activation of different central areas that coordinate the responses of the entire organism—ranging from behavioral modification to modulation of hormones release. Animals emit intraspecific chemical signals, often referred to as pheromones, to advertise their presence to members of the same species and to regulate interactions aimed at establishing and regulating social and reproductive bonds. In the last two decades, scientists have developed a greater understanding of the neural processing of these chemical signals. Neurobiology of Chemical Communication explores the role of the chemical senses in mediating intraspecific communication. Providing an up-to-date outline of the most recent advances in the field, it presents data from laboratory and wild species, ranging from invertebrates to vertebrates, from insects to humans. The book examines the structure, anatomy, electrophysiology, and molecular biology of pheromones. It discusses how chemical signals work on different mammalian and non-mammalian species and includes chapters on insects, Drosophila, honey bees, amphibians, mice, tigers, and cattle. It also explores the controversial topic of human pheromones. An essential reference for students and researchers in the field of pheromones, this is also an ideal resource for those working on behavioral phenotyping of animal models and persons interested in the biology/ecology of wild and domestic species.

This book explains how animals use chemical communication, emphasising the evolutionary context and covering fields from ecology to neuroscience and chemistry.

Marc E. Epstein provides a complete biography of Harrison Gray Dyar, Jr., one of the most influential biologists of the twentieth century. Epstein chronicles Dyar's impressive scientific accomplishments in the field of entomology, as well as his complicated personal life and many eccentricities.

There are three major myths of human nature: humans are divided into biological races; humans are naturally aggressive; and men and women are truly different in behavior, desires, and wiring. In an engaging and wide-ranging narrative, Agustín Fuentes counters these pervasive and pernicious myths about human behavior. Tackling misconceptions about what race, aggression, and sex really mean for humans, Fuentes incorporates an accessible understanding of culture, genetics, and evolution, requiring us to dispose of notions of “nature or nurture.” Presenting scientific evidence from diverse fields—including anthropology, biology, and psychology—Fuentes devises a myth-busting toolkit to dismantle persistent fallacies about the validity of biological races, the innateness of aggression and violence, and the nature of monogamy and differences between the sexes. A final chapter plus an appendix provide a set of take-home points on how readers can myth-bust on their own. Accessible, compelling, and original, this book is a rich and nuanced account of how nature, culture, experience, and choice interact to influence human behavior.

“A powerful, beautifully written dystopian tale concerning four inhabitants of a gigantic but dying artificial habitat.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review A drug-addled boy, living in dank recesses, sets out in an ancient car to find his ex, who has mysteriously vanished. A privileged girl, obsessed with the past and exiled by her esteemed father, learns more about her long-lost ancestors than she ever could have wished for. An old man, on his hundredth birthday, deserts his quiet post as an elevator operator, climbing the great shaft in hopes of seeing the fabled topmost level before he dies. And a fisherman, seeking answers to why his once-vibrant wife is now chronically ailing and wasting away, begins a quest to find and confront the god of all gods. They are four inhabitants of a strange, crumbling realm, and in this novel their stories intersect and wrap around each other like subterranean tunnels—revealing deeply disturbing truths about the artificial world in which they live. “A disquieting, claustrophobic, compelling hybrid of China Miéville and J.G. Ballard.” —Peter Watts, author of Blindsight “A great read, crackling with invention, energy, and suspense.” —Quill & Quire

Public sector organizations are fundamentally different to their private sector counterparts. They are multi-functional, follow a political leadership, and the majority do not operate in an external market. In an era of rapid reform, reorganization and modernization of the public sector, this book offers a timely and illuminating introduction to the public sector organization that recognizes its unique values, interests, knowledge and power-base. Drawing on both instrumental and institutional perspectives within organization theory, as well as democratic theory and empirical studies of decision-making, this text addresses five central aspects of the public sector organization: goals and values leadership and steering reform and change effects and implications understanding and design. This volume challenges conventional economic analysis of the public sector, arguing instead for a democratic-political approach and a new, prescriptive organization theory. A rich resource of both theory and practice, Organization Theory for the Public Sector: Instrument, Culture and Myth is essential reading for anybody studying the public sector.