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Natural selection is the mechanism of evolution originally proposed by Charles Darwin. This process is driven by mutation and death. Therefore, “individual death” is a critical event for evolution of species. Analogous to the significance of individual death in species evolution, recent biological observations have revealed that “cell death” is an important event for maintenance of individuals and offspring. Cell death is caused not only by injuries and pathological conditions, but also by programed intracellular signals. This type of programed cell death is called “apoptosis.” Apoptosis signals are regulated in mitochondria, eukaryotic organelles of symbiotic origin, and play a critical role in survival of individuals by eliminating some cells.

Supermaxes across the United States detain thousands in long-term solitary confinement, under conditions of extreme sensory deprivation. Almost every state built a supermax between the late 1980s and the late 1990s. This chapter examines the role of federal prisoners’ rights litigation in the 1960s and 1970s in shaping the prisons, especially supermaxes, built in the 1980s and 1990s in the United States. This chapter uses a systematic analysis of federal court case law, as well as archival research and oral history interviews with key informants, including lawyers, experts, and correctional administrators, to explore the relationship between federal court litigation and prison building and designing. This chapter argues that federal conditions of confinement litigation in the 1960s and 1970s (1) had a direct role in shaping the supermax institutions built in the subsequent decades and (2) contributed to the resistance of these institutions to constitutional challenges. The history of litigation around supermaxes is an important and as-yet-unexplored aspect of the development of Eighth Amendment jurisprudence in the United States over the last half century.

The adoption of mobile technology by the youth has been gaining momentum as a growing area of exploration for scholars. Several aspects of this technology, including its adoption and usage patterns, have been explored both theoretically and in empirical research. The purpose of this paper is to understand the cell phone usage of the young university students, the effects of this usage of the cell phone on their personal communication needs, their perceptions of cell phone communication in the society, and gender similarities and differences in these matters.

This paper relies on primary data of randomly selected engineering students in a university in South Africa. Data was collected from 200 respondents using face-to-face interviews with the help of a structured interview schedule.

The analysis shows the relationship between the measures of cell phone usage, personal communication, and perceptions, across different racial groups. The findings of the study have relevance and significance for the understanding of the communication patterns and their social consequences for the youth in South Africa.

Most of the research in this area has originated from the developed regions and countries in the Nordic region and Japan. This paper presents the findings on the cell phone use of students in South Africa.

Purpose – The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of monosodium glutamate (MSG) administration to pyramidal cells necrosis on the cerebral cortex of Wistar male rats (Rattus norvegicus).

Design/Methodology/Approach – This research was a laboratory quasi-experiment study with post-test control group design on 24 male Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus) aged 8-10 weeks, weighted 200 ± 10 gr, divided into 4 groups (GI or control group, GII treated with MSG dose 6 mg/grbb/day, GIII 12 mg/grbb/day, and GIV 24 mg/grbb/day) for 21 days consecutively. Pyramidal cells observed in 10 field of view. The Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann Whitney tests were used to analyze the data.

Findings – There were significant differences between pyramidal cells necrosis numbers between control and the treatment groups. MSG doses 6, 12, and 24 mg/grbb/day developed the pyramidal cells necrosis in the cerebral cortex (p < 0,005).

Purpose – Recent research on the modes of patient activism has displaced older notions of patients as passive, compliant subjects of biomedical power. This chapter expands analyses of patient activism to examine the intersections between the processes of identity formation, the emergence of a new scientific field (human stem cell research), and political institutions.

Methodology – This chapter uses in-depth interviews, ethnographic techniques, and textual analyses to collect data regarding California's 2004 ballot initiative, Proposition 71, The California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act. Data were analyzed using a situational analysis approach. Situational analysis is a variant of grounded theory that organizes data in the form of maps of connections between actors and social worlds.

Findings – This chapter examines the content and significance of this event through the construction of a collective identity among supporters of Proposition 71, what I call “stem cell activists.” The construction of this collective identity serves as an important ground from which individuals and groups carve out political claims of self-representation. Stem cell activists also helped pass a controversial initiative through the efforts in publicly supporting Prop 71 and human stem cell research.

Research limitations – This research is limited in that it only examined individuals who became stem cell activists, and not individuals from whom this identity failed to gain salience. More research is needed to understand the conditions under which this identity becomes incorporated within a person's political repertoire.

Value of chapter – This chapter brings together theoretical perspectives on the symbolic aspects of identity construction and the political economy of biomedical science. This chapter will be of interest to scholars in medical sociology, science and technology studies, and social movement researchers.

Increasing growth in car ownership and private car usage is leading to high levels of congestion and pollution in many busy towns and cities. A reliable and efficient public transport service is one of the solutions for future transport provision. The development of a novel cell-based Automatic Vehicle Locationing system for public transport application is presented in this paper. The technique uses the existing AVL system and combines it with cellular technologies. Little modification is required to turn the existing AVL sequential polling system to the simultaneous cell-based AVL polling system. The fundamental advantage of the cell-based approach to AVL is that direct communication between the vehicles and the cell-based station enables the vehicle fleet to be polled simultaneously. Cell-based AVL System offers possibility for improved public transport service and public transport priority through frequent update of vehicle position and vehicle information. Modelling of cell-based AVL systems using a simulation method is given in this paper. The results show that the polling time for a bus fleet using the cell-based technique is considerably lower than the conventional sequential polling AVL system.

Purpose — To assess how cell phone technology might impact the collection of travel data in the future.

Design/methodology/approach — Two different types of cell phone enabled studies are considered. First, we examine how the text feature of phones can be used for person-to-person surveys, and second, we explore an aggregate level survey enabled by an anonymous and passive GPS trace.

Findings — This study explores the types of travel information that are likely to be inferred from text surveys and cell phone traces. It recognizes that a passive GPS trace might change the level of measurement and the inferences we make about travel behaviors.

Research limitations/implications — The study is prospective. It anticipates that over the next 10–15 years cell phone tracking technology will improve, as well as the speed and capability of algorithms for post-processing the information.

Practical implications — Cell phone enabled studies may provide a new tool and new level of measurement, as traditional survey response rates decline, and it becomes more difficult and expensive to conduct conventional travel surveys. The capacity of cell phones for travel survey work is improving, but it is not fully realizable today (2012).

Originality/value — This study provides a context to understand how the technology of the cell phone might be integrated with more traditional travel surveys to streamline data collection, and produce new types of spatial detection, measurement, and tracking.