This book is about the dramatic experience of religious conver sion. The phenomenon of religious conversion lies at the crossroad of several disciplines. As the title of this book indicates, my own interest in religious conversion is not sociological, historical, nor anthropolog ical. My primary interest is not even in the domain of the psychology of religion. That is, this book is not a comprehensive review of the social psychological factors that shape religious beliefs in general and religious conversions in particular. Rather, my primary interest is in the experience of conversion as an...

This book represents an extended and substantially revised version of my earlierbook, Optimal Control in Problems ofMathematical Physics, originally published in Russian in 1975. About 60% of the text has been completely revised and major additions have been included which have produced a practically new text. My aim was to modernize the presentation but also to preserve the original results, some of which are little known to a Western reader. The idea of composites, which is the core of the modern theory of optimization, was initiated in the early seventies. The reader will find here its...

THE PLAGUE YEARS Mankind has always been fascinated by "origins," and biologists are no exception. Darwin is our most famous example. What is the origin of mankind, of species, of infectious diseases? In the last few years we have seen the emergence and spread of some apparently "new" viruses, such as HIV -1 and the virus causing bovine spongiform encephalomyelopathy. But are these, in fact, entirely new agents, or mutated forms of "old" viruses that have evolved along with us for eons? Edgar Hope-Simpson could not have written this book at a more opportune moment. He is a firm believer in...

Although the injunction "Know thyself" was inscribed over the site of the Delphic Oracle, the concept is of much more ancient lineage. Thousands of years ago, the wise men of the East had learned to exert authority over a broad range of bodily experiences and functions using techniques that are still taught today. But it is only in the past few decades that the West has become aware once again of the range of control that the central nervous system can maintain over sensation and body function. Medicine has moved slowly in integrating these concepts into the classic medical model of disease...

Adopting a unique situation-oriented perspective, this book studies the occurence and control of aggression on the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels of physical and social ecologies. The wide ranging viewpoint clarifies important aspects of all forms of aggression to provide psychologists, sociologists, and criminologists with a powerful aid for treatment and intervention techniques.

DNA tumor viruses have long been useful experimental models of carcinogenesis and have elucidated several important mechanisms of cell transformation. Re search in recent years has shown that human tumors have a multifactorial nature and that some DNA tumor viruses may playa key role in their etiology. The aim of this book is to assess our knowledge of DNA tumor viruses by reviewing animal models, mechanisms of transformation, association with human tumors, and possi bilities of prevention and control by vaccination. Animal models of tumor virology have contributed significantly to our under...

In 1988, the NATO panel governing human sciences (Panel 8 on Defence Applica of Human and Bio-Medical Sciences) established a Research Study Group to synthe tions size information relevant to Advanced Technologies Applied to Training Design. During its first phase, the RSG established an active exchange of information on advanced tech nologies applied to training design and stimulated much military application of these tech nologies. With the increased emphasis on training throughout the alliance, Panel 8, during its April 1991 meeting decided to continue with Phase II of this RSG focusing in...

Human beings are agents: They may exert influence over their own fate. They initiate their actions, experience a considerable degree of freedom and control in their mundane activities, and respond adversely to external constraints to their agency; they are able to monitor and modify their moti vation, affective states, and behavior. Since the sixties, the notion of person-as-agent has become increas ingly accepted in scientific psychology. Nowadays, personal control is a standard topic in research on personality, motivation, and social behavior. The most popular approach identifies personal...

Although virology and immunology are now considered separate disciplines, history shows that these areas ofinvestigation always overlapped and one cannot really exist without the other. This trend has become particularly significant and fruitful in the past few years in the area of herpesvirus research. The genomes of the most important herpesviruses have been sequenced, a significant portion of their genes have been identified, and many secrets of regulation of gene expr- sion have been unraveled. Now this progress sets the stage for a true revolution in herpesvirus research: analysis of...

Aging is inevitable-A "psychological recession" is not . . . As I go about my daily life, I read and hear about the sometimes scary things that are happening to other people. As the saying goes, bad news sells newspapers. But I u- ally can take some solace in reasoning that this bad stuff assuredly will not occur in my life. After reading this book, however, one message has gotten through I cannot d- miss "those" older people described in the various chapters as being dissimilar to me. After all, "old person" is a term that can be applied to me in a few more years. On this point, I once heard...