The nervous system is particularly fascinating for many biologists because it controls animal characteristics such as movement, behavior, and coordinated thinking. Invertebrate neurobiology has traditionally been studied in specific model organisms, whilst knowledge of the broad diversity of nervous system architecture and its evolution among metazoan animals has received less attention. This is the first major reference work in the field for 50 years, bringing together many leading evolut...

The translation of the original title, which was published in 2017, seemed necessary because it already presented key concepts that were repeatedly referred to in other publications (see: b-j-schmidt.net). These concepts are primarily symbiotic narcissism, antagonistic symbiotic narcissism, the narcissism trap as a possible cause of rigidity in personality disorders and destructiveness as a symptom of narcissism.

Even early childhood autists can, contrary to popular belief, develop normally. They want and can communicate and interact, and just like all other children, they need social interaction for their development. If there is a disruption of social interaction, then there will be a disruption of development. How and why it can lead to disturbances of social interaction, and what consequences they have, is presented with a development-dynamic approach - so far denied autistic. At the same time,...

At the heart of research with human beings is the moral notion that the experimental subject is altruistic, and is primarily concerned for the welfare of others. Beneath the surface, however, lies a very different ethical picture. Individuals participating in potentially life-saving research sometimes take on considerable risks to their own well-being. Efforts to safeguard human participants in clinical trials have intensified ever since the first version of the World Medical Association's...

The number of diagnosed autistic individuals has increased significantly in recent years. At the same time, autistic individuals have a reduced health-related quality of life as well as a high mortality risk, as a recent study shows. Nevertheless, autistic people rarely come as patients in medical practices. This is mainly due to invisible barriers that make access to medical care for autistic people at least difficult - if not impossible. To make these barriers visible and to show ways to...

In The Digital Transformer's Dilemma: How to Energize Your Core Business While Building Disruptive Products and Services, the authors show companies how to go digital while also advancing their core business. The book emphasizes how to strike a difficult balance between establishing a new (digital) business and re-vitalizing—and digitizing—the legacy business.The core of the book is focused on the actual implementation of the digital transformation across both businesses, ...

Bring your company into the digital era without compromising your core businessIn The Digital Transformer's Dilemma: How to Energize Your Core Business While Building Disruptive Products and Services, the authors show companies how to go digital while also advancing their core business. The book emphasizes how to strike a difficult balance between establishing a new (digital) business and re-vitalizing – and digitizing – the legacy business.The cor...

What is the relationship between democracy and critical thinking? What must a citizen in a democracy know to make the word democracy meaningful? In A Short Course in Intellectual Self-Defense, historian and educator Normand Baillargeon provides readers with the tools to see through the spin and jargon of everyday politics and news reporting in order to decide for themselves what is at stake and how to ask the necessary questions to protect themselves from the manipulations of the governmen...

When a normally meek Bay Area insurance agent suddenly turns into a voracious, homicidal maniac with an uncontrollable appetite, doctors quickly determine that the cause must be a brain parasite that can only be extra-terrestrial. Now, San Francisco Police Detectives Karen Hall and Yuri Markov are on a mission to end this wave of violence before more citizens become infected. But at every turn their investigation seems to be hindered by shadowy federal agents with a hidden agenda. Can they...

Why do autistics often have a low HRQL? And why do autistics have a high risk for the development of mental disorders, a high mortality and suicide risk? Why do autistics nonetheless rarely appear in psychotherapeutic practices? How and where can a psychotherapeutic intervention be scheduled? These questions are answered in the book by means of a new socio-psychological and developmental dynamic perspective.

"I slowly lift up the duvet and tilt my head to see what Lisa has hidden underneath – there is a dildo. Lisa's juices are glistening on its surface." – ´My Roommate's Toy´Part of the erotic alphabet series, 'L is for Love-toys - 10 Erotic Short Stories' is a collection of erotica that does exactly what the title suggests; pleasures you with tales of sex toys. From playing in public or using a roommate's toy to the pleasures of vibrators and love eggs, bringing some help into the be...

Can religions be compared? For decades the discipline of religious studies was based on the assumption that they can. Postmodern and postcolonial reflections, however, raised significant doubts. In social and cultural studies the investigation of the particular often took precedence over a comparative perspective. Interreligious Comparisons in Religious Studies and Theology questions whether religious studies can survive if it ceases to be comparative religion. Can it do justice t...