Failing the crystal ball test : the Carter administration and the fundamentalist revolution in Iran / / Ofira Seliktar

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910965957303321
• Autore: Seliktar Ofira
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Westport, Conn. : , : Praeger, , 2000; London : , : Bloomsbury Publishing, , 2024
• ISBN: 9798400649516; 9780313002779; 0313002770
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (xxi, 245 pages)
• Disciplina: 327.73055/09/047
• Soggetti: Islamic fundamentalism - Iran; United States Foreign relations Iran; Iran Foreign relations United States
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. [195]-225) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Cover -- Failing the Crystal Ball Test -- Contents -- Preface -- Abbreviations -- Introduction: The Theory and Practice of Predicting Political Change -- 1 Theories of Political Change and Predictions of Change: Methodological Problems -- METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF TRACKING CHANGES IN A COLLECTIVE BELIEF SYSTEM -- THE DIMENSIONS OF A COLLECTIVE BELIEF SYSTEM: EXISTENTIAL IMPERATIVES AS VALIDITY CLAIMS -- THE PROCESS OF LEGITIMIZING A COLLECTIVE BELIEF SYSTEM: THE DISCURSIVE APPROACH -- THE PROCESS OF DELEGITIMATION: THE SYSTEMIC AND INDIVIDUAL LEVEL VIEW -- Systemic Level Mechanisms -- Individual Level Mechanisms -- ACTIVATING THE PROCESS OF DELEGITIMATION: TRIGGER CONDITIONS OF CHANGE -- THE NATURE OF THE DELEGITIMATION DISCOURSE: SYMBOLS AND SUBSTANCE -- THE TIMETABLE OF THE DELEGITIMATION DISCOURSE: CONTINUOUS AND REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE -- THE PROCESS OF TRANSVALUATION: REFORMIST AND RADICAL -- 2 Paradigmatic Views of Political Change: Developmentalism vs. Dependency -- THE DEVELOPMENTAL VIEW OF CHANGE: LINEAR PROGRESSION TOWARD THE WEST -- THE DEPENDENCY VIEW OF ; CHANGE: LINEAR PROGRESSION TOWARD A SOCIALIST UTOPIA -- HEADED TOWARD CONVERGENCE: REDEFINING THE DIRECTION OF POLITICAL CHANGE -- LEANING TO THE LEFT: THE MYTH AND REALITY OF THE OBJECTIVE SOCIAL SCIENTIST -- FROM REALPOLITIK TO MORALPOLITIK: THE INTELLECTUAL BASE OF NEW INTERNATIONALISM -- 3 Road Testing New Internationalism: The Iran Policy of the Carter Administration -- CRUSADING AGAINST REALPOLITIK: MAINSTREAMING THE NEW INTERNATIONALISM VISION -- THE UNLIKELY CRUSADER: JIMMY CARTER AND THE EMBRACE OF NEW INTERNATIONALISM -- A COAT OF MANY COLORS: THE SHAPING OF THE ADMINISTRATION'S IRANIAN POLICY -- THE RESURGENT CONGRESS: THE AWACS SALE AS A REFERENDUM ON THE SHAH'S LEGITIMACY -- BACK HOME: THE SHAH AND THE OPPOSITION TAKE MEASURE OF THE "CARTER REVOLUTION" IN FOREIGN POLICY.; WASHINGTON'S CHALLENGE: THE POLITICS OF THE PREDICTIVE PROCESS -- 4 In the Eye of the Storm: The Carter Administration and the Iranian Revolution -- THE CYCLICAL RIOTS: THE VIEW FROM TEHERAN -- THE CYCLICAL RIOTS: THE VIEW FROM WASHINGTON -- THE MASS PROTEST: THE VIEW FROM TEHERAN -- THE MASS PROTEST: THE VIEW FROM WASHINGTON -- THE GENERAL STRIKES: THE VIEW FROM TEHERAN -- THE GENERAL STRIKES: THE VIEW FROM WASHINGTON -- THE ENDGAME: A VIEW FROM TEHERAN -- THE ENDGAME: THE VIEW FROM WASHINGTON -- 5 Dealing with Chaos: The Carter Administration and the Successor Regime in Iran -- THE SHORT SPRING OF THE MODERATES: THE EMERGENCE OF A DUAL GOVERNMENT -- MAKING SENSE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY AFTERMATH: WASHINGTON'S GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED -- THE HOT SUMMER: THE FUNDAMENTALIST TAKEOVER -- WHAT'S IN A NAME?: WASHINGTON BETS ON THE MODERATES -- THE LONG FALL: THE PUSH FOR A FUNDAMENTALIST HEGEMONY -- THE UNWELCOME VISITOR: THE POLITICS OF THE SHAH'S ADMISSION TO THE UNITED STATES AND THE SEIZURE OF THE EMBASSY -- 6 Reflections on Predictive Failures -- PARADIGMATIC FAILURE -- POLICY FAILURE -- INTELLIGENCE FAILURE -- UNDERSTANDING THE "GREAT UNKNOWN": THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION AND PREDICTING POLITICAL CHANGE IN THE FUTURE -- References -- Index -- About the Author.
• Sommario/riassunto: With the Iranian revolution as her focal point, Seliktar offers a systematic analysis of predictive failure in foreign policy at the paradigmatic, policy, and intelligence levels. Seliktar first examines how social science paradigms determine conceptualizations of political change, and then applies that analysis to understanding New Internationalism, the Carter administration's foreign policy philosophy at the time of the Shah's fall from power. Based in part on classified documents seized during the takeover of the American embassy, Failing the Crystal Ball Test is a valuable addition to Middle Eastern studies, international relations, and comparative politics collections. Seliktar engages in a general discussion of the problems entailed in correctly assessing the political legitimacy of foreign regimes, and describes the origins of New Internationalism as influenced by the New Left dependency theories. Examining President Carter's application of New Internationalism to Iran, Seliktar presents an account first of political influences on the predictive process during the early stages of revolution, and then of the administration's misreading of the likelihood of a fundamentalist regime in Teheran.

Biophysics of computation : information processing in single neurons / / Christof Koch

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910972234703321
• Autore: Koch Christof <1956->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: New York, : Oxford University Press, 1999
• ISBN: 0-19-029285-7; 0-19-756233-7; 1-280-59509-4; 9786613624925; 0-19-976055-1
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (587 p.)
• Collana: Computational neuroscience
• Disciplina: 573.8/536; 573.8536
• Soggetti: Computational neuroscience; Neurons; Neural networks (Neurobiology); Action potentials (Electrophysiology); Neural conduction
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Previously issued in print: 1999.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. 503-552) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Cover; Contents; Preface; List of Symbols; Introduction; 1 The Membrane Equation; 1.1 Structure of the Passive Neuronal Membrane; 1.1.1 Resting Potential; 1.1.2 Membrane Capacity; 1.1.3 Membrane Resistance; 1.2 A Simple RC Circuit; 1.3 RC Circuits as Linear Systems; 1.3.1 Filtering by RC Circuits; 1.4 Synaptic Input; 1.5 Synaptic Input Is Nonlinear; 1.5.1 Synaptic Input, Saturation, and the Membrane Time Constant; 1.5.2 Synaptic Interactions among Excitation and Shunting Inhibition; 1.5.3 Gain Normalization in Visual Cortex and Synaptic Input; 1.6 Recapitulation; 2 Linear Cable Theory; 2.1 Basic Assumptions Underlying One-Dimensional Cable Theory2.1.1 Linear Cable Equation; 2.2 Steady-State Solutions; 2.2.1 Infinite Cable; 2.2.2 Finite Cable; 2.3 Time-Dependent Solutions; 2.3.1 Infinite Cable; 2.3.2 Finite Cable; 2.4 Neuronal Delays and Propagation Velocity; 2.5 Recapitulation; 3 Passive Dendritic Trees; 3.1 Branched Cables; 3.1.1 ; What Happens at Branch Points?; 3.2 Equivalent Cylinder; 3.3 Solving the Linear Cable Equation for Branched Structures; 3.3.1 Exact Methods; 3.3.2 Compartmental Modeling; 3.4 Transfer Resistances; 3.4.1 General Definition; 3.4.2 An Example; 3.4.3 Properties of K[sub(ij)]3.4.4 Transfer Resistances in a Pyramidal Cell; 3.5 Measures of Synaptic Efficiency; 3.5.1 Electrotonic Distance; 3.5.2 Voltage Attenuation; 3.5.3 Charge Attenuation; 3.5.4 Graphical Morphoelectrotonic Transforms; 3.6 Signal Delays in Dendritic Trees; 3.6.1 Experimental Determination of T[sub(m)]; 3.6.2 Local and Propagation Delays in Dendritic Trees; 3.6.3 Dependence of Fast Synaptic Inputs on Cable Parameters; 3.7 Recapitulation; 4 Synaptic Input; 4.1 Neuronal and Synaptic Packing Densities; 4.2 Synaptic Transmission Is Stochastic; 4.2.1 Probability of Synaptic Release p4.2.2 What Is the Synaptic Weight?; 4.3 Neurotransmitters; 4.4 Synaptic Receptors; 4.5 Synaptic Input as Conductance Change; 4.5.1 Synaptic Reversal Potential in Series with an Increase in Conductance; 4.5.2 Conductance Decreasing Synapses; 4.6 Excitatory NMDA and Non-NMDA Synaptic Input; 4.7 Inhibitory GABAergic Synaptic Input; 4.8 Postsynaptic Potential; 4.8.1 Stationary Synaptic Input; 4.8.2 Transient Synaptic Input; 4.8.3 Infinitely Fast Synaptic Input; 4.9 Visibility of Synaptic Inputs; 4.9.1 Input Impedance in the Presence of Synaptic Input; 4.10 Electrical Gap Junctions4.11 Recapitulation; 5 Synaptic Interactions in a Passive Dendritic Tree; 5.1 Nonlinear Interaction among Excitation and Inhibition; 5.1.1 Absolute versus Relative Suppression; 5.1.2 General Analysis of Synaptic Interaction in a Passive Tree; 5.1.3 Location of the Inhibitory Synapse; 5.1.4 Shunting Inhibition Implements a ""Dirty"" Multiplication; 5.1.5 Hyperpolarizing Inhibition Acts Like a Linear Subtraction; 5.1.6 Functional Interpretation of the Synaptic Architecture and Dendritic Morphology: AND-NOT Gates; 5.1.7 Retinal Directional Selectivity and Synaptic Logic
• Sommario/riassunto: In this volume, Koch shows how individual nerve cells can multiply, integrate, or delay synaptic inputs, and how information is encoded in the voltage across the membrane, in the intracellular calcium concentration, or in the timing of individual spikes.