Description: This book chapter discusses media and communication. As core features of humanity, communication and media clearly predate academic disciplines. They are in this sense non-disciplinary. Yet, they have for centuries been the subject of inquiry by those concerned to understand and improve human correspondence. This chapter surveys the historical development and present form of multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary studies of media and communication.

Description: This presentation is part of the faculty lecture series UNT Speaks Out on the 2012 Presidential Primaries. In this presentation, the author uses his background in rhetoric and debate, as well as his interests in ideological criticism, and the politics of representation to comment on the candidates' rhetoric.

Description: This article discusses memory beyond memory in heart beating. Abstract: We describe two types of memory and illustrate each using artificial and actual heartbeat data sets. The first type of memory, yielding anomalous diffusion, implies the inverse power-law nature of the waiting time distribution and the second the correlation among distinct times, and consequently also the occurrence of many pseudoevents, namely, not genuinely random events. Using the method of diffusion entropy analysis, we establish the scaling that would be determined by the real events alone. We prove that the heart beating of healthy patients reveals the existence of many more pseudoevents than in the patients with congestive heart failure.

Description: This article discusses the metal effect on the supramolecular structure, photophysics, and acid-base character of trinuclear pyrazolato coinage metal complexes.

Description: This article discusses methane activation by group IVB imido complexes. Abstract: An ab initio study of methane activation by group IVB imido complexes, when coupled with available experimental data, reveals an interesting picture of this important reaction. Initial interaction of methane and (H)₂M=NH leads to the formation of alkane complexes bound by ≈9 kcal mol⁻¹. Experiment indicates that the polarity of the metal-ligand bond upon which the C-H is activated plays an important role in facilitating subsequent scission. Calculations support this hypothesis and suggest that formation of the alkane complex acts to increase Cδ-Hδ polarization, setting the stage for C-H cleavage. Calculated methane elimination barriers for (H)₂M(CH₃)(NH₂) (M=Ti, Zr, Hf) are in good agreement with experimental models in terms of absolute numbers and trends as a function of metal. Calculated methane activation barriers follow the order Ti > Zr > Hf, in line with calculated exothermicities. Calculated geometries indicate a late transition state for methane elimination, in agreement with experimentally determined activation parameters. The TSs have a kite-shaped geometry with an obtuse angle about the H of the C-H bond being activated (Ht) and a short MHt distance, 1-2% greater than normal. The short MHt distance suggests a stabilizing interaction, ...