Mechanisms of Taste Transduction introduces a number of topics essential to a complete understanding of taste. These topics range from the control of food intake to the biophysical mechanisms of transduction and the design of food flavors in the food industry. The responses and organization of special sensory pathways are described in regard to the

The Romanian revolution was motivated by a desire for greater political and intellectual freedom and economic prosperity. It was the bloodiest of the eastern European transitions due to Ceausescu's cult of personality. However, many of the goals of the revolution are still unfulfilled. The lack of civil society, charges of political corruption, the failure to transform the economy, and concerns over the protection of ethnic minority rights are all factors in Romania's failure to become a f...

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, former Soviet republic Ukraine has struggled against its giant neighbor to the north”-Russia- to maintain its sovereignty. In early 2014 tensions turned to conflict as Vladimir Putin, determined to keep Ukraine from forging stronger ties with the West, seized Crimea and fomented conflict in eastern Ukraine. In the latest Brookings essay, Chrystia Freeland, a former Ukrainian-based reporter with strong family ties to the country, offers a pers...

The fall of the Berlin Wall sent shock waves around the world. It was, quite literally, a world-changing event. Now, more than two decades after the Wall's collapse, this book brings together leading authorities who offer a fresh look at how leaders in four vital centers of world politics--the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe, and China--viewed the world in the aftermath of this momentous event. Jeffrey Engel contributes a chronological narrative of this tumultuous period, followed ...

The Russian annexation of Crimea was one of the great strategic shocks of the past twenty-five years. For many in the West, Moscow's actions in early 2014 marked the end of illusions about cooperation, and the return to geopolitical and ideological confrontation. Russia, for so long a peripheral presence, had become the central actor in a new global drama. In this groundbreaking book, renowned scholar Bobo Lo analyzes the broader context of the crisis by examining the interplay between Rus...

Today Russia and human rights are both high on the international agenda. Since Putin returned to the presidency in 2012, domestic developments (from Pussy Riot to the release of Khodorkovsky) and Russia's global role (especially in relation to Ukraine) have captured world-wide attention. It is therefore an appropriate moment to see how human rights activism functions inside Russia. Since 1991, when the Russian Federation became an independent state, hundreds of organisations have sprung up...

When guns began firing again in Europe, why was it Ukraine that became the battlefield? Conventional wisdom dictates that Ukraine's current crisis can be traced to the linguistic differences and divided political loyalties that have long fractured the country. However this theory only obscures the true significance of Ukraine's recent civic revolution and the conflict's crucial international dimension. The 2013-14 Ukrainian revolution presented authoritarian powers in Russia with both a de...

This book argues that Putin's strategy for rebuilding the state was fundamentally flawed. Taylor demonstrates that a disregard for the way state officials behave toward citizens - state quality - had a negative impact on what the state could do - state capacity. Focusing on those organizations that control state coercion, what Russians call the 'power ministries', Taylor shows that many of the weaknesses of the Russian state that existed under Boris Yeltsin persisted under Putin. Drawing o...

A fresh and compelling interpretation of Russian politics by a leading authority, this textbook focuses on political developments in the world's largest country under Putin and Medvedev. Using a wealth of primary sources, it covers economic, social and foreign policy, and the 'system' of politics that has developed in recent years. Opposing arguments are presented and students are encouraged to reach their own judgements on key events and issues such as privatisation and corruption. This t...

At the conclusion of World War II, Asia was hardly more than a geographic expression. Yet today we recognize Asia as a vibrant and assertive region, fully transformed from the vulnerable nation-states that emerged following the Second World War. The transformation was by no means an inevitable one, but the product of two key themes that have dominated Asia's international relations since 1945: the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to enlist the region's states as a...

America's Response to China has long been the standard resource for a succinct, historically grounded assessment of an increasingly complicated relationship. Written by one of America's leading diplomatic historians, this book analyzes the concerns and conceptions that have shaped U.S.-China policy and examines their far-reaching outcomes. Warren I. Cohen begins with the mercantile interests of the newly independent American colonies and discusses subsequent events up to the Tiana...

" Pluralism by Default will change the way we understand the emergence of democracies and the consolidation of autocracies." —Chrystia Freeland, author of PlutocratsExploring sources of political contestation in the former Soviet Union and beyond, Pluralism by Default proposes that pluralism in "new democracies" is often grounded less in democratic leadership or emerging civil society and more in the failure of authoritarianism. Dynamic co...