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Elsevier

Elsevier Science

  • Immediate Early Genes and Inducible Transcription Factors in Mapping of the Central Nervous System Function and Dysfunction

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 19
    • L. Kaczmarek + 1 more
    • English
    That molecular neurobiology has become a dominant part of neuroscience research can be credited to the discovery of inducible gene expression in the brain and spinal cord. This volume deals with genes, whose expression patterns in the vertebrate central nervous system were the first to be revealed and then the most extensively investigated over the last 15 years. Immediate early genes (IEG) and their protein products, especially those acting as regulators of transcription (inducible transcription factors, ITF) have proven to be very valuable tools in functional neuroanatomy and neurophysiology, as they are rapidly and transiently induced in specific neurons in response to various modes of stimulation. Thus, they have been used to map neuronal populations selectively responsive to a variety of conditions, such as sensory and learning experience, electrical stimulation of specific circuits, seizures, and neurodegeneration.Th... single volume, written by the most prominent authors in the field, brings together for the first time information about the most widely studied IEG/ITF in a whole variety of phenomena of neuronal activation. It starts with a critical appraisal of the technologies employed for the studies on gene, protein, and transcription factor activity in the nervous system. Several chapters present exhaustive examples of expression patterns of the ITF in "vocal" avian brain, mammalian brain sensory regions, areas involved in regulation of circadian rhythms, and the spinal cord. The next parts cover functional and regular aspects of individual IEG/ITF expression: c-fos in learning and memory, c-jun and others in neuropathology and neuronal stress responses, Elk-1, egr family, and CREB in neuronal plasticity and learning. This volume will be useful as a major reference on this topic. Furthermore, it attempts to unravel the seemingly overwhelming complexity of the phenomena of gene expression in the central nervous system.

  • EPR in the 21st Century

    • 1st Edition
    • Asako Kawamori + 2 more
    • English
    The Proceedings in this volume are a refereed selection of presentations from The Third Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Symposium (APES'01), held in Kobe, Japan from October 29 to November 1, 2001. Participants from 20 countries from Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America presented 210 papers, of which 132 are included here.These Proceedings are also a blueprint for development of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) / electron spin resonance (ESR) in the Asia-Pacific region in the 21st century. The Symposium reflected a variety of research fields developed over half a century and focuses especially on the most recent developments, such as high-field and high-frequency EPR, which are envisaged to be further developed and applied to various fields in the 21st century.All sessions consisted of Plenary, Invited and Contributed presentations. The Plenary presentations aimed at summarizing the overall developments. Invited presentations, reviewing the most recent developments, and Contributed ones, dealing with original research recently carried out in the EPR/ESR area, were given in one of three parallel sessions. The unique research works presented cover various fields and reflect the existing diversity of applications of the EPR/ESR techniques.

  • Structural Chemistry of Glasses

    • 1st Edition
    • K.J. Rao
    • English
    Structural Chemistry of Glasses provides detailed coverage of the subject for students and professionals involved in the physical chemistry aspects of glass research. Starting with the historical background and importance of glasses, it follows on with methods of preparation, structural and bonding theories, and criteria for glass formation including new approaches such as the constraint model.Glass transition is considered, as well as the wide range of theoretical approaches that are used to understand this phenomenon. The author provides a detailed discussion of Boson peaks, FSDP, Polymorphism, fragility, structural techniques, and theoretical modelling methods such as Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics simulation. The book covers ion and electron transport in glasses, mixed-alkali effect, fast ion conduction, power law and scaling behaviour, electron localization, charged defects, photo-structural effects, elastic properties, pressure-induced transitions, switching behaviour, colour, and optical properties of glasses. Special features of a variety of oxide, chalcogenide, halide, oxy-nitride and metallic gasses are discussed.With over 140 sections, this book captures most of the important and topical aspects of glass science, and will be useful for both newcomers to the subject and the experienced practitioner.

  • Radioactive Fallout after Nuclear Explosions and Accidents

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 3
    • Y.A. Izrael
    • English
    To achieve successful solutions to the problems resulting from local, distant and global radioactive fallout after nuclear explosions and accidents and to achieve successful retrospective analyses of the radiation conditions from recent observations, certain information is needed: the distribution of the exposure dose rate in the atmosphere and in a country; the distribution of radionuclides in natural environments and the nuclide composition of the radioactive fallout; the features of formation of the aerosol particle-carriers of the radioactivity and of the nuclide distribution of the particles of different sizes formed under different conditions; the processes involved in the migration of radioactive products in different zones and environments; the external and internal effects of nuclear radiation on human beings.This monograph is devoted to a number of these problems, namely, to studies of the radioactive fallout composition, the formation of the aerosol particles that transport the radioactive products and to the analysis of the external radiation doses resulting from nuclear explosions and/or accidents. Problems of restoration and rehabilitation of contaminated land areas are also touched upon in the monograph. To solve such problems one requires knowledge of the mobility of radionuclides, an understanding of their uptake by plants, their transportation within the food chain and finally their uptake by animal and/or human organisms.The results of many years of study of radioactive fallout from atmospheric and underground nuclear explosions and accidents are summarized in this book. It is intended for various specialists - geophysicists, ecologists, health experts and inspectors, as well as those who are concerned with radioactive contamination of natural environments.

  • Viruses and Liver Cancer

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 6
    • E. Tabor
    • English
    Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most important complications of chronic viral hepatitis. It usually results in a fatal outcome if not discovered in its earliest stages. Its close association with the hepatitis B and C viruses makes it one of the first human cancers for which there is strong evidence of a viral cause. For this reason it provides a model for studying viral carcinogenesis in humans.In some countries, HCC is one of the most common tumors of adult men. In addition, there is evidence that the incidence of this cancer has doubled in the past 15 to 20 years in many countries, and the incidence has doubled every 20 years for the past half century in Japan. In some studies, the increase has been shown to be due primarily to cases associated with HCV infection.Molecular studies of HCC show that mutations in oncogenes, in various cellular repair pathways, and in tumor suppressor genes together appear to contribute to the development of this cancer. In HCCs associated with hepatitis B virus, the virus itself can interact with tumor suppressor proteins and other cellular signals in ways that probably permit HCC to develop even when there are no mutations in the genes for these signals.This work discusses the latest concepts in molecular biology and the study of HCC which have led to dramatic breakthroughs in our understanding of how it develops.

  • Stability of Nonlinear Shells

    On the Example of Spherical Shells
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 48
    • D. Shilkrut + 1 more
    • English
    Stability of NonLinear Shells is a compilation of the author's work on analyzing the behaviour of spherical caps and related shell structures under various (axisymmetric) load systems. Differing from other texts on shells of revolution, it is one of the first attempts to deal with effects of multi-parameter load systems. This extension leads to the discovery of some new, hitherto unknown phenomena exhibited by these structures. In addition, the book presents a novel way to characterize properties of solutions of the governing equations for spherical caps - a classification anchored in a theory called reciprocal systems. The author has introduced a deformation map, a projection of multi-dimensional solutions to two-dimensional graphs, to enable analysts to gain insight into the physical meaning of the results obtained. Numerous examples illustrate the concepts introduced. This book also comes to grips with many misconceptions existing in engineering literature about the question of the stability of solutions.

  • From Charpy to Present Impact Testing

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 30
    • D. Francois + 1 more
    • English
    From Charpy to Present Impact Testing contains 52 peer-reviewed papers selected from those presented at the Charpy Centenary Conference held in Poitiers, France, 2-5 October 2001.The name of Charpy remains associated with impact testing on notched specimens. At a time when many steam engines exploded, engineers were preoccupied with studying the resistance of steels to impact loading.The Charpy test has provided invaluable indications on the impact properties of materials. It revealed the brittle ductile transition of ferritic steels.The Charpy test is able to provide more quantitative results by instrumenting the striker, which allows the evolution of the applied load during the impact to be determined. The Charpy test is of great importance to evaluate the embrittlement of steels by irradiation in nuclear reactors. Progress in computer programming has allowed for a computer model of the test to be developed; a difficult task in view of its dynamic, three dimensional, adiabatic nature. Together with precise observations of the processes of fracture, this opens the possibility of transferring quantitatively the results of Charpy tests to real components. This test has also been extended to materials other than steels, and is also frequently used to test polymeric materials.Thus the Charpy test is a tool of great importance and is still at the root of a number of investigations; this is the reason why it was felt that the centenary of the Charpy test had to be celebrated. The Société Française de Métallurgie et de Matériaux decided to organise an international conference which was put under the auspices of the European Society for the Integrity of Structures (ESIS).This Charpy Centenary Conference (CCC 2001) was held in Poitiers, at Futuroscope in October 2001. More than 150 participants from 17 countries took part in the discussions and about one hundred presentations were given. An exhibition of equipment showed, not only present day testing machines, but also one of the first Charpy pendulums, brought all the way from Imperial College in London. From Charpy to Present Impact Testing puts together a number of significant contributions. They are classified into 6 headings: •Keynote lectures,•Micromecha... procedures,•Applicat...

  • Oil Spills First Principles

    Prevention and Best Response
    • 1st Edition
    • B. Ornitz† + 1 more
    • English
    Marine oil spills are no longer considered unavoidable "accidents" resulting from adverse environmental conditions or functions of catastrophic events. More than 80% of all spills are the result of "human error". The focus of the current legal, regulatory, and convention framework affecting the transportation of oil by ship reflects a recent change in public attitude, in which there is an insistence upon protection of the world¿s marine environments, particularly coastal ecosystems. The outcome of such global attention is the creation of significant legal and political motivators for a cultural shift by the oil shipping industry, from an "evasion culture" to a "safety culture". The new safety culture connotes continuous improvement in ship operations and a willingness to adopt the evolving concepts of communication at all levels, better trained and qualified personnel on board ship, emphasis of safety from top down, and proactive institution of safety management systems. Mere compliance with international and national laws is no longer sufficient for future sustainable shipping. These changes and advancements in understanding the science and engineering of oil spills are the focus of this book on Oil Spills First Principles. They are Prevention, based upon adoption of the safety culture, and Best Response, utilizing scientific, technical and environmental data and information.Over the past 30 years, billions of US dollars have been spent in R&D planning, response and clean up of oil spills. All of these efforts have focused on achieving Best Response. The concept of time periods of "Technology Windows-of-Opportuni... for a given response and clean up technology has developed from the leadership and wisdom of researchers and responders from many nations using modeling of the weathering of spilled oil and technology effectiveness. The Windows-of-Opportuni... strategy provides a scientific basis for policy and decision-making in oil spill planning, response, and training.A global paradigm shift is needed to more effectively utilize and expedite the application of lessons learned in both prevention and clean up. Recognition of economic, political, and legal benefits accruing from environmental protection is good for business and critical for sustainable shipping.

  • Computational Methods in Water Resources

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 47
    • R.J. Schotting + 3 more
    • English
    These volumes contain the proceedings of CMWR2002, which was hosted by the Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences at Delft University of Technology. The interest in this meeting was truly overwhelming: around 230 papers from leading scientists were submitted and accepted for publication in the proceedings. The actual scope of the meeting was much broader than the title "Computational Methods in Water Resources" might suggest. Not only traditional hydrological topics like surface water and groundwater hydrology were covered, but also modern topics like coupled reactive transport, multiphase flow, pore-scale network modeling, remediation techniques, optimization, groundwater-surface water interactions and data assimilation. A quick glance through the Table of Contents of these two volumes immediately shows the richness of the material presented during the four days of the conference. New conceptual models, experimental methods, upscaling techniques and parameter estimation procedures were introduced. Nevertheless, the emphasis was still on the development of new accurate and robust computational techniques.

  • Biotechnology in the Pulp and Paper Industry

    8th ICBPPI Meeting
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 21
    • L. Viikari + 1 more
    • English
    This book covers both basic and applied sciences in a rather specified area of pulp and paper manufacture. The basic science of lignocellulose enzymology and plant genetics is covered also in many other contexts, whereas the application of biotechnology in process and product development is thoroughly reviewed. All the latest advances as well as new ideas of the research field are covered. This book will serve as an updated and compact information package of biotechnical aspects and the most recent advances of the pulp and paper industry sector.

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