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Elsevier Science

  • Numerical Modelling and Analysis of Fluid Flow and Deformation of Fractured Rock Masses

    • 1st Edition
    • Xing Zhang + 1 more
    • English
    Our understanding of the subsurface system of the earth is becoming increasingly more sophisticated both at the level of the behaviour of its components (solid, liquid and gas) as well as their variations in space and time. The implementation of coupled models is essential for the understanding of an increasing number of natural phenomena and in predicting human impact on these.The growing interest in the relation between fluid flow and deformation in subsurface rock systems that characterise the upper crust has led to increasingly specialized knowledge in many branches of earth sciences and engineering. A multidisciplinary subject dealing with deformation and fluid flow in the subsurface system is emerging.While research in the subject area of faulting, fracturing and fluid flow has led to significant progress in many different areas, the approach has tended to be "reductionist", i.e. involving the isolation and simplification of phenomena so that they may be treated as single physical processes. The reality is that many processes operate together within subsurface systems, and this is particularly true for fluid flow and deformation of fractured rock masses. The aim of this book is to begin to explore how advances in numerical modelling can be applied to understanding the complex phenomena observed in such systems.Although mainly based on original research, the book also includes the fundamental principles and practical methods of numerical modelling, in particular distinct element methods. This volume explores the principles of numerical modelling and the methodologies for some of the most important problems, in addition to providing practical models with detailed discussions on various topics.
  • Biotechnology Annual Review

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 8
    • M.R. El-Gewely
    • English
    Biotechnology is in many respects shaping our life and affecting our means of production and the creation of jobs. Progress in the applications of biotechnology depends on a wide base of basic as well as applied sciences. The output of biotechnology has already proved itself in many diverse fields from health to biomining and from agriculture to enzyme "breeding". It is therefore difficult to follow all of the current as well as the potential applications of biotechnology.The objective of the Biotechnology Annual Review series is to attempt to provide readers with the needed indepth knowledge, by reviewing specific topics in biotechnology in each issue. The philosophy behind this series is to encourage good reviews to make it easier for readers to keep in touch with progress and applications of biotechnology. Reviews on topics related to regulatory affairs, social impact of biotechnology, biodiversity, biosafety, public acceptance and patent issues are also encouraged.Drafts of the human genome were published in Science and Nature magazines, last year. The human genome as well as the other completed genomes can now be searched using different databases.The exponential increase of the sequence data lead to the development of the new "Bioinformatics" field in order to attempt making sense, at least biological sense, out of all the new and fast data.It will take also other techniques such as "functional genomics" to link the gap between a specific phenotype or a treatment and a gene sequence. Functional genomics tools are therefore important for the accurate molecular diagnosis/prognosis, target discovery and validation needed for drug development and novel targets for antibiotics development. Functional Genomics are also important for the confirmation of therapy in pharmacogenomics studies. Applications of functional genomics techniques are equally important for progress in biotechnology applications of plants, animals and other organisms.
  • Changing Views of Cajal's Neuron

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 136
    • E.C. Azmitia + 4 more
    • English
    Cajal is the Father of Neuroscience and his personal view of the Neuron has dominated the field for over 100 years. No single person has been able to challenge his global perspective of the neuron gained by Cajal's work in neuroanatomy, development, physiology, evolution and medicine. However, over 30 neuroscientists from around the world have accepted the challenge of writing a review article on "Changing Views of Cajal's Neuron". Many of these experts admitted they could only add to Cajal's theory and they carefully provided their new findings based on modern methods of microscopy, molecular biology or neurobiology. Other experts recognized specific areas where Cajal's ideas of neurons needed to be altered and refined. Key knowledge necessary to understand plasticity or development is now available and permits a changed view. A few of the authors directly challenged some of the most widely accepted and cherished theories of Cajal: the neuron as an isolated unit, function of dendrites, the direction of electrical conductivity and the importance of plasticity in the adult brain. In total, the collection of articles provides a fascinating perspective to the enormous force of Cajal's genius in the 21st Century view of the neuron.
  • Sample Preparation in Chromatography

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 65
    • S.C. Moldoveanu + 1 more
    • English
    Sample preparation is an essential step in many analyses. This book approaches the topic of sample preparation in chromatography in a methodical way, viewing it as a logical connection between sample collection and analytical chromatography. Providing a guide for choosing the appropriate sample preparation for a given analysis, this book describes various ways to process the sample, explaining the principle, discussing the advantages and disadvantages, describing the applicability to different types of samples, and showing the fitness to specific chromatographic determinations.The first part of the book contains an overview of sample preparation showing its relation to sample collection and to the core chromatographic analysis. The second part covers procedures that do not use chemical modifications of the analyte and includes methods for sample dissolution, concentration and cleanup designed mainly for modifying the initial matrix of the sample. This part starts with conventional separations such as filtration and distillation and finishes with more advanced techniques such as solid phase extraction and electroseparations. The third part gives a description of the chemical modifications that can be performed on a sample either for fractionation purposes or to improve a specific property of the analyte. This part includes derivatizations, polymer chemical degradations, and pyrolysis.
  • Metal Fatigue: Effects of Small Defects and Nonmetallic Inclusions

    • 1st Edition
    • Yukitaka Murakami
    • English
    Metal fatigue is an essential consideration for engineers and researchers who are looking at factors that cause metals to fail through stress, corrosion, etc. This is an English translation of a book originally published in Japan in 1993, with an additional two chapters on the fatigue failure of steels and the effect of surface roughness on fatigue strength. The methodology is based on important and reliable results and may be usefully applied to other fatigue problems not directly treated in this book.
  • Universes in Delicate Balance: Chemokines and the Nervous System

    • 1st Edition
    • R.M. Ransohoff + 4 more
    • English
    It is commonly acknowledged that the nervous system and the immune system, those most complex of networks, share attributes beyond their intricacy. Elements common to the two systems include memory, connectivity, flexibility and developmental selection of cellular composition by a rigorous process involving widespread programmed cell death. There is one salient difference: the cells of the immune system are predominantly in constant motion, while post-mitotic neurons and glia are largely fixed in place. Therefore, chemokines, initially characterized as leukocyte chemoattractants, have for the last one and one-half decades been intensely and productively studied in the contexts of inflammation, immunity and hematopoietic development.Only recently have the two fields, neurobiology and immunology, displayed mutual interests in chemokines. This convergence of the two tribes of investigators was catalyzed by the finding that SDF-1 (now known as CXCL12) and its receptor, CXCR4, exerted significant and similar functions in development of both nervous and immune systems. Indeed CXCL12 and CXCR4 were required, in an uncannily similar fashion, for retention of pre-B lymphocytes at sites of maturation in the bone marrow and of neuronal progenitors in the external granule cell layer of the developing cerebellum. Recent reports indicate that chemoattraction of cerebellar granule cells through CXCR4 can be suppressed by reverse signaling initiated by binding of soluble eph receptors to transmembrane ephrin B, thereby establishing a link between chemokine action and a cardinal patterning system of the developing nervous system. As may be anticipated when a dam breaks, a massive influx of correlative observations in the nervous and immune systems is likely to ensue.This volume represents the state of current knowledge. To this end, introductory material for both systems is provided. Basic and advanced 'chemokinology' are presented. The recipe for making a nervous system (both ingredients and instructions for preparation) is described, as are the roles of chemokines and their receptors in making an immune system. Given their importance and complexity, CXCL12/CXCR4 interactions are separately treated in varying contexts.The field of 'neurobiology of chemokines' has not lain fallow during the last ten years. During much of this time the principal focus has been on neuroinflammation. Linking the immune and nervous systems are explanations of the functions of chemokines and their receptors for resident brain macrophages, the microglia, the unique cerebrovascular endothelium and angiogenesis.Underst... human disease is the goal of much of this research. New discoveries are being made and reported at a gratifying rate. It is expected that this volume will promote the steady production and application of useful new knowledge in this developing field. It provides a unique single-source database for basic neurobiology highlighting the fundamental aspects of chemokines and discussing the relations of chemokine science to animal models and human disease.
  • Hydrocarbon Seal Quantification

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 11
    • A.G. Koestler + 1 more
    • English
    This volume contains 17 selected papers reflecting the flavour of the Norwegian Petroleum Society conference on hydrocarbon seals quantification and showing the recent significant advances in the understanding and application of hydrocarbon seal methodologies.Three broad categories are covered in this book: methodologies addressing cap-rock integrity, methodologies relating to fault seal and case studies both from the hydrocarbon basins of Northwestern Europe and in the form of outcrop examples. With the North Sea, Norwegian Sea and Atlantic Margin moving along their respective basin maturity and development curves, exploration is being forced deeper into high pressure/high temperature terrains, while exploitation and development requires greater precision and realism in reservoir simulations to maximise drilling strategies to prolong field life. In all instances the need for predictive tools and methodologies that address the integrity and behaviour of top and lateral (fault) seals to hydrocarbon traps, both in the static and dynamic state, have been identified as key risk factors and this is reflected in this volume.
  • European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering - 12

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 10
    • J. Grievink + 1 more
    • English
    This book contains 182 papers presented at the 12th Symposium of Computer Aided Process Engineering (ESCAPE-12), held in The Hague, The Netherlands, May 26-29, 2002. The objective of ESCAPE-12 is to highlight advances made in the development and use of computing methodologies and information technology in the area of Computer Aided Process Engineering and Process Systems Engineering. The Symposium addressed six themes: (1) Integrated Product&Process Design; (2) Process Synthesis & Plant Design; (3) Process Dynamics & Control; (4) Manufacturing & Process Operations; (5) Computational Technologies; (6) Sustainable CAPE Education and Careers for Chemical Engineers. These themes cover the traditional core activities of CAPE, and also some wider conceptual perspectives, such as the increasing interplay between product and process design arising from the often complex internal structures of modern products; the integration of production chains creating the network structure of the process industry and optimization over life span dimensions, taking sustainability as the ultimate driver.
  • Progress in Medicinal Chemistry

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 39
    • English
    This volume covers contemporary advances in five important areas of pharmacology and medicinal chemistry including: a comprehensive account of inhibitors of the caspase family of proteolytic enzymes that represent a new class of anti-inflammatory and antiapoptotic agents of potential value in rheumatoid arthritis, and other peripheral and central indications; adoc umented survey of semi-synthetic and totally synthetic antibiotics and anti HIV agents and their sites of interaction; inhibitors of the intracellular enzyme acyl-CoA: cholesterol O-acyltransferase (ACAT) developed for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia... and recent progress in growth hormone secretagogues, with the focus on strategies to improve oral bioavailability and duration of action. Inhibition of the proteolytic enzyme, hepatitis C protease N-3(NS3), required for viral replication, is one of the most attractive targets for HCV infections. Progress and prospects in the design of peptide and non-peptide inhibitors are described here. design and clinical potential of new drug molecules; valuable summaries of structure-activity relationships in topical areas of medicinal chemistry; and extensive references to the biology, medicinal chemistry and clinical aspects of each topic.
  • Geophysical Inverse Theory and Regularization Problems

    • 1st Edition
    • Michael S. Zhdanov
    • English
    This book presents state-of-the-art geophysical inverse theory developed in modern mathematical terminology. The book brings together fundamental results developed by the Russian mathematical school in regularization theory and combines them with the related research in geophysical inversion carried out in the West. It presents a detailed exposition of the methods of regularized solution of inverse problems based on the ideas of Tikhonov regularization, and shows the different forms of their applications in both linear and nonlinear methods of geophysical inversion. This text is the first to treat many kinds of inversion and imaging techniques in a unified mathematical manner.The book is divided in five parts covering the foundations of the inversion theory and its applications to the solution of different geophysical inverse problems, including potential field, electromagnetic, and seismic methods. The first part is an introduction to inversion theory. The second part contains a description of the basic methods of solution of the linear and nonlinear inverse problems using regularization. The following parts treat the application of regularization methods in gravity and magnetic, electromagnetic, and seismic inverse problems. The key connecting idea of these applied parts of the book is the analogy between the solutions of the forward and inverse problems in different geophysical methods. The book also includes chapters related to the modern technology of geophysical imaging, based on seismic and electromagnetic migration.This volume is unique in its focus on providing a link between the methods used in gravity, electromagnetic, and seismic imaging and inversion, and represents an exhaustive treatise on inversion theory.