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Elsevier

Elsevier Science

  • Ecosystems of Disturbed Ground

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 16
    • L.R. Walker
    • English
    As the human population inexorably grows, its cumulative impact on the Earth's resources is hard to ignore. The ability of the Earth to support more humans is dependent on the ability of humans to manage natural resources wisely. Because disturbance alters resource levels, effective management requires understanding of the ecology of disturbance. This book is the first to take a global approach to the description of both natural and anthropogenic disturbance regimes that physically impact the ground. Natural disturbances such as erosion, volcanoes, wind, herbivory, flooding and drought plus anthropogenic disturbances such as foresty, grazing, mining, urbanization and military actions are considered. Both disturbance impacts and the biotic recovery are addressed as well as the interactions of different types of disturbance. Other chapters cover processes that are important to the understanding of disturbance of all types including soil processes, nutrient cycles, primary productivity, succession, animal behaviour and competition. Humans react to disturbances by avoiding, exacerbating, or restoring them or by passing environmental legislation. All of these issues are covered in this book.Managers need better predictive models and robust data-collections that help determine both site-specfic and generalized responses to disturbance. Multiple disturbances have a complex effect on both physical and biotic processes as they interact. This book provides a wealth of detail about the process of disturbance and recovery as well as a synthesis of the current state of knowledge about disturbance theory, with extensive documentation.

  • Peripheral and Spinal Mechanisms in the Neural Control of Movement

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 123
    • M.D. Binder
    • English
    In the last decade, we have witnessed a striking maturation of our understanding of how neurons in the spinal cord control muscular activity and movement. Paradoxically, a host of new findings have revealed an unexpected versatility in the behavior of these well-studied neural elements and circuits. In this volume, the world's leading experts review the current state of our knowledge of motor control, outline their latest results and developments, and delineate the seminal unresolved questions in this vibrant field of research. The volume begins with a commentary and overview of our current understanding of the peripheral and spinal basis of motor control. The remainder of the volume is divided into seven sections, each focused on a different problem. The first chapter in each section provides some historical review and presages the experimental findings and hypotheses that are discussed in subsequent chapters.Topics include the biomechanics of neuromuscular systems, the properties of motoneurons and the muscle units they control, spinal interneurons, pattern generating circuits, locomotion, descending control of spinal circuits, comparative physiology of motor systems, and motor systems neurophysiology studied in man. The book serves as a unique reference volume and should be essential reading for anyone interested in motor systems. Moreover, the volume's comprehensive coverage of a wide range of topics make it an effective textbook for graduate level courses in motor control neurobiology, kinesiology, physical therapy, and rehabilitation medicine.

  • Invertebrate Biodiversity as Bioindicators of Sustainable Landscapes

    Practical Use of Invertebrates to Assess Sustainable Land Use
    • 1st Edition
    • Maurizio G. Paoletti
    • English
    Reducing environmental hazard and human impact on different ecosystems, with special emphasis on rural landscapes is the main topic of different environmental policies designed in developed countries and needed in most developing countries. This book covers the bioindication approach of rural landscapes and man managed ecosystems including both urbanised and industrialised ones. The main techniques and taxa used for bioindication are considered in detail. Remediation and contamination is faced with diversity, abundance and dominance of biota, mostly invertebrates. Invertebrate Biodiversity as Bioindicators of Sustainable Landscapes provides a basic tool for students and scientists involved in landscape ecology and planning, environmental sciences, landscape remediation and pollution.

  • Caribbean Basins

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 4
    • P. Mann
    • English
    This 21-chapter volume provides a regionally-comprehen... collection of original studies of Caribbean basins conducted by academic and petroleum geologists and geophysicists in the early and mid-1990s. The common tectonic events discussed in the volume including the rifting and passive margin history of North and South America that led to the formation of the Caribbean region; the entry of an exotic, Pacific-derived Great Arc of the Caribbean at the leading edge of the Caribbean oceanic plateau; the terminal collision of the arc and plateau with the passive margins fringing North and South America; and subsequent strike-slip and accretionary tectonics that affected the arc-continent collision zone.Two introductory chapters (Part A) utilize recent advances in quantitative plate tectonic modeling and satellite-based gravity measurements to place the main phases of Caribbean basin formation into a global plate tectonic framework. Nineteen subsequent chapters are organized geographically and focus on individual or groups of genetically-linked basins. Part B consists of five chapters which mainly focus on basins overlying the North America plate in the Gulf of Mexico, Cuba and the Bahamas that record its rifting from South America in late Jurassic to Cretaceous time. Part C has six chapters that focus on smaller, usually heavily faulted and onshore Cenozoic basins of the northern Caribbean that formed in response to arc collisional and strike-slip activity along the evolving North America-Caribbean plate boundary. The two chapters in Part D focus on Cenozoic basins related to the Lesser Antilles arc system of the eastern Caribbean. Part E is comprised of three chapters on the Jurassic-Recent sedimentary basins of the eastern Venezuela and Trinidad area of the southeastern Caribbean. These basins reflect both the Jurassic-Cretaceous rifting and passive margin history of separation between the North and South America plates as well as a much younger phase of Oligocene to recent transpression between the eastward migrating Lesser Antilles arc and accretionary wedge and the South America continent. The three chapters of Part F contain deep penetration seismic reflection and other geophysical data on the largely submarine Cretaceous Caribbean oceanic plateau that forms the nucleus of the present-day Caribbean plate.

  • Ceramics and Ceramic Composites

    Materialographic Preparation
    • 1st Edition
    • G. Elssner + 3 more
    • English
    Ceramics and ceramic composites are now used in almost all areas of technology and have potential for even greater and more widespread applications. To make this a reality, it is increasingly necessary to understand the microstructure of the material and its relationship with properties and performance. Central to this is the characterization of the material, in particular using optical and scanning electron microscopy techniques.This book acts as an expert guide to the various steps necessary for successful and accurate characterization of these materials including the crucially important preparation stage, the techniques used to reveal the microstructure and the analysis of the results.In particular, the book presents fundamental information on preparing polished sections of ceramics and ceramic composites including the main steps of sampling, sectioning, mounting and impregnation, and mechanical grinding, lapping and polishing. It discusses microstructural imaging in the optical microscope (OM) and the use of the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Etching or contrast enhancement following final polishing in order to reveal the material's microstructure is also covered.An entire chapter is devoted to material-specific preparation procedures for polished sections. These procedures take into account the properties of the ceramic or composite being examined and the purpose of the examination. They have proven to be very suitable for the respective materials and are effective for revealing the pores. The examples presented here for ceramics and ceramic composites provide polished sections of good to excellent quality for routine examination under the optical microscope. They include tips for etching and contrast enhancement, as well as microstructural images. Chapter 5 discusses the preparation of polished sections for purposes of examination and contains information on producing oblique sections and controlled removal of material. It also addresses the production of thin sections. As a complement to the examination of the microstructure, chapter 6 provides insight into the evaluation of hardness testing indentations. Chapter 7 concludes this work with an overview of the technical literature.

  • Protein Liquid Chromatography

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 61
    • M. Kastner
    • English
    Protein Liquid Chromatography is a handbook-style guide to liquid chromatography as a tool for isolating and purifying proteins, consisting of 25 individual chapters divided into three parts: Part A covers commonly-used, classic modes of chromatography such as ion-exchange, size-exclusion, and reversed-phase; Part B deals with various target protein classes such as membrane proteins, recombinant proteins, and glycoproteins; and Part C looks at various miscellaneous related topics, including coupling reaction, buffer solution additives, and software. The text as a whole can be viewed as a systematic survey of available methods and how best to use them, but also attempts to provide an exhaustive coverage of each facet. How to solve a specific problem using a chosen method is the overall essence of the volume. The principle philosophy of this compilation is that practical application is everything; therefore, both classical and modern methods are presented in detail, with examples involving conventional, medium- and high-pressure techniques. Over-exposure to history, concept, and theory has deliberately been avoided. The reader will find a wealth of tips and tricks from users for users, including advice on the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Easy-to-read sections on "Getting started now" and "Where to go from here" attempt to provide hands-on, fool-proof detailed practical procedures with complete and even standard model runs for any scientist or technician at work in this area.

  • Handbook of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry

    From Macromolecules to Man
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 4
    • Richard B. Kemp
    • English
    The applications and interest in thermal analysis and calorimetry have grown enormously during the last half of the 20th century. These techniques have become indispensable in the study of processes such as catalysis, hazards evaluation etc., and in measuring important physical properties quickly, conveniently and with markedly improved accuracy. Consequently, thermal analysis and calorimetry have grown in stature and more scientists and engineers have become at least part-time, practitioners. People new to the field therefore need a source of information describing the basic principles and current state of the art. The last volume of this 4 volume handbook, devoted to many aspects of biological thermal analysis and calorimetry, completes a comprehensive review of this important area. All chapters have been prepared by recognized experts in their respective fields. The approach taken is "how and what to do and when to do it". The complete work is a valuable addition to the already existing literature.

  • Automotive Plastics and Composites

    Worldwide Markets and Trends to 2007
    • 2nd Edition
    • D. Mann
    • English
    Following the success of the first (1995) edition, this fully updated report will provide a global overview of the use of automotive plastics and composites in passenger vehicles, with an analysis of markets and trends to the year 2007. Special attention is given to vehicle weight reduction. For a PDF version of the report please call Tina Enright on +44 (0) 1865 843008 for price details.

  • Advances in Synthetic Metals

    Twenty Years of Progress in Science and Technology
    • 1st Edition
    • P. Bernier + 2 more
    • English
    This edited work contains eight extensive, review-type contributions by leading scientists in the field of synthetic metals. The authors were invited by the organisers of the International Conference on Science and Technology of Synthetic Metals '98 (ICSM'98) to review the progress of research in the past two decades in a unifying and pedagogical manner. The present work highlights the state-of-the-art of the field and assesses the prospects for future research.

  • Arsenic Exposure and Health Effects III

    • 1st Edition
    • W.R. Chappell + 2 more
    • English
    The Society of Environmental Geochemistry and Health (SEGH) Third International Conference on Arsenic Exposure and Health Effects was held from July 12-15, 1998 in San Diego, California. Several outstanding papers and posters generated lively discussion and debate not only about scientific issues but also about policy and regulatory issues. While developed countries are considering spending perhaps billions of dollars per year to reach concentrations of 10 micrograms per liter or less, countries like Bangladesh, India and China are trying to deal with much more severe, epidemic scale, arsenic problems with millions of dollars or less.Like its predecessors in 1994 and 1995, The Third SEGH International Conference on Arsenic Exposure and Health Effects (1998) continued the theme of global impact of arsenic. In addition, two new countries with significant arsenic problems, Inner Mongolia and Bangladesh, were represented. The Bangladesh problem could be larger than the one in West Bengal with a possible two-thirds of the population at risk. The conference also featured a session on mechanisms of cancer carcinogenesis. Several scientists presented their work on this important issue which is central to considerations of such questions as the shape of the dose-response curve at low doses. This latter issue was featured in the final session of the conference. Another session that was new and of great interest was on the treatment of victims of chronic arsenic poisoning.This was the most dynamic conference to date and this resulting monograph represents the state-of-the-art in arsenic research on a worldwide basis. It will contribute to the solution of the many problems caused by arsenic exposure throughout the world.

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