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Elsevier Science

Frontiers in Dusty Plasmas
1st Edition
Y. Nakamura + 2 more
English
The study of dusty plasmas is now in a vigorous state of development. Dust and plasma coexist in a vast variety of cosmic environments and their research received a major boost in the early 80's with the Voyager spacecraft observations of peculiar features in the Saturnian ring system (e.g. the radial spokes) which could not be explained purely in gravitational terms. In addition, dust streams were measured by the Galileo spacecraft in the Jovian magnetosphere and charged dust in the earth's mesosphere was detected by a direct rocket experiment. Since then the area has greatly expanded with dedicated laboratory experiments verifying aspects of basic physics of charged dust grains in plasmas.These proceedings contain invited and poster papers which were presented by scientists active in the field from more than twenty countries. The material contains new aspects of collective interactions in dusty plasmas. For example, discoveries of dust-acoustic Mach cones, dust ion-acoustic shocks, great dust voids, vortex formation, dust crystallization under microgravity, coexistence of positive negative dust grains in the mesosphere and dust in tokamaks. The more theoretical and simulation studies focus on dynamical and structural properties and kinetic theories of strongly coupled dusty plasmas, as well as on self-organizations and structures, in addition to identifying forces (viz. wakefields, electrostatic and dipolar interactions etc.), which are responsible for charged dust grain attraction and phase transitions.The resulting book is a valuable, state-of-the-art review of the field of dusty plasma physics and will be welcomed by both researchers and graduate students who want to keep up to date in this rapidly growing field.
The Biological Basis for Mind Body Interactions
1st Edition
Volume 122
E.A. Mayer + 1 more
English
The current volume focuses on several key aspects of mind/brain/body interactions in health and disease, including specific examples of interactions between body and brain, mechanisms underlying the response of the system to stressors, the role of early life events in permanently biasing the responsiveness of the system and practical implications of mind body interactions in human disease.The volume on Biological Basis for Mind Body Interactions is organized into 6 major sections, each dealing with a unique aspect of the general topic: After establishing the relationship between mind, brain and emotions, the first section deals with general neurobiological aspects mediating the effect of stress on various organ systems, including the immune and cardiovascular system. The second section covers the topic of how early life stressor can permanently alter responsiveness of the nervous system in animals and in man. The third section deals with influences of the internal environment, mediated by neuroendocrine and visceral afferent pathways on the CNS. The fourth section which deals with influences of body on the brain, focuses on mechanisms involved in perception and modulation of pain. The fifth section deals with influences of the mind/brain on the body, with an emphasis on central and peripheral mechanisms of autonomic control of body functions. The last section deals with a series of practical issues of mind body treatments, including acupuncture, breathing, body work and meditation. In addition, issues such as cost effectiveness and research aspects are discussed. Authors in this last section frequently refer to topics and mechanisms addressed in the early sections, making it a truly integrated volume.The unique aspect of the volume is the integration of state of the art research information on biological and practical aspects of mind/brain/body interactions. It is based on the beliefs of the editors and participants that the traditional separation of mind and body in research and in treatment of human disease is obsolete and needs to be replaced with a new unifying paradigm. Ironically, this evolving paradigm shares many similarities with ancient pre-Cartesian paradigms of health and disease.
Hydrocolloids
1st Edition
Charles M Tipton
English
Ergonomics Guidelines and Problem Solving
1st Edition
Volume 1
A. Mital + 2 more
English
There is an urgent need to disseminate ergonomics "know-how" to the work place. This book meets that need by providing clear guidelines and problem solving recommendations to assist the practitioner in decisions that directly protect the health, safety and well-being of the worker.The guidelines have evolved from a series of symposia on Ergonomic Guidelines and Problem Solving. Initially experts in each area selected were asked to write draft guidelines. These guidelines were circulated to participants at the symposia and to other experts for review before being comprehensively revised. In some instances these guidelines cannot be considered complete but it is important now to put some recommendations forward as guidelines. It is hoped that as new research emerges each guideline will be updated.Each guideline has been divided into two parts. Part I contains the guidelines for the practitioner and Part II provides the scientific basis or the knowledge for the guide. Such separation of the applied and theoretical content was designed to facilitate rapid incorporation of the guide into practice.The target audience for this book is the practitioner. The practitioner may be a manager, production system designer, shop supervisor, occupational health and safety professional, union representative, labor inspector or production engineer. For each of the guidelines, relevant practitioners are described.Topics covered include work space design, tool design, work-rest schedules, illumination and maintenance.
Dynamic Surface Tensiometry in Medicine
1st Edition
Volume 8
V.N. Kazakov + 4 more
English
Human biological liquids contain numerous low- and high-molecular weight surfactants. The human organism contains interfaces with enormous surfaces. The physicochemical and biochemical processes taking place at these interfaces are extremely important for the vital functions of the organism as a whole, and the interfacial properties may reflect peculiarities of age and sex, health and disease. The present book is the first attempt to systematically present the results of dynamic and equilibrium surface tensions measurements of serum and urine samples that were obtained from healthy humans of various sex and age, and to compare these results with measurements of biological liquids obtained from patients suffering from various diseases or with measurements of amniotic fluid obtained from women at various stages of pregnancy.Pulmonary medicine, especially neonatology, has systematically used interfacial tensiometry for studying pulmonary surfactant. In this particular area, significant progress was achieved in the treatment of diseases related to alterations of the lung surfactant system. We believe that, similar to the progress in pulmonary medicine attributed to surface chemical studies of lung surfactant, progress in other medical branches could be expected through studies of interfacial characteristics of other human biological liquids.For several years the authors of this book have been engaged in studies aimed at the improvement of the maximum bubble pressure method, resulting in the development of computer controlled tensiometers which are capable of measuring dynamic surface tensions within a wide range of surface lifetime. In addition to the measurement techniques, a correct interpretation and analysis of the tensiometric data obtained is extremely important. The kinetic theory of adsorption from solutions, and the theory of equilibrium adsorption layers of surfactant/protein mixtures provide the basis for both the choice of the most characteristic parameters of tensiograms and the analysis of the results. Some theoretical models describing the adsorption of proteins are presented in Chapter 1. The main theoretical and experimental issues related to the maximum bubble pressure technique as applied to biological liquids are presented in Chapter 2. A more detailed discussion of the differences of the various methods in use for measuring dynamic surface tension of biological fluids is provided in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 gives data from patients with kidney disease, Chapter 5 from patients with rheumatic diseases, Chapter 6 with pulmonary diseases, Chapter 7 with diseases of the central nervous system, and Chapter 8 with neoplasms.Dynamic interface tensiometry of human biological liquids is a fascinating new method which deserves a broad use for prospective studies of various diseases.
Genetic Aberrancies and Neurodegenerative Disorders
1st Edition
Volume 3
M.P. Mattson
English
Genetic Aberrancies and Neurodegenerative Disorders presents critical reviews and emerging findings concerning the roles of genetic mutations and polymorphisms in the pathogenesis of a range of neurological disorders including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, trinucleotide repeat disorders, stroke, epilepsy and others. This volume, written by leading experts, brings together fundamental information concerning the roles of inherited traits in the pathogenesis of different neurodegenerative disorders. In addition to providing a catalogue of the known genetic alterations that are linked to specific neurodegenerative disorders, the chapters detail the current state of understanding of the cellular and biochemical mechanisms whereby the genetic aberrancies lead to neuronal dysfunction and degeneration. The emerging picture of each disorder, painted by pathological, biochemical and molecular brushes, suggests that they share key mechanisms including increased levels of oxidative stress, perturbed ion homeostasis, mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptotic proteolytic cascades. The existence of specific molecular defects provides the opportunity to design experiments that can establish the precise pathogenic mechanism of a specific mutation or genetic risk factor. The value of this approach is exemplified by recent studies of how mutations in Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and how presenilin mutations result in early-onset Alzheimer's disease. A theme developed among the different chapters is that events that occur during aging predispose neurons to genetic aberrancies that promote degenerative cascades, and that specific genetic defects exert their influence on particular populations of neurons in a disorder-specific manner. The chapters in this volume will stimulate readers to generate new hypotheses concerning the pathogenic mechanisms of genetic aberrancies that can be experimentally tested.
Phagocytosis: Microbial Invasion
1st Edition
Volume 6
S. Gordon
English
The present volume focuses on microbial invasion strategies of pathogen uptake. An accompanying volume (Vol. 5) in the series presents the phagocytic process from the viewpiont of the host cell. This field of study is growing rapidly after a somewhat slow start over recent decades. This collection of invited chapters attempts to reflect current research and brings together cell biologists, microbiologists, and immunologists wiht disthemes, hopefully like a symphony rather than a boring catalogue. It will be evident that editorial bias favors intracellular parasitism and medically important organisms. The neutrophil is far more than a supporting player to the macrophage and some attempt is made to remind the reader of some of its unique skills. To retain a manageable size, the emphasis is on relatively early events such as mutual recognition, cell entry, and response, rather than on longterm changes in gene expression by either host cell or pahtogen. Viruses are excluded not because of lack of importance but because of somewhat different research approaches, although it is becoming increasingly clear that large viruses (e.g. Vaccinia) and Listeria monocytogenes, share common strategies in invasion and intercellular spread.
Elsevier's Dictionary of Mathematics
In English, German, French and Russian
1st Edition
K. Peeva + 3 more
English
Elsevier's Dictionary of Mathematics contains 11,652 entries with more than 4,750 cross-references. Selection of the terms was based either on their significance or on their frequency of use according to authoritative encyclopedias, dictionaries and textbooks. Included are both modern developments and contemporary changes in terminology as well as recently established terms.The terminology covers all the major branches from elementary to advanced subjects: arithmetic, algebra, geometry, set theory, discrete mathematics, logic, Boolean algebra, linear algebra, matrix algebra, calculus, differential equations, vector algebra, field theory, probability theory and statistics, optimization, numerical methods, mathematical programming, modern algebra, algebraic structures, computer algebra, category theory, applied mathematics, theory of automata and formal languages, theory of games, theory of graphs, as well as some commonly used entries in computer architecture, hardware, communications, system and application software, microprogramming, etc.This work will provide readers, writers and translators with a guide of the most widely used terms and collections in the area, and will prove to be a useful tool for all professionals exploring the multilingual scientific terminology.
Membrane Biophysics: As Viewed from Experimental Bilayer Lipid Membranes
1st Edition
Volume 5
H.T. Tien † + 1 more
English
This book summarizes the current status of research on bilayer lipid membranes (planar lipid bilayers and spherical liposomes). In addition to describing the properties of lipid bilayers and examining biomembrane phenomena, the book has two other objectives. The first is to present practical methods for the formation and study of lipid bilayers with either aqueous or metal-lipid bilayer interfaces. The second aim is to treat planar lipid bilayers as a new type of interfacial adsorption phenomena.The first nine chapters cover properties of biomembranes, basic principles of membrane biophysics, transport, electrochemistry, physiology, bioenergetics, and photobiology. Chapter 10 presents the following topics: lipid bilayers in medicine, supported lipid bilayers as sensors, a short discussion of liposomes, and solar energy transduction via semiconductor septum photovoltaic cells based on natural photosynthesis.
Bioactive Natural Products (Part E)
V24
1st Edition
Atta-ur Rahman
English
Natural products play an integral and ongoing role in promoting numerous aspects of scientific advancement, and many aspects of basic research programs are intimately related to natural products. The significance, therefore, of the Studies in Natural Product Chemistry series, edited by Professor Atta-ur-Rahman, cannot be overestimated. This volume, in accordance with previous volumes, presents us with cutting-edge contributions of great importance.

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