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Elsevier Science

  • Materials and Processes for Submicron Technologies

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 89
    • J.M. Martinez-Duart + 2 more
    • English
    The European Materials Society decided to hold a Symposium entitled Materials and Processes for Submicron Technologies in June 16-19, 1998, within the yearly E-MRS Spring Meeting in Strasbourg, France. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the results of the advances in microelectronic devices directly relating to the reduction in size of features of the devices down to submicron size. When electronic materials are patterned to these small sizes, their physico-chemical properties show many aspects (interdiffusion, electromigration, etc.), many of these not well known yet. The articles presented in this volume, 28 in number, are representative of the 40 papers accepted for this particular E-MRS Meeting (Symposium N).
  • Hydrotreatment and Hydrocracking of Oil Fractions

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 127
    • B. Delmon + 2 more
    • English
    The 2nd International Symposium on Hydrotreatment and Hydrocracking of Oil Fractions, which is also the 7th in the series of European Workshops on Hydrotreatment, took place in Antwerpen, Belgium from November 14 to 17.The Symposium emphasized how oil refining faces increasingly severe environmental regulations. These and the increasing application of heavier crudes containing more S-, N- and metal components call for more efficient hydrotreatment and hydrocracking processes. It is clear from the keynote lectures, the oral contributions and the posters of this meeting that adapting the operating conditions will not suffice. Adequate catalysts need to be developed, with different composition and structure. Surface science techniques and molecular modeling are now well established tools for such a development. They should be of help in widely different aspects, like the role of precursors in the preparation or the modifications undergone by the catalyst under reaction conditions. The improvement of hydrotreatment and hydrocracking also needs accurate modeling of the chemical reactor. This requires more representative hydrodynamics and kinetic models whose validity extends to the very low S- and N-contents. These areas should be vigorously developed.
  • Chemical Technology in the Pre-Treatment Processes of Textiles

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 12
    • S.R. Karmakar
    • English
    Textile chemical processing today, particularly the pre-treatment processes require a highly sophisticated technology and engineering to achieve the well known concepts of "Right first time, Right everytime and Right on time" processing and production. Chemical pre-treatment may be broadly defined as a procedure mainly concerned with the removal of natural as well as added impurities in fabric to a level necessary for good whiteness and absorbency by utilising minimum time, energy and chemicals as well as water. This book discusses the fundamental aspects of chemistry, chemical technology and machineries involved in the various pre-treatment process of textiles before subsequent dyeing, printing and finishing. With the introduction of newer fibres, specialty chemicals, improved technology and sophisticated machineries developed during the last decade, this book fills a gap in this area of technology. However, its real strength is its clear perception of ample background description, which will enable readers to understand most current journals, thus staying abreast of the latest advances in the field.
  • Analytical Determination of Nicotine and Related Compounds and their Metabolites

    • 1st Edition
    • J.W. Gorrod + 1 more
    • English
    This book provides for the first time a single comprehensive source of information on the analytical chemistry of nicotine and related alkaloids. The editors have brought together scientists from academia and the tobacco industry to describe the state-of-the-art of the chemistry and analytical methods for measurement of nicotine. Both the scope and detail of the book are impressive. Chapters describe the history, pharmacology and toxicology of nicotine, the biosynthesis of nicotine and other alkaloids in the tobacco plant, the general chemistry of nicotine and the analytical methodologies that have been used to measure nicotine and related alkaloids in biological specimens, in tobacco and pharmaceutical products and in tobacco smoke. There is also a comprehensive review of the chemistry and toxicology of nicotine-derived nitrosamines, an important class of tobacco carcinogens.
  • Biological Complexity and the Dynamics of Life Processes

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 34
    • J. Ricard
    • English
    The aim of this book is to show how supramolecular complexity of cell organization can dramatically alter the functions of individual macromolecules within a cell. The emergence of new functions which appear as a consequence of supramolecular complexity, is explained in terms of physical chemistry.The book is interdisciplinary, at the border between cell biochemistry, physics and physical chemistry. This interdisciplinarity does not result in the use of physical techniques but from the use of physical concepts to study biological problems.In the domain of complexity studies, most works are purely theoretical or based on computer simulation. The present book is partly theoretical, partly experimental and theory is always based on experimental results. Moreover, the book encompasses in a unified manner the dynamic aspects of many different biological fields ranging from dynamics to pattern emergence in a young embryo.The volume puts emphasis on dynamic physical studies of biological events. It also develops, in a unified perspective, this new interdisciplinary approach of various important problems of cell biology and chemistry, ranging from enzyme dynamics to pattern formation during embryo development, thus paving the way to what may become a central issue of future biology.
  • Mental Models in Discourse Processing and Reasoning

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 128
    • G. Rickheit + 1 more
    • English
    In this interdisciplinary discussion on mental models, researchers from various areas in cognitive science tackle the following questions: What is a mental model? What are the prospects and limitations in applying the mental model notion in cognitive science? How can the ideas on the nature of mental models and their mode of operation be empirically substantiated? The primary goal of the research group was to work out a definition of mental models that embraces the overall use of this construct in cognitive science as well as the more specific conceptions used in particular research domains such as cognitive linguistics. Theoretical claims about the properties of mental models were discussed and their tenability evaluated against the empirical evidence.The volume is divided into three parts. Fundamental aspects of mental models are presented in the first section, the following part contains contributions to the function of mental models in discourse processing, and finally problems of mental models in reasoning and problem solving are outlined.
  • The Primate Nervous System, Part III

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 15
    • Floyd E. Bloom + 2 more
    • English
    This volume is the third and final part of the planned coverage of the neurochemical circuitry of the primate central nervous system. The five chapters included in this volume complement and integrate magnificently with the two prior volumes. Included in the volume are the following: a two-fold exposition on the human forebrain, comprised of a comprehensive overview of the entire human forebrain, and a specific focus on the basal forebrain (a region critical for a wide range of human problems ranging from substance abuse to Alzheimer's disease), a critical synthesis of the primate basal ganglia (a region under intense scrutiny for the organization of motor programs, and for their dysfunctions in Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and other malfunctions), the chemical and anatomic details of the primate hippocampal formation in extenso, and lastly, a review of the rapidly growing literature on the mesocortical projection of dopaminergic circuits onto the primate frontal cortex ( a system highly linked to higher order mental abstractions, as well as the dysfunctions of schizophrenia). Scholars will recognize that the laying out of these status reports on our still vastly incomplete examination of the primate brains is an opportunity for progress.
  • Composition, Deep Structure and Evolution of Continents

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 24
    • R.D. van der Hilst + 1 more
    • English
    The ensemble of manuscripts presented in this special volume captures the stimulating cross-disciplinary dialogue from the International Symposium on Deep Structure, Composition, and Evolution of Continents, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 15-17 October 1997. It will provide an update on recent research developments and serve as a starting point for research of the many outstanding issues.After its formation at mid-oceanic spreading centers, oceanic lithosphere cools, thickens, and subsides, until it subducts into the deep mantle beneath convergent margins. As a result of this continuous recycling process oceanic lithosphere is typically less than 200 million years old (the global average is about 80 Myr). A comprehensive, multi-disciplinary study of continents involves a wide range of length scales: tiny rock samples and diamond inclusions may yield isotope and trace element signatures diagnostic for the formation age and evolution of (parts of) cratons, while geophysical techniques (e.g., seismic and electromagnetic imaging) constrain variations of elastic and conductive properties over length scales ranging from several to many thousand kilometers. Integrating and reconciling this information is far from trivial and, as several papers in this volume document, the relationships between, for instance, formation age and tectonic behavior on the one hand and the seismic signature, heat flow, and petrology on the other may not be uniform but may vary both within as well as between cratons. These observations complicate attempts to determine the variations of one particular observable (e.g., heat flow, lithosphere thickness) as a function of another (e.g., crustal age) on the basis of global data compilations and tectonic regionalizations.Imp... conclusions of the work presented here are that (1) continental deformation, for instance shortening, is not restricted to the crust but also involves the lithospheric mantle; (2) the high wavespeed part of continental lithospheric mantle is probably thinner than inferred previously from vertically travelling body waves or form global surface-wave models; and (3) the seismic signature of ancient continents is more complex than expected from a uniform relationship with crustal age.
  • Biomathematics

    Mathematics of Biostructures and Biodynamics
    • 1st Edition
    • S. Andersson + 3 more
    • English
    This book presents new mathematics for the description of structure and dynamics in molecular and cellular biology. On an exponential scale it is possible to combine functions describing inner organisation, including finite periodicity, with functions for outside morphology into a complete definition of structure. This mathematics is particularly fruitful to apply at molecular and atomic distances. The structure descriptions can then be related to atomic and molecular forces and provide information on structural mechanisms. The calculations have been focussed on lipid membranes forming the surface layers of cell organelles. Calculated surfaces represent the mid-surface of the lipid bilayer. Membrane dynamics such as vesicle transport are described in this new language. Periodic membrane assemblies exhibit conformations based on the standing wave oscillations of the bilayer, considered to reflect the true dynamic nature of periodic membrane structures. As an illustration the structure of an endoplasmatic reticulum has been calculated. The transformation of such cell membrane assemblies into cubosomes seems to reflect a transition into vegetative states. The organisation of the lipid bilayer of nerve cells is analyzed, taking into account an earlier observed lipid bilayer phase transition associated with the depolarisation of the membrane. Evidence is given for a new structure of the alveolar surface, relating the mathematical surface defining the bilayer organisation to new experimental data. The surface layer is proposed to consist of a coherent phase, consisting of a lipid-protein bilayer curved according to a classical surface - the CLP surface. Without employing this new mathematics it would not be possible to give an analytical description of this structure and its deformation during the respiration cycle. In more general terms this mathematics is applied to the description of the structure and dynamic properties of motor proteins, cytoskeleton proteins, and RNA/DNA. On a macroscopic scale the motions of cilia, sperm and flagella are modelled. This mathematical description of biological structure and dynamics, biomathematics, also provides significant new information in order to understand the mechanisms governing shape of living organisms.
  • Handbook of Molecular-Genetic Techniques for Brain and Behavior Research

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 13
    • Wim E. Crusio + 1 more
    • English
    The book gives a broad overview of recombinant DNA techniques for the behavioral neuroscientist, with illustrative examples of applications. Species covered include rodents (mainly mice), Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans and Danio rerio. Experimental techniques required to characterize the behavioral phenotypes of mutant animals is provided. Several aspects of novel molecular-genetic techniques are overviewed and possible research strategies are explained. The sections of the book start with general descriptions of techniques followed by illustrative examples.It is divided into six sections. Section 1, bioinformatics and genomics research. Section 2, top-down strategies, where the researcher starts with the phenotype and then analyzes the associated genes; bottom-up strategies, where the physiological chain leading to a phenotype is analyzed starting from the gene product. Section 3, transgenic approaches in rodents including overexpressing foreign genes and gene-targeting; systemic manipulation approaches directly targeting the central nervous system and methods used with invertebrates. Section 4, methods used to evaluate relevant behavioral phenotypes, including learning and aggression. Section 5, examples on molecular brain research in man. Section 6, ethical aspects of research in this field.