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Elsevier

Elsevier Science

  • Oxyradicals in Medical Biology

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 25
    • J.M. McCord
    • English
    The rapid expansion of the area of free radical biology in the last 25 years has occurred within a framework of assumptions and preconceived notions that has at times directed the course of this movement. The most dominant of these notions has been the view that free radical production is without exception a bad thing, and that the more efficient our elimination of these toxic substances, the better off we will be. The very important observation by Bernard Babior and colleagues in 1973 that activated phagocytes produce superoxide in order to kill micro organisms, served to illustrate that constructive roles are possible for free radicals. For many in the field, however, this merely underscored the deadly nature of oxygen-derived radicals, both from the microbe's point of view and from the host's as well. (Phagocyte-produced superoxide is responsible in part for the tissue injury manifested as inflammation. See Harris and Granger, Chapter 5, and Leff, Hybertson and Repine, Chapter 6.)Mother Nature, however, has a penchant for being able to make a silk purse from a sow's ear. If one is dealt a bad hand, one must simply make the best of it. After two decades of focusing on the destructive side of free radicals, the last few years have begun to reveal a new and finer perspective on free radical metabolism - a role in regulation of cellular function (see Schulze-Osthoff and Baeuerle, Chapter 2). Evidence from a number of sources suggests that an increase in the oxidative status of cell encourages that cell to grow and divide. Increasing the expression of mangnese superoxide dismutase can suppress the malignant phenotype of melanon cells (see Oberley and Oberley, Chapter 3). Oxidative stress beyond a certain poitosis (from the Greek, literally "to fall apart"). Is this suicide response an evolutionary fail-safe device to curtail tumorogenesis? Does oxidative stress-induced apoptosis account for the loss of immune cells in AIDS (see Flores and McCor Chapter 4)?This volume attempts to present the spectrum of roles, both good and bad played by active oxygen species as understood at this point in the evolution of this field of free radical biology.

  • Microbiological Analysis of Food and Water

    Guidelines for Quality Assurance
    • 1st Edition
    • N.F. Lightfoot + 1 more
    • English
    With the help of leading Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) microbiology specialists in Europe, a complete set of guidelines on how to start and implement a quality system in a microbiological laboratory has been prepared, supported by the European Commission through the Measurement and Testing Programme. The working group included food and water microbiologists from various testing laboratories, universities and industry, as well as statisticians and QA and QC specialists in chemistry.This book contains the outcome of their work. It has been written with the express objective of using simple but accurate wording so as to be accessible to all microbiology laboratory staff. To facilitate reading, the more specialized items, in particular some statistical treatments, have been added as an annex to the book. All QA and QC tools mentioned within these guidelines have been developed and applied by the authors in their own laboratories. All aspects dealing with reference materials and interlaboratory studies have been taken in a large part from the projects conducted within the BCR and Measurement and Testing Programmes of the European Commission.With so many different quality control procedures, their introduction in a laboratory would appear to be a formidable task. The authors recognize that each laboratory manager will choose the most appropriate procedures, depending on the type and size of the laboratory in question. Accreditation bodies will not expect the introduction of all measures, only those that are appropriate for a particular laboratory.Features of this book:• Gives all quality assurance and control measures to be taken, from sampling to expression of results• Provides practical aspects of quality control to be applied both for the analyst and top management• Describes the use of reference materials for statistical control of methods and use of certified reference materials (including statistical tools).

  • Rheology: An Historical Perspective

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 7
    • R.I. Tanner + 1 more
    • English
    The science of rheology remains a mystery to most people, even to some scientists. Some respectable dictionaries have been quite cavalier in their attitude to the science, the small Collins Gem dictionary, for example, being quite happy to inform us that a Rhea is an three-toed South American ostrich, whilst at the same time offering no definition of rheology. This maybe due to the fact that the science is interdisciplinary and does not fit well into any one of the historical disciplines.This book contains an in-depth study of the history of rheology, beginning with the statements of Heraclitus, Confucius and the prophetess Deborah. It also emphasises the distinctive contributions of Newton, Hooke, Boltzmann, Maxwell, Kelvin and others, and culminates in the flourishing activity in the second half of this century.Features of this book:• Is the only book on the subject• Prevents the rediscovery of results already made• Will educate newcomers to the field to the rich heritage in even a relatively recent science like rheology.The book will be invaluable for science and scientific history libraries and will also be of interest to rheologists, and scientists working in the polymer processing, food, lubrication, detergent and similar industries.

  • Geoenvironmental Engineering

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 82
    • A.M.O. Mohamed + 1 more
    • English
    The new social and economic era calls for integration of ecology and economy in a system of cause and effect. The central element in this shift is sustainable development. Fundamental to the achievement of sustainable development is the requirement for environmentally responsible waste management and restoration of the environment. Solutions to the complex problems confronted by waste management and environmental restoration industry are currently handled by the geoenvironmental engineering profession that needs a good background in soil biology, chemistry, mechanics, mineralogy, and physics. In recognition of this need, this book summarizes relevant aspects of various soil physics, mineralogy, and chemistry as well as the chemistry of pollutants. This treatment will provide sufficient background to students and practicing engineers to enable them to think about how to approach waste management and environmental restoration problems.

  • Microclimate for Cultural Heritage

    • 1st Edition
    • Dario Camuffo
    • English
    This is a useful microphysics handbook for conservators and specialists in physics, chemistry, architecture, engineering, geology and biology dealing with the environment and works of art. A rigourous treatment and a background familiarity with the underlying physics behind mathematics are covered, giving a detailed description and interpretation of the main microphysical phenomena, removing unsound popular beliefs. The basis are given for non-destructive diagnostics to evaluate causes of damage determined by atmoshpheric factors, as well as negative consequences of the unsound use of technology and mass tourism. To this aim, suggestions are given on the fundamental principles in designing heating, air conditioning, lighting and in reducing the deposition of pollutants on works of art. Theory and experience are coupled to describe the complex condensation mechanisms and the fundamental role played by water in the stone deterioration and the formation of crusts on monuments. Urban meteorology, air-surface interactions, atmospheric stability, dispersion and deposition of airborne pollutants are also key topics of this book, for which the main aim has been to make comprehensible to a wider audience a matter that is only familiar to a few specialists.This book combines a theoretical background with many years of accurate laboratory research, field surveys and practice. The first part, devoted to applied theory, is a concise treatise on microphysics, which includes a survey on the basic ideas which are necessary for environmental diagnostic and conservation. The second part of the book focuses on the practical utilisation and shows in detail how field surveys should be performed, with many suggestions and examples and the indication of some common errors that should be avoided.

  • Rock Coatings

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 6
    • R.I. Dorn
    • English
    Many rock coatings have been misunderstood by geographers and geologists alike for over a century, this is the first book that explains the variety of rock coatings found at the earth surface. For the achaeologist, it explains the variety of patination types found at the earth surface and the book also provides the first marriage of the stone conservation, archaeological, and earth science literature.In the last two hundred years there have been over 2000 papers written on fourteen general types of rock coatings by scholars from over a dozen disciplines including analytical chemistry, archaeology, botany, conservation of stone monuments, climatology, engineering, hydrology, geochemistry, geomorphology, landscape architecture, microbiology, mineralogy, pedology, oceanography, remote sensing, tectonics, and weathering. Yet, Rock Coatings provides the first synthesis of this interdisciplinary field.Rock Coatings is subdivided into three sections: firstly the introductory, the second section details the different types of rock coatings and the final section synthesizes the material and presents a general model to interpret the distribution of rock coatings found at the earth's surface.

  • The Yeasts - A Taxonomic Study

    • 4th Edition
    • Cletus Kurtzman + 1 more
    • English
    The yeasts are a phylogenetically diverse group of fungi characterized by unicellular growth. Yeasts have been used for bread making and brewing beverages for millennia, and have become increasingly important in biotechnology for production of fuel alcohol, organic acids, enzymes, and various pharmacologically important chemicals. Other species are serious human, animal, and plant pathogens. Since publication of the 3rd edition of this book in 1984, numerous new species and genera have been described, many because of the application of new molecular biological methods. Molecular comparisons have now provided a phylogenetic distinction between the yeasts and other fungi, some of which have a unicellular growth phase.This book is the most definitive treatment of taxonomy and systematics of yeasts available and has been prepared by an international team of experts and is directed at taxonomists, ecologists, mycologists, microbiologists, clinicians, molecular geneticists, and biotechnologists.

  • Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 46
    • Frank Jahn
    • English
    This book on hydrocarbon exploration and production is the first volume in the series Developments in Petroleum Science. The chapters are: The Field Life Cycle, Exploration, Drilling Engineering, Safety and The Environment, Reservoir Description, Volumetric Estimation, Field Appraisal, Reservoir Dynamic Behaviour, Well Dynamic Behaviour, Surface Facilities, Production Operations and Maintenance, Project and Contract Management, Petroleum Economics, Managing the Producing Field, and Decommissioning.

  • Introduction to Marine Micropaleontology

    • 2nd Edition
    • B.U. Haq + 1 more
    • English
    This beautifully illustrated text book, with state-of-the-art illustrations, is useful not only for an introduction to the subject, but also for the application of marine microfossils in paleoceanographic, paleoenvironmental and biostratigraphic analyses. The recent revival of interest in marine micropaleontology worldwide in the wake of the development of sequence stratigraphic models has led to the decision to reissue the volume in its original, but paperback, form. The ideas expressed in various chapters of this second edition remain as valid today as they were when the book was first issued. The text, however, includes an updated Phanerozoic geologic time which has been considerably modified since the 1980s.

  • Advances in Chemical Conversions for Mitigating Carbon Dioxide

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 114
    • T. Inui + 4 more
    • English
    Global environmental problems, especially global warming caused by the accelerative accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, are of great importance for humans. The world's population is now approaching 6 billion, and is still increasing. Developments in communication systems and transportation tools have made the circulation of information, technologies and materials easier, which results in rapid economic growth, particularly in the East and Southeastern Asian countries. Increased affluence leads to an increased consumption of fossil fuels. Inevitably, this leads to an increase in carbon dioxide emission and environmentally hazardous materials which in turn precipitates climatic changes on a global scale. Recent studies showed that the increase in carbon dioxide emission for last year was the highest in the past seven years, and the total amount of carbon dioxide emission from all over the world reached 6.5 billion tons. Furthermore, one cannot overlook the report which appeared recently in Nature, that the floor-area of the iceberg in the South Pole has already decreased by 25% in the past five decades.Over 260 scientists and engineers from 21 countries who had a strong interest and wished to contribute to solve the carbon dioxide problem attended this conference. The papers presented in this volume cover most of the possibilities of the chemical conversion of carbon dioxide.

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