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Books in Life sciences

  • Intelligence and Human Progress

    The Story of What was Hidden in our Genes
    • 1st Edition
    • James Flynn
    • English
    Written by James R. Flynn of the "Flynn effect" (the sustained and substantial increase in intelligence test scores across the world over many decades), Intelligence and Human Progress examines genes and human achievement in all aspects, including what genes allow and forbid in terms of personal life history, the cognitive progress of humanity, the moral progress of humanity, and the cross-fertilization of the two. This book presents a new method for weighing family influences versus genes in the cognitive abilities of individuals, and counters the arguments of those who dismiss gains in IQ as true cognitive gains. It ranges over topics including: how family can handicap those taking the SAT; new IQ thresholds for occupations that show elite occupations are within reach of the average American; what Pol Pot did to the genetic potential of Cambodia; why dysgenics (the deterioration of human genes over the generations) is important, but no menace for the foreseeable future; and what might derail human intellectual progress. Researchers in developmental and cognitive psychology, educators, and professionals involved in intelligence testing or psychometrics will benefit from the perspectives offered here. But beyond that, anyone interested in the potential of the human mind will be engaged and challenged by one of the most important contemporary thinkers on the subject.
  • Advances in Applied Microbiology

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 84
    • English
    Published since 1959, Advances in Applied Microbiology continues to be one of the most widely read and authoritative review sources in microbiology. The series contains comprehensive reviews of the most current research in applied microbiology. Recent areas covered include bacterial diversity in the human gut, protozoan grazing of freshwater biofilms, metals in yeast fermentation processes and the interpretation of host-pathogen dialogue through microarrays. Eclectic volumes are supplemented by thematic volumes on various topics, including Archaea and sick building syndrome. Impact factor for 2011: 5.233
  • Computational Toxicology

    Methods and Applications for Risk Assessment
    • 1st Edition
    • Bruce A. Fowler
    • English
    Computational Toxicology: Methods and Applications for Risk Assessment is an essential reference on the translation of computational toxicology data into information that can be used for more informed risk assessment decision-making. This book is authored by leading international investigators who have real-world experience in relating computational toxicology methods to risk assessment. Key topics of interest include QSAR modeling, chemical mixtures, applications to metabolomic and metabonomic data sets, toxicogenomic analyses, applications to REACH informational strategies and much more. The examples provided in this book are based on cutting-edge technologies and set out to stimulate the further development of this promising field to offer rapid, better and more cost-effective answers to major public health concerns.
  • Cancer Immunotherapy

    Immune Suppression and Tumor Growth
    • 2nd Edition
    • George C. Prendergast + 1 more
    • English
    There has been major growth in understanding immune suppression mechanisms and its relationship to cancer progression and therapy. This book highlights emerging new principles of immune suppression that drive cancer, and it offers radically new ideas about how therapy can be improved by attacking these principles. Following work that firmly establishes immune escape as an essential trait of cancer, recent studies have now defined specific mechanisms of tumor immune suppression. It also demonstrates how attacking tumors with molecular targeted therapeutics or traditional chemotherapeutic drugs can produce potent anti-tumor effects in preclinical models. This book provides basic, translational, and clinical cancer researchers with an indispensable overview of immune escape as a critical trait in cancer and how applying specific combinations of immunotherapy and chemotherapy to attack this trait may radically improve the treatment of advanced disease.
  • Rio-Hortega's Third Contribution to the Morphological Knowledge and Functional Interpretation of the Oligodendroglia

    • 1st Edition
    • Jose R. Iglesias-Rozas + 1 more
    • English
    Pío del Rio-Hortega, one of the pioneering neuroscientists and discoverer of microglia, has been recognized as one of the most important Spanish neurohistogists of the past century. His landmark research on oligodendroglia, originally published in Spanish in 1928, has been translated into English for the first time by Dr. José R. Iglesias-Rozas and Prof. Manuel Garrosa. The book establishes definitively the concept of oligodendroglia and describes in great detail its structure, varieties, function, origin and pathology, providing a thorough review. The entire 1928 writing is presented, including the 79 excellent drawings and photographs from the original publication. To complement the original book and provide historical context, the translators have also included an introduction to the research and a biography of Pío del Rio-Hortega. This book constitutes a milestone in the history of neuroscience, biology and medicine, and it will be valuable reading for researchers and practitioners in these fields.
  • Advances in Clinical Chemistry

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 61
    • English
    Volume 61 in the internationally acclaimed Advances in Clinical Chemistry contains chapters submitted from leading experts from academia and clinical laboratory science. Authors are from a diverse field of clinical chemistry disciplines and diagnostics, ranging from basic biochemical exploration to cutting-edge microarray technology.
  • Advances in Applied Microbiology

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 86
    • English
    Published since 1959, Advances in Applied Microbiology continues to be one of the most widely read and authoritative review sources in microbiology. The series contains comprehensive reviews of the most current research in applied microbiology. Recent areas covered include bacterial diversity in the human gut, protozoan grazing of freshwater biofilms, metals in yeast fermentation processes and the interpretation of host-pathogen dialogue through microarrays. Eclectic volumes are supplemented by thematic volumes on various topics, including Archaea and sick building syndrome. Impact factor for 2012: 4.974.
  • Sea Urchins

    Biology and Ecology
    • 3rd Edition
    • Volume 38
    • John M. Lawrence
    • English
    This fully revised and expanded edition of Sea Urchins provides a wide-ranging understanding of the biology and ecology of this key component of the world's oceans. Coverage includes reproduction, metabolism, endocrinology, larval ecology, growth, digestion, carotenoids, disease and nutrition. Other chapters consider the ecology of individual species that are of major importance ecologically and economically, including species from Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Europe, North America, South America and Africa. In addition, six new contributions in areas such as immunology, digestive systems and community ecology inform readers on key recent developments and insights from the literature.Sea urchins are ecologically important and often greatly affect marine communities. Because they have an excellent fossil record, they are also of interest to paleontologists. Research on sea urchins has increased in recent years, stimulated first by recognition of their ecological importance and subsequently their economic importance. Scientists around the world are actively investigating their potential for aquaculture and fisheries, and their value as model systems for investigations in developmental biology continues to increase.
  • Joining and Assembly of Medical Materials and Devices

    • 1st Edition
    • Y N Zhou + 1 more
    • English
    As medical devices become more intricate, with an increasing number of components made from a wide range of materials, it is important that they meet stringent requirements to ensure that they are safe to be implanted and will not be rejected by the human body. Joining and assembly of medical materials and devices provides a comprehensive overview of joining techniques for a range of medical materials and applications.Part one provides an introduction to medical devices and joining methods with further specific chapters on microwelding methods in medical components and the effects of sterilization on medical materials and welded devices. Part two focuses on medical metals and includes chapters on the joining of shape memory alloys, platinum (Pt) alloys and stainless steel wires for implantable medical devices and evaluating the corrosion performance of metal medical device welds. Part three moves on to highlight the joining and assembly of medical plastics and discusses techniques including ultrasonic welding, transmission laser welding and radio frequency (RF)/dielectric welding. Finally, part four discusses the joining and assembly of biomaterial and tissue implants including metal-ceramic joining techniques for orthopaedic applications and tissue adhesives and sealants for surgical applications.Joining and assembly of medical materials and devices is a technical guide for engineers and researchers within the medical industry, professionals requiring an understanding of joining and assembly techniques in a medical setting, and academics interested in this field.
  • Human Motion Simulation

    Predictive Dynamics
    • 1st Edition
    • Karim Abdel-Malek + 1 more
    • English
    Simulate realistic human motion in a virtual world with an optimization-based approach to motion prediction. With this approach, motion is governed by human performance measures, such as speed and energy, which act as objective functions to be optimized. Constraints on joint torques and angles are imposed quite easily. Predicting motion in this way allows one to use avatars to study how and why humans move the way they do, given specific scenarios. It also enables avatars to react to infinitely many scenarios with substantial autonomy. With this approach it is possible to predict dynamic motion without having to integrate equations of motion -- rather than solving equations of motion, this approach solves for a continuous time-dependent curve characterizing joint variables (also called joint profiles) for every degree of freedom.