Many important phenomena in fluid motion are evident in vortex flow, i.e., flows in which vortical structures are significant in determining the whole flow. This book, which consists of lectures given at a NATO ARW held in Grenoble (France) in June 1992, provides an up-to-date account of current research in the study of these phenomena by means of numerical methods and mathematical modelling. Such methods include Eulerian methods (finite difference, spectral and wavelet methods) as well as Lagrangian methods (contour dynamics, vortex methods) and are used to study such topics as 2- or 3-dimensional turbulence, vorticity generation by solid bodies, shear layers and vortex sheets, and vortex reconnection. For researchers and graduate students in computational fluid dynamics, numerical analysis, and applied mathematics.

While working in the laboratory of Professor Dr. Jacob Reinert at the Freie Universitat Berlin (1974-1976), I had the opportunity to become deeply involved in studying the intricacies of the fascinating phenomenon of somatic embryogenesis in plant cells and protoplasts. In numerous stimu lating discussions with Professor Reinert on this subject, I was fully convinced that somatic embryogenesis would become one of the most important areas of study, not only regarding basic and fundamental aspects, but also for its application in crop improvement. During the last decade, we have witnessed tremendous interest and achievements in the use of somatic embryos for the production of synthetic seeds, for micro propagation, genetic transformation, cryopreservation, and conservation of germplasm. The en masse production of somatic embryos in the bioreactors has facilitated some of these studies. Somatic embryos have now been induced in more than 300 plant species belonging to a wide range offamilies. It was therefore felt that a compilation ofliterature/state of the art on this subject was necessary. Thus, two volumes on Somatic Embryo genesis and Synthetic Seed have been compiled, which contain 65 chapters contributed by International experts. Somatic Embryogenesis and Synthetic Seed I comprises 31 chapters, arranged in 3 sections: Section I Commitment of the cell to somatic embryogenesis; early events; anatomy; molecular basis; gene expression; role of polyamines; machine vision analysis of somatic embryos. Section II Applications of somatic embryos; technology of synthetic seed; fluid drilling; micropropagation; genetic transfor mation through somatic embryos; cryopreservation.

Ion-exchange Technology II: Applications presents an overview of the numerous industrial applications of ion-exchange materials.

In particular, this volume focuses on the use of ion-exchange materials in various fields including chemical and biochemical separations, water purification, biomedical science, toxic metal recovery and concentration, waste water treatment, catalysis, alcohol beverage, sugar and milk technologies, pharmaceuticals industry and metallurgical industries.

This title is a highly valuable source not only to postgraduate students and researchers but also to industrial R&D specialists in chemistry, chemical, and biochemical technology as well as to engineers and industrialists.

"Corynebacterium glutamicum "was discovered in Japan in 1956 as a natural glutamate producer. Its microbial factory qualities, such as its physiological plasticity and robust catalytic functionalities, have since facilitated the development of efficient production processes for amino acids, nucleotides and vitamins.

This monograph illustrates how the information gleaned from complete genome sequencing allows the rational engineering of the entire cellular metabolism and how systems biology permits the further optimization of "C. glutamicum" as a biocatalyst. Aspects of gene regulation, metabolic pathways, sugar uptake, protein secretion, cell division and biorefinery applications highlight the enormous biotechnological and biorefinery potential. "

Mostindustrialbiotechnologicalprocessesareoperatedempirically.Oneofthe major di?culties of applying advanced control theories is the highly nonlinear nature of the processes. This book examines approaches based on arti?cial intelligencemethods, inparticular, geneticalgorithmsandneuralnetworks, for monitoring, modelling and optimization of fed-batch fermentation processes. The main aim of a process control is to maximize the ?nal product with minimum development and production costs. This book is interdisciplinary in nature, combining topics from biotechn- ogy, arti?cial intelligence, system identi?cation, process monitoring, process modelling and optimal control. Both simulation and experimental validation are performed in this study to demonstrate the suitability and feasibility of proposed methodologies. An online biomass sensor is constructed using a - current neural network for predicting the biomass concentration online with only three measurements (dissolved oxygen, volume and feed rate). Results show that the proposed sensor is comparable or even superior to other sensors proposed in the literature that use more than three measurements. Biote- nological processes are modelled by cascading two recurrent neural networks. It is found that neural models are able to describe the processes with high accuracy. Optimization of the ?nal product is achieved using modi?ed genetic algorithms to determine optimal feed rate pro?les. Experimental results of the corresponding production yields demonstrate that genetic algorithms are powerful tools for optimization of highly nonlinear systems. Moreover, a c- bination of recurrentneural networks and genetic algorithms provides a useful and cost-e?ective methodology for optimizing biotechnological process

Under the expert guidance of Bernd H.A. Rehm, the authors of this book provide a survey of the most striking and successful approaches for the production of biogenic nanodevices considering not only living organisms as manufacturer but also in vitro processes that utilise the self-assembly of isolated biomolecules.

This volume contains an archival record of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Microfluidics Based Microsystems - Fundamentals and App- cations held in Ce ?me-Izmir, Turkey, August 23-September 4, 2009. ASIs are intended to be high-level teaching activity in scientific and technical areas of current concern. In this volume, the reader may find interesting chapters and various microsystems fundamentals and applications. As the world becomes increasingly concerned with terrorism, early - spot detection of terrorist's weapons, particularly bio-weapons agents such as bacteria and viruses are extremely important. NATO Public Diplomacy division, Science for Peace and Security section support research, Advanced Study Institutes and workshops related to security. Keeping this policy of NATO in mind, we made such a proposal on Microsystems for security. We are very happy that leading experts agreed to come and lecture in this important NATO ASI. We will see many examples that will show us Microfluidics usefulness for rapid diagnostics following a bioterrorism attack. For the applications in national security and anti-terrorism, microfluidic system technology must meet the challenges. To develop microsystems for security and to provide a comprehensive state-of-the-art assessment of the existing research and applications by treating the subject in considerable depth through lectures from eminent professionals in the field, through discussions and panel sessions are very beneficial for young scientists in the field."

This book provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art review of microfluidic approaches and applications in pharmatechnology. It is appropriate for students with an interdisciplinary interest in both the pharmaceutical and engineering fields, as well as process developers and scientists in the pharmaceutical industry. The authors cover new and advanced technologies for screening, production by micro reaction technology and micro bioreactors, small-scale processing of drug formulations, and drug delivery that will meet the need for fast and effective screening methods for drugs in different formulations, as well as the production of drugs in very small volumes. Readers will find detailed chapters on the materials and techniques for fabrication of microfluidic devices, microbioreactors, microsystems for emulsification, on-chip fabrication of drug delivery systems, respiratory drug delivery and delivery through microneedles, organs-on-chip, and more.

1. A. HOWELL School ofChemical Engineering, University ofBath, Claverton Down, Bath, UK, BA2 7AY 1.1 WHAT IS A MEMBRANE PROCESS? Every day over 20 million litres of brackish water are pumped out of the ground near Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and passed through thin sheets of cellulose acetate known as reverse osmosis membranes before being used as part of the city's water supply. In St Maurice les Chateauneuf, France three million litres a day of ground water are ultrafiltered to supply the city and on test sites in Australia settled sewage is being disinfected by being passed through microfiltration membranes. Many of the foods we eat and beverages we drink have used membranes during their processing. Orange juice can be concentrated by membranes to make a concentrate which retains more of the flavour than does evaporation. Milk can be concentrated slightly by means of a membrane before making a cheese in a process which produces no whey. Gases rising from the ground in a waste tip can be piped away and the carbon dioxide separated from the methane by a membrane process allowing the methane then to be used as a fuel, simultaneously saving energy and reducing the greenhouse effect since methane is more effective as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

In this thesis, applications of aminoacylation ribozymes named flexizymes are described. Flexizymes have the following unique characteristics: (i) substrate RNA is recognized by two consecutive base pairs between the 3'-end of substrate RNA and the 3'-end of the flexizyme; (ii) these base pairs can be substituted with other base pairs; and (iii) various activated amino acids can be used as substrates including both canonical and noncanonical amino acids. This flexible aminoacylation of RNAs by flexizymes was used to label endogenous tRNAs to be removed, and in vitro selection using the tRNA-depleted library enabled the discovery of the novel interaction between the microRNA precursor and metabolites. Flexizymes are also used to prepare various aminoacyl-tRNAs bearing mutations at the 3'-end to engineer the translation machinery and to develop the orthogonal translation machinery. The first part of the research demonstrated that SELEX is appropriate for discovering the interaction between small RNA and ligands, and suggested that more RNA motif binding to small molecules exists in small RNAs. The second part opened a door to new opportunities for in vitro synthetic biology involving the engineering of the genetic codes and translation machineries. This research also indicated the great potential of aminoacylation by flexizymes to be applied in various fields of RNA research, which is beneficial for RNA researchers.

In continuation of Volumes 8, 9, 22, and 23, this new volume deals with the regeneration of plants from isolated protoplasts and genetic transformation in various species of "Actinidia," "Allocasuarina," "Anthurium," "Antirrhinum," "Asparagus," "Beta," "Brassica," "Carica," "Casuarina," "Cyphomandra," "Eucalyptus," "Ipomoea," "Larix," "Limonium," "Liriodendron," "Malus," "Musa," "Physcomitrella," "Physalis," "Picea," "Rosa," "Tagetes," "Triticum," and "Ulmus."
These studies reflect the far-reaching implications of protoplast technology in genetic engineering of plants. The book contains a wealth of useful information for advanced students, teachers, and researchers in the field of plant tissue culture, molecular biology, genetic engineering, plant breeding, and general biotechnology.

A mixture of two polymers, or one polymer and a salt, in an aqueous medium separates into two phases: this phenomenon is useful in biotechn- ogy for product separations. Separation of biological molecules and particles in these aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) was initiated over 40 years ago by P.-A. Albertsson, and later proved to be of immense utility in biochemical and cell biological research. A boost in the application of ATPS was seen when problems of separations in biotechnology processes were encountered. Its simplicity, biocompatibility, and amenability to easy scaleup operations make the use of ATPS very attractive for large-scale bioseparations. Despite the advantages ATPS enjoys over other separation techniques, the application of two-phase systems has for a long time been confined to selected labora- ries. Recent years have, however, shown a trend in which increasing numbers of researchers employ two-phase partitioning techniques in both basic and applied research."

This book covers the state-of-the-art research on molecular biology assays and molecular techniques enabled or enhanced by microfluidic platforms. Topics covered include microfluidic methods for cellular separations and single cell studies, droplet-based approaches to study protein expression and forensics, and microfluidic in situ hybridization for RNA analysis. Key molecular biology studies using model organisms are reviewed in detail. This is an ideal book for students and researchers in the microfluidics and molecular biology fields as well as engineers working in the biotechnology industry. This book also: Reviews exhaustively the latest techniques for single-cell genetic, epigenetic, metabolomic, and proteomic analysis Illustrates microfluidic approaches for inverse metabolic engineering, as well as analysis of circulating exosomes Broadens readers' understanding of microfluidics convection-based PCR technology, microfluidic RNA-seq, and microfluidics for robust mobile diagnostics

This volume is designed to provide a framework for studying the public policy implications of a broad range of biomedical technologies. Each chapter focuses on the policy issues and political activities surrounding a single technology. Contributors address such issues as new reproductive technologies, animal experimentation, contraceptive drugs, genetic markers and technology and the aging society.

This ASI brought together a diverse group of experts who span virology, biology, biophysics, chemistry, physics and engineering. Prominent lecturers representing world renowned scientists from nine (9) different countries, and students from around the world representing eighteen (18) countries, participated in the ASI organized by Professors Joseph Puglisi (Stanford University, USA) and Alexander Arseniev (Moscow, RU). The central hypothesis underlying this ASI was that interdisciplinary research, merging principles of physics, chemistry and biology, can drive new discovery in detecting and fighting chemical and bioterrorism agents, lead to cleaner environments and improved energy sources, and help propel development in NATO partner countries. At the end of the ASI students had an appreciation of how to apply each technique to their own particular research problem and to demonstrate that multifaceted approaches and new technologies are needed to solve the biological challenges of our time. The course succeeded in training a new generation of biologists and chemists who will probe the molecular basis for life and disease.

Recent advances in gene technology, plant transformation, and the growing knowledge of DNA sequences of plants as well as of their most important parasites and symbionts offer many interesting prospects for the breeding of new crop varieties. This was not only recognized by the major seed companies, but also by the governments of developing countries and by worldwide foundations supporting their agriculture. The know-how gained by the seed companies on crops important for the agricultural industry in developed countries could easily be provided for free to the international and national organizations dedicated to development of crops important in the third world. Results obtained worldwide become easily available to everybody through the scientific literature. Likewise, agricultural research in, e.g., the USA or Europe profits from the natural plant gene pool available in the third world. All this definitely provides for the possibility of fast change, new prosperity and security of food supply in the whole world, if properly applied. The fast development also asks for ethical and sociopolitical considerations, whereby not doing the right can be as much a mistake as doing the wrong.

Natural Products, broadly defined as high value chemical entities derived from plants or microbial sources, have been known and exploited for many years. In recent years, as the need for higher potency and predictability of such products has increased, more sophisticated concentration and isolation procedures have been developed. With the passage of time, such procedures have been rationalized in terms of scientific principles but, in general, theory has followed behind practice, leading at any given time to an absence from the literature of methods which are truly state of the art. Downstream Processing of Natural Products: A Practical Handbook is a highly practical manual which addresses this issue, and guides researchers and industrial workers through the many potential pitfalls of natural product isolation. The contributors to this volume, all of whom have wide practical experience in this field, present state--of--the--art techniques and observations. The three main stages of natural product purification are covered, namely product release, capture, and purification, and both proteins and secondary metabolites are covered. There is special mention of the requirements of the regulatory authorities with respect to Good Manufacturing Practice, and practical guidance is given on scale--up procedures and process scale instrumentation. Downstream Processing of Natural Products: A Practical Handbook will provide essential practical guidance to all those involved in natural product isolation. This includes academic and industrial researchers, postgraduate students and technicians working in the biotechnology field.

In the past there were many attempts to change natural foodstuffs into high-value products. Cheese, bread, wine, and beer were pro duced, traditionally using microorganisms as biological tools. Later, people influenced the natural process of evolution by artificial selection. In the 19th century, observations regarding the depen dence of growth and reproduction on the nutrient supply led to the establishment of agricultural chemistry. Simultaneously, efforts were directed at defining the correlation between special forms of morphological differentiation and related biochemical processes. New experimental systems were developed after the discovery of phytohormones and their possible use as regulators of growth and differentiation. In these systems, intact plants or only parts of them are cultivated under axenic conditions. These methods, called "in vitro techniques," were introduced to modern plant breeding. In the field of basic research, plant cell cultures were increasingly developed and the correlations between biochemical processes and visible cell variations were explored further. It should be possible to manipulate the basic laws of regulation and the respective biochemi cal processes should be regarded as being independent of morpho logical processes of plant development."

Genome Mapping and Molecular Breeding in Plants presents the current status of the elucidation and improvement of plant genomes of economic interest. The focus is on genetic and physical mapping, positioning, cloning, monitoring of desirable genes by molecular breeding and the most recent advances in genomics. The series comprises seven volumes: Cereals and Millets; Oilseeds; Pulses, Sugar and Tuber Crops; Fruits and Nuts; Vegetables; Technical Crops; and Forest Trees.

Cereals and Millets form the leading group of field crops, providing staple food for most of the earth s population. This volume, with contributions by 27 eminent scientists, includes chapters on rice, wheat, maize, barley, oats, rye, sorghum, pearl millet, foxtail millet and finger millet. The emphasis is on advanced research on the major crops, including the model plants maize and rice, as well as on future road maps of genomic research for the less-often considered but equally deserving cereals and millets. "

Genome Mapping and Molecular Breeding in Plants presents the current status of the elucidation and improvement of plant genomes of economic interest. The focus is on genetic and physical mapping, positioning, cloning, monitoring of desirable genes by molecular breeding and the most recent advances in genomics. The series comprises seven volumes: Cereals and Millets; Oilseeds; Pulses, Sugar and Tuber Crops; Fruits and Nuts; Vegetables; Technical Crops; and Forest Trees.

Fruits and nuts form the largest group among crop plants. Several constraints such as long life cycle, heterozygosity and large plant size caused comparatively slow research progress in the past. The chapters on 20 fruit and nut crops authored by 56 renowned scientists from 12 countries include for the first time comprehensive reviews on mango, banana, olive, pineapple, pistachio, persimmon and papaya. Other crops covered are apple, grape, cherry, plum, peach, pear, apricot, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, almond, citrus and avocado.

Increasing population and industrialization are the key pollutant contributors in water bodies. The wastes generated by industries are highly hazardous for humans and the ecosystem and require a comprehensive and effective treatment before being discharged into water bodies. Over the years, many up gradations have been introduced in traditional water treatment methods which were expensive and ineffective especially for removal of toxic pollutants. Phycoremediation has been gaining attention due to its mutual benefit in wastewater treatment and for valuable algae biomass production. Wastewater, especially sewage and industrial effluents, is rich in pathogenic organisms, organic and inorganic compounds and heavy metals that adversely affect human and aquatic life. Microalgae use these inorganic compounds and heavy metals for their growth. In addition, they also reduce pathogenic organisms and release oxygen to be used by bacteria for decomposition of organic compounds in a secondary treatment. In this book, the potential of microalgae in wastewater treatment, their benefits, strategies, and challenges are discussed. The increasing need of finding innovative, low-cost, low-energy, sustainable and eco-friendly solutions for wastewater treatment makes the publication of a book on phycoremediation timely and appropriate. Features: (1) Deals with the most emerging aspects of algal research with special reference to phycoremediation. (2) Studies in depth diversity, mutations, genomics and metagenomics study (3) An eco-physiology, culturing, microalgae for food and feed, biofuel production, harvesting of microalgae, separation and purification of biochemicals.