This book, written by an international team of experts, introduces the reader to various aspects of complexity theory and its applications. It illustrates the latest trends in science to go beyond the mechanistic Newtonian view of the world by shifting the focus to self-organization, adaptation, and emergent phenomena. The authors discuss these properties of complex systems in biology, ecology and chemistry along with the structure and interconnectedness of the "layers" of complexity. The qualitative description is complemented by a discussion of methods for complexity quantification. Networks are covered in detail as a universal language of the complex world.

General readers, as well as undergraduate and graduate students and researchers in life sciences, chemistry, and nanotechnology will find this book to be of great interest.

This NATO Advanced Study Institute (co-sponsored by FEBS and INTAS) under the title "Chemical Probes in Biology" was designed to summarize and disseminate recent expert knowledge regarding a deeper understanding ofbiological phenomena on a molecular level. Such scientific activities -frequently termed Bio-organic Chemistry or Chemical Biology are constituting a highly interdisciplinary branch of chemistry beyond the traditional ways in which chemists and biologists have been working in the past. Thus, on this occasion we were bringing together senior experts from the disciplines of Chemistry and Biology in order to amalgamate their diverse yet basically common interests in this area. Ultimate goal was - next to an exchange of information between the two scientific cultures - the communication ofexciting possibilities in interdisciplinary research to the young scientists present. The meeting was held in the Anargyros and Korgialenios School on the Island ofSpeteses, Greece from 18-30 August 2002. The ASI was attended by a total of 91 scholars from 23 different countries. A group of 27 speakers presented a series of 34 highly stimulating, informative and educational lectures covering a broad range of topics relevant to the general theme ofthis meeting: Science at the InteifaceofChemistry, Biology and Medicine. The lectures were complemented by a total of 89 posters presented by the young scholars and a series of short lectures derived thereof This was clearly one ofthe highlites of the meeting creating a lively atmosphere of interaction and intellectual creativity - typical phenomena for the whole meeting."

This book offers an overview of some recent advances in the Computational Bioacoustics methods and technology. In the focus of discussion is the pursuit of scalability, which would facilitate real-world applications of different scope and purpose, such as wildlife monitoring, biodiversity assessment, pest population control, and monitoring the spread of disease transmitting mosquitoes. The various tasks of Computational Bioacoustics are described and a wide range of audio parameterization and recognition tasks related to the automated recognition of species and sound events is discussed. Many of the Computational Bioacoustics methods were originally developed for the needs of speech, audio, or image processing, and afterwards were adapted to the requirements of automated acoustic recognition of species, or were elaborated further to address the challenges of real-world operation in 24/7 mode. The interested reader is encouraged to follow the numerous references and links to web resources for further information and insights. This book is addressed to Software Engineers, IT experts, Computer Science researchers, Bioacousticians, and other practitioners concerned with the creation of new tools and services, aimed at enhancing the technological support to Computational Bioacoustics applications. STTM, Speech Technology and Text Mining in Medicine and Health Care This series demonstrates how the latest advances in speech technology and text mining positively affect patient healthcare and, in a much broader sense, public health at large. New developments in text mining methods have allowed health care providers to monitor a large population of patients at any time and from any location. Employing advanced summarization techniques, patient data can be readily extracted from extensive clinical documents in electronic health records and immediately made available to the physician. These same summarization techniques can also aid the healthcare provider in extracting from the large corpora of medical literature the relevant information for treating the patient. The series topics include the design and acceptance of speech-enabled robots that assist in the operating room, studies of signal processing and acoustic modeling for speech and communication disorders, advanced statistical speech enhancement methods for creating synthetic voice, and technologies for addressing speech and language impairments. Titles in the Series consist of both authored books and edited contributions. All authored books and contributed works are peer-reviewed. The Series is for speech scientists and speech engineers, machine learning experts, biomedical engineers, medical speech pathologists, linguists, and healthcare professionals

This book disseminates the latest results and envisages new challenges in the application of mathematics to various practical situations in biology, epidemiology, and ecology. It comprises a collection of the main results presented at the Ninth Edition of the International Workshop "Dynamical Systems Applied to Biology and Natural Sciences - DSABNS", held from 7 to 9 February 2018 at the Department of Mathematics, University of Turin, Italy. While the principal focus is ecology and epidemiology, the coverage extends even to waste recycling and a genetic application. The topics covered in the 12 peer-reviewed contributions involve such diverse mathematical tools as ordinary and partial differential equations, delay equations, stochastic equations, control, and sensitivity analysis. The book is intended to help both in disseminating the latest results and in envisaging new challenges in the application of mathematics to various practical situations in biology, epidemiology, and ecology.

Jim Green 1.1 THE THAMES ESTUARY: A PERSONAL VIEW For almost 50 years I have lived close to the Thames estuary (Figure 1.1). In the early 1950s, from our flat in Pimlico, we could walk along the embankment opposite Battersea Power Station. At low tide, the exposed mud had large red patches caused by the haemoglobin in innumerable tubificid worms. These formed the basis of a minor trade. Men with waders and sieves would collect the worms and sell them to the aquarium trade as food for fishes.The superabundance of these worms depended on the gross organic pollution of this reach of the Thames. Towards the end of the 1950s we moved to Teddington, within a few minutes' walk from the lock. Casual observation of the birds on the river indicates an increase in the piscivores over the last 20 years.Cormorants tPhalacrocorax carbo) are regularly seen, and grey herons (Ardea cinerea) are more abundant. On a good day it is possible to see up to eight herons around the weir and below the lock. Another bird that is now common place in the area is the great-crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus).The regular mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)and Canada geese (Branta canadensis)are some times joined by tufted duck (Aythafuligula)and mandarin (Aixgalericulata)."

Mapping Biology Knowledge addresses two key topics in the context of biology, promoting meaningful learning and knowledge mapping as a strategy for achieving this goal. Meaning-making and meaning-building are examined from multiple perspectives throughout the book. In many biology courses, students become so mired in detail that they fail to grasp the big picture. Various strategies are proposed for helping instructors focus on the big picture, using the need to know' principle to decide the level of detail students must have in a given situation. The metacognitive tools described here serve as support systems for the mind, creating an arena in which learners can operate on ideas. They include concept maps, cluster maps, webs, semantic networks, and conceptual graphs. These tools, compared and contrasted in this book, are also useful for building and assessing students' content and cognitive skills. The expanding role of computers in mapping biology knowledge is also explored.

This book presents methodological and application research in detecting cellular and molecular biophysical properties based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) nanorobotics. Series methods for in situ label-free visualizing and quantifying the multiple physical properties of single cells and single molecules were developed, including immobilization strategies for observing fine structures of living cells, measurements of single-cell mechanics, force recognition of molecular interactions, and mapping protein organizations on cell surface. The biomedical applications of these methods in clinical lymphoma treatments were explored in detail, including primary sample preparation, cancer cell recognition, AFM detection and data analysis. Future directions about the biomedical applications of AFM are also given.

Philosophical understandings of Nature and Human Nature. Classical Greek and modern West, Christian, Buddhist, Taoist, by 14 authors, including Robert Neville, Stanley Rosen, David Eckel, Livia Kohn, Tienyu Cao, Abner Shimoney, Alfred Tauber, Krzysztof Michalski, Lawrence Cahoone, Stephen Scully, Alan Olson and Alfred Ferrarin. Dedicated to the phenomenological ecology of Erazim Koh k, with 10 of his essays and a full bibliography. Overall theme: on the question of the moral sense of nature.

A cutting-edge survey of formal methods directed specifically at dealing with the deep mathematical problems engendered by the study of developing systems, in particular dealing with developing phase spaces, changing components, structures and functionalities, and the problem of emergence. Several papers deal with the modelling of particular experimental situations in population biology, economics and plant and muscle developments in addition to purely theoretical approaches. Novel approaches include differential inclusions and viability theory, growth tensors, archetypal dynamics, ensembles with variable structures, and complex system models. The papers represent the work of theoreticians and experimental biologists, psychologists and economists. The areas covered embrace complex systems, the development of artificial life, mathematics, computer science, biology and psychology.

This is a collection of some works of Polish philosophers and physicists on philosophical problems of time and spacetime. Without restricting the thematic scope of the papers, the issue conceming objectivity of time flow runs as a uniting thread through most of them. Partly it is discussed directIy, and partly the authors focus on themes which are of paramount importance for one's attitude to that question. In the first six papers the authors deal with their topics against the background of contemporary physics, its theories, its difficulties and discussed conjectures. For the paper of S. Snihur that background is provided by everyday worId-outlook, and the author discusses the problem of existence and character of the future in the light of basic principles of cIassical logic. The paper of A. P61tawski, about the views of the outstanding polish philosopher Roman Ingarden, enriches the thematic scope of the coIIection introducing into it some questions from philosophical anthropology and ethics. JERZY GOLOSZ MOTION, SPACE, TIME*. Abstract. The paper discusses the properties of spacetime we study by analyzing the phenomenon of motion. Of special interest are the spacetime symmetries. the spacetime structures and the ontological status of spacetime. These problems are considered on the grounds of the c1assical theories of motion contained in Newtonian physics, special and general theory of relativity. The controversy between an absolute and a relational conception of motion and its ontological implications are also analyzed.

Holism and reductionism are traditionally seen as incompatible views or approaches to nature. Here Looijen argues that they should rather be seen as mutually dependent and hence co-operating research programmes. He sheds some interesting new light on the emergence thesis, its relation to the reduction thesis, and on the role and status of functional explanations in biology. He discusses several examples of reduction in both biology and ecology, showing the mutual dependence of holistic and reductionist research programmes. Ecologists are offered separate chapters, clarifying some major, yet highly and controversial ecological concepts, such as `community', `habitat', and `niche'. The book is the first in-depth study of the philosophy of ecology. Readership: Specialists in the philosophy of science, especially the philosophy of biology, biologists and ecologists interested in the philosophy of their discipline. Also of interest to other scientists concerned with the holism-reductionism issue.

This book provides unique step-by-step guidance to producing a high quality, effective poster for display at a scientific meeting. It aims to give young or inexperienced scientists the extra confidence and encouragement to start contributing poster presentations to scientific meetings, and enthuse experienced poster presenters to continue to improve upon their presentations, and benefit more from the overall experience. Chapters 1-4 are concerned with the purpose of posters: the pros and cons of poster presentations and how to take advantage of the opportunities they present. Chapters 5-9 cover aspects of what to include: how best to present text and data, and the use of colour in the overall format and design of the poster. Chapters 10-11 deal with actual construction: how to produce posters in a variety of styles and formats, as well as general advice on paper characteristics, drawing aids, adhesives, and cutting equipment. Chapters 12-13 are a guide to transporting the poster to the meeting, and presenting it at the poster session, and should take some of the mystique out of creating the right' image to the people that matter. Chapter 14 gives guidance on hosting poster sessions and avoiding the various pitfalls. Chapter 15 provides an opportunity to critically review some examples of posters presented at international scientific meetings. This book provides concise, practical guidance on all aspects of production and presentation of scientific posters. It alerts the poster presenter to the various pitfalls and how best to avoid them, and to the many opportunities that may be capitalised upon.

Definitive Treatment of the Numerical Simulation of Bioheat Transfer and Fluid Flow Motivated by the upwelling of current interest in subjects critical to human health, Advances in Numerical Heat Transfer, Volume 3 presents the latest information on bioheat and biofluid flow. Like its predecessors, this volume assembles a team of renowned international researchers who cover both fundamentals and applications. It explores ingenious modeling techniques and innovative numerical simulation for solving problems in biomedical engineering. The text begins with the modeling of thermal transport by perfusion within the framework of the porous-media theory. It goes on to review other perfusion models, different forms of the bioheat equation for several thermal therapies, and thermal transport in individual blood vessels. The book then describes thermal methods of tumor detection and treatment as well as issues of blood heating and cooling during lengthy surgeries. It also discusses how the enhancement of heat conduction in tumor tissue by intruded nanoparticles improves the efficacy of thermal destruction of the tumor. The final chapters focus on whole-body thermal models, issues concerning the thermal treatment of cancer, and a case study on the thermal ablation of an enlarged prostate.

Exploring the most transformative breakthroughs in biology since the discovery of the double helix, a Nobel Prize–winning scientist unveils the RNA age.

For over half a century, DNA has dominated science and the popular imagination as the “secret of life.” But over the last several decades, a quiet revolution has taken place. In a series of breathtaking discoveries, the biochemist Thomas R. Cech and a diverse cast of brilliant scientists have revealed that RNA―long overlooked as the passive servant of DNA―sits at the center of biology’s greatest mysteries: How did life begin? What makes us human? Why do we get sick and grow old? In The Catalyst, Cech finally brings together years of research to demonstrate that RNA is the true key to understanding life on Earth, from its very origins to our future in the twenty-first century.

A gripping journey of discovery, The Catalyst moves from the early experiments that first hinted at RNA’s spectacular powers, to Cech’s own paradigm-shifting finding that it can catalyze cellular reactions, to the cutting-edge biotechnologies poised to reshape our health. We learn how RNA―once thought merely to transmit DNA’s genetic instructions to the cell’s protein-making machinery―may have jump-started life itself, and how, at the same time, it can cut our individual lives short through viral diseases and cancer. We see how RNA is implicated in the aging process and explore the darker depths of the supposed fountain of youth, telomerase. And we catch a thrilling glimpse into how RNA-powered therapies―from CRISPR, the revolutionary tool that uses RNA to rewrite the code of life, to the groundbreaking mRNA vaccines that have saved millions during the pandemic, and more―may enable us to improve and even extend life beyond nature’s current limits.

Written by one of our foremost scientists, The Catalyst is a must-read guide to the present and future of biology and medicine.

26 illustrations

This book treats Modelling of CFD problems, Numerical tools for PDE, and Scientific Computing and Systems of ODE for Epidemiology, topics that are closely related to the scientific activities and interests of Prof. William Fitzgibbon, Prof. Yuri Kuznetsov, and Prof. O. Pironneau, whose outstanding achievements are recognised in this volume. It contains 20 contributions from leading scientists in applied mathematics dealing with partial differential equations and their applications to engineering, ab-initio chemistry and life sciences. It includes the mathematical and numerical contributions to PDE for applications presented at the ECCOMAS thematic conference "Contributions to PDE for Applications" held at Laboratoire Jacques Louis Lions in Paris, France, August 31- September 1, 2015, and at the Department of Mathematics, University of Houston, Texas, USA, February 26-27, 2016. This event brought together specialists from universities and research institutions who are developing or applying numerical PDE or ODE methods with an emphasis on industrial and societal applications. This volume is of interest to researchers and practitioners as well as advanced students or engineers in applied and computational mathematics. All contributions are written at an advanced scientific level with no effort made by the editors to make this volume self-contained. It is assumed that the reader is a specialist already who knows the basis of this field of research and has the capability of understanding and appreciating the latest developments in this field.

The Edexcel A level Lab Books support students in completing the A level Core Practical requirements. This lab book includes: all the instructions students need to perform the Core Practicals, consistent with our A level online teaching resources writing frames for students to record their results and reflect on their work CPAC Skills Checklists, so that students can track the practical skills they have learned, in preparation for their exams practical skills practice questions a full set of answers. This lab book is designed to help students to: structure their A level lab work to ensure that they cover the Core Practical assessment criteria track their progress in the development of A level practical skills create a record of all of the Core Practical work they will have completed, in preparation for revision.

The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Nature / Insects