Beginning his work on the monograph to be published in English, this author tried to present more or less general notions of the possibilities of mathematics in the new and rapidly developing science of infectious immunology, describing the processes of an organism's defence against antigen invasions. The results presented in this monograph are based on the construc tion and application of closed models of immune response to infections which makes it possible to approach problems of optimizing the treat ment of chronic and hypertoxic forms of diseases. The author, being a mathematician, had creative long-Iasting con tacts with immunologists, geneticist, biologists, and clinicians. As far back as 1976 it resulted in the organization of a special seminar in the Computing Center of Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sci ences on mathematical models in immunology. The seminar attracted the attention of a wide circle of leading specialists in various fields of science. All these made it possible to approach, from a more or less united stand point, the construction of models of immune response, the mathematical description of the models, and interpretation of results."

This book brings together scientists from all over the world who have defined and developed the field of Coordination Dynamics. Grounded in the concepts of self-organization and the tools of nonlinear dynamics, appropriately extended to handle informational aspects of living things, Coordination Dynamics aims to understand the coordinated functioning of a variety of different systems at multiple levels of description. The book addresses the themes of Coordination Dynamics and Dynamic Patterns in the context of the following topics: Coordination of Brain and Behavior, Perception-Action Coupling, Control, Posture, Learning, Intention, Attention, and Cognition.

Biology is in the midst of a era yielding many significant discoveries and promising many more. Unique to this era is the exponential growth in the size of information-packed databases. Inspired by a pressing need to analyze that data, Introduction to Computational Biology explores a new area of expertise that emerged from this fertile field- the combination of biological and information sciences.

This introduction describes the mathematical structure of biological data, especially from sequences and chromosomes. After a brief survey of molecular biology, it studies restriction maps of DNA, rough landmark maps of the underlying sequences, and clones and clone maps. It examines problems associated with reading DNA sequences and comparing sequences to finding common patterns. The author then considers that statistics of pattern counts in sequences, RNA secondary structure, and the inference of evolutionary history of related sequences.

Introduction to Computational Biology exposes the reader to the fascinating structure of biological data and explains how to treat related combinatorial and statistical problems. Written to describe mathematical formulation and development, this book helps set the stage for even more, truly interdisciplinary work in biology.

Many athletes suffer health and sports consequences related to inadequate nutrition to meet their sports demands. It often goes unrecognized and untreated if they do not have the stereotypical diagnosis of an “eating disorder.” Highly marketable for those looking to gain an extra edge above the competition by maximizing their health through appropriate nutrition and mental work. The book has background information on the problem and serves as an instruction manual for coaches and parents. Female athletes’ personal narratives are dispersed within the information.

In this captivating book Anthony Synnott explores a subject which has been woefully ignored: our bodies. He surveys the history for thinking about the body and the senses, then focuses on specific themes: gender, beauty, the face, hair, touch, smell and sight. He concludes with a review of classical and contemporary theories of the body and the senses. Thinking about the body will never be the same after reading this book.

eBook available with sample pages: 020320154X

This book is a cohesive guide to the available methods that can be used in population viability analysis. It is therefore extremely valuable to both the practitioner of conservation biology and the theoretical population biologist.

4.1.1 Demographic significance Confined populations grow more rapidly than populations from which dispersal is permitted (Lidicker, 1975; Krebs, 1979; Tamarin et at., 1984), and demography in island populations where dispersal is restricted differs greatly from nearby mainland populations (Lidicker, 1973; Tamarin, 1977, 1978; Gliwicz, 1980), clearly demonstrating the demographic signi ficance of dispersal. The prevalence of dispersal in rapidly expanding populations is held to be the best evidence for presaturation dispersal. Because dispersal reduces the growth rate of source populations, it is generally believed that emigration is not balanced by immigration, and that mortality of emigrants occurs as a result of movement into a 'sink' of unfavourable habitat. If such dispersal is age- or sex-biased, the demo graphy of the population is markedly affected, as a consequence of differ ences in mortality in the dispersive sex or age class. Habitat heterogeneity consequently underlies this interpretation of dispersal and its demographic consequences, although the spatial variability of environments is rarely assessed in dispersal studies."

From the Authors' Preface The advances made in the area of controlled drug delivery during the last two decades are remarkable ....Of the many polymeric materials, biodegradable hydrogels present unique advantages and opportunities in the development of ...delivery devices....We have undertaken the challenge of putting together information relevant to biodegradable hydrogels in one place. This book covers the mechanisms of biodegradation, types of biodegradable hydrogels,chemical and physical gels, chemical and enzymatic degradation, and examples of biodegradable drug delivery systems.

This volume contains the proceedings of the workshop held in March 1990 at Austin, Texas on Self-Organization, Emerging Properties and Learning. The workshop was co-sponsored by NATO Scientific Affairs Division, Solvay Institutes of Physics and Chemistry, the University of Texas at Austin and IC2 Institute at Austin. It gathered representatives from a large spectrum of scientific endeavour. The subject matter of self-organization extends over several fields such as hydrodynamics, chemistry, biology, neural networks and social sciences. Several key concepts are common to all these different disciplines. In general the self-organization processes in these fields are described in the framework of the nonlinear dynamics, which also governs the mechanisms underlying the learning processes. Because of this common language, it is expected that any progress in one area could benefit other fields, thus a beneficial cross fertilization may result. In last two decades many workshops and conferences had been organized in various specific fields dealing with self-organization and emerging properties of systems. The aim of the workshop in Austin was to bring together researchers from seemingly unrelated areas and interested in self-organization, emerg{ng properties and learning capabilities of interconnected multi-unit systems. The hope was to initiate interesting exchange and lively discussions. The expectations of the organiziers are materialized in this unusual collection of papers, which brings together in a single volume representative research from many related fields. Thus this volume gives to the reader a wider perspective over the generality and ramifications of the key concepts of self organization.

This book is a comprehensive review of the genera of Meliaceae, a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs, found in tropical East Africa. It presents information on their character, occurrence, habitat, phenotypic variations and distribution of each of the species under these genera.

Cell-Penetrating Peptides The definitive reference on the rational design of cell-penetrating peptides enables readers to develop tailor-made peptides for their specific needs. In recent years, cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have become valuable tools for the cellular delivery of proteins, nucleic acids, and drugs. These small peptide sequences can be artificially designed and synthesized with custom-made characteristics to mediate the efficient and non-toxic transport of biomolecules, drugs, or nanoparticles into the cell. Cell-Penetrating Peptides: Design, Development, and Applications provides an up-to-date account of the development and use of CPPs for delivering membrane-impermeable bioactive molecules into cells. Bringing together contributions from leading researchers from around the world, this comprehensive volume describes the characteristics and mechanisms of CPPs as well as their application in both medicine, biotechnology and agriculture. Covers rational design and development of cell-penetrating peptides for use in cellular delivery of small molecule drugs, proteins, nucleic acids, and nanoparticles Presents the chemical and biological characteristics of CPP action in vitro and in vivo Describes the structure and design principles of both synthetic and naturally occurring CPPs Discusses key medical applications of CPPs such as oral delivery, intranasal delivery, and clinical trials Cell-Penetrating Peptides: Design, Development, and Applications is an essential resource for biochemists, medicinal chemists, molecular biologists, biotechnologists, and researchers studying CPPs in both academia and industry.

This book gives a comprehensive overview of recent advancements in both theory and practical implementation of plasmonic probes. Encompassing multiple disciplines, the field of plasmonics provides a versatile and flexible platform for nanoscale sensing and imaging. Despite being a relatively young field, plasmonic probes have come a long way, with applications in chemical, biological, civil, and architectural fields as well as enabling many analytical schemes such as immunoassay, biomarkers, environmental indexing, and water quality sensing, to name but a few. The objective of the book is to present in-depth analysis of the theory and applications of novel probes based on plasmonics, with a broad selection of specially-invited chapters on the development, fabrication, functionalization, and implementation of plasmonic probes as well as their integration with current technologies and future outlook. This book is designed to cater to the needs of novice, seasoned researchers and practitioners in academia and industry, as well as medical and environmental fields.

Following many reports that were published in the last two decades on correlations of multiphase structures of the surface of materials with their antithrombogenicity or biocompatibility a research project ''Design of Multiphase Biomedical Materials'' was carried out in Japan between 1982 and 1986. The objective of this research project was to elucidate various aspects of biomedical behaviour of multiphase systems at the interface with living bodies at the molecular, cellular and tissue levels. Multiphase materials studied cover polymers having microphase-separated structures, hydrogels, immobilized enzymes (or cells), ceramics and metallic materials.
The research project was carried out by the following subgroups:
-- Multiphase biomedical materials with microdomain structures
-- Multiphase biomedical materials containing liquid components
-- Hybrid-type multiphase biomedical materials with biological components
-- Inorganic and metallic multiphase biomedical materials
-- Methods for analysis and evaluation of multiphase biomedical materials
This book contains the results of the research project in an edited form and aims to provoke a better understanding about various aspects of cell--material interactions in which the multiphase systems play a crucial role.

Since early Greek and Roman times, atoms were assumed-after un dergoing their various interactions-to take on the stable configurations of either the living or the inanimate world. This simple and unitary theory has evolved markedly, even while maintaining its validity over several centuries of vicissitudes, and in essence constitutes the first ex ample of a synthesis between the physical and the life sciences. In modern times, a similar relationship between the structure of various macromolecules and the function of living cells has also emerged as one of the most striking findings of those scientists active at the con vergence of the physical and life sciences. This fundamental result is re ported in the first two sections of the present work, namely those on "Oncogenes and Cancer" and "Lower-to-Higher-Order DNA Struc ture," in many cases by those recent Nobelists who themselves have been major contributors to work at the intersection of these fields. Many other significant areas of forefront scientific inquiry today (for example, research on the brain and vision), as well as some of the most exciting technological developments (e.g., work on renewable fuels and materials, biotechnology, and NMR and X-ray tomography) and method ological advances (e.g., studies in the fields of statistical mechanics and cancer chemotherapy) depend on the complex but harmonious collabora tions of physicists, chemists, mathematicians, engineers, biologists, and physicians."