Forensic DNA analysis plays a central role in the judicial system. A DNA sample can change the course of an investigation with immense consequences. Because DNA typing is recognized as the epitome of forensic science, increasing public awareness in this area is vital. Through several cases, examples and illustrations, this book explains the basic principles of forensic DNA typing, and how it integrates with law enforcement investigations and legal decisions. Written for a general readership, Understanding Forensic DNA explains both the power and the limitations of DNA analysis. This book dispels common misunderstandings regarding DNA analysis and shows how astounding match probabilities such as one-in-a-trillion are calculated, what they really mean, and why DNA alone never solves a case.

Forensic DNA analysis plays a central role in the judicial system. A DNA sample can change the course of an investigation with immense consequences. Because DNA typing is recognized as the epitome of forensic science, increasing public awareness in this area is vital. Through several cases, examples and illustrations, this book explains the basic principles of forensic DNA typing, and how it integrates with law enforcement investigations and legal decisions. Written for a general readership, Understanding Forensic DNA explains both the power and the limitations of DNA analysis. This book dispels common misunderstandings regarding DNA analysis and shows how astounding match probabilities such as one-in-a-trillion are calculated, what they really mean, and why DNA alone never solves a case.

Toxicology has made tremendous strides in the sophistication of the models used to identify and understand the mechanisms of agents that can harm or kill humans and other higher organisms. Non-animals or in vitro models started to gain significant use in the 1960s. As a result of the increased concern over animal welfare, economic factors, and the need for greater sensitivity and understanding of mechanisms, interest in in vitro models has risen. This volume demonstrates that there now exists a broad range of in vitro models for use in either identifying or understanding most forms of toxicity. The availability of in vitro models spans both the full range of endpoints (irritation, sensitization, lethality, mutagenicity, and developmental toxicity) and the full spectrum of target organ systems (including the skin, eye, heart, liver, kidney and nervous system). Chapters are devoted to each of these speciality areas from a perspective of presenting the principal models and their uses and limitations.

Private landowners or Federal Agencies responsible for cleaning up radiological environments are faced with the challenge of clearly defining the nature and extent of radiological contamination, implementing remedial alternatives, then statistically verifying that cleanup objectives have been met. Sampling and Surveying Radiological Environments provides the how-tos for designing and implementing cost effective and defensible sampling programs in radiological environments, such as those found in the vicinity of uranium mine sites, nuclear weapons production facilities, nuclear reactors, radioactive waste storage and disposal facilities, and nuclear accidents. It includes downloadable resources that walk you through the EPA's Data Quality Objectives(DQO) procedures and provides electronic templates you can complete and print. Sampling and Surveying Radiological Environments addresses all of the major topics that will assist you in designing and implementing statistically defensible sampling programs in radiological environments, including: Summary of the major environmental laws and regulations that apply to radiological sites, and advice on regulatory interfacing * Internet addresses where you can find regulations pertaining to each States Theory of radiation detection and definitions of common radiological terminology Statistics and statistical software that apply to the environmental industry Details on commercially available radiological instrumentation and detection systems Building decontamination and decommissioning, radiological and chemical equipment decontamination procedures, and tank/drum/remote characterization Standard operating procedures for collecting environmental media samples Guidance on sample preparation, documentation, and shipment Guidance on data verification/validation, radiological data management, data quality assessment (DQA)

Problem-solving is the cornerstone of all walks of scientific research. Fascinating Problems for Young Physicists attempts to clear the boundaries of seemingly abstract physical laws and their tangible effects through a step-by-step approach to physics in the world around us. It consists of 42 problems with detailed solutions, each describing a specific, interesting physical phenomenon. Each problem is further divided into questions designed to guide the reader through, encouraging engagement with and learning the physics behind the phenomenon. By solving the problems, the reader will be able to discover, for example, what the relation is between the mass of an animal and its expected lifetime, or what the efficiency limit is of wind turbines. Intended for first-year undergraduate students and interested high school students, this book develops inquiry-based scientific practice and enables students to acquire the necessary skills for applying the laws of physics to realistic situations.

Problem-solving is the cornerstone of all walks of scientific research. Fascinating Problems for Young Physicists attempts to clear the boundaries of seemingly abstract physical laws and their tangible effects through a step-by-step approach to physics in the world around us. It consists of 42 problems with detailed solutions, each describing a specific, interesting physical phenomenon. Each problem is further divided into questions designed to guide the reader through, encouraging engagement with and learning the physics behind the phenomenon. By solving the problems, the reader will be able to discover, for example, what the relation is between the mass of an animal and its expected lifetime, or what the efficiency limit is of wind turbines. Intended for first-year undergraduate students and interested high school students, this book develops inquiry-based scientific practice and enables students to acquire the necessary skills for applying the laws of physics to realistic situations.

'G. Adams in Fleet Street London' is the signature on some of the finest scientific instruments of the eighteenth century. This book is the first comprehensive study of the instrument-making business run by the Adams family, from its foundation in 1734 to bankruptcy in 1817. It is based on detailed research in the archival sources as well as examination of extant instruments and publications by George Adams senior and his two sons, George junior and Dudley. Separate chapters are devoted to George senior's family background, his royal connections, and his new globes; George junior's numerous publications, and his dealings with van Marum; and to Dudley's dabbling with 'medico-electrical therapeutics'. The book is richly illustrated with plates from the Adams's own publications and with examples of instruments ranging from unique museum pieces - such as the 'Prince of Wales' microscope - and globes to the more common, even mundane, items of the kind seen in salesrooms and dealers - the surveying, navigational and military instruments that formed the backbone of the business. The appendices include facsimiles of trade catalogues and an annotated short-title listing of the Adams family's publications, which also covers American and Continental editions, as well as the posthumous ones by W. & S. Jones.

The scientific method delivers prosperity, yet scientific practice has become subject to corrupting influences from within and without the scientific community. This essential reference is intended to help remedy those threats. The authors identify eight essential criteria for the practice of science and provide checklists to help avoid costly failures in scientific practice. Not only for scientists, this book is for all stakeholders of the broad enterprise of science. Science administrators, research funders, journal editors, and policymakers alike will find practical guidance on how they can encourage scientific research that produces useful discoveries. Journalists, commentators, and lawyers can turn to this text for help with assessing the validity and usefulness of scientific claims. The book provides practical guidance and makes important recommendations for reforms in science policy and science administration. The message of the book is complemented by Nobel Laureate Vernon L. Smith's foreword, and an afterword by Terence Kealey.

Since the initial discovery of the G protein-coupled receptor system that regulates cyclicAMP production, the G protein field has rapidly expanded. Cell surface receptors that couple to heterotrimeric G proteins, the G prote- coupled receptors (GPCRs), number in the hundreds and bind to a wide div- sity of ligands including, biogenic amines (e. g. , adrenaline), lipid derivatives (e. g. , lysophosphatidic acid), peptides (e. g. , opioid peptides), proteins (e. g. , thyroid-stimulating hormone), and odorants to name a few. The GPCR system is found throughout biology in such simple organisms as yeast and in such more complex organisms as Dictyostelium discoideum (slime mold), Caen- habditis elegans (nematode worm), and of course in humans. GPCRs and their associated G protein systems are the subject of intense academic research and because of their involvement in a human biology and disease, the pharmac- tical industry has large research initiatives dedicated to the study of GPCRs. By some estimates, more than 50% of the pharmaceuticals on the market are targeted at GPCRs. The G protein/G protein-coupled receptor system consists of a receptor (GPCR), a heterotrimeric G protein consisting of ?, ?, and ? subunits, and an effector. G protein effector molecules, such as enzymes or ion channels, respond to acti- tion by the G protein to generate second messengers or changes in membrane potential that lead to alterations in cell physiology.

The goal of this book is to make some underutilized but potentially very useful methods in experimental design and analysis available to ecologists, and to encourage better use of standard statistical techniques. Ecology has become more and more an experimental science in both basic and applied work, but experiments in the field and in the laboratory often present formidable statistical difficulties. Organized around providing solutions to ecological problems, this book offers ways to improve the statistical aspects of conducting manipulative ecological experiments, from setting them up to interpreting and reporting the results. An abundance of tools, including advanced approaches, are made available to ecologists in step-by-step examples, with computer code provided for common statistical packages. This is an essential how-to guide for the working ecologist and for graduate students preparing for research and teaching careers in the field of ecology.

It is now more than ten years since Dr. Alec Jeffreys (now Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, FRS) reported in Nature that the investigation of certain minisatellite regions in the human genome could produce what he termed DNA fingerprints and provide useful information in the fields of paternity testing and forensic analysis. Since that time we have witnessed a revolution in the field of forensic identification. A total change of technology, from serological or electrophoretic analysis of protein polymorphisms to direct investigation of the underlying DNA polymorphisms has occurred in a short space of time. In addition, the evolution and development of the DNA systems themselves has been rapid and spectacular. In the last decade we have progressed from the multilocus DNA fing- prints, through single locus systems based on the same Southern blot RFLP technology, to a host of systems based on the PCR technique. These include Allele Specific Oligonucleotide (ASO)-primed systems detected by dot blots, the "binary" genotypes produced by mapping variations within VNTR repeats demonstrated by minisatellite variant repeat (MVR) analysis, and yet other fragment-length polymorphisms in the form of Short Tandem Repeat (STR) loci. Hand in hand with the increasing range of systems available has been the development of new instrumentation to facilitate their analysis and allow us to explore the possibilities of high volume testing in the form of mass scre- ing and offender databases.

Response Surfaces: Designs and Analyses; Second Edition presents techniques for designing experiments that yield adequate and reliable measurements of one or several responses of interest, fitting and testing the suitability of empirical models used for acquiring information from the experiments, and for utilizing the experimental results to make decisions concerning the system under investigation.
This edition contains chapters on response surface models with block effects and on Taguchi's robust parameter design, additional details on transformation of response variable, more material on modified ridge analysis, and new design criteria, including rotatability for multiresponse experiments. It also presents an innovative technique for displaying correlation among several response. Numerical examples throughout the book plus exercises--with worked solutions to selected problems--complement the text.

Let this down-to-earth book be your guide to the statistical integrity of your work. Without relying on the detailed and complex mathematical explanations found in many other statistical texts, Principles of Experimental Design for the Life Sciences teaches how to design, conduct, and interpret top-notch life science studies. Learn about the planning of biomedical studies, the principles of statistical design, sample size estimation, common designs in biological experiments, sequential clinical trials, high dimensional designs and process optimization, and the correspondence between objectives, design, and analysis. Each of these important topics is presented in an understandable and non-technical manner, free of statistical jargon and formulas. Written by a biostatistical consultant with 25 years of experience, Principles of Experimental Design for the Life Sciences is filled with real-life examples from the author's work that you can quickly and easily apply to your own. These examples illustrate the main concepts of experimental design and cover a broad range of application areas in both clinical and nonclinical research. With this one innovative, helpful book you can improve your understanding of statistics, enhance your confidence in your results, and, at long last, shake off those statistical shackles!

The Second Edition of this bestseller brings together basic plant pathology methods published in diverse and often abstract publications. The Second Edition is updated and expanded with numerous new figures, new culture media, and additional methods for working with a greater number of organisms. Methods are easy to use and eliminate the need to seek out original articles. This reference allows for easy identification of methods appropriate for specific problems and facilities. Scientific names of pathogens and some of their hosts are updated in this edition. The book also acts as a research source providing more than 1,800 literature citations.
The Second Edition includes chapters on the following:
Sterilization of culture apparatus and culture media
Culture of pathogens with detailed techniques for 61 fungi and selected bacteria
Long-term storage of plant pathogens
Detection and estimation of inoculum for 28 soilborne fungal pathogens and 5 bacterial genera-15 methods for airborne inoculum and 13 methods for seedborne pathogens
Establishment of disease and testing for disease resistance
Work with soil microorganisms
Fungicide evaluation
Biological control
Bright-field microscopy

Why do Japanese artists team up with engineers in order to create so-called "Device Art"? What is a nanoscientist's motivation in approaching the artworld? In the past few years, there has been a remarkable increase in attempts to foster the exchange between art, technology, and science - an exchange taking place in academies, museums, or even in research laboratories. Media art has proven especially important in the dialogue between these cultural fields. This book is a contribution to the current debate on "art & science", interdisciplinarity, and the discourse of innovation. It critically assesses artistic positions that appear as the ongoing attempt to localize art's position within technological and societal change - between now and the future.

Most lab manuals assume a high level of knowledge among biochemistry students, as well as a large amount of experience combining knowledge from separate scientific disciplines. Biochemistry in the Lab: A Manual for Undergraduates expects little more than basic chemistry. It explains procedures clearly, as well as giving a clear explanation of the theoretical reason for those steps. Key Features: Presents a comprehensive approach to modern biochemistry laboratory teaching, together with a complete experimental experience Includes chemical biology as its foundation, teaching readers experimental methods specific to the field Provides instructor experiments that are easy to prepare and execute, at comparatively low cost Supersedes existing, older texts with information that is adjusted to modern experimental biochemistry Is written by an expert in the field This textbook presents a foundational approach to modern biochemistry laboratory teaching together with a complete experimental experience, from protein purification and characterization to advanced analytical techniques. It has modules to help instructors present the techniques used in a time critical manner, as well as several modules to study protein chemistry, including gel techniques, enzymology, crystal growth, unfolding studies, and fluorescence. It proceeds from the simplest and most important techniques to the most difficult and specialized ones. It offers instructors experiments that are easy to prepare and execute, at comparatively low cost.

Many students find it daunting to move from studying environmental science, to designing and implementing their own research proposals. This book provides a practical introduction to help develop scientific thinking, aimed at undergraduate and new graduate students in the earth and environmental sciences. Students are guided through the steps of scientific thinking using published scientific literature and real environmental data. The book starts with advice on how to effectively read scientific papers, before outlining how to articulate testable questions and answer them using basic data analysis. The Mauna Loa CO2 dataset is used to demonstrate how to read metadata, prepare data, generate effective graphs and identify dominant cycles on various timescales. Practical, question-driven examples are explored to explain running averages, anomalies, correlations and simple linear models. The final chapter provides a framework for writing persuasive research proposals, making this an essential guide for students embarking on their first research project.

Many students find it daunting to move from studying environmental science, to designing and implementing their own research proposals. This book provides a practical introduction to help develop scientific thinking, aimed at undergraduate and new graduate students in the earth and environmental sciences. Students are guided through the steps of scientific thinking using published scientific literature and real environmental data. The book starts with advice on how to effectively read scientific papers, before outlining how to articulate testable questions and answer them using basic data analysis. The Mauna Loa CO2 dataset is used to demonstrate how to read metadata, prepare data, generate effective graphs and identify dominant cycles on various timescales. Practical, question-driven examples are explored to explain running averages, anomalies, correlations and simple linear models. The final chapter provides a framework for writing persuasive research proposals, making this an essential guide for students embarking on their first research project.

Spark scientific curiosity from a young age with this six-level course through an enquiry-based approach and active learning. Collins International Primary Science fully meets the requirements of the Cambridge Primary Science Curriculum Framework from 2020 and has been carefully developed for a range of international contexts. The course is organised into four main strands: Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Earth and Space and the skills detailed under the 'Thinking and Working Scientifically' strand are introduced and taught in the context of those areas. For each Teacher's Guide at Stages 1 to 6, we offer: A comprehensive Teacher's Guide is easy to follow with a clear and consistent lesson plan layout, including built in continuous assessment The Teacher's Guide Plus ebook includes components such as slideshows, video clips, additional photographs and interactive activities Earth and Space content covers the new curriculum framework Thinking and Working Scientifically deepens and enhances the delivery of Science skills Includes practical activities that don't require specialist equipment or labs Scaffolding allows students of varying abilities to work with common content and meet learning objectives Supports Cambridge Global Perspectives (TM) with activities that develop and practise key skills Provides teacher support as part of a set of resources for the Cambridge Primary Science curriculum framework (0097) from 2020 This series is endorsed by Cambridge Assessment International Education to support the new curriculum framework 0097 from 2020.

As careers in science have become increasingly demanding, they require much more than a keen scientific mind and practical ability. If you are considering a career in research, have already embarked on your career and want to succeed, are uncertain which route to take or advise, train or supervise scientists, this book offers some helpful advice. Nancy Rothwell, a senior scientist with extensive experience training scientists and communicating with the public, covers topics ranging from choosing a PhD or postdoctoral position, successful interviews and preparing your cv to managing your supervisor; how to give successful talks, publish high quality papers and become known within your field. Broader aspects of science which are so important today are also covered, including ethics and fraud, intellectual property and exploitation and disseminating science to the public.

"Essential Laboratory Skills for Biosciences" is an essential companion during laboratory sessions. It is designed to be simple and give clear step by step instructions on essential techniques, supported by relevant diagrams. The book includes the use of particular equipment and how to do simple calculations that students come across regularly in laboratory practicals.

Written by experienced lecturers this handy pocket book provides: Simple to follow laboratory techniquesClear use of diagrams and illustrations to explain techniques, procedures and equipmentStep by step worked out examples of calculations including concentrations, dilutions and molarity

Suitable for all first year university students, the techniques in the book will also be useful for postgraduate and final year project students and enhance the practical and theoretical knowledge of all those studying bioscience related subjects.

Over recent years, progress in micropropagation has not been as rapid as many expected and, even now, relatively few crops are produced commercially. One reason for this is that the biology of material growing in vitro has been insufficiently understood for modifications to standard methods to be made based on sound physiological principles. However, since 1984, tissue culture companies and others have invested considerable effort to reduce the empirical nature of the production process. The idea of the conference "Physiology, Growth and Development of Plants and Cells in Culture"(Lancaster, 1992) was to introduce specialists in different areas of plant physiology to micropropagators, with the express aims of disseminating as wide a range of information to as large a number of participants as possible, and beginning new discussions on the constraints and potentials affecting the development of in vitro plant production methods. This book is based on presentations from the conference and has been divided into two main sections, dealing with aspects of the in vitro environment - light, nutrients, water, gas - and with applied aspects of the culture process - morphogenesis, acclimation, rejuvenation, contamination.

Written by high performance computing (HPC) experts, Introduction to High Performance Computing for Scientists and Engineers provides a solid introduction to current mainstream computer architecture, dominant parallel programming models, and useful optimization strategies for scientific HPC. From working in a scientific computing center, the authors gained a unique perspective on the requirements and attitudes of users as well as manufacturers of parallel computers.

The text first introduces the architecture of modern cache-based microprocessors and discusses their inherent performance limitations, before describing general optimization strategies for serial code on cache-based architectures. It next covers shared- and distributed-memory parallel computer architectures and the most relevant network topologies. After discussing parallel computing on a theoretical level, the authors show how to avoid or ameliorate typical performance problems connected with OpenMP. They then present cache-coherent nonuniform memory access (ccNUMA) optimization techniques, examine distributed-memory parallel programming with message passing interface (MPI), and explain how to write efficient MPI code. The final chapter focuses on hybrid programming with MPI and OpenMP.

Users of high performance computers often have no idea what factors limit time to solution and whether it makes sense to think about optimization at all. This book facilitates an intuitive understanding of performance limitations without relying on heavy computer science knowledge. It also prepares readers for studying more advanced literature.

Read about the authors’ recent honor: Informatics Europe Curriculum Best Practices Award for Parallelism and Concurrency

Table of Contents

Modern Processors

Stored-program computer architecture

General-purpose cache-based microprocessor architecture

Memory hierarchies

Multicore processors

Multithreaded processors

Vector processors

Basic Optimization Techniques for Serial Code

Scalar profiling

Common sense optimizations

Simple measures, large impact

The role of compilers

C++ optimizations

Data Access Optimization

Balance analysis and lightspeed estimates

Storage order

Case study: The Jacobi algorithm

Case study: Dense matrix transpose

Algorithm classification and access optimizations

Case study: Sparse matrix-vector multiply

Parallel Computers

Taxonomy of parallel computing paradigms

Shared-memory computers

Distributed-memory computers

Hierarchical (hybrid) systems

Networks

Basics of Parallelization

Why parallelize?

Parallelism

Parallel scalability

Shared-Memory Parallel Programming with OpenMP

Short introduction to OpenMP

Case study: OpenMP-parallel Jacobi algorithm

Advanced OpenMP: Wavefront parallelization

Efficient OpenMP Programming

Profiling OpenMP programs

Performance pitfalls

Case study: Parallel sparse matrix-vector multiply

Locality Optimizations on ccNUMA Architectures

Locality of access on ccNUMA

Case study: ccNUMA optimization of sparse MVM

Placement pitfalls

ccNUMA issues with C++

Distributed-Memory Parallel Programming with MPI

Message passing

A short introduction to MPI

Example: MPI parallelization of a Jacobi solver

Efficient MPI Programming

MPI performance tools

Communication parameters

Synchronization, serialization, contention

Reducing communication overhead

Understanding intranode point-to-point communication

Hybrid Parallelization with MPI and OpenMP

Basic MPI/OpenMP programming models

MPI taxonomy of thread interoperability

Hybrid decomposition and mapping

Potential benefits and drawbacks of hybrid programming

Appendix A: Topology and Affinity in Multicore Environments

Appendix B: Solutions to the Problems

Bibliography

Index

Responding to the developments of the past twenty years, Les Kirkup has thoroughly updated his popular book on experimental methods, while retaining the extensive coverage and practical advice from the first edition. Many topics from that edition remain, including keeping a record of work, how to deal with measurement uncertainties, understanding the statistical basis of data analysis and reporting the results of experiments. However, with new technologies influencing how experiments are devised, carried out, analyzed, presented and reported, this new edition reflects the digital changes which have taken place and the increased emphasis on the importance of communication skills in reporting results. Bringing together key elements of experimental methods into one coherent book, it is perfect for students seeking guidance with their experimental work, including how to acquire, analyse and present data. Exercises, worked examples and end-of-chapter problems are provided throughout the book to reinforce fundamental principles.