This edited collection brings together internationally recognized experts in a range of areas of statistical science to honor the contributions of the distinguished statistician, Barry C. Arnold. A pioneering scholar and professor of statistics at the University of California, Riverside, Dr. Arnold has made exceptional advancements in different areas of probability, statistics, and biostatistics, especially in the areas of distribution theory, order statistics, and statistical inference. As a tribute to his work, this book presents novel developments in the field, as well as practical applications and potential future directions in research and industry. It will be of interest to graduate students and researchers in probability, statistics, and biostatistics, as well as practitioners and technicians in the social sciences, economics, engineering, and medical sciences.

For the past decade or more, much of cell biology research has been focused on determining the key molecules involved in different cellular processes, an analytical problem that has been amenable to biochemical and genetic approaches. Now, we face an integrative problem of understanding how all of these molecules work together to produce living cells, a challenge that requires using quantitative approaches to model the complex interactions within a cell, and testing those models with careful quantitative measurements. This book is an introductory overview of the various approaches, methods, techniques, and models employed in quantitative cell biology, which are reviewed in greater detail in the other volumes in this e-book series. Particular emphasis is placed on the goals and purpose of quantitative analysis and modeling, and the special challenges that cell biology holds for understanding life at the physical level.

This book addresses the structural and biological properties of dental and peridental tissue structures and covers their mineralization process. The book contains a description of dentines, cementum, enamel and bone, including collagens, as well as non-collagenous proteins (SIBLINGs, SLRPs, GAGs, PGs, lipids, and MMPs). The mechanisms of mineralization are described in detail and the book is focused on matrix vesicles, collagen mineralization and the role of non-collagenous extracellular matrix components either as promoters or inhibitors of mineralization. In addition, the matrix components (non-collagenous) of enamel (amelogenin, ameloblastin, enamelin, MMP4, MMP20 and other proteases) are reviewed and their respective roles in dental tissues biomineralizations and tissue turnover are discussed. Additionally, environmental factors involved in enamel / dentin defects are adressed. With state-of-the-art contributions from experts in the respective domains, the book is a useful introduction to the field for junior scientists, interested in dental and peridental tissue biomineralization. It is also an interesting read for advanced scientists and clinicians working in dental research, giving them a broader view of the topic beyond their area of specialization. The series Biology of Extracellular Matrix is published in collaboration with the American Society for Matrix Biology.

Handbook of Thermoset-Based Biocomposites is a three-volume set that provides a comprehensive review on the recent developments, characterization, and applications of natural fiber-reinforced biocomposites. An in-depth look at hybrid composites, nanofillers, and natural fiber reinforcement is divided into three books on polyester, vinyl ester, and epoxy composites. The volumes explore the widespread applications of natural fiber-reinforced polyester, vinyl ester, and epoxy composites ranging from the aerospace sector, automotive parts, construction and building materials, sports equipment, and household appliances. Investigating the physio-chemical, mechanical, and thermal properties of these composites, the volumes also consider the influence of hybridization, fibre architecture, and fibre-ply orientation. This three-volume set serves as a useful reference for researchers, graduate students, and engineers in the field of composites.

The 4th World Congress on Genetics, Geriatrics and Neurodegenerative Diseases Research (GeNeDis 2020) focuses on the latest major challenges in scientific research, new drug targets, the development of novel biomarkers, new imaging techniques, novel protocols for early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, and several other scientific advances, with the aim of better, safer, and healthier aging. Computational methodologies for implementation on the discovery of biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases are extensively discussed. This volume focuses on the sessions from the conference regarding computational biology and bioinformatics.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of Alexander disease, a rare and devastating neurological disorder that often affects the white matter of the brain and spinal cord. Its distinctive neuropathology consists of abundant Rosenthal fibers within astrocytes (one of the four major cell types of the central nervous system). Nearly all cases are caused by variants in the gene encoding the intermediate filament protein GFAP, but how these changes in GFAP lead to the widespread manifestations of disease is poorly understood. Astrocytes, while discovered over a century ago, are themselves still much of a mystery. They exhibit considerable diversity, defy precise definition, and yet actively regulate many aspects of nervous system functioning. We also have incomplete understanding of Rosenthal fibers, odd structures that contain GFAP as just one of many components. Whether they are toxic or protective is unknown. Moreover, Rosenthal fibers are not absolutely unique to Alexander disease, and are seen sporadically in a wide variety of other conditions, including brain tumors and multiple sclerosis. GFAP is the third unknown. It is an ancient protein, arising early in the evolution of vertebrates, but its role in normal biology is still a matter of debate. Yet Alexander disease shows, without a doubt, that changing just a single of its 432 amino acids can lead to catastrophe, not just in the astrocytes where GFAP is produced but also in the other cells with which astrocytes interact. Despite all of the unknowns, much has been learned in the past 20 years, and it is time to share this knowledge. This book is intended for recently diagnosed patients and families, as well as non-specialist researchers interested in this neurological disease. It covers historical origins, the state of current knowledge, and prospects for what lies ahead, with citations to the primary literature given throughout.

The book is an indispensable companion to all students of biology, but particularly those enrolled in courses concerning experimental design, data analysis, hypothesis testing, research methods, or any practical project work.

Volume 37 will provide details on the major chemical constituents of medicinal plants and their mechanism of action as the anticancer compounds. This special issue, in addition to the previous volume (volume 36 of The Enzyme series was on Natural Products and Cancer Signaling Targets: Isoprenoids, Polyphenols and Flavonoids), will highlight the significant advance made in the field in elucidating mechanisms of anticancer effect of the major phytochemicals.

This book comprises the proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Asia-Pacific Microscopy Conference (APMC12) focusing on emerging opportunities and challenges in the field of materials sciences, life sciences and microscopy techniques. The contents of this volume include papers on aberration corrected TEM & STEM, SEM - FIB, ion beam microscopy, electron diffraction & crystallography, microscopy and imaging associated with bio-nanotechnology, medical applications, host-pathogen interaction, etc. This book will be beneficial to researchers, educators, and practitioners alike.

This book provides a compact introduction to the bootstrap method. In addition to classical results on point estimation and test theory, multivariate linear regression models and generalized linear models are covered in detail. Special attention is given to the use of bootstrap procedures to perform goodness-of-fit tests to validate model or distributional assumptions. In some cases, new methods are presented here for the first time. The text is motivated by practical examples and the implementations of the corresponding algorithms are always given directly in R in a comprehensible form. Overall, R is given great importance throughout. Each chapter includes a section of exercises and, for the more mathematically inclined readers, concludes with rigorous proofs. The intended audience is graduate students who already have a prior knowledge of probability theory and mathematical statistics.

Oligonucleotides represent one of the most significant pharmaceutical breakthroughs in recent years, showing great promise as diagnostic and therapeutic agents for malignant tumors, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, viral infections, and many other degenerative disorders. The Handbook of Analysis of Oligonucleotides and Related Products is an essential reference manual on the practical application of modern and emerging analytical techniques for the analysis of this unique class of compounds. A strong collaboration among thirty leading analytical scientists from around the world, the book provides readers with a comprehensive overview of the most commonly used analytical techniques and their advantages and limitations in assuring the identity, purity, quality, and strength of an oligonucleotide intended for therapeutic use. Topics discussed include: Strategies for enzymatic or chemical degradation of chemically modified oligonucleotides toward mass spectrometric sequencing Purity analysis by chromatographic or electrophoretic methods, including RP-HPLC, AX-HPLC, HILIC, SEC, and CGE Characterization of sequence-related impurities in oligonucleotides by mass spectrometry and chromatography Structure elucidation by spectroscopic methods (IR, NMR, MS) as well as base composition and thermal melt analysis (Tm) Approaches for the accurate determination of molar extinction coefficient of oligonucleotides Accurate determination of assay values Assessment of the overall quality of oligonucleotides, including microbial analysis and determination of residual solvents and heavy metals Strategies for determining the chemical stability of oligonucleotides The use of hybridization techniques for supporting pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism studies in preclinical and clinical development Guidance for the presentation of relevant analytical information towards meeting current regulatory expectations for oligonucleotide therapeutics This resource provides a practical guide for applying state-of-the-art analytical techniques in research, development, and manufacturing settings.

This book includes an international group of researchers who present the latest achievements in the field of enzyme, immune system, and microbial and nano-biosensors. It highlights the experimental evidence for formation of biological fuel cells (BFCs)-which has a dual purpose - as a device that produces electricity and the systems which produce it simultaneously cleaning up the environment from polluting organic compounds. Considering the work in the field of macro, micro and nano-biosensors, considerable attention is paid to the use of nanomaterials for the modification of working electrodes. Nanomaterials in some cases can significantly improve the parameters of analytical systems. Readers will be interested in the projection of the presented theoretical and experimental materials in the field of practical application of modern analytical developments. The presented results in many cases imply the possibility of using the created models of macro, micro and nano-biosensors, and biofuel elements in the field of health, and protection/restoration of the environment. It includes information about all existing types of transducers of signals in biosensors - electrochemical, optical and quantum-optics, thermoelectric, data of atomic force microscopy, piezoelectric, and more. On the basis of these principles, descriptions are given about the functioning of macro, micro and nano- biosensors for the detection of compounds used in medicine, detection of compounds that clog the environment, and thus affect human health, for compounds that are potentially the basis for the production of drugs, for the selection of compounds that have medicinal activity, for immunodetection, and to assess the quality of food. These questions form the basis of research carried out in the field of biosensors in the world. Since the described models of biosensors have high sensitivity, high measurement speed and selectivity, the described results attract the attention of both the ordinary reader and business class specialists who create and implement analytical technologies. This book is very useful for researchers in life sciences, chemical sciences, physics, and engineering. In addition, it will be useful for the persons working in industry. Advanced technologies specialists will be attracted by the novelty of the proposed solutions and their relevance and ease of implementation. Since the studies contain sections describing the parameters of different biosensors, BFCs, they are easily navigated into assessing the effectiveness of the practical use of the proposed device. The relevant sections indicate such characteristics as detection ranges, life span, type of biological material used, the method of formation of the bio-receptor part. These parameters are of interest to both developers of new models of biosensors and BFC, and their manufacturers.

In the statistical domain, certain topics have received considerable attention during the last decade or so, necessitated by the growth and evolution of data and theoretical challenges. This growth has invariably been accompanied by computational advancement, which has presented end users as well as researchers with the necessary opportunities to handle data and implement modelling solutions for statistical purposes. Showcasing the interplay among a variety of disciplines, this book offers pioneering theoretical and applied solutions to practice-oriented problems. As a carefully curated collection of prominent international thought leaders, it fosters collaboration between statisticians and biostatisticians and provides an array of thought processes and tools to its readers. The book thereby creates an understanding and appreciation of recent developments as well as an implementation of these contributions within the broader framework of both academia and industry. Computational and Methodological Statistics and Biostatistics is composed of three main themes: * Recent developments in theory and applications of statistical distributions;* Recent developments in supervised and unsupervised modelling;* Recent developments in biostatistics; and also features programming code and accompanying algorithms to enable readers to replicate and implement methodologies. Therefore, this monograph provides a concise point of reference for a variety of current trends and topics within the statistical domain. With interdisciplinary appeal, it will be useful to researchers, graduate students, and practitioners in statistics, biostatistics, clinical methodology, geology, data science, and actuarial science, amongst others.

Biodiversity has been a key concept in international conservation since the 1980s, yet historians have paid little attention to its origins. Uncovering its roots in tropical fieldwork and the southward expansion of U.S. empire at the turn of the twentieth century, Megan Raby details how ecologists took advantage of growing U.S. landholdings in the circum-Caribbean by establishing permanent field stations for long-term, basic tropical research. From these outposts of U.S. science, a growing community of American ""tropical biologists"" developed both the key scientific concepts and the values embedded in the modern discourse of biodiversity. Considering U.S. biological fieldwork from the era of the Spanish-American War through the anticolonial movements of the 1960s and 1970s, this study combines the history of science, environmental history, and the history of U.S.-Caribbean and Latin American relations. In doing so, Raby sheds new light on the origins of contemporary scientific and environmentalist thought and brings to the forefront a surprisingly neglected history of twentieth-century U.S. science and empire.

Why do we die? Do all living creatures share this fate? Is the body's slow degradation with the passage of time unavoidable, or can the secrets of longevity be unlocked? Over the past two decades, scientists studying the workings of genes and cells have uncovered some of the clues necessary to solve these mysteries. In this fascinating and accessible book, two neurobiologists share the often-surprising findings from that research, including the possibility that aging and natural death may not be forever a certainty for most living beings. Andre Klarsfeld and Frederic Revah discuss in detail the latest scientific findings and views on death and longevity. They challenge many popular assumptions, such as the idea that the death of individual organisms serves to rejuvenate species or that death and sexual reproduction are necessarily linked. Finally, they describe current experimental approaches to postpone natural death in lower organisms as well as in mammals. Are all organisms that survive until late in life condemned to a "natural" death, as a consequence of aging, even if they live in a well-protected, supportive environment? The variability of the adult life span from a few hours for some insects to more than a millennium for the sequoia and thirteen times that for certain wild berry bushes challenges the notion that death is unavoidable. Evolutionary theory helps explain why and how some species have achieved biological mechanisms that seemingly allow them to resist time. Death cannot be understood without looking into cells the essential building blocks of life. Intriguingly, at the level of cells, death is not always an accident; it is often programmed as an indispensable aspect of life, which benefits the organism as a whole."

This proceedings volume highlights the latest research and developments in psychometrics and statistics. It represents selected and peer-reviewed presentations given at the 85th Annual International Meeting of the Psychometric Society (IMPS), held virtually on July 13-17, 2020. The IMPS is one of the largest international meetings on quantitative measurement in education, psychology and the social sciences. It draws approximately 500 participants from around the world, featuring paper and poster presentations, symposiums, workshops, keynotes, and invited presentations. Leading experts and promising young researchers have written the included chapters. The chapters address a wide variety of topics including but not limited to item response theory, adaptive testing, Bayesian estimation, propensity scores, and cognitive diagnostic models. This volume is the 9th in a series of recent works to cover research presented at the IMPS.

This volume covers a wide range of conceptual, epistemological and methodological issues in the philosophy of science raised by reflection upon medical science and practice. Several chapters examine such general meta-scientific concepts as discovery, reduction, theories and models, causal inference and scientific realism as they apply to medicine or medical science in particular. Some discuss important concepts specific to medicine (diagnosis, health, disease, brain death). A topic such as evidence, for instance, is examined at a variety of levels, from social mechanisms for guiding evidence-based reasoning such as evidence-based medicine, consensus conferences, and clinical trials, to the more abstract analysis of experimentation, inference and uncertainty. Some chapters reflect on particular domains of medicine, including psychiatry, public health, and nursing.

The contributions span a broad range of detailed cases from the science and practice of medicine, as well as a broad range of intellectual approaches, from conceptual analysis to detailed examinations of particular scientific papers or historical episodes.
Chapters view philosophy of medicine from quite different angles Considers substantive cases from both medical science and practiceChapters from a distinguished array of contributors

This book reviews the relationship between receptors, carbohydrate moieties, and pathogenic surfaces and lectins' pathophysiology of immune responses and examines the mechanisms of action of the molecules for the treatment potentials. Increasing evidence has suggested that lectin-carbohydrate interactions perform important roles in various regulations of immune responses, but much remains to be learned about these crucial properties and their interplay with other molecules. In addition, a better understanding of the structural and functional properties of lectin and the activated immune response will be of critical importance for the development of new diagnostic tools and therapeutic strategies. These key areas are the focus of this book, which documents the latest research findings in the field. Evidence is provided for the various lectin types from animal and plant as well as microbial or marine lectins, and this wide range of molecular knowledge directs us to various diseases, including infectious diseases and cancer. In presenting state-of-the-art knowledge on the interactions between lectin and its interactions,the book will help to pave the way for the development of novel targets for the prevention and treatment of many disorders.