1. Highlights recent advances in material science and armour technology 2. Provides information on computational methods for armour design 3. Discusses stress waves and penetration mechanics 4. Covers human vulnerability and reactive armour systems

Enzyme kinetics, binding kinetics and pharmacological dose-response curves are currently analyzed by a few standard methods. Some of these, like Michaelis-Menten enzyme kinetics, use plausible approximations, others, like Hill equations for dose-response curves, are outdated. Calculating realistic reaction schemes requires numerical mathematical routines which usually are not covered in the curricula of life science. This textbook will give a step-by-step introduction to numerical solutions of non-linear and differential equations. It will be accompanied with a set of programs to calculate any reaction scheme on any personal computer. Typical examples from analytical biochemistry and pharmacology can be used as versatile templates. When a reaction scheme is applied for data fitting, the resulting parameters may not be unique. Correlation of parameters will be discussed and simplification strategies will be offered.

This book sheds light on how dysregulated organelle functions contribute to the pathology and progression of human diseases. To offer a broad perspective, they discuss basic, translational, and clinical aspects across scales, from molecules to cells, tissues and organisms. Rather than providing a comprehensive introduction to the field, the authors focus on recent advances in organelle research, with each chapter inviting readers to consider today's key questions in the respective field. This book reviews the endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi Appartus, Lysosomes and other membrane-enclosed organelles, demonstrating how their dysregulated function contributes to various pathologies. The chapters not only offer a platform for new perspectives but also stimulate further investigations. Given the translational nature of this subject, this book is a valuable resource for physiologists and clinicians alike. Chapter "Lipid Droplets in Cancer" is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

The Heparins: Properties and Clinical Applications brings the latest information on heparin, one of the world's most widely used drugs. The book describes the fascinating history of the discovery of this biological agent, how it was isolated and characterized, and its use for the treatment of thrombotic disorders. The structures of various heparins are illustrated, with their function as anticoagulants delineated. This comprehensive resource arms researchers and clinicians with a concise and practical source that will assist in biomedical research, medical practice, and in improving patient outcomes.

Advances in cellular physiology and molecular biology have now disclosed the metabolic changes and adaptational responses of the heart to various kinds of stresses. Topics covered in this volume include the regulation of myocardial proteins in mechanical overload, the alteration of adrenoceptors in the stressed heart, metabolic adaptation in cardiac hypertrophy, intracellular calcium metabolism in the ischemia-reperfused myocardium, calcium overload as a cause of myocardial stunning, acquisition of ischemic tolerance by ischemic preconditioning, factors that accelerate myocardial injury, and ventricular remodeling in the ischemic heart. As an update of the latest findings in basic cardiology, this book will benefit both researchers and clinical practitioners.

High-throughput measurements of gene expression and genetic marker data facilitate systems biologic and systems genetic data analysis strategies. Gene co-expression networks have been used to study a variety of biological systems, bridging the gap from individual genes to biologically or clinically important emergent phenotypes.

While most books contain some information on related sensors topics, they are limited in their scope on biomedical sensors. Sensors in Biomedical Applications: Fundamentals, Design, Technology and Applications is the first systematized book to concentrate on all available and potential sensor devices of biomedical applications! Sensors in Biomedical Applications presents information on sensor types in a comprehensive and easy to understand format. The first four chapters concentrate on the basics, lending an understanding to operation and design principles of sensor elements. Introduced are sections on: basic terms, sensor technologies, sensor structure and sensing effects. The next three chapters describe application possibilities: physical sensors, sensors for measuring chemical qualities and biosensors. Finally, a chapter covers biocompatability, in addition to an appendix and glossary. Sensors in Biomedical Applications is the definitive reference book for a broad audience. All physicists, chemists and biologists interested in the chemical basis and effects of sensors will find this work invaluable. Biomedical engineers and sensor specialists will find the text useful in its pointed analysis of special design, processing and application problems. Physicians practicing with diagnostic tools will want to see the possibilities and limits of biomedical sensors. Finally, students of all of the above areas who wish to learn more about the basics of biomedical sensors need to have this book.

This textbook has been conceptualized to provide a detailed description of the various aspects of Systems and Synthetic Biology, keeping the requirements of M.Sc. and Ph.D. students in mind. Also, it is hoped that this book will mentor young scientists who are willing to contribute to this area but do not know from where to begin. The book has been divided into two sections. The first section will deal with systems biology - in terms of the foundational understanding, highlighting issues in biological complexity, methods of analysis and various aspects of modelling. The second section deals with the engineering concepts, design strategies of the biological systems ranging from simple DNA/RNA fragments, switches and oscillators, molecular pathways to a complete synthetic cell will be described. Finally, the book will offer expert opinions in legal, safety, security and social issues to present a well-balanced information both for students and scientists.

There are many examples of cooperation in Nature: cells cooperate to form tissues, organs cooperate to form living organisms, and individuals cooperate to raise their offspring or to hunt. However, why cooperation emerges and survives in hostile environments, when defecting would be a much more profitable short-term strategy, is a question that still remains open. During the past few years, several explanations have been proposed, including kin and group selection, punishment and reputation mechanisms, or network reciprocity. This last one will be the center of the present study. The thesis explores the interface between the underlying structure of a given population and the outcome of the cooperative dynamics taking place on top of it, (namely, the Prisoner's Dilemma Game). The first part of this work analyzes the case of a static system, where the pattern of connections is fixed, so it does not evolve over time. The second part develops two models for growing topologies, where the growth and the dynamics are entangled.

I want to express my sincere thanks to all authors who submitted research papers to support the Third IFIP International Conference on Computer and Computing Te- nologies in Agriculture and the Third Symposium on Development of Rural Infor- tion (CCTA 2009) held in China, during October 14-17, 2009. This conference was hosted by the CICTA (EU-China Centre for Information & Communication Technologies, China Agricultural University), China National En- neering Research Center for Information Technology in Agriculture, Asian Conf- ence on Precision Agriculture, International Federation for Information Processing, Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering, Beijing Society for Information Te- nology in Agriculture, and the Chinese Society for Agricultural Machinery. The pla- num sponsor includes the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Ministry of Education of China, among others. The CICTA (EU-China Centre for Information & Communication Technologies, China Agricultural University) focuses on research and development of advanced and practical technologies applied in agriculture and on promoting international communi- tion and cooperation. It has successfully held three International Conferences on C- puter and Computing Technologies in Agriculture, namely CCTA 2007, CCTA 2008 and CCTA 2009. Sustainable agriculture is the focus of the whole world currently, and therefore the application of information technology in agriculture is becoming more and more - portant. 'Informatized agriculture' has been sought by many countries recently in order to scientifically manage agriculture to achieve low costs and high incomes.

This book offers an accessible introduction to random walk and diffusion models at a level consistent with the typical background of students in the life sciences. In recent decades these models have become widely used in areas far beyond their traditional origins in physics, for example, in studies of animal behavior, ecology, sociology, sports science, population genetics, public health applications, and human decision making. Developing the main formal concepts, the book provides detailed and intuitive step-by-step explanations, and moves smoothly from simple to more complex models. Finally, in the last chapter, some successful and original applications of random walk and diffusion models in the life and behavioral sciences are illustrated in detail. The treatment of basic techniques and models is consolidated and extended throughout by a set of carefully chosen exercises.

In the last few years, the boom in biobanking has prompted a lively debate on a host of interrelated legal issues, such as the Gordian knot of the ownership of biological materials, as well as privacy concerns. The latter are due to the difficulty of accepting that biological samples must be completely anonymous without making it practically impossible to exploit their information potential. The issues also include the delicate role and the changing content of the donor's "informed consent" as the main legal tool that may serve to link the privacy and property interests of donors with the research interests and the set of principles that should be at the core of the biobanking practice. Lastly, the IP issues and the patentability of biological samples as well as the protection of databases storing genetic information obtained from the samples are covered. Collecting eighteen essays written by eminent scholars from Italy, the US, the UK and Canada, this book provides new solutions to these problems. From a comparative viewpoint, it explores the extent to which digital technology may assist in tackling the numerous regulatory issues raised by the practice of biobanking for research purposes. These issues may be considered and analyzed under the traditional paradigms of Property, Privacy, Informed Consent and Intellectual Property.

Prostate Cancer Metabolism: From Biochemistry to Therapeutics shows the peculiarities of prostate cancer metabolism, emphasizing the targetable aspects - that have not been considered in conventional treatment protocols. The book specifically addresses treatment of the castration-resistant stage of prostate cancer proposing many repurposed drugs and nutraceuticals to complement, not replace, standard therapies. The large body of evidence supporting these concepts makes them deserving of further research and well-designed clinical trials. It discusses lipid, cholesterol, glutamine, and glucose metabolisms and their impact on prostate cancer. Additionally, it explains how current established drugs can be repurposed to improve treatment outcomes. The concepts set out in the book, that deal with cancer at the cellular/molecular level, help identify new avenues of research and treatments to pursue that do not affect well-being whilst offer consistent benefits. Since most practicing physicians have not studied basic biochemistry since medical school, each chapter begins with a brief review of the topic to facilitate an understanding of the metabolically-oriented approach to targeting prostate cancer. Conventional treatments are not discussed here since they are covered in textbooks and specialized updates that abound in the medical literature. It is a valuable resource for cancer researchers, oncologists, clinicians and members of biomedical field who want to learn more about prostate cancer metabolism and how to apply recent findings in the field to bedside.

Handbook of Current and Novel Protocols for the Treatment of Infertility is a valuable resource of well-organized, comprehensive scientific data with practical guides and step-by-step protocols for infertility management. Written by contributors located worldwide, this book discusses different practice patterns and approaches used internationally, along with innovative topics including preimplantation genetic testing, time lapse imaging and the role of artificial intelligence in ART. This book provides up-to-date, evidence-based guidance on daily practice and is a valuable resource for infertility providers, including trainees in the field of reproductive endocrinology and infertility, embryologists, specialists in reproductive medicine and gynecologists. The field of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) is rapidly evolving and stimulation protocols, fertility strategies and aspects of infertility treatments are constantly being updated as advances and new discoveries are made.

This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date collection of review articles focusing on RNA-mediated regulation in prokaryotes. The various modes of action include the direct interaction with proteins, direct sensing of metabolites or of physical parameters, and the interaction with RNAs to stimulate or prevent binding of ribosomes or to stimulate degradation. Written by leading experts in the field, the book covers small RNA functions, RNA thermometers, riboswitches, the diversity of small RNA-guided CRISPR-Cas defense systems and selected RNA chaperons in both prokaryotic domains, bacteria and archaea. Recent advances towards the computational identification of regulatory RNAs and their targets are included and particular attention is paid to small RNA in pathogenic bacteria. This volume is the only one exclusively covering regulatory RNAs in the prokaryotic domains to date, making it essential literature for anyone interested in RNA function and gene regulation and a valuable resource for teaching these concepts.

Ethics for Health Promotion and Health Education discusses ethical principles and interpretations by classical ethicists as they apply to health promotion and health education. The book unpacks ethical expectations in promoting and teaching health in both the classroom and as a researcher or practitioner and then applies the code of ethics using case study methods throughout. This informative text was written by health educators and practitioners to assist health educator and practitioner communities.

At first glance the concepts of time and of Petri nets are quite contrary: while time determines the occurrences of events in a system, classic Petri nets consider their causal relationships and they represent events as concurrent systems. But if we take a closer look at how time and causality are intertwined we realize that there are many possible ways in which time and Petri nets interact. This book takes a closer look at three time-dependent Petri nets: Time Petri nets, Timed Petri nets, and Petri nets with time windows.

The author first explains classic Petri nets and their fundamental properties. Then the pivotal contribution of the book is the introduction of different algorithms that allow us to analyze time-dependent Petri nets. For Time Petri nets, the author presents an algorithm that proves the behavioral equivalence of a net where time is designed once with real and once with natural numbers, so we can reduce the state space and consider the integer states exclusively. For Timed Petri nets, the author introduces two time-dependent state equations, providing a sufficient condition for the non-reachability of states, and she also defines a local transformation for converting these nets into Time Petri nets. Finally, she shows that Petri nets with time-windows have the ability to realize every transition sequence fired in the net omitting time restrictions.

These classes of time-dependent Petri nets show that time alone does not change the power of a Petri net, in fact time may or may not be used to force firing. For Time Petri nets and Timed Petri nets we can say that they are Turing-powerful, and thus more powerful than classic Petri nets, because there is a compulsion to fire at some point in time. By contrast, Petri nets with time-windows have no compulsion to fire, their expressiveness power is less than that of Turing-machines.

This book derives from advanced lectures, and the text is supported throughout withexamples and exercises. It issuitable for graduate courses in computer science, mathematics, engineering, and related disciplines, and as a reference for researchers."

Symptomatic: The Symptom-Based Handbook for Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders offers a novel approach structured around the panoply of 75 symptoms with which a person with Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) and hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD) may present to a clinician. The content is arranged intuitively from head to feet, with each chapter integrating clinical case studies with a concise discussion and two important diagnostic tools: a simplified algorithm for diagnosing and treating each symptom and differential diagnoses and alternative explanations for their symptoms. This is a handbook that combines the expertise of some 70 leading clinicians, representing more than 30 specialties. This book is suited for clinicians who need a concise and straight-forward presentation of the various and complex symptoms they confront in their clinical practice. It brings forth a field of knowledge emerging from interdisciplinary collaboration despite the pressures of specialization that bridges gaps in understanding between the several dozen disciplines implicated in EDS and HSD.

Sustainable agriculture is a rapidly growing field aiming at producing food and energy in a sustainable way for humans and their children. It is a discipline that addresses current issues: climate change, increasing food and fuel prices, poor-nation starvation, rich-nation obesity, water pollution, soil erosion, fertility loss, pest control and biodiversity depletion. This series gathers review articles that analyze current agricultural issues and knowledge, then proposes alternative solutions.

This book presents a sample of research on knowledge-based systems in biomedicine and computational life science. The contributions include: personalized stress diagnosis system, image analysis system for breast cancer diagnosis, analysis of neuronal cell images, structure prediction of protein, relationship between two mental disorders, detection of cardiac abnormalities, holistic medicine based treatment and analysis of life-science data.

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The book provides a comprehensive review of the fundamental and practical aspects of bioanalytical support and the integral role it plays in the development of safe and efficacious biopharmaceutical drugs with speed and cost-effectiveness. The book focuses on a broad range of conventional and emerging biopharmaceutical modalities including monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics, gene therapy, cell therapy, peptides and oligonucleotides. The book starts with an introductory overview of bioanalysis showcasing the integral role it plays in understanding the drug disposition (pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics and immunogenicity) and the progression of bioanalytical strategy as the drug progresses through discovery and development stages of the program, taking into consideration the continually evolving regulatory landscape. The book further diversifies into individual biopharmaceutical modalities - monoclonal antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, bispecifics, Fc-fusion proteins, gene therapies, cell therapies, peptides and oligonucleotides. The individual chapters focus on modality-specific bioanalytical assay strategies, critical reagents, assay formats, analytical platforms, associated bioanalytical challenges and mitigation strategies, industry best practices, and the latest understanding of regulatory guidance as applicable to the fast-growing biopharmaceutical landscape.

This book covers the latest findings of a wide variety of viral, prokaryotic and eukaryotic macromolecular protein complexes and builds upon the solid macromolecular foundations established by previous volumes of the Subcellular Biochemistry series. Thus, an almost encyclopaedic coverage of the broad field of protein complex structure and function has been established. The 17 interesting chapters included in this book have been organised into four sections: Soluble Protein Complexes, Membrane Protein Complexes, Fibrous Protein Complexes and Viral Protein Complexes. Significant topics present here are: Fatty Acid Synthase, the Fork Protection Complex, Ribonucleotide Reductase, the Kinetochore, G proteins, the FtsEX Complex, the Kainate Receptor, the Photosystem I-antenna, the Mycobacterial Arabinofuranosyltransferases, the the Bacterial Flagellum, the Actomyosin Complex, Motile Cilia, SLS Collagen Polymorphic Structures, and the Reovirus Capsid and Polymerase. Up-dates/expansion of chapter topics present in earlier volumes are now included in chapters here, e.g., those on Ferritin-like proteins and the Multi-tRNA Synthetase. The book is richly illustrated throughout, the result of an impressive integration of structural data from X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy. The functional aspects of protein-protein interactions are also given a high priority.

Key Features: Provides botanical descriptions, distribution and pharmacological investigations of notable medicinal and herbal plants used to prevent or treat diabetes. Discusses phytochemical and polyherbal formulations for the management of diabetes and other related complications. Contains reports on antidiabetic plants and their potential uses in drug discovery based on their bioactive molecules.