Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

This volume provides protocols that expand on the latest alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) research. The chapters in this book are divided in to three sections: Part I is dedicated to patient-oriented research; part II discusses animal models; and Part III focuses on in vitro studies. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Cutting-edge and authoritative, Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency: Methods and Protocols is a valuable resource for researchers, students, and clinican-scientists interested in AAT deficiency, as well as anyone working in the fields of pulmonology and hepatology.

This international technology assessment study has focused on the emerging global trend toward the miniaturization of manufacturing processes, equipment and systems for microscale components and products, i.e., Small Equipment for Small Parts. It encompasses the creation of miniaturized units or hybrid processes integrated with metrology, material handling and assembly to create microfactories capable of producing microprecision products in a fully automated manner at low cost.The study has investigated both the state-of-the-art as well as emerging technologies from the scientific, technological, and commercialization perspectives across key industrial sectors in the U.S., Asia and Europe including medical, electronics, aerospace, and consumer products.

Noncompact symmetric and locally symmetric spaces naturally appear in many mathematical theories, including analysis (representation theory, nonabelian harmonic analysis), number theory (automorphic forms), algebraic geometry (modulae) and algebraic topology (cohomology of discrete groups). In most applications, it is necessary to form an appropriate compactification of the space. The literature dealing with such compactifications is vast. The main purpose of this book is to introduce uniform constructions of most of the known compactifications with emphasis on their geometric and topological structures. The book is divided into three parts. Part I studies compactifications of Riemannian symmetric spaces and their arithmetic quotients. Part II is a study of compact smooth manifolds. Part III studies the compactification of locally symmetric spaces. Familiarity with the theory of semisimple Lie groups is assumed, as is familiarity with algebraic groups defined over the rational numbers in later parts of the book, although most of the pertinent material is recalled as presented. and research mathematicians interested in the applications of Lie theory and representation theory to diverse fields of mathematics.