Taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid) is an enigmatic compound abounding in animal tissues. It is present at relatively high concentrations in all electrically excitable tissues such as brain, sensory organs, heart, and muscle, and in certain endocrine glands. Some of its physiological functions are already established, for example as an essential nutrient during development and as a neuromodulator or osmolyte, but the cellular mechanisms are still mostly a matter of conjecture. Moreover, there are a number of other putative functions of taurine less well known at present.

Taurine 7 contains the proceedings of the 16th International Taurine Meeting. This meeting is a multidisciplinary symposium, with participants presenting different fields of biological science. This volume focuses on all aspects of taurine research from immunology and its effect on health to chemistry and biochemistry, including future clinical applications.

Rock dynamics has become one of the most important topics in the field of rock mechanics and rock engineering, and involves a wide variety of topics, from earthquake engineering, blasting, impacts, failure of rock engineering structures as well as the occurrence and prediction of earthquakes, induced seismicity, rock bursts to non-destructive testing and explorations. Rock dynamics has wide applications in civil and infrastructural, resources and energy, geological and environmental engineering, geothermal energy, and earthquake hazard management, and has become one of the most topical areas. 2019 Rock Dynamics Summit contains 8 keynote addresses and 128 regular full papers that were presented at the 2019 Rock Dynamics Summit (2019 RDS, Okinawa, Japan, 7-11 May 2019), a specialized conference jointly organized by the Rock Dynamics Committee of the Japanese Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE-RDC), the Japanese Society for Rock Mechanics (JSRM), and which was supported by the International Society for Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (ISRM) and the Turkish National Society for Rock Mechanics (TNSRM). The contributions cover a wide range of topics on the dynamic behavior of rock and rock masses and scientific and engineering applications, and include: - Laboratory tests on Dynamic Responses of Rocks and Rock Masses / Fracturing of Rocks and Associated Strong Motions - Estimation Procedures and Numerical Techniques of Strong Motions Associated with the Rupture of Earth's Crust and Some Strong Motion - Dynamic Response and Stability of Rock Foundations, Underground Excavations in Rock, Rock Slopes Dynamic Responses and Stability of Stone Masonry Historical Structures and Monuments - Induced Seismicity - Dynamic Simulation of Loading and Excavation - Blasting and machinery induced vibrations - Rockburst, Outburst, Impacts - Nondestructive Testing Using Shock Waves - Case Histories of Failure Phenomenon in Rock Engineering 2019 Rock Dynamics Summit contains the state-of-the-art in rock dynamics, and will be invaluable to professionals and academics interested in the latest advances in new techniques for experiments, analytical and numerical modelling as well as monitoring in dynamics of rocks and rock engineering structures.

Taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid) is an enigmatic compound abounding in animal tissues. It is present at relatively high concentrations in all electrically excitable tissues such as brain, sensory organs, heart, and muscle, and in certain endocrine glands. Some of its physiological functions are already established, for example as an essential nutrient during development and as a neuromodulator or osmolyte, but the cellular mechanisms are still mostly a matter of conjecture. Moreover, there are a number of other putative functions of taurine less well known at present.

Taurine 7 contains the proceedings of the 16th International Taurine Meeting. This meeting is a multidisciplinary symposium, with participants presenting different fields of biological science. This volume focuses on all aspects of taurine research from immunology and its effect on health to chemistry and biochemistry, including future clinical applications.

London Zoo examined in its nineteenth-century context, looking at its effect on cultural and social life. At the dawn of the Victorian era, London Zoo became one of the metropolis's premier attractions. The crowds drawn to its bear pit included urban promenaders, gentlemen menagerists, Indian shipbuilders and Persian princes - and Charles Darwin himself. This book shows that the impact of the zoo's extensive collection of animals can only be understood in the context of a wide range of contemporary approaches to nature, and that it was not merely a manifestation of British imperial culture. The author demonstrates how the early history of the zoo illuminates three important aspects of the history of nineteenth-century Britain: the politics of culture and leisure in a new public domain which included museums and art galleries; the professionalisation and popularisation of science in a consumer society; and the meanings of the animal world for a growing urban population. Weaving these threads together, he presents a flexible frame of analysis to explain how the zoo was established, how it pursued its policies of animal collection, and how it responded to changing social conditions.