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Elsevier

Books in Life sciences

  • Principles of Biomedical Informatics

    • 2nd Edition
    • Ira J. Kalet
    • English
    This second edition of a pioneering technical work in biomedical informatics provides a very readable treatment of the deep computational ideas at the foundation of the field. Principles of Biomedical Informatics, 2nd Edition is radically reorganized to make it especially useable as a textbook for courses that move beyond the standard introductory material. It includes exercises at the end of each chapter, ideas for student projects, and a number of new topics, such as:• tree structured data, interval trees, and time-oriented medical data and their use• On Line Application Processing (OLAP), an old database idea that is only recently coming of age and finding surprising importance in biomedical informatics• a discussion of nursing knowledge and an example of encoding nursing advice in a rule-based system• X-ray physics and algorithms for cross-sectional medical image reconstruction, recognizing that this area was one of the most central to the origin of biomedical computing• an introduction to Markov processes, and• an outline of the elements of a hospital IT security program, focusing on fundamental ideas rather than specifics of system vulnerabilities or specific technologies. It is simultaneously a unified description of the core research concept areas of biomedical data and knowledge representation, biomedical information access, biomedical decision-making, and information and technology use in biomedical contexts, and a pre-eminent teaching reference for the growing number of healthcare and computing professionals embracing computation in health-related fields. As in the first edition, it includes many worked example programs in Common LISP, the most powerful and accessible modern language for advanced biomedical concept representation and manipulation. The text also includes humor, history, and anecdotal material to balance the mathematically and computationally intensive development in many of the topic areas. The emphasis, as in the first edition, is on ideas and methods that are likely to be of lasting value, not just the popular topics of the day. Ira Kalet is Professor Emeritus of Radiation Oncology, and of Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education, at the University of Washington. Until retiring in 2011 he was also an Adjunct Professor in Computer Science and Engineering, and Biological Structure. From 2005 to 2010 he served as IT Security Director for the University of Washington School of Medicine and its major teaching hospitals. He has been a member of the American Medical Informatics Association since 1990, and an elected Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics since 2011. His research interests include simulation systems for design of radiation treatment for cancer, software development methodology, and artificial intelligence applications to medicine, particularly expert systems, ontologies and modeling.

  • Managing and Leading for Science Professionals

    (What I Wish I'd Known while Moving Up the Management Ladder)
    • 1st Edition
    • Bertrand C. Liang
    • English
    Can technical paradigms help managers lead technical companies? In Managing and Leading for Science Professionals, Bertrand Liang explains that they can, as he explores real issues of importance for technical students and managers who want to move into leadership positions. A CEO with an MBA, Liang originally trained as a neurology and oncology clinician and later earned a PhD in molecular biology and genetics. In this book, he emphasizes what he wishes he had known as he advanced through the organization. His practitioner's point of view is perfectly suited to those who are moving, or want to move, from the technical side to the business side. Focusing on the experiences of scientists and engineers, he teaches ways to speak top management's language. His insights deliver essential knowledge, empowering technical staff to succeed using the skills they know best.

  • Effects of Poisonous Plants on Livestock

    • 1st Edition
    • Richard F. Keeler + 2 more
    • English
    Effects of Poisonous Plants on Livestock documents the proceedings of a U.S.-Australian symposium on the effects of poisonous plants on domestic livestock. The symposium was held at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, on 19-24 June 1977. The volume is organized into eight parts. Part I discusses poisonous plant problems in the United States and Australia. Part II contains papers on general topics such as inorganic toxicants and poisonous plants; the hazard of plant toxicities to the human population; and selenium in plants as a cause of livestock poisoning. Part III examines the effects of simple phytotoxins such as selenium and oxalate on livestock. Part IV focuses on the effects of plant hepatotoxins, including pyrrolizidine alkaloids, Artemisia nova, and Tetradymia spp. Part V deals with plant cardio/pulmonary toxins such as Myoporum spp. and Pimelea spp. Part VI tales up plant neurotoxins while Part VII discusses plant teratogens and toxins affecting reproduction. Part VII presents studies on other toxic substances. It includes studies on oak poisoning and pine needle abortion in cattle.

  • Cell-Associated Water

    Proceedings of a Workshop on Cell-Associated Water Held in Boston, Massachusetts, September, 1976
    • 1st Edition
    • W. Drost-Hansen + 1 more
    • English
    Cell-Associated Water is a collection of papers from the "Cell-Associated Water" Workshop held in Boston in September 1976. This collection discusses aspects of pure colloid, surface science, and zoogeography, with emphasis on cell biology and the role of the aqueous phase of cells. This book starts with a review of the problem of water structure encountered in studying biological systems, particularly as regards the proportion of intracellular water that is actually structured. Another paper discusses the applications of technology in cell biology in understanding cell-associated water, where the dynamic relationship between the state of water and macromolecular events in cellular life exists. This text also examines the possible relationship between water structure and the zoogeographic distribution of some species in aquatic communities using the Prigogine and Glansdorff model approach. This book is recommended for researchers and scientists whose work deals with cellular biology, for graduate students, and academicians in the disciplines of physical and colloid chemistry, cell physiology, biophysics, and molecular biology.

  • Plant Resources of Arid and Semiarid Lands

    A Global Perspective
    • 1st Edition
    • J. R. Goodin + 1 more
    • English
    Plant Resources of Arid and Semiarid Lands: A Global Perspective is a collection of papers that evaluates the existing native plant resources in the arid and semiarid regions. The papers deal with the resources found in these arid regions such as food potential, forage, fuel, fiber, medicinal or industrial uses. The book covers the arid regions of Africa, Australia, the Indian subcontinent, Middle East, North America, China, South America, and the USSR. The treatment of these regions includes geographical descriptions such as area, annual precipitation, temperature, humidity, wind ranges or patterns, and seasons. These papers also discuss the effects of topography on water drainage and loss, the basic soil types, holding capacity, water runoffs, and the availability of water (surface and subsurface), The book examines the current and projected growth rates for relevant countries and dry regions in each continent. These papers discuss the economic output from arid lands, the balance of trade, current or developing resources, as well as the prospects of these countries with dry regions. The book also focuses on the types of plants found in these regions whether these are used for food, forage, medicine or for industry. This collection is suitable for environmentalists, ecologists, sociologist, anthropologists, and researchers involved in biological and environmental conservation.

  • Photophysiology

    Current Topics in Photobiology and Photochemistry
    • 1st Edition
    • Arthur C. Giese
    • English
    Photophysiology: Current Topics in Photobiology and Photochemistry, Volume VI is a collection of papers that discusses photobiological phenomena found on cells of organisms. The papers in this collection deal with specialized areas of photobiology. One paper describes the instruments used in measuring the course of chlorophyll fluorescence in vivo that occurs when a chlorophyll molecule, stimulated by a light source, returns to its ground state from a previous first singlet state, resulting in a light emission lasting for a few nanoseconds. Another paper discusses the mechanism of light-induced carotenoid synthesis in nonphotosynthetic plants, including temperature-independ... photochemical reactions, which results in the organism's producing carotenoids on subsequent incubations in darkness. One paper also explains photosensitization observed in mutant cells resulting from exposure to specific wavelength of light in the presence of a natural sensitizer. This paper points out that there are four main groups of photosensitizers, namely, the hypericins, chlorophylls, porphyrins, and psoralens. This book can prove valuable for cell biologists, micro-biologists, students, and researchers involved in the fields of photobiology and photochemistry.

  • Animal Virus Genetics

    • 1st Edition
    • Bernard N. Fields + 1 more
    • English
    Animal Virus Genetics is a collection of scientific presentations of the ICN-UCLA Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology, held at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1980. The papers in the compendium focus on the basic genetic model systems; the uses of genetic approaches to study basic problems in molecular biology; and on the increasing application of genetic systems to the study of more complex viral-host interactions such as viral virulence and persistence. Microbiologists, cellular biologists, and virologists will find the book insightful.

  • Sexual Selection

    Perspectives and Models from the Neotropics
    • 1st Edition
    • Regina H. Macedo + 1 more
    • English
    Sexual Selection: Perspectives and Models from the Neotropics presents new sexual selection research based upon neotropical species. As neotropical regions are destroyed at an alarming rate, with an estimated 140 species of rainforest plants and animals going extinct every day, it is important to bring neotropical research to the fore now. Sexual selection occurs when the male or female of a species is attracted by certain characteristics such as form, color or behavior. When those features lead to a greater probability of successful mating, they become more prominent in the species. Although most theoretical concepts concerning sexual selection and reproductive strategies are based upon North American and European fauna, the Neotropical region encompasses much more biodiversity, with as many as 15,000 plant and animal species in a single acre of rain forest. This book illustrates concepts in sexual selection through themes ranging from female cryptic choice in insects, sexual conflict in fish, interaction between sexual selection and the immune system, nuptial gifts, visual and acoustic sexual signaling, parental investment, to alternative mating strategies, among others. These approaches distinguish Sexual Selection from current publications in sexual selection, mainly because of the latitudinal and taxonomic focus, so that readers will be introduced to systems mostly unknown outside the tropics, several of which bring into question some well-established patterns for temperate regions.

  • The Brain, Cognition, and Education

    • 1st Edition
    • Sarah L. Friedman + 2 more
    • English
    The Brain, Cognition, and Education is a collection of papers that deals with cross-disciplinary communication. This book addresses the use of concepts, methodologies, and research results from other experiments in the conduct of finding new knowledge. One paper addresses the relationships among neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and education to arrive at cross-interdisciplin... communication. Other papers discuss attention, the brain, and the control of cognition; one paper notes that selective attention as a cognitive system with its own measurable features can be associated with underlying neural systems. Other authors deal with acquiring, representing, and using knowledge such as language learning, interplay between mind and experience, as well as the neuropsychology of memory. One paper examines infantile amnesia when early life experiences tend to be forgotten. The book then addresses cognitive and neural development, including neural developments before birth covering neurogenesis, cell migration, dendritic maturation, and synaptic development. One author reviews trends and directions in cognitive development and cites the works of Piaget, Simon, and Chomsky. One author presents several models of memory functions, while another author evaluates the possibilities of building bridges between education and the neurosciences. Many psychologists, neuroscientists, phoneticians, philosophers, and linguists will appreciate this book very highly.

  • Nutrition, Aging, and Artificial Organs

    • 1st Edition
    • William I. Gay
    • English
    Methods of Animal Experimentation, Volume V: Nutrition, Aging, and Artificial Organs is a collection of papers that deals with methods to be used in animal experiments to achieve cost effectiveness in their use. This collection discusses laboratory animals used in different experiments such as in nutritional research, aging studies, and artificial organ research. The papers describe the species of animals appropriate for the kind of experiment to be conducted and the criteria that should be followed in choosing a certain species. These criteria include their growth rate, stage of development, as well as existing performance variations. In determining test animals for aging experiments, the book recommends that complete data be available on the genetics of the species, strain, diet history, environmental factors, breeding, and spontaneous diseases to approximate the best test results. The book addresses that the aged are more susceptible to inputs than the young in terms of morphological and functional age. In selecting test animals for artificial organ research, the book notes the importance of animal selection that will be determined, for example, by 1) the size of the prosthesis; 2) the amount of blood flow needed for the device differs in animals and man; and 3) the surgical techniques that will be employed. This book will prove helpful for laboratory workers, veterinarians, and technicians working with laboratory animals. This collection will also be appreciated by researchers designing medical and scientific tests.

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