Biology, life sciences Books

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThis book is aimed at generating an updated reservoir of scientific endeavors undertaken to unravel the complicated yet intriguing topic of neurodegeneration. Scientists from Europe, USA and India who are experts in the field of neurodegenerative diseases have contributed to this book. This book will help readers gain insight into the recent knowledge obtained from Drosophila model, in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative disorders and also unravel novel scopes for therapeutic interventions. Different methodologies available to create humanized fly models that faithfully reflects the pathogenicities associated with particular disorders have been described here. It also includes information on the exciting area of neural stem cells. A brief discussion on neurofibrillary tangles, precedes the elaborate description of lessons learnt from Drosophila about Alzheimer's, Parkinson’s, Spinomuscular Atrophy, Huntington’s diseases, RNA expansion disorders and Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia. We have concluded the book with the use of Drosophila for identifying pharmacological therapies for neurodegenerative disorders. The wide range of topics covered here will not only be relevant for beginners who are new to the concept of the extensive utility of Drosophila as a model to study human disorders; but will also be an important contribution to the scientific community, with an insight into the paradigm shift in our understanding of neurodegenerative disorders. Completed with informative tables and communicative illustrations this book will keep the readers glued and intrigued. We have comprehensively anthologized the lessons learnt on neurodegeneration from Drosophila and have thus provided an insight into the multidimensional aspects of pathogenicities of majority of the neurodegenerative disorders. Table of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction to Drosophila as a model organism.Chapter 2. Methods for creating fly models in order to understand molecular mechanism of neurological diseases.Chapter 3. Neurodegeneration: Lessons learnt from forward genetic screens in Drosophila.Chapter 4. Drosophila neural stem cells, a primer for understanding mammalian neurobiology.Chapter 5. Understanding motor disorders using flies.Chapter 6. Metabolic alterations amalgamated with neurodegenerative diseases.Chapter 7. Notch signalling in neurodegenerative disease.Chapter 8. Drosophila model of neurofibrillar tangles.Chapter 9. Unraveling Alzheimer's disease using Drosophila.Chapter 10. Modelling Human Parkinson's disease in fly.Chapter 11. Post-translational modifications: A mystery to unravel Huntington’s disease.Chapter 12. Understanding the pathogenicity of non-coding RNA expansion associated neurodegenerative disorders.Chapter 13. Expanding roles of RNA binding proteins in neurodegeneration.Chapter 14. Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia Disease in Drosophila.Chapter 15. Drosophila as a model system for the identification of pharmacological therapies in neurodegenerative diseases.

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Book SynopsisThis well-illustrated book on the life sciences covers many topical issues, ranging from the origin of life to mad-cow disease. The illustrations include line drawings, mostly in color, and many electron micrographs. Concise and clearly written, it is suitable for the non-specialist, and the undergraduate embarking on this field.The book also provides basic information on the major groups of disease-producing microorganisms, their defense by the body, and preventive measures such as immunization. It shows how closely integrated plants and animals are to one another in maintaining life on the planet.The ultimate message of the book is the need to protect our ecosystem and the need for scientists to rise above the confines of race and nationality for the good of humanity.Table of Contents* In Search of Truth * From Molecules to Cell * From Inanimate to Animate * The Mother of All Cells * Cells Out of Control * Extending the Range of Vision * On Life's Fringes * A Friend and a Foe * The Mouldy World * The Unwanted Guests * Mad Cows and Toxic Proteins * Arthropods as Agents of Disease * The Never Ending Battle * Bolstering Defenses * Microbes as Weapons * Sex and Survival * Do Microbes Possess Consciousness? * Nature's Clocks * The Plant Kingdom * The Long March of Evolution * Making Clones * The End Game

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Book SynopsisThis volume contains papers based on the workshop “Energy and Information Transfer in Biological Systems: How Physics Could Enrich Biological Understanding”, held in Italy in 2002. The meeting was a forum aimed at evaluating the potential and outlooks of a modern physics approach to understanding and describing biological processes, especially regarding the transition from the microscopic chemical scenario to the macroscopic functional configurations of living matter. In this frame some leading researchers presented and discussed several basic topics, such as the photon interaction with biological systems also from the viewpoint of photon information processes and of possible applications; the influence of electromagnetic fields on the self-organization of biosystems including the nonlinear mechanism for energy transfer and storage; and the influence of the structure of water on the properties of biological matter.Table of Contents* Soliton Mechanism of Charge, Energy and Information Transfer in Biosystems (L Brizhik) * Delayed Luminescence and Motional Harmonicity (L Cordone et al.) * 62 AMEV Proton Beam for the Treatment of Ocular Melanoma at LNS -- INFN (G Cuttone et al.) * Search for Quantum and Classical Modes of Information Processing in Microtubules: Implications for "the Living State" (S Hameroff et al.) * From 'Molecular Machines' to Coherent Organisms (M-W Ho) * On the Physics of Ultraweak Bioluminescence and Intercellular Photon Signaling (V S Letokhov & A L Dobryakov) * Nonlinearity in Biological Systems: How Can Physics Help? (A A Marino & C Frilot) * Life as a Fourth Level of Quantum Organization of Nature (S P Sit'ko) * Concept of Photon Storage Capacity in Cell Biology (R van Wijk) * and other papers

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Book SynopsisThe topic of the book — a theory of functional biology that incorporates the fundamental principles underlying the functioning of living organisms — is clearly appropriate as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the discovery by Watson and Crick of the structure of the DNA molecule. 'The Mathematical Nature of the Living World: The Power of Integration' is here to remind us that the world of biology is anchored in the world of mathematics and physics, and that, to understand the living world, we need to incorporate the laws of the nonliving matter. In particular, an important emphasis of the book concerns the relationships between structure and function, a point so well illustrated by the work of Watson and Crick. A nice aspect of Chauvet's book is that he does place his work and his approach in a general framework and historical background of the work performed by pioneers in a variety of fields ranging from physics to biology. As such, the book should be of general interest to a wide range of readers, from college students interested in integrating biology with physics and mathematics, to general readers curious to know more about the differences between the living world and the nonliving matter, to professional scientists and teachers concerned with more specific questions regarding relationships between structure and function in biology.Table of ContentsPhysical and Biological Interactions; The Functional Organization of Living Organisms; The Integration of Physiological Functions; Structural and Functional Organizations of Living Organisms; Physiological Constraints of Biological Development; The Role of Space in Functional Biological Organization.

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Book SynopsisAs diverse as they are interesting, the issues within the life sciences never fail to impress and stir controversy among the lay public. In a field that too often presents the general reader with challenging and confusing material, this book provides a breath of fresh air: a readable, standalone collection of essays that navigate the complex terrain of cells, cloning, and Mad Cows.The second edition of this popular book is thoroughly updated with the latest issues, information, and statistics in the same readable and vividly illustrated format. A new chapter on organ transplantation looks at advances in immunology and the discovery of immunosuppressive drugs, which have contributed significantly to the success rate of these surgeries. Another new section tackles the fascinating subject of heredity, considering its historical background and Mendel's discoveries, genetically determined diseases, and the importance of genetic counseling.Illustrating how art, philosophy and mythology juxtapose yet complement scientific thought and evolution, the inclusion of poems and quotes at the end of each chapter serve to make this book truly unique.Table of Contents# In Search of Truth # From Molecules to Cell # From Inanimate to Animate # The Mother of All Cells # Cells Out of Control # Extending the Range of Vision # On Life's Fringes # A Friend and a Foe # The Mouldy World # The Unwanted Guests # Mad Cows and Toxic Proteins # Arthropods as Agents of Disease # The Never-Ending Battle # Bolstering Defenses # Microbes and Weapons # Sex and Survival # Do Microbes Possess Consciousness? # Nature's Clocks # The Plant Kingdom # The Long March of Evolution # Making Clones # Replacing Body Parts # Heredity and Disease # The End Game

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Book SynopsisThe idea that comets may be connected with the origin of life on Earth was considered heresy a few decades ago, with scientists shying away from this possibility as if from a medieval superstition. However the case that comets may have contributed at least the complex organic building blocks of life has become very strong, and mechanisms have now been identified whereby comets may incubate and transfer microbial life from one cosmic habitat to another in the Galaxy. The latter process cometary panspermia was pioneered by the late Sir Fred Hoyle and one of the present authors in the early 1980's. A theory that was once controversial is slowly gaining scientific respectability and support.The recent surge of interest in astrobiology has led to a spate of books in astrobiology — combining astronomy and biology — but in most of these, cometary panspermia is dealt with only cursorily. The present book sets out the case for cometary panspermia in a cogent way, combining evidence from space science, celestial mechanics, geology and microbiology. It should be an essential part of any university course on astrobiology, and also serve as a reference textbook for researchers in the field.

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Book SynopsisBioinformatics, a field devoted to the interpretation and analysis of biological data using computational techniques, has evolved tremendously in recent years due to the explosive growth of biological information generated by the scientific community. Soft computing is a consortium of methodologies that work synergistically and provides, in one form or another, flexible information processing capabilities for handling real-life ambiguous situations. Several research articles dealing with the application of soft computing tools to bioinformatics have been published in the recent past; however, they are scattered in different journals, conference proceedings and technical reports, thus causing inconvenience to readers, students and researchers.This book, unique in its nature, is aimed at providing a treatise in a unified framework, with both theoretical and experimental results, describing the basic principles of soft computing and demonstrating the various ways in which they can be used for analyzing biological data in an efficient manner. Interesting research articles from eminent scientists around the world are brought together in a systematic way such that the reader will be able to understand the issues and challenges in this domain, the existing ways of tackling them, recent trends, and future directions. This book is the first of its kind to bring together two important research areas, soft computing and bioinformatics, in order to demonstrate how the tools and techniques in the former can be used for efficiently solving several problems in the latter.Table of ContentsBasic Principles and Features of Soft Computing and Bioinformatics: Bioinformatics: Tasks and Challenges; Soft Computing: Tools and Techniques; Biological Sequence Analysis: Combining Hidden Markov Model and Artificial Neural Networks for DNA Sequencing; Multiple Sequence Alignment Using Tabu Search and Genetic Algorithms; Molecular Structure Prediction and Drug Design: Protein Folding with Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms and Neural Networks; In Silico Drug Design Using Evolutionary Approach; Clustering and Classification Tasks in Bioinformatics: Clustering of Microarray Data: Pattern Recognition and Soft Computing Approach; Soft Computing Techniques for Protein Classification; and other papers.

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Book SynopsisThis volume presents a collection of papers dealing with various aspects of clustering in biological networks and other related problems in computational biology. It consists of two parts, with the first part containing surveys of selected topics and the second part presenting original research contributions. This book will be a valuable source of material to faculty, students, and researchers in mathematical programming, data analysis and data mining, as well as people working in bioinformatics, computer science, engineering, and applied mathematics. In addition, the book can be used as a supplement to any course in data mining or computational/systems biology.Table of ContentsA Novel Clustering Approach: Global Optimum Search with Enhanced Positioning (Tan & Floudas); Mathematical Programming Methods for Comparison Problems in Biocomputing (Oliveira); Classification vs. Clustering: Analyzing Gene Functionality (Perlich); A Projected Clustering Algorithm and Its Biological Application (Deng & Wu); Clique Relaxation Models of Clusters in Biological Networks (Butenko et al.); Analysis of Interaction Networks from Clusters of Co-expressed Genes: A Case Study on Inflammation (Androulakis et al.); Diversity Graphs (Blain et al.); Fixed-Parameter Algorithms for Graph-Modeled Data Clustering (Huffner et al.); Relating Subjective and Objective Pharmacovigilance Association Measures (Pearson); A Novel Similarity-based Modularity Function for Graph Partitioning (Feng et al.); Graph Algorithms for Integrated Biological Analysis, with Applications to Type 1 Diabetes Data (Eblen et al.); Graph Modeling for Clustering and Motif Findings in Biological Data (Zaslavsky & Sighn); Clustering Approach for Predicting Functions of Unknown mRNA Molecules from Their Dissipative Structures Observed in Glucose-Derepressed Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Sung et al.).

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Book SynopsisThe lack of scientists equally trained and prepared to understand both mathematics and biology/medicine hampers the development and application of computer simulation methods in biology and neurogastrobiology. Currently, there are no texts for navigating the extensive and intricate field of mathematical and computational modeling in neurogastrobiology. This book bridges the gap between mathematicians, computer scientists and biologists, and thus assists in the study and analysis of complex biological phenomena that cannot be done through traditional in vivo and in vitro experimental approaches.The book recognizes the complexity of biological phenomena under investigation and treats the subject matter with a degree of mathematical rigor. Special attention is given to computer simulations for interpolation and extrapolation of electromechanical and chemoelectrical phenomena, nonlinear self-sustained electromechanical wave activity, pharmacological effects including co-localization and co-transmission by multiple neurotransmitters, receptor polymodality, and drug interactions.Mathematical Modeling and Simulation in Enteric Neurobiology is an interdisciplinary book and is an essential source of information for biologists and doctors who are interested in knowing about the role and advantages of numerical experimentation in their subjects, as well as for mathematicians who are interested in exploring new areas of applications.Table of ContentsOverview of Enteric Neurobiology, Myoelectrical Activity of the Smooth Muscle; Pharmacology of Myoelectrical Activity; Physicochemical Basis of Synaptic Transmission; Neuronal Assemblies; Multiple Neurotransmission; Functional Unit; Dynamics of Intestinal Propulsion.

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Book SynopsisThis second edition provides a broad range of methods and concepts required for the analysis and solution of equations which arise in the modeling of phenomena in the natural, engineering, and applied mathematical sciences. It may be used productively by both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as others who wish to learn, understand, and apply these techniques. Detailed discussions are also given for several topics that are not usually included in standard textbooks at this level of presentation: qualitative methods for differential equations, dimensionalization and scaling, elements of asymptotics, difference equations and several perturbation procedures. Further, this second edition includes several new topics covering functional equations, the Lambert-W function, nonstandard sets of periodic functions, and the method of dominant balance. Each chapter contains a large number of worked examples and provides references to the appropriate books and literature.

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Book SynopsisThis is a revisit of a radical theory of cometary panspermia and cosmic life that was first proposed by Chandra Wickramasinghe and the late Sir Fred Hoyle in 1982. In its earliest form the theory of cosmic life started off as a speculation in 1974 after the first discovery of complex organic molecules and polymeric dust in interstellar space. The speculation soon developed into a serious scientific theory, predictions of which were available to be verified or falsified. Over four decades there have been a multitude of tests and predictions of the theory being positive in vindicating the proposition of life as a cosmic rather than a purely terrestrial phenomenon. A paradigm shift of enormous magnitude and significance is to be expected.The ideas and theories described in this book would have a far-reaching influence affecting the future development of diverse branches of science.

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Book SynopsisThis book covers a wide range of subjects in applying machine learning approaches for bioinformatics projects. The book succeeds on two key unique features. First, it introduces the most widely used machine learning approaches in bioinformatics and discusses, with evaluations from real case studies, how they are used in individual bioinformatics projects. Second, it introduces state-of-the-art bioinformatics research methods. The theoretical parts and the practical parts are well integrated for readers to follow the existing procedures in individual research.Unlike most of the bioinformatics books on the market, the content coverage is not limited to just one subject. A broad spectrum of relevant topics in bioinformatics including systematic data mining and computational systems biology researches are brought together in this book, thereby offering an efficient and convenient platform for teaching purposes.An essential reference for both final year undergraduates and graduate students in universities, as well as a comprehensive handbook for new researchers, this book will also serve as a practical guide for software development in relevant bioinformatics projects.Table of ContentsIntroduction to Unsupervised Learning; Probability Density Estimation and Applications in Bioinformatics; Dimension Reduction - Multidimensional Scaling and Principal Component Analysis, Cluster Analysis; Self-Organizing Map; Introduction to Supervised Learning; Classification and Regression Trees; Artificial Neural Networks; Vector Machines; Hidden Markov Models; Feature Selection in Bioinformatics; Biological Data Coding; Sequence/Structural Bioinformatics Foundation - Peptide Classification; Gene Network - Causal Network and Bayesian Networks; Metabolomics; S-Systems; Pathway Recognition; Future Directions; Appendices: R Codes; Study Data Sets.

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Book SynopsisThis unprecedented book offers all the details of the mathematical mechanics underlying modern modeling of skeletal muscle contraction. The aim is to provide an integrated vision of mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology for this one understanding. The method is to take advantage of latest mathematical technologies — Eilenberg-Mac Lane category theory, Robinson infinitesimal calculus and Kolmogorov probability theory — to explicate Particle Mechanics, The Theory of Substances (categorical thermodynamics), and computer simulation using a diagram-based parallel programming language (stochastic timing machinery). Proofs rely almost entirely on algebraic calculations without set theory. Metaphors and analogies, and distinctions between representational pictures, mental model drawings, and mathematical diagrams are offered.AP level high school calculus students, high school science teachers, undergraduates and graduate college students, and researchers in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology may use this integrated publication to broaden their perspective on science, and to experience the precision that mathematical mechanics brings to understanding the molecular mechanism vital for nearly all animal behavior.Table of ContentsPhilosophy: The Principle of Least Thought; Mathematics: Infinitesimals, Vectors and Tensors, Probability; Physics: Particles, Continua and Their Thermodynamic Interactions; Chemistry: Reactions in Fluids; Biology: Skeletal Muscle Molecular Motors.

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Book SynopsisStatistical reasoning and modeling are of critical importance to modern biology. This textbook introduces fundamental concepts from probability and statistics which will pave the way for the student of biology to become a well-rounded scientist. No previous study of probability or statistics is assumed. Calculus topics are not used extensively in this book, though some integration and differentiation are expected. The calculus prerequisite is primarily intended to assure a certain level of mathematical maturity. This book puts emphasis on examples, which are presented to motivate the theory. The presentation style is concise and self-contained, briefly including the mathematical elements that are needed for studying probability and statistics. The examples are relevant to students in the life sciences with interests in genetics, biology, ecology, health, etc. We believe that aspects of probability theory are of biological interest and that probability underlies the theory of inferential statistics. Thus, we place an equal emphasis on probability and statistics which are both essential for solving and understanding many types of biological problems.Table of ContentsProbability: Probability; Combinatorial Techniques; Elementary Genetics; Conditional Probability; Bayes' Rule; Statistical Independence; Discrete and Continuous Random Variables; Binomial; Poisson; Normal Distributions; Statistics: Gathering and Describing Data; Sampling Distributions; Point and Interval Estimation; Hypothesis Testing; Comparison of Two Independent Samples; Paired Samples; Categorical Data, Regression and Correlation.

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Book SynopsisThis volume contains the selected contributed papers from the BIOMAT 2009 — Ninth International Symposium on Mathematical and Computational Biology and the contributions of the Keynote Speakers which present the state of the art of fundamental topics of interdisciplinary science to research groups and interested individuals on the mathematical modelling of biological phenomena. New results are presented on cells, particularly their growth rate and fractal behavior of colony contours; on control mechanisms of molecular systems; the Monte-Carlo simulation of protein models; and on fractal and nonlinear analysis of biochemical time series. There are also new results on population dynamics, such as the paleodemography of New Zealand and a comprehensive review on complex food webs. Contributions on computational biology include the use of graph partitioning to analyse biological networks and graph theory in chemosystematics. The studies of infectious diseases include the dynamics of reinfection of Tuberculosis; the spread of HIV infection in the immune system and the real-time forecasting of an Influenza pandemic in the UK. New contributions to the field of modelling of physiological disorders include the study of macrophages and tumours and the influence of microenvironment on tumour cells proliferation and migration.Table of ContentsModeling Physiological Disorders: Macrophages and Tumours: Friends or Foe? (H M Byrne & M R Owen); Evidence of Deterministic Evolution in the Immunological Memory Process (A de Castro et al.); Modeling of Biosystems Structure and Biological Physics: Stochastic Matrices as a Tool for Biological Evolution Models (R Kerner & R ldrovandi); Fractal and Nonlinear Analysis of Biochemical Time Series (H Puebla et al.); Protein Structure: A Correlation between Steiner Atom Sites and Amide Planes in Protein Structures (R P Mondaini); Ecological Modeling: Mathematical Modeling of Sustainable Development: An Application to the Case of the Rain-Forest of Madagascar (C Bernard); Population Dynamics: Population Dynamics on Complex Food Webs (L Berec); Effect of Mass Media on the Cultural Diversity of Axelrod Model of Social Influence (J F Fontanari); Computational Biology: Graph Partitioning Approaches for Analyzing Biological Networks (N Fan et al.); Natural Clustering using Python (D E Razera et al.); Modeling Infectious Diseases: On the Dynamics of Reinfection: The case of Tuberculosis (X-H Wang et al.); Real-Time Forecasting for an Influenza Pandemic in the UK from Prior Information and Multiple Surveillance Datasets (G Ketsetzis et al.); and other papers.

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Book SynopsisThis book presents innovative approaches from database researchers supporting the challenging process of knowledge discovery in biomedicine. Ranging from how to effectively store and organize biomedical data via data quality and case studies to sophisticated data mining methods, this book provides the state-of-the-art of database technology for life sciences and medicine.A valuable source of information for experts in life sciences who want to be updated about the possibilities of database technology in their field, this volume will also be inspiring for students and researchers in informatics who are keen to contribute to this emerging field of interdisciplinary research.Table of ContentsCore Database Technology: Data Quality in Medical Databases; Database Architecture to Support Biological and Medical Research: Federated Databases, Data Management Platforms, Data Warehouses, Multi-Agent Systems; Anonymity-Preserving Dissemination of Patient Records; Ontology-Based Data Integration in Medicine; Efficient Similarity Search in Biological and Medical Databases; Data Mining: Data Mining For Hospital Productivity Improvement; Multi-Step Patient Health Classification; Motive Discovery in Brain Networks; Feature Selection to Identify Liver Diseases from Breath-Gas Data; Mining Association Rules Between Breast Cancer Prognostic Factors and Gene Expression Data.

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Book SynopsisThe Proceedings describe the current state of research dealing with biological shape analysis. The quantitative analysis of the shape of biological organisms represents a challenge that has now seen breakthroughs with new methodologies such as elliptical Fourier analysis, quantitative trait loci analysis (QTLs), chromosome segment substitution lines (CSSLs), thin plate splines, etc. The Proceedings also illustrate the diversity of disciplines that are actively involved in the characterization and analysis of biological shape. Moreover, many of the papers focus on the relationship of the shape to the processes that determine the biological form, an issue of major continuing concern in biology.Table of ContentsA New Behavioral Experiment using Computerized Shape Analysis of Actual Flowers (Y Yoshioka); Quantitative Evaluation of Blade Shape of Citrus Varieties (Z Zheng et al.); Quantitative Assessment of Soybean Plant Shape during Growth based on Sequential Image Analysis (R Ohsawa & S Minagawa); Shape Analysis and Its Potential in Varietal Identification (S. G. Bhagwat et al.); Three-dimensional Facial Shape Archetypes for Identification and Diagnosis (C D L Thomas et al.); Dissecting the Genetic Architecture of Craniofacial Shape (R J Sherwood & K P McNulty); Computational Shape Analysis: Based on a Fourier-Wavelet Representation of the Fossil Human Cranial Vault (P E Lestrel et al.); The Use of Elliptical Fourier Analysis on Orbit Shape in Human Skeletal Remains (T Gore et al.); The Geometry of Universal Natural Shapes (J Gielis); and other papers.

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Book SynopsisThe book contains a selection of articles on special research topics on Mathematical Biology and the interdisciplinary fields of mathematical modelling of biosystems. The treatment is both pedagogical and advanced to enhance future scientific research. We include comprehensive reviews written by prominent leaders of scientific research groups, new results on Population Dynamics such as Hybrid Discrete-Continuous Models of Cell Populations and the Hopf bifurcation on Predator-Prey Models, and some state of the art research on Medical Physics such as Optimization Methods applied to Raman Spectroscopy. Other topics covered focus on evolution biology, infectious diseases, DNA structure and many more.Table of ContentsPopulation Dynamics: Application of Hybrid Discrete-Continuous Models in Cell Population Dynamics (P Kurbatova, N Eymard, A Tosenberger, V Volpert and N Bessonov); Spatially Explicit Dispersal Modelling for the Conservation of Jaguars in Colombia (A M Bernal, E Payan and J Cordovez); Sensitivity Matrix of an Ecological Network with Periodic Dynamics (F Cordova-Lepe, L Garay-Narvaez, R Ramos-Jiliberto and G Robledo); Computational Biology: Data Mining and Optimization applied to Raman Spectroscopy for Oncology Applications (M B Fenn, V Pappu, P Xanthopoulos and P M Pardalos); Exploring Triplet Entropy in HIV Sequences (L dos Santos, J L Rybarczyk Filho, G J L Gerhardt and I T S Sartor); PROTPRED-GROMACS: Evolutionary Algorithm with GROMACS for Protein Structure Prediction (R A Faccioli, I N da Silva, A C B Delbem, G T P Brancini and A Caliri); Optimal Control Techniques in Mathematical Modelling of Biological Phenomena: Transmission Dynamics of HIV/AIDS with Optimal control in the presence of Carefree susceptibles and treatment (K O Okosun, O D Makinde and G J Abiodun); Two different Approaches for Gene Expression Model Control (N A Barbosa, H Diaz and A Ramirez); Bioremediation of NaturalWater resources via Optimal Control Techniques (P Gajardo, H Ramirez, V Riquelme and A Rapaport); Theoretical Epidemiology: Change in Host Behavior and its Impact on the Transmission Dynamics of Dengue (F Sanchez, D Murillo and C Castillo-Chavez); Robust Control Approaches for Epidemiological Diseases (H Puebla, S Martinez-Delgadillo, P K Roy and E Hernandez-Martinez); Stability of Disease Free State in SIS Models. Almost Periodic Rates and Pulse Vaccination (G Robledo, M Pinto and F Cordova-Lepe); Modelling of Physiological Disorders: Sensitive Dependence on the Threshold for TAF Signaling in Solid Tumors (D I Wallace and P Winsor); Mathematical Modelling in Ecology: What can the Black Robin tell us about Population Bottlenecks? (C E M Pearce); Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases: Curing by Infecting: Two-strain Competition during the Acute Phase of Chagas Disease (S P Vega, G J Sibona and C A Condat); Mathematical Modelling of the Interaction between Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection and Cellular Immune Response (H M Yang); Biological Physics and Biophysics: Fractal Plasma: Debye-Hckel Screening on a Fractal (A Y Grosberg); Evolution Biology: Interbreeding Conditions for Explaining Neanderthal DNA in Living Humans: The Nonneutral Case (A G M Neves); Genetic Redundancy and the Origin of Chromosomes (J F Fontanari); Educational Tutorial Chapter on the Mathematical Modelling of Biological Phenomena: If Life is Analog, Why be Discrete? Middle-out Modelling in Mathematical Biology (J R Jungck); and other papers.

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Book SynopsisThis is a book of a series on interdisciplinary topics of the Biological and Mathematical Sciences. The chapters correspond to selected papers on special research themes, which were presented at BIOMAT 2012 International Symposium on Mathematical and Computational Biology, in Tempe, Arizona, USA, November 6-10.This book contains state-of-the art articles on special research topics on mathematical biology, biological physics and mathematical modeling of biosystems; comprehensive reviews on interdisciplinary areas written by prominent leaders of scientific research groups. The treatment is both pedagogical and advanced in order to motivate research students as well as to fulfill the requirements of professional practitioners.Table of ContentsCompartmental Age of Infection Epidemic Models (Fred Brauer); Lyme Pathogen Transmission in Tick Populations with Multiple Host Species (Yijun Lou, Jianhong Wu and Xiaotian Wu); Quantifying the Risk of Mosquito-Borne Infection Based on the Equilibrium Prevalence in Humans (Marcos Amaku, Francisco Antonio Bezerra Coutinho and Eduardo Massad); Seasonal Fluctuation in TseTse Fly Populations and Human African Trypanosomiasis: A Mathematical Model (T Madsen, D I Wallace and N Zupan); A Mathematical Model for the Immunotherapy of Advanced Prostate Cancer (Travis Portz and Yang Kuang); Seizure Manifold of the Epileptic Brain: A State Space Reconstruction Approach (Mujahid N Syed, Pando G Georgiev and Panos M Pardalos); Synchronous Calcium Induced Calcium Release (CICR) in a Multiple Site Model of the Cardiac Myocite (D I Wallace and J E Tanenbaum); Modelling Natural Killer Cell Repertoire Development and Activation Dynamics (Michal Sternberg-Simon and Ramit Mehr); Saturation Effects on T-Cell Activation in a Model of a Multi-Stage Pathogen (Michael Shapiro and Edgar Delgado-Eckert); Advances in DE NOVO Protein Design for Monomeric, Multimeric, and Conformational Switch Proteins (James Smadbeck, George A Khoury, Meghan B Peterson, Christodoulos A Floudas); Mathematical Models and Techniques for Biomolecular Geometric Analysis (K L Xia, F Xin, Y Tong and G W Wei); Towards a New Bio-Quantum Model for Signaling and Repair of DNA Damage (Aymara Martinez Aragon, Joao Dias de Toledo Arruda Neto and Yadira Medina Guevara); Viral Evolution and Adaptation as a Multivariate Branching Process (Fernando Antoneli, Francisco Bosco, Diogo Castro and Luiz Mario Janini); Associative Learning of a Lexicon in a Noisy Cross-Situational Scenario (P F C Tilles and J F Fontanari); Relationship between Rainfall and Control Effectiveness of the Aedes aegypti Population through a Non-linear Dynamical Model - Case of Lavras City, Brazil (L B Barsante, J L Acebal, B S Carvalho, R T N Cardoso, M M Morais and A E Eiras); Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Telegraph Reaction - Diffusion Predator - Prey Models (Eliseo Hernandez Martinez, Hector Puebla, Teresa Perez Munoz, Margarita Gonzalez Brambila and Jorge X Velasco Hernandez); Population Dynamics of the Spider Monkey (Ateles hybridus) in a Fragmented Landscape of Colombia (J M Cordovez, J R Arteaga B, M Marino, A G de Luna and A Link); The Contribution of Stop Codon Frequency and Purine Bias to the Classification of Coding Sequences (N Carels and D Frias); Multiclass Classification of Tree Structured Objects: The K-NN Case (Ana Georgina Flesia); Regularity of Optimal Cost Functional Applied to the Study of Environmental Pollution (Santina Arantes and Jaime Rivera); A Sensitivity Analysis of Gene Expression Model (N A Barbosa); A Wavelet-Based Time-Varying Irregular Vector Autoregressive Model (G E Salcedo, O E Molina and R F Porto).

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Book SynopsisBiologists are stepping up their efforts in understanding the biological processes that underlie disease pathways in the clinical contexts. This has resulted in a flood of biological and clinical data from genomic and protein sequences, DNA microarrays, protein interactions, biomedical images, to disease pathways and electronic health records. To exploit these data for discovering new knowledge that can be translated into clinical applications, there are fundamental data analysis difficulties that have to be overcome. Practical issues such as handling noisy and incomplete data, processing compute-intensive tasks, and integrating various data sources, are new challenges faced by biologists in the post-genome era. This book will cover the fundamentals of state-of-the-art data mining techniques which have been designed to handle such challenging data analysis problems, and demonstrate with real applications how biologists and clinical scientists can employ data mining to enable them to make meaningful observations and discoveries from a wide array of heterogeneous data from molecular biology to pharmaceutical and clinical domains.

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Book SynopsisThe book presents a clear and unique approach to statistical thermodynamics based on Shannon's measure of information, and provides applications to problems of interest in the life sciences.There is no other book which presents the fundamentals of statistical thermodynamics on Information theory, yet also includes many applications which usually do not feature in such textbooks.Table of ContentsFundamentals: Introduction; Shannon's Measure of Information; Application of the SMI to Systems of Non-Interacting Particles; Applications: Thermodynamics of Ideal Gases; Systems of Adsorbed Non-Interacting Ligands; Cooperativity in Binding Processes; One-Dimensional Lattice Models; Theory of One-Dimensional Pure and Simple Fluid; Theory of 1D Dimensional Mixtures; A Study of Water and Aqueous Solutions in 1D.

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Book SynopsisThe book presents a clear and unique approach to statistical thermodynamics based on Shannon's measure of information, and provides applications to problems of interest in the life sciences.There is no other book which presents the fundamentals of statistical thermodynamics on Information theory, yet also includes many applications which usually do not feature in such textbooks.Table of ContentsFundamentals: Introduction; Shannon's Measure of Information; Application of the SMI to Systems of Non-Interacting Particles; Applications: Thermodynamics of Ideal Gases; Systems of Adsorbed Non-Interacting Ligands; Cooperativity in Binding Processes; One-Dimensional Lattice Models; Theory of One-Dimensional Pure and Simple Fluid; Theory of 1D Dimensional Mixtures; A Study of Water and Aqueous Solutions in 1D.

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Book SynopsisThe idea that life is a cosmic, rather than a purely terrestrial phenomenon, has progressed from scientific heresy to mainstream science within the short timespan of a few decades. The theory of cometary panspermia developed by Fred Hoyle and the present author in the 1970's has been vindicated by a spate of new discoveries in astronomy and biology, and also with startling new evidence of microbial fossils in meteorites and micrometeorites. The recent Kepler Telescope searches for exoplanets have indicated the presence of over 100 billion habitable planets separated by only a few light years, thus making panspermia and the transfer of microbial life between such planets an inevitable fact. The book presents a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the Hoyle-Wickramasinghe theory of cometary panspermia in a manner accessible to a wide general readership.Table of ContentsGenesis of Panspermia; Primordial Soup and Evolution; Cosmological Context; From Dust to Life; Comets; Cosmic Viruses in Our Genes; Evidence from Epidemics; Microorganisms Entering The Earth; Searches for Life in the Solar System; Search for Exoplanets; Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence; Meteorite Clues; The Mystery of Red Rain;

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Book SynopsisThe idea that life is a cosmic, rather than a purely terrestrial phenomenon, has progressed from scientific heresy to mainstream science within the short timespan of a few decades. The theory of cometary panspermia developed by Fred Hoyle and the present author in the 1970's has been vindicated by a spate of new discoveries in astronomy and biology, and also with startling new evidence of microbial fossils in meteorites and micrometeorites. The recent Kepler Telescope searches for exoplanets have indicated the presence of over 100 billion habitable planets separated by only a few light years, thus making panspermia and the transfer of microbial life between such planets an inevitable fact. The book presents a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the Hoyle-Wickramasinghe theory of cometary panspermia in a manner accessible to a wide general readership.Table of ContentsGenesis of Panspermia; Primordial Soup and Evolution; Cosmological Context; From Dust to Life; Comets; Cosmic Viruses in Our Genes; Evidence from Epidemics; Microorganisms Entering The Earth; Searches for Life in the Solar System; Search for Exoplanets; Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence; Meteorite Clues; The Mystery of Red Rain;

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Book SynopsisHistory and Philosophy of Biology summarizes the major philosophical ideas that have attended the development of science in general and of biology in particular. The book then explores how the techniques and the concepts of the physical sciences have impacted biology. A reductionist approach to biology — anatomy, physiology, genetics — complements the study of evolution by natural selection and an ecological perspective. The final section of the book explores several examples of the influence of science on society, and of society on science.Each of 46 chapters of History and Philosophy of Biology has been or could be the topic of a major tome. The book is unique in that it explores the web of interactions among issues of philosophy, techniques and concepts of the physical sciences, fields of biology, and the diverse relationships between society and science.The book should appeal to readers of Scientific American or the New York Review of Books even if they are not trained biologists. It is a good text, or additional reading, for an advanced undergraduate course treating history and/or philosophy of biology or of science in general.Table of ContentsHistorical and Philosophical Perspectives: Pre-hellenic Science; Hellenic Science; China, Science; Islam, Science; Early Christianity; Inductive Logic, Works, and Francis Bacon; Deductive Logic, Maths, and Renee Descartes; The Scientific Revolution; The Church and Science; Falsifiability: Karl Popper; Paradigm: Thomas Kuhn; Two Cultures: C P Snow; Emergence; Physical Sciences: Engineering; Mathematics; Astronomy; Mechanics; Alchemy; Phlogiston; Periodic Table; Electricity, Magnetism, and Optics; Thermodynamics; Geology; Biology: Medicine; Anatomy; Physiology; Cell Biology; Embryology; Microbiology; Pharmacology; Biochemistry; Neurobiology; Botany; Genetics; Paleontology; Systematics; Evolution; Race; Information; Origin of Life; Society and Science: Integrity; Informed Consent; Faith; Art; Global Warming; Free Will;

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Book SynopsisHistory and Philosophy of Biology summarizes the major philosophical ideas that have attended the development of science in general and of biology in particular. The book then explores how the techniques and the concepts of the physical sciences have impacted biology. A reductionist approach to biology — anatomy, physiology, genetics — complements the study of evolution by natural selection and an ecological perspective. The final section of the book explores several examples of the influence of science on society, and of society on science.Each of 46 chapters of History and Philosophy of Biology has been or could be the topic of a major tome. The book is unique in that it explores the web of interactions among issues of philosophy, techniques and concepts of the physical sciences, fields of biology, and the diverse relationships between society and science.The book should appeal to readers of Scientific American or the New York Review of Books even if they are not trained biologists. It is a good text, or additional reading, for an advanced undergraduate course treating history and/or philosophy of biology or of science in general.Table of ContentsHistorical and Philosophical Perspectives: Pre-hellenic Science; Hellenic Science; China, Science; Islam, Science; Early Christianity; Inductive Logic, Works, and Francis Bacon; Deductive Logic, Maths, and Renee Descartes; The Scientific Revolution; The Church and Science; Falsifiability: Karl Popper; Paradigm: Thomas Kuhn; Two Cultures: C P Snow; Emergence; Physical Sciences: Engineering; Mathematics; Astronomy; Mechanics; Alchemy; Phlogiston; Periodic Table; Electricity, Magnetism, and Optics; Thermodynamics; Geology; Biology: Medicine; Anatomy; Physiology; Cell Biology; Embryology; Microbiology; Pharmacology; Biochemistry; Neurobiology; Botany; Genetics; Paleontology; Systematics; Evolution; Race; Information; Origin of Life; Society and Science: Integrity; Informed Consent; Faith; Art; Global Warming; Free Will;

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Book SynopsisThere are two huge gaps in scientific theory. One, the contradiction between classical and quantum mechanics, is discussed in many publications. The other, the total failure to explain why anything made of atoms (such as ourselves) can be conscious, has little acknowledgement. The main thesis of this book is that to be conscious at all, you need an unconscious mind. The author explores the idea that this mind sometimes makes contact with a whole unknown world, sporadically revealed by paranormal effects, but perhaps discoverable by hitherto uninvented scientific instruments.The book looks at the notion of the unconscious mind, one of the most important hypotheses of the twentieth century. Psychiatrists often deploy it rather informally, but there is no accepted theory of it. No region of the human brain seems to hold it. The author delves into the notion that the unknown world exists and is very weakly coupled to the physical world. He ponders the properties it may have to allow this coupling, looks at several paranormal effects scientifically and points out that many of them seem to imply brief but dramatic changes of the forces between atoms—a possible effect of the unknown world, unexamined by physical science.No existing publication seeks to talk both about paranormal mysteries and scientific theory. If scientists know about the gaps in existing knowledge, they might initiate research into such gaps, or notice experimental oddities they now gloss over. If the general public was aware of the gaps in physical theory, they would be less overwhelmed by the intellectual diktats of some scientists.Table of ContentsIntroduction. The Physical World. Life and Its Information. The Unconscious Mind. Methods in Physical Science: Feelings Don’t Matter. Methods in Paranormal Science: Feelings Do Matter. The Physical Properties of the Unknown World Outside Our Diving Bell. Physical Effects of the Unconscious Mind and the Unknown World 1. Observed Effects of the Unconscious Mind and the Unknown World 2. Observed Effects of the Unconscious Mind and the Unknown World 3. Observed Effects of the Unconscious Mind and the Unknown World 4. Unscientific but Widespread Human Beliefs. Organizations and Unusual People Mediumship, the Societies for Psychical Research, and Star Guessers. Getting Information from the Unknown World by Insight and by Writing. Getting Information from AI. Technical Questions from AI. Concluding Remarks.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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