Search results for ""imperial college press""

This book describes a search for geological evidence of meteorite impact structures in Britain. The statistics of impact structures indicate that Britain should have Phanerozoic impact structures up to tens of kilometres in diameter. A constant theme is the importance of atmospheric break-up of small asteroids and comets. These fragmenting bodies produce anomalously shallow craters with low rims and central peaks; three British structures of this type are identified.Analysis of fireball statistics implies that damaging fireball explosions occur over the British Isles on a time-scale of decades. On a time-scale of millennia, however, more damage is done by Atlantic impact tsunami.

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The discovery of superconductivity at 30 K by Bednorz and Müller in 1986 ignited an explosion of interest in high temperature superconductivity. The initial development rapidly evolved into an intensive worldwide research effort — which still persists after more than a decade — to understand the phenomenon of cuprate superconductivity, to search for ways to raise the transition temperature and to produce materials which have the potential for technological applications.During the past decade of research on this subject, significant progress has been made on both the fundamental science and technological application fronts. A great deal of experimental data is now available on the cuprates, and various properties have been well characterized using high quality single crystals and thin films. Despite this enormous research effort, however, the underlying mechanisms responsible for superconductivity in the cuprates are still open to question.This book offers an understanding from the phase transition point of view, surveys and identifies thermal and quantum fluctuation effects, identifies material-independent universal properties and provides constraints for the microscopic description of the various phenomena. The text is presented in a format suitable for use in a graduate level course.

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Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is part of a range of emerging microscopic methods for biologists which offer the magnification range of both the light and electron microscope, but allow imaging under the 'natural' conditions usually associated with the light microscope. To biologists AFM offers the prospect of high resolution images of biological material, images of molecules and their interactions even under physiological conditions, and the study of molecular processes in living systems. This book provides a realistic appreciation of the advantages and limitations of the technique and the present and future potential for improving the understanding of biological systems.

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This is a unique book about natural catastrophes, focusing on the mathematical aspects of these phenomena. Although academic in style and didactic in purpose, it is practical in the treatment of the diverse issues covered, which range from hazard warning and forecasting to engineering design criteria and insurance loss estimation. Addressing as it does many mathematical topics not found together in a single volume, the book should be of value to all those with a quantitative educational interest in or professional concern for natural catastrophes.

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The fact that the World Health Organization has declared tuberculosis a “global emergency” indicates the serious inadequacy of the ways in which the control methods at our disposal are used. Several books on tuberculosis have been published in recent years, but none have taken a deep and detailed look at the “holistic” aspects of global tuberculosis control, even though international agencies are increasingly aware of the importance of the numerous factors other than the design and efficacy of therapeutic drug regimens. This unique book fills that gap. Although it deals specifically with tuberculosis, the principles outlined and discussed are relevant to many other areas of global medicine, including the ever-growing problem of HIV/AIDS.The book is aimed principally at those involved in the design, establishment and management of disease control programmes at international, national and local levels, and also at a more general readership of epidemiologists, public health officers, community psychologists, and others interested in understanding the human dimension of disease control.

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Venous diseases are among the most commonly encountered problems at primary care level, yet they are poorly understood and often mismanaged. This concise, highly illustrated book will fill the need of all primary care staff and trainees for clear information on the diagnosis and management of the different conditions and their complications.

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This book offers a comprehensive overview of the most recent developments in both total oxidation and combustion and also in selective oxidation. For each topic, fundamental aspects are paralleled with industrial applications. The book covers oxidation catalysis, one of the major areas of industrial chemistry, outlining recent achievements, current challenges and future opportunities. One distinguishing feature of the book is the selection of arguments which are emblematic of current trends in the chemical industry, such as miniaturization, use of alternative, greener oxidants, and innovative systems for pollutant abatement. Topics outlined are described in terms of both catalyst and reaction chemistry, and also reactor and process technology.

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Current research in genomics and pharmacogenomics is increasingly highlighting the need to move towards stratified disease descriptions and individualized treatment plans. This book explains how a confluence of recent biological, technological and methodological developments is making it possible to provide personalized diagnoses and treatments.By virtue of treating each person's condition as unique, personal genomics and personalized medicine require health professionals to understand the nature of the data, its health implications, and its limitations.This book provides a detailed scientific treatment of the emerging disciplines of personal genomics and personalized medicine. It also includes a comprehensive treatment of both the promises and challenges of personal genomics and medicine from technological, societal and medical perspectives. It offers a wide-ranging review of the state of the art across all aspects of a highly multi-disciplinary subject. This book will be immensely useful for practicing health professionals and researchers, as well as senior undergraduates and graduate students in biomedical sciences.

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This book compiles a collection of original scientific articles written by Professor Sir Alan Fersht over 40 years of his scientific career. A long-standing icon in the fields of enzymology, protein folding, and protein engineering, Sir Alan Fersht is also one of the world's greatest protein chemists, whose work has been extensively recognized by countless international awards in both chemistry and molecular biology. He has produced a number of classic papers that are cited regularly because of the originality of his work and his insightful analysis. The study of his work on the fusion of physical chemistry and molecular biology provides a course on how to approach the analysis of complex systems in a simple logical manner. His papers are models of clarity, benefitting students of protein chemistry in their understanding of the subject.The beginning of Sir Alan Fersht's career coincided with the birth of modern protein science based on structural biology, which started in earnest momentum in the 1960s. He worked in the then Mecca of molecular biology, the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, and was one of the first protein chemists to exploit the new area of structural biology. The papers are interlaced with personal comments on how each article was important in his career and how he was influenced by the galaxy of legendary scientists in the MRC.

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In terms of structural complexity, the natural world presents innumerable examples of stunning beauty and high functionality, usually with the minimum of material and energy expenditure. Materials chemists can harness these amazing structures as ready-made scaffolds on which to grow inorganic phases which replicate the underlying complexity, thereby producing materials with greatly enhanced physical properties. This book comprehensively describes the entire range of natural materials that have been used in this way and the inorganic phases which result from them. The book covers simple molecules such as cellulose and chitin, to large biological constructs such as bacterial proteins, viruses and pollen. Practically every inorganic material has been synthesized using biotemplating methods and the book reflects this, ranging from simple oxides and carbonates such as silica and calcite, to complex semi- and superconducting materials. The book also discusses the formation of these materials from a mechanistic point of view, thereby enabling the reader to better understand the processes involved in biotemplated mineralization.

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This book is an impressive compilation of contributions on the hot topic of cardiac stem cell therapy from leading groups all over the world. In the assembly of chapters, a structured approach is adopted; starting from the clinician's perspective, all developments in both the experimental and clinical research areas are covered. This journey will take the reader from the bench-top to the bedside, with all chapters written by leading authorities in their respective fields, including data still in press with medical journals.So, beyond being excellent as an overall update for scientists in the field of cardiac stem cell therapy, this book will likely prove an indispensable tool for every budding scientist considering a research project within this field.

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The year 2007 marked not only the centenary of Imperial College London but also the 50th anniversary of the late Nobel Laureate Professor Abdus Salam's arrival at the College. Accordingly, a conference entitled “Salam + 50” organized by the Theoretical Physics Group was held at Imperial College on 7 July 2007.Many distinguished guests attended and paid their respects to the great man. Their contributions recorded in these proceedings are divided into three sections, designed to reflect the three dimensions of Salam's character: 1) Salam the Scientist, 2) Salam the Humanitarian, and 3) Salam the Man.

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As the first in the “Clinical Talk” series, the philosophy of this book is to have a set of question-based sections to help a final-year medical student prepare for exams. These sections include multiple choice questions (MCQs), extended matching questions (EMQs) and case studies. The idea is to have not just a “test yourself” book, but one which students can work through as a learning exercise as well as for revision purposes. For that reason, the answers and explanations provided here are just as important as the questions themselves.Stansby and Goldberg have structured this book such that it complements one of their bestselling textbooks, Surgical Talk: Revision in Surgery.

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This textbook introduces the tools and language of modern geometric mechanics to advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students in mathematics, physics, and engineering. It treats the dynamics of rotating, spinning and rolling rigid bodies from a geometric viewpoint, by formulating their solutions as coadjoint motions generated by Lie groups. The only prerequisites are linear algebra, multivariable calculus and some familiarity with Euler-Lagrange variational principles and canonical Poisson brackets in classical mechanics at the beginning undergraduate level.Variational calculus on tangent spaces of Lie groups is explained in the context of familiar concrete examples. Through these examples, the student develops skills in performing computational manipulations, starting from vectors and matrices, working through the theory of quaternions to understand rotations, and then transferring these skills to the computation of more abstract adjoint and coadjoint motions, Lie-Poisson Hamiltonian formulations, momentum maps and finally dynamics with nonholonomic constraints.The 120 Exercises and 55 Worked Answers help the student to grasp the essential aspects of the subject, and to develop proficiency in using the powerful methods of geometric mechanics. In addition, all theorems are stated and proved explicitly. The book's many examples and worked exercises make it ideal for both classroom use and self-study.

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In this Completely Revised and Extended Edition with a significantly enhanced content, all Chapters have been updated considering relevant literature and recent developments until 2016 together with application oriented examples with a focus on Industrial Biocatalysis. Newly treated topics comprise among others systems metabolic engineering approaches, metagenome screening, new tools for pathway engineering, and de-novo computational design as actual research areas in biocatalysis. Information about different aspects of RNA technologies, and completely new Chapters on 'Fluorescent Proteins' and 'Biocatalysis and Nanotechnology' are also included.

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How to achieve unlimited, safe, clean and low-cost energy by laser- or beam-driven inertial nuclear fusion has preoccupied all winners of the Edward Teller Medal since its inception in 1991. This book presents their findings, meeting discussions, and personal insights from Edward Teller himself. Expect discussion of important advances anticipated in the future such as multi-billion dollar fusion research projects (NIF), and new schemes such as the petawatt-picosecond laser-plasma interactions evoking new physics and coupling mechanisms.For the first time, laser technology of the new century is providing the very short and extremely intense energetic pulses needed for fusion energy from next generation power stations, which produce energy at cost several times lower than any other source. The long-sought dream to directly ignite frozen heavy hydrogen for controlled use is close to being realized. Years of research on plasmas and lasers carried out worldwide in highly sophisticated experiments is summarized. The coverage begins with the work of John Nuckolls and Nobel Laureate Nikolai Basov and leads to the new scheme of plasma block acceleration via the nonlinear ponderomotive force. Edward Teller Lectures is one of the first guides to these new developments.

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This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the physics of the photovoltaic cell. It is suitable for undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers new to the field. It covers: basic physics of semiconductors in photovoltaic devices; physical models of solar cell operation; characteristics and design of common types of solar cell; and approaches to increasing solar cell efficiency. The text explains the terms and concepts of solar cell device physics and shows the reader how to formulate and solve relevant physical problems. Exercises and worked solutions are included.

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This book is designed to enable non-native English speakers to write science research for publication in English. It can also be used by English speakers and is a practical, user-friendly book intended as a fast, do-it-yourself guide for those whose English language proficiency is above intermediate. The approach is based on material developed from teaching graduate students at Imperial College London and has been extensively piloted. The book guides the reader through the process of writing science research and will also help with writing a Master's or Doctoral thesis in English.Science writing is much easier than it looks because the structure and language are conventional. The aim of this book is to help the reader discover a template or model for science research writing and then to provide the grammar and vocabulary tools needed to operate that model. There are five units: Introduction, Methodology, Results, Discussion/Conclusion and Abstract. The reader develops a model for each section of the research article through sample texts and exercises; this is followed by a Grammar and Writing Skills section designed to respond to frequently-asked questions as well as a Vocabulary list including examples of how the words and phrases are to be used.

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The global trend of increasingly ageing societies and long term illnesses has meant a growth in demand for intensive care resources. This book advises on leadership and organizational development of intensive care units, in order to give best practices for governance, performance, emergency response and safety. Written by international experts in the field, each chapter allows researchers, clinicians and service providers worldwide to be able to refer to this single reference book. In seven parts, the volume will tackle aspects of intensive care management in both global and local contexts, and interrogate the key concerns that service providers face. It works as an informative guide for the practical administration of intensive care, as well as being international in its design and information.

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This book is a step by step illustrated guide to planning and writing dissertations and theses for undergraduate and graduate science students. Topics covered include advice on writing each section of a thesis as well as general discussions on collecting and organizing references, keeping records, presenting data, interacting with a supervisor and avoiding academic misconduct. Recommendations about how to use word processors and other software packages effectively are included, as well as advice on the use of other resources. A concise summary of important points of English grammar is given, along with appendices listing frequently confused words and wordy phrases to avoid. Further appendices are provided, including one on SI units. The aim is to provide an easy-to-read guide that gives students practical advice about all aspects of writing a science thesis or dissertation, starting from writing a thesis plan and finishing with the viva and corrections to the thesis.

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Advances in Earth Science outlines the latest developments and new research directions currently being made world-wide in the earth sciences. It contains invited and refereed articles by leading younger researchers on their cutting-edge research, but aimed at a general scientific audience.This exciting volume explains how powerful methodologies such as satellite remote sensing and supercomputing simulations are now profoundly changing research in the earth sciences; how the earth system is increasingly being viewed in a holistic way, linking the atmosphere, ocean and solid earth; and how the societal impact of the research in the earth sciences has never been more important.Published by Imperial College Press in collaboration with the Royal Society of London, the book features many articles originating from invited papers published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Eleven of the distinguished contributors hold prestigious Royal Society Research Fellowships.

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The two most wanted terrorists in Southeast Asia — a Malaysian and a Singaporean — are on the run in the Philippines, but they manage to keep their friends and family updated on Facebook. Filipinos connect with al-Qaeda-linked groups in Somalia and Yemen. The black flag — embedded in al-Qaeda lore — pops up on websites and Facebook pages from around the world, including the Philippines, Indonesia, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Australia, and North Africa. The black flag is believed to herald an apocalypse that brings Islam's triumph. These are a few of the signs that define terrorism's new battleground: the Internet and social media.In this groundbreaking work of investigative journalism, Maria Ressa traces the spread of terrorism from the training camps of Afghanistan to Southeast Asia and the Philippines. Through research done at the International Center for Political Violence & Terrorism Research in Singapore and sociograms created by the CORE Lab at the Naval Postgraduate School, the book examines the social networks which spread the virulent ideology that powered terrorist attacks in the past 10 years.Many of the stories here have never been told before, including details about the 10 days during which Ressa led the crisis team in the Ces Drilon kidnapping case by the Abu Sayyaf in 2008. The book forms the powerful narrative that glues together the social networks — both physical and virtual — which spread the jihadi virus from bin Laden to Facebook.

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This textbook introduces the tools and language of modern geometric mechanics to advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students in mathematics, physics and engineering. It treats the dynamics of ray optics, resonant oscillators and the elastic spherical pendulum from a unified geometric viewpoint, by formulating their solutions using reduction by Lie-group symmetries. The only prerequisites are linear algebra, calculus and some familiarity with the Euler-Lagrange variational principles and canonical Poisson brackets in classical mechanics at the beginning undergraduate level.The ideas and concepts of geometric mechanics are explained in the context of explicit examples. Through these examples, the student develops skills in performing computational manipulations, starting from Fermat's principle, working through the theory of differential forms on manifolds and transferring these ideas to the applications of reduction by symmetry to reveal Lie-Poisson Hamiltonian formulations and momentum maps in physical applications.The many Exercises and Worked Answers aid the student to grasp the essential aspects of the subject. In addition, the modern language and application of differential forms is explained in the context of geometric mechanics, so that the importance of Lie derivatives and their flows is clear. All theorems are stated and proved explicitly.The book's many worked exercises make it ideal for both classroom use and self-study. In particular, a substantial appendix containing both introductory examples and enhanced coursework problems with worked answers is included to help the student develop proficiency in using the powerful methods of geometric mechanics.

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This is the essential aide memoir for clinicians who are dealing with children with acutely life-threatening disorders. Written by Imperial College healthcare NHS trust consultants, it is packed with guidelines and tips on how best to address a comprehensive range of clinical conditions.In paediatrics, the prognosis of acute diseases is very much dependent on the quality of clinical management during the initial hours after presentation. This pocket guide can be used immediately, at the bedside, to provide that all-important quick access to the correct information. The unique double-page organisation means the relevant information is accessible as soon as the book is opened. There is also space for the clinician to jot down personal comments and notes.Armed with this little book, clinicians will have all the correct information on hand, to use ‘on the ground’ in the emergency room.

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This book has been developed over many years from several popular courses taught to students at both Birmingham and London universities. It provides an important step in introducing principles and concepts within the field of toxicology. The underlying mechanisms of toxicity are highlighted through examples taken from gases, minerals, plants, fungi, bacteria, marine creatures, industrial chemicals and pharmacological agents.In this second edition, the text has been completely revised and expanded with the addition of six new chapters — carbon monoxide, hydrofluoric acid, lead, mushroom, toxins, paracetamol, paraquat and diquat. Each chapter is self-sufficient, enabling readers to dip into chapters of interest at random without any lack of understanding. The book is informative, with numerous clinical details, and will appeal to those who wish to delve into this fascinating subject.

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This book proposes a set of models to describe fuzzy multi-objective decision making (MODM), fuzzy multi-criteria decision making (MCDM), fuzzy group decision making (GDM) and fuzzy multi-objective group decision-making problems, respectively. It also gives a set of related methods (including algorithms) to solve these problems. One distinguishing feature of this book is that it provides two decision support systems software for readers to apply these proposed methods. A set of real-world applications and some new directions in this area are then described to further instruct readers how to use these methods and software in their practice.

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A product of the Framework V research project, this book addresses one of the key problems facing the EU today: Why is the ‘new’ EU so much poorer than the ‘old’, and how will EU enlargement help to solve the problem? Focusing on the productivity problems underlying the East-West gap, it looks in particular at the role that foreign investment and R&D can play in closing it. Against that background, the book assesses what role proactive development policy might play in attacking the roots of low social productivity. Concluding that there will be a clear-cut process of convergence between East and West, albeit an incomplete one, it finishes with an assessment of the patterns of competitiveness, East and West, that are likely to emerge from this process of incomplete convergence.The material is based on a rich archive of empirical material which no competing title can match, and combines in-depth interviews with standard quantitative approaches and critical policy analysis.

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This book brings together some of the leading researchers in the actively investigated field of oxidative stress, an area of study which is of importance to human health and disease. It examines oxidative stress in a variety of models, at rest and after exercise, in young and old. Key concepts of oxidative stress, exercise and aging are presented in clear and easy-to-understand terms. Oxidative stress in different types of exercises — isometric, isotonic and sports — is explained in detail, with several chapters focusing on acute and chronic adaptations of skeletal muscles following both aerobic and non-aerobic exercises. The book includes current knowledge of the underlying mechanisms influencing health and disease processes associated with oxidative stress.

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This book presents a selective collection of papers from the 20th International Symposium on Computer and Information Sciences, held in Istanbul, Turkey. The selected papers span a wide spectrum of topics in computer networks, including internet and multimedia, security and cryptography, wireless networks, parallel and distributed computing, and performance evaluation. These papers represent the results of the latest research of academicians from more than 30 countries.

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We often forget that the science underpinning our contemporary civilization is not a marmoreal edifice. On the contrary, at each moment in its development over past centuries, it grew and advanced through the efforts of individuals and the institutions they created. As Director of the Royal Institution and its Davy Faraday Research Laboratory throughout the 1990s, the author had a unique vantage point to observe how places and people condition the way science has been shaped in the past and continues to be today. The author's background as a practicing solid state chemist, with a lively concern for issues engaging public awareness of science, have led him to recognize and celebrate, not just the remarkable contributions and unusual lives of past scientific heroes like Rumford and Faraday, but also their present day successors. Over the years, this insight has resulted in a wide variety of articles and essays, spread through many publications; a selection of these is collected in this book.The tapestry of science does not just consist of facts uncovered about the natural world and the laws that connect them. As perhaps the finest product of the human mind, its substance and direction are strongly conditioned (some might even say determined) by the people drawn to take part in it and the environments in which they work. This book is an edited collection of essays on aspects of the lives of some famous (as well as less well-known) scientists and places where science is carried out, combined with popular accounts of some of the science the author himself has been involved in. Although it focuses on the Royal Institution and some of those associated with it, it ranges more widely to embrace some contemporary scientists known personally to the author, each of whom had an unusual and distinctive career. At the same time, the science itself, while at the cutting edge, is placed firmly in its historical perspective. The essays are collected into themes, each of which is prefaced and put in context by a short introduction.

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This unique volume presents the first successful surgical strategy to repair the spinal root and the associated spinal cord injury that follows from severe traction injuries to the brachial and lumbosacral nerve plexus. The basic science background to this novel surgical technique is described, and the contemporary palliative procedures as well as clinical and ancillary assessments are given together with a meticulous description of the functional outcome of the surgery.Covering the research that led to the author's pioneering application of this surgical technique to the clinical human situation, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the author's work as a leading basic scientist and nerve surgeon. It is a journey from ideas born in the laboratory to successful application to a difficult human problem involving loss of function and severe pain from a certain type of spinal cord injury.The first step leading to the treatment of a severe and devastating spinal cord injury has been taken and is described in this book.

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This book provides a broad introduction to the fascinating subject of sleep, a behavioral state in which human beings spend a third of their life span, and a topic which interests not only the specialist but also the layperson. Everybody knows that well-being also depends on undisturbed, normal sleep.The Physiologic Nature of Sleep is self-contained in presentation. It may be used as an advanced textbook by graduate students and even ambitious undergraduates in biology, medicine and psychology. It is also suitable for the expert hypnologist who wishes to have an overview of some of the classic and fundamental achievements in sleep research. The explanations in the book are detailed enough to capture the interest of the curious reader, and complete enough to provide the necessary background material needed to go further into the subject and explore the research literature.

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A new approach to the character theory of the symmetric group has been developed during the past fifteen years which is in many ways more efficient, more transparent, and more elementary. In this approach, to each permutation is assigned a class function of the corresponding symmetric group. Problems in character theory can thereby be transferred into a completely different setting and reduced to combinatorial problems on permutations in a natural and uniform way.This is the first account in book form entirely devoted to the new “noncommutative method”. As a modern and comprehensive survey of the classical theory the book contains such fundamental results as the Murnaghan-Nakayama and Littlewood-Richardson rules as well as more recent applications in enumerative combinatorics and in the theory of the free Lie algebra. But it is also an introduction to the vibrant theory of certain combinatorial Hopf algebras such as the Malvenuto-Reutenauer algebra of permutations.The three detailed appendices on group characters, the Solomon descent algebra and the Robinson-Schensted correspondence makes the material self-contained and suitable for undergraduate level. Students and researchers alike will find that noncommutative character theory is a source of inspiration and an illuminating approach to this versatile field of algebraic combinatorics.

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As final examinations approach, medical students often become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of knowledge required to pass all subjects in one go, including surgery, medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology, pharmacology, and psychiatry. Students cannot know each of these subjects in as much detail as they did during their individual attachments and they need to concentrate on important topics rather than minutiae.Whereas existing textbooks cover many topics very well and in great detail, they are lengthy and difficult to read in a short space of time; some subjects are poorly covered and give no real understanding of practical management and logical thought processes — the exact requirements for passing finals.In this second edition, each chapter has been extensively rewritten and updated with the help of experts in their respective subjects.

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This book is a significant contribution to the state of the art in the field of computational bioengineering — from the need for a living human database to meshless methods in biomechanics, from computational mechanobiology to the evaluation of stresses in hip prosthesis replacement, from lattice Boltzmann methods for analyzing blood flow to the analysis of fluid movement in long bones, among other interesting topics treated herein. Well-known international experts in bioengineering have contributed to the book, giving it a unique style and cutting-edge material for graduate students, academic researchers and design bioengineers, as well as those interested in getting a better understanding of such complex and fascinating human and living processes.

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Focus on Financial Management by Ivan Cohen offers a concise, enthusiastic and highly focused approach to introducing finance to both undergraduates and MBAs. It closely integrates practical applications and the underlying financial concepts so that the reader gets a clear picture of theory and how it can be applied in practice.The book has been carefully crafted and classroom-tested to provide an easy-to-read textbook that will engage the student and instructor alike. It has been designed to be used by students of business, finance and economics, and is equally accessible to students in other areas, such as engineering. It requires no preliminary knowledge of finance.

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This book enables readers without specialist knowledge to understand the ways in which materials can be used to enhance people's lives. The range is vast — from simple contact uses, through artificial limbs, to permanently implanted devices.To appreciate the medical applications of materials, it is necessary to understand why they are used. Therefore, a discussion on the nature and behaviour of materials is preceded by a survey of the evolution of modern surgical techniques. The effect of “foreign” materials on the body's immune system is then considered, followed by a study of specific uses of materials, including extra-corporeal machines and implanted devices.The last chapter deals with new and highly sophisticated techniques — including minimal access surgery, robotics, nanotechnology, natural polymers, and the growth of “artificial” organs — and concludes with a look at the future.

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In a brilliant flash about fourteen billion years ago, time and matter were born in a single instant of creation. An immensely hot and dense universe began its rapid expansion everywhere, creating space where there was no space and time where there was no time. In the intense fire just after the beginning, the lightest elements were forged, later to form primordial clouds that eventually evolved into galaxies, stars, and planets. This evolution is the story told in this fascinating book. Interwoven with the storyline are short pieces on the pioneering men and women who revealed those wonders to us.

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This book gives a systematic exposition of abrasive erosion and corrosion of hydraulic machinery in both theory and engineering practice, and is the first comprehensive volume to cover this area in depth.All the important subjects are discussed including fundamentals, calculation, analysis and numerical simulation of liquid-solid flow design, erosion-resistant materials, interaction between cavitation and abrasive erosion, and corrosion of hydraulic machinery.

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This volume in the Hydraulic Machinery Book series deals with cavitation and its effects in turbines and pumps. After introducing cavitation and its relation with hydraulic machines, the invited contributors throughout the world review in detail relevant cavitation subjects from fundamental phenomena to various problems and solution measures in hydraulic machines. The authors are internationally recognized experts in their fields.

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Throughout history, flow visualization has been an important tool in fluid dynamics research. It has been used extensively in the fields of engineering, physics, medical science, meteorology, oceanography and sport aerodynamics, to name just a few. The importance of flow visualization led Professor F N M Brown (1971) of the University of Notre-Dame to comment, “… A man is not a dog to smell out each individual track, he is a man to see, and seeing, to analyze…” This statement encapsulates the importance of first visualizing the flow before proceeding with detailed measurement and mathematical modeling. In addition, there is a great deal of esthetic pleasure to be gained from seeing the results of flow visualization. This aspect of flow visualization reaches out to the general public: we are all familiar with the aspect of clouds in the sky, the trail of cigarette smoke, and the swirling patterns to be seen in rivers and seas.Unlike previous publications which concentrated mainly on the theoretical aspect of flow visualization, this book focuses on the techniques required to perform high quality flow visualization. It is aimed primarily at the practitioner of flow visualization studies. Obtaining good flow visualization results is, in many ways, more an art than a science, and experience plays a deciding role. Hence each chapter of this invaluable volume has been written by an expert in a particular technique.

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Price and quality alone are no longer sufficient to gain competitive advantage. It is high quality knowledge which provides the opportunities for adding exclusive value to products and services. At the same time, the development of knowledge is gaining momentum. Knowledge is becoming obsolete more quickly and becomes more complex. The danger of this development is that organizations will continue to play the same competitive game and are often unaware that they are lagging behind.This book provides organizations with a way to shift the knowledge ambition and realize it in practice. For this purpose, an intelligent business strategy is offered based on the experiences of seven market leaders in The Netherlands, combined with modern insights from the organizational theory.The authors devote much attention to the tools available to the knowledge enterprise, such as lateral structures, personnel management and information technology.

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The concern over groundwater contamination has focused attention on the processes that influence the fate of chemicals in soil water systems. A major concern of groundwater contamination is the passage of these chemcials through the unsaturated zone and the relatively thin cover layers overlying the aquifers. Pollution due to diffuse sources is probably the most difficult to model. This is because the loads are usually non-homogeneous and they are also governed by spatially and temporally non-homogeneous, but dynamic, processes of chemical and biochemical phenomena.In this book, the estimation techniques and transfer functions of required input data from existing databases in geographic information systems are provided. Spatially variable input data, such as the type of soil, hydrological conditions, intensity of land use and atmospheric deposit of pollutants, are derived from basic land and climate characteristics. A model for the evaluation of land use and water management is also described. In addition, examples of field and regional studies on water management and policy analysis are provided.

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This is a unique book with a different aim from other books on the subject. The idea is to provide readers with the “big picture” first, yet at a level that helps further the study of physical chemistry. The text covers all the important topics in physical chemistry — thermodynamics, statistical thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, and chemical kinetics — staying rigorously close to the basic theory, using appropriate mathematics but avoiding long derivations. Moreover, the book is supplemented by a CD-ROM to make it more comprehensive, interactive and useful for a wider audience. The CD-ROM contains examples, extended discussion, exercises and details of important derivations to reinforce understanding of physical chemistry.

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This unique volume presents an up-to-date review of one of the world's major health problems — diseases caused by the four dengue viruses. It begins with an insightful story of the origin of dengue disease outbreaks, including the emergence of severe and fatal dengue hemorrhagic fever. The nature, structure and biology of the four dengue viruses are described, and a major portion of the book is focused on the epidemiology of dengue as a mosquito-borne disease. This is complemented by critiques of existing mosquito control programs by three groups of outstanding authorities. The strongest element of the volume is its comprehensive description of the current understanding of dengue disease pathogenesis, followed by an analysis of the pros and cons of five of the most controversial areas in the field: the WHO DEF case definition, secondary dengue infections, virulent viruses, the role of abnormal T cells and autoimmunity.

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Most books on environmental science focus on ecological or biological aspects of environmental conservation, often with a polemic agenda. The physics, if covered at all, is generally superficial. Using pertinent examples from the environment and the ways in which people interact with it, Physics of the Environment sets out to provide a cogent account of the underlying physical laws with a lucidity and rigor appropriate to an undergraduate course in the subject. Students will gain an understanding of the physical concepts that govern the world as well as an appreciation of the technologies of power generation and transport, and the impact these have on the environment.

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A Vertical Empire provides a description of the British rocketry and space programme from the 1950s to 1970s, detailing the Medium Range Ballistic Missile Blue Streak and its conversion to a satellite launcher as part of the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO). This extensively revised second edition includes material only made available in the past ten years and the text is supplemented by numerous photographs, sketches and statistics. The all-British satellite Black Arrow is described, as well as the research rocket Black Knight, the Blue Steel missile and the rocket powered interceptor aircraft.

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The exploration and extraction of the earth's resources are key issues in global industrial development. In the 21st century, emphasis has increasingly being placed on geo-engineering safety, engineering accountability and sustainability. With focus on rock engineering projects, Structural Geology and Rock Engineering uses case studies and an integrated engineering approach to provide an understanding of projects constructed on or in rock masses. Based on Professors Cosgrove and Hudson's university teaching at Imperial College London, as well as relevant short course presentations, it explains the processes required for engineering modelling, design and construction.The first half of the book provides step-by-step presentations of the principles of structural geology and rock mechanics with special emphasis on the integration between the two subjects. The second half of the book turns principles into practice. A wealth of practical engineering examples are presented, including evaluations of bridge foundations, quarries, dams, opencast coal mining, underground rock engineering, historical monuments and stone buildings.This up-to-date, well-illustrated guide is ideal for teachers, researchers and engineers interested in the study and practice of rock-based projects in engineering.

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