From Clocks to Chaos

Book Description

In an important new contribution to the literature of chaos, two distinguished researchers in the field of physiology probe central theoretical questions about physiological rhythms. Topics discussed include: How are rhythms generated? How do they start and stop? What are the effects of perturbation of the rhythms? How are oscillations organized in space? One of the most interesting features of the book is that it makes a start at explaining "dynamical diseases" that are not the result of infection by pathogens but that stem from abnormalities in the timing of essential functions.

Customer Reviews:

Good introduction to chaos theory in Biology.......2005-07-17

This book is a good introduction for those who would like to learn more about how the rythms of the different processes in our organism work. It requires a good knowledge of mathematics (calculus) but has many examples described in pure text.

The analysis focuses mainly in the systemic cycles (heart beat, breathing, etc.) but the same theory can be used to gene regulation and enzime activities.

At the end of the book there's an appendix with some basic notions of the math used through out the book but it'll be useful only for those who have some knowledge of calculus.

From Clocks to Chaos - The Rhythms of Life

Average customer rating:

From Clocks to Chaos - The Rhythms of Life

Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HVW70I

Average customer rating:

From Clocks to Chaos: The Rhythms of Life.

Manufacturer: 0
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ICIHVE

Book Description

The Second Edition of this highly successful reference presents a thoroughly updated, systematic survey of organic coatings technology and its numerous applications. Written by three industry experts, this self-contained volume painstakingly revises and condenses the material from the previous, two-part edition-making it more useful for scientists and engineers first entering the field, as well as for students in coatings courses.

Incorporating recent developments, Organic Coatings: Science and Technology, Second Edition helps scientists, engineers, and paint for-mulators to better understand the principles underlying the technology and use them effectively in the development, production, and application of various types of coatings.

It correlates the technology to the current state of knowledge in the field, addressing the complexities inherent in the formulation process which are often overlooked in the professional literature.

The authors introduce readers to the subject with seven chapters on key properties of coatings, then proceed to cover raw materials (binders, solvents, pigments), physical concepts, formulations, and applications. Each topic is carefully summarized and accompanied by extensive references to sources of detailed information-particularly useful in self-study.

In addition to clearly defining industry terms, the book includes hundreds of figures as well as troubleshooting advice for organic, surface, polymer, and coatings scientists, engineers, and paint formulators in all branches of the coatings industry. The material is also applicable to the related areas of printing inks, adhesives, and parts of the plastics industry.

From the reviews of the First Edition . . .

"Excellently written in a clear and vivid style . . . a valuable source of information." -Progress in Organic Coatings.

"[This book] does an excellent job of connecting the theory of polymer chemistry to the practical facts of organic coatings . . . an extremely useful reference." -Choice.

Substantially reorganized in this accessible, self-contained volume, Organic Coatings: Science and Technology, Second Edition provides a systematic, up-to-date survey of the principles underlying the production and use of organic coatings and paints. Complete with 250 figures, this immensely useful text/reference includes:
* New developments in the field since the publication of the First Edition
* Concise descriptions of raw materials, physical concepts, formulation, applications, and properties
* Troubleshooting guidance for coatings scientists and technologists
* Precise definitions of coatings industry terminology for newcomers to the field
* Extensive references reflecting current literature
* An appendix listing useful sources.

Corrosion Control Through Organic Coatings (Corrosion Technology)

Average customer rating:

Corrosion Control Through Organic Coatings (Corrosion Technology)
Amy Forsgren
Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General & Reference | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Mathematics | Science | Subjects | Books

Nanostructures | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Science Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Science | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 084937278X

Book Description

Choosing the most suitable coatings for structures such as bridges and building supports can extend the service life of that structure significantly. Corrosion Control Through Organic Coatings discusses the most important variables in the testing, selection, and application of heavy-duty, organic corrosion-protection paints. The book addresses the maintenance and restoration of older infrastructure and industrial plant as well as coatings for new structures made from various types of steel. The author, Amy Forsgren, examines the mechanisms of aging and deterioration caused by ultraviolet light, condensation, temperature, and chemical reactions. She also provides a complete description of composition of anti-corrosive organic coatings, including pigments, binders, and additives. Ms. Forsgren suggests which corrosion tests provide the most useful information on coating performance and corrosion-protection. Several chapters review the advantages and disadvantages of of different surface preparation methods. In addition, the author considers the environmental impact of various coatings and recognizes health hazards posed by volatile organic compounds (VOC's), toxic or hazardous pigments such as lead, and silica dust exposure. She also offers recommendations for providing safe working environments for personnel handling surface preparation. Integrating engineering aspects and corrosion expertise with paint formulation knowledge and surface chemistry, Corrosion Control Through Organic Coatings provides unique coverage of the most advanced treatments for extending the life span of heavy-duty metal structures today.

High Solids Alkyd Resins (Books in Soils and the Environment)

Average customer rating:

High Solids Alkyd Resins

High Solids Alkyd Resins (Books in Soils and the Environment)
K. Holmberg
Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General & Reference | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

Soil Science | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

High Solids Alkyd Resins.......2007-09-11

The book of Krister Holmberg serves as an excellent starting point for anyone that wants to know more about available options with respect to increasing the solid content of solventbased coatings. The topic is gaining in interest now that the use of solvents becomes more and more under pressure. Also, it becomes clear that waterbased coatings have their limitations especially in applications in which temperature and humidity are difficult to control. The key concepts that can be used to improve properties of high solids alkyds are discussed in a clear and illustrative way, for example: control of molecular weight, choice of solvent, reactive diluents and branching. Despite the book being published in 1987, the concepts are still valid. Possibly the time has come for an update that includes the latest developments especially with respect to hyperbranched technology.
* * *

Fillers for Paints: Basics and Applications (European Coatings Literature)

Average customer rating:

Fillers for Paints: Basics and Applications (European Coatings Literature)
Detlef Gysau
Manufacturer: William Andrew Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Industrial & Technical | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Coatings Formulation

ASIN: 0815515316

Book Description

Although the topic of fillers for paints is an old one, there has never been a comprehensive book on the subject...until now. The sheer number of minerals and their sources, the frequently underestimated effort that goes into their manufacture, the testing done to characterize their diverse properties, their wide ranging applications-all are excellent reasons for the writing of this book. Fillers are instrumental in many properties of coating materials and films: their rheology, content of volatile organic compounds, solids content, brightness, opacity, reflectivity, adhesion, anti-corrosion characteristics, mechanical and chemical resistance...the list goes on. The bottom line is, proper use of fillers calls for a great deal of knowledge.

Fillers, whether carbonate, silicon dioxide or barium sulfate, have always played a decisive role in paint manufacture. This this new book, the author presents an important foundation work which brings out the significance of these substances. It starts by looking at the fillers market, the extraction of natural resources and producting using synthetic manufacturing processes. A detailed description of the mineralogy of common fillers and ther use in paints follows. The author also explains the full range of filler-related testing methods, describes characteristics and effects in paint systems and offers an interesting perspective for the future.

Book Description

"Integrates the latest findings on metallized plastics and their far-reaching applications by more than 80 recognized experts from North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Addresses both basic and applied aspects of the subject."

Fluorinated Surfactants and Repellents, Second Edition, (Surfactant Science)

Average customer rating:

Fluorinated Surfactants and Repellents, Second Edition, (Surfactant Science)

Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Science | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 082470472X

Book Description

A discussion of the synthesis, problems, theories and applications of fluorinated surfactants, this second edition is updated with four new chapters on repellency and protection against soiling and staining and over 2900 references, equations, and drawings (800 more than the previous edition). It lists alphabetically and explores numerous applications of fluorinated surfactants. Called "…a most useful introduction to these fascinating materials" by the Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology and "...a coherent and stimulating handbook...the most useful book in the fluorinated surfactants field to date. Recommended." by the Journal of the Chemical Society, Faraday Transactions - this book is a source of factual data, methods of manufacture, and chemical structures for the surfactant scientist and user.

Additives for Water-Based Coatings: The Proceedings of a Symposium Organised by the North West Region of the Industrial Division of the Royal Societ (Special ... Society of Chemistry (Great Britain)))

Average customer rating:

Additives for Water-Based Coatings: The Proceedings of a Symposium Organised by the North West Region of the Industrial Division of the Royal Societ (Special ... Society of Chemistry (Great Britain)))

Manufacturer: Science and Behavior Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General & Reference | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

Industrial & Technical | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Adhesives, Sealants, and Coatings for Space and Harsh Environments (Polymer Science and Technology)

Average customer rating:

Adhesives, Sealants, and Coatings for Space and Harsh Environments (Polymer Science and Technology)

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General & Reference | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0306429896

Adsorption and Aggregation of Surfactants in Solution (Surfactant Science)

Average customer rating:

Adsorption and Aggregation of Surfactants in Solution (Surfactant Science)

Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0824708431

Book Description

Offering the latest research and developments in the understanding of surfactant behavior in solutions, this reference investigates the role and dynamics of surfactants and their solution properties in the formulation of paints, printing inks, paper coatings, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, cosmetics, liquid detergents, and lubricants. Exploring the science behind techniques from oil recovery to drug delivery, the book covers surfactant stabilized particles; solid particles at liquid interfaces; nanocapsules; aggregation behavior of surfactants; micellar catalysis; vesicles and liposomes; the clouding phenomena; viscoelasticity of micellar solutions; and more.

Advances in Additives for Water-Based Coatings (Special Publications)

Average customer rating:

Advances in Additives for Water-Based Coatings (Special Publications)

Manufacturer: Royal Society of Chemistry
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General & Reference | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

Polymers & Macromolecules | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Science | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0854047549

Book Description

As the coatings industry continues to be influenced by sustained environmental pressures, the market for water-based coatings has shown significant signs of growth. The move away from solvent to water-based coatings has been facilitated by the active development of appropriate performance enhancing additives. Ideal for industrial and post- graduate researchers in this area, Advances in Additives for Water- Based Coatings presents recent innovative developments in each of the major additive fields, covering organic and inorganic thickeners, defoamers, coalescing solvents, biocides and dispersants. As new and more stringent environmental legislation emerges, it serves to highlight the ways in which manufacturers will need to respond, if they are to remain competitive and cost-effective.

Book Description

Taking an applied point of view, this book provides an accessible introduction to the theory of stationary random marked point processes on the non-negative real line. The reader will be able to gain an intuitive understanding of stationary marked point processes and be able to apply the theory to stochastic modeling. The emphasis is on time averages and asymptotic stationarity. Proofs of the main results are given using shift-coupling methods and measure theory is kept to a minimum. Examples and exercises are given involving explicit construction of time and event stationary versions, using the 'inspection paradox' as an intuitive guide. The Rate Conservation Law is given and used in applications to queueing theory. The prerequisites are a background in probability theory and stochastic processes up to conditional expectation.

Customer Reviews:

A lesson.......2004-09-19

Simply, one of the greatest book ever written. Turgenev's style is wonderfully evocative, and yet it has not an ounce of sentimentalism: its depictions of natural landscapes are incredibly lucid, almost detached, in a sense; today, we could say his writing has a "zen-like" clarity. His human character are little parts of this whole, but Turgenev's panteism has nothing of the desperate, ferociously ironic pessimism of, say, Thomas Hardy; his vision is perfectly impartial, and yet sympathetic: each of his characters appears in his fundamental, intact dignity of human being. I'm not myself a starry-eyed dreamer: but reading this book, with its wonderfully easy and aimless wanderings, is like psychoterapy; you can't get out of it but feeling calmly hyper-oxygenated, as it were; you can't read this book but thinking that this man, Turgenev, mysteriously understood what it is like to be fellow sharers of this strange place, Earth, and of this strange thing, life. If something like "occidental buddhism" does exist, this book is a lesson in it.

Turgenev, sportsman and ardent liberal.......2003-11-18

Turgenev effectively invents a new form -- the literary sketch -- to impart a new kind of content. What is brilliant about these sketches which are in part nature meditation and in part biographical sketch is how Turgenev allows each character to speak for themselves. As a result we feel like we are hearing something we have never heard before -- the natural voice of the people. By allowing people to speak for themselves Turgenev gives us a truer and more genuine idea of how people -- serf and gentry -- really think and relate. Each sketch begins with a detailed description of the natural surroundings he is walking through and these descriptions give us insight into Turgenev's cast of mind which is infintely receptive, and discerning, even romantic and delicate at times as when he describes staring up through the forest canopy and imagining he is staring up at the world from beneath a vast body of water. These magnficent introductions set the mood for the character sketch to come. When he meets a serf it is as if he is merely continuing his communion with nature for the serfs live at one with the land. When he meets one of the gentry, however, and passes time in their company he feels removed from the natural settings and people he so values. It is a fascinating and very subtle technique but Turgenev makes the landowners seem like unnatural creatures who are disturbing the natural order. Though he is one of the gentry himself Turgenev hunts with the serfs , he values their company and conversation, and he values what they know. He knows them as individuals not just as serfs and so we too come to know them as individuals, each with their own personality and ideas about life and story to tell. Since we know these sketches are from real life we listen more carefully to them than we would if they were mere inventions; real life has a resonance that fiction does not. Given the choice of spending the day with a either serf or a landowner Turgenev would choose the serf. The serfs have not received an education and their opinions are often shaped by superstition, and yet it is these very superstitions that make them such colorful characters, the gentry may be educated but they are full of self-importance and affectations and see everything through the limited scope of their own self-interest which is merely another form of ignorance. Turgenev's most effective weapon is not bitter invective but irony. He never comes out and says serfdom is bad because the landowners are in some cases such vile creatures that there is no need to. By simply quoting them and describing their manners and actions Turgenev allows the landowners to do a fine job at condemning themselves.

The most profound sketch to my mind is "Yermolay and the Millers Wife" which relates the harsh treatment doled out to a beautiful serf woman merely because she wants to get married, and a close second is "Bezhin Lea" about a group of boys telling ghost stories around a fire as they tend a herd of horses grazing at night. The former sketch pefectly conveys what absolute power the landowners have over every aspect of the serfs life and the latter sketch perfectly conveys how the serfs pass down their own particular brand of wisdom from one generation to the next. Perhaps the most famous sketch however is "Khor and Kalinych" which juxtaposes two kinds of serfs--one resigned to his lot and the other who despite his status as serf finds his own kind of freedom by wandering the countryside. "Kasyan and the Beautiful Lands" is perhaps the most unusual story as it presents a sage-like man who speaks as though he were a living oracle. Deprived of education the serfs remain in thrall not only to the landowners but to ignorance as well; nonetheless there is a beauty and tragic grace in the voices of these serfs that remains in memory long after you have read these sketches. The sketches are complex and layered enough to invite you back to them again and again.

The biggest joy of the sketches is their casualness. Nothing is ever overly stated or stated in black and white but everything nonetheless appears clear as day. It seems at times as if Turgenev is the only enlightened soul in Russia and yet he is absolutely civil even when with a pernicious landowner because he innately knows what is right and he trusts that we know as well. Turgenev reminds me of Thoreau in his devotions which are equally divided between nature and the forwarding of liberal ideas. Though Pushkin and Lermontov both came before him Turgenev was the first Russian writer to achieve fame outside of Russia. Fathers and Sons is considered his masterpiece but these sketches stand as something unique in all of literature.

Lessons from a Master.......2002-06-18

It's taken me until now to get to Sketches From A Hunter's Album. Now I have finished it and now I am grieving. It will stay in my nonlending collection so I can savor it even after the surprise has gone. It's like losing a friend.

Turgenev calls these 'sketches' rather than stories. It's a good distinction. More story writers should concentrate on their sketch pads. The sketches are of places and people in the rural south of Russia in the 1840s. Each is strung thematically on Turgenev's wandrings through the countryside while hunting for game birds. Each begins with a mention that he was hunting in a certain place. He goes into lovely thoughtful and surprising descriptions of the woods or marsh, the sky, the smells, the sounds, the light. Even in translation, these are exquisite. He speaks of shifting light shining through the leaves onto the forest floor, or unbreatheable noonday heat, or changing skies at the advent of a storm, a dawn, or a sunset; he calls up moments from your own life that you thought could not be shared with anyone who wasn't there and he makes you relive those moments as if he had been there with you.

For anyone who has spent time out of doors, these little Aldo Leopold nature essays standing alone would be reason enough to read the 'Sketches', but these are just hors d'uvre to his descriptions of the persons he meets while hunting. When sketching people, Turgenev does gracefully what Dickens tried to do and did clumsily; that is, he describes the physical characteristics of a person and gives you a fully formed description of their character as well, and he does this without sounding forced and without showing himself. (And you will burst out laughing at the sudden recognition that, indeed, someone does look 'like a root vegetable'.)

"Sketches" was published twice in Turgenev's lifetime and in the second edition he added to it. In the earlier sketches, Turgenev brings a character to life in a description; the character may speak a few words, and disappear from the scene, as people do in real life, leaving the reader to speculate what became of him. Yet, Turgenev has given us enough insight into the character that we think we know what probably happened next, and so the story is complete. These are elegant Aristotelian constructs with the action taking place offstage, and, oh elegance! with the final action taking place in the reader's imagination after the story has ended. If my description leaves you wondering, read them! (Would that I could spur you to act as Turgenev spurs his readers to think. Ah, but it's too much... .) This is what Turgenev does. He starts you thinking, but requires you to complete the story. In the later sketches Turgenev is just as deft in his descriptions, but perhaps to satisfy the market or his editors he adopts a more plot driven model. These later contributions can more truly be called stories rather than sketches. They are equally well-crafted, but they demand less of the reader. Curiously, they give us less as well.

The hunter's travels theme gives the collection an interrelatedness, almost like a picaresque novel. As in Huckleberry Finn or Don Quixote, neither the author nor the protagonist directly express opinions, but as stories accumulate the reader acquires the author's strong politicized view. We meet the aristocrats and peasants of rural Russia. The serf-holding system had been 'liberalized' in the early 19th century, but it is revealed as the unnamed slavery it was. Landlords control peasants' rights to marry; they name the persons to fill regional conscription quotas; they assign agricultural and residential alotments; and thoughtless and uncaring aristocrats use these powers carelessly or maliciously to destroy lives. Liberal aristocrats fare no better than traditional feudalists, as Turgenev details social reformers' well-meaning disasters which beggar both for the peasants and the bumbling aristocrats who direct them.

America often forgets that its civil war was part of a European pandemic of peasant revolts driven by the extended logic of the Enlightenment. As masters and slaves in the United States were struggling with the immorality of a divine order handed down from a prior age, the masters and servants in Europe did the same. The 1840s, 50s, and 60s were tumultuous times in central and eastern Europe. Turgenev, arrested and exiled in 1852 because of the 'Sketches', has an historical place akin to the American abolitionists of the same day, however, unlike Harriet Beecher Stowe, Turgenev draws his characters in three dimensions with humanity, with love and understanding even when he does not forgive them their moral failings. The 'Sketches' would be an interesting book to teach alongside Huckleberry Finn.

A Collection of short stories for those who don't like them.......2001-12-06

I don't like short stories, never have and I don't know why. I had to read this collection for a course and found it pretty good. The professor told us that this was Hemingway's favorite book which Hemingway had read over and over. In fact, Hemingway modeled some of his own stories on those here, particularly the Hemingway stories where nothing happens except someone might make a pot of coffee. But let's face it, these are not so much stories (narrations of events in time) as sketches of characters. Any plot would be too much plot and would interfer with the general effect, which is to show us the life and times of Russians before the liberation of the serfs. I liked "The Singers", as other reviewer have, but the true masterpiece, worth the entire price of the book, is "Living Relic." Nothing happens in that story except we learn again the beauty and strength of the human spirit and in the process the redemptive nature of true literature.

Cor!.......2001-10-18

In giving this book only three stars, I'm not rating Turgenev but rather the translation. I'm not a translator myself, I'm sure it's very difficult rendering dialogue from another time and place, etc., etc. but I finally couldn't abide the translator's choice in this case to render the voices of nineteenth century Russian peasants in Cockney (or other English) slang.

Examples: "He was a right pain to his peasant girls." "They felt right idiots." "He's not a gent, is he?" "Help us, mate." "Judge for yourself, mate." "He's the soul of kindness, he is." "Gavrila comprehended-like how to get out of the wood." The use of "'cos" for "because." The use of "gotta"--"And I've gotta tell you this."

And what was for me the last straw, in the story Bezhin Lea, "Cor!" and "Cor, stone me!"

If you like this kind of thing, you'll love the book. For Russian lit in translation, give me Constance Garnett (and her Edwardian diction--which works so well, perhaps because it seems natural in contrast to the forced quality on display in "Sketches") or else the current team of Pevear and Volokhonsky.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books