RIT Libraries Recent Acquisitions - Genscience

Units, Symbols and Abbreviations : a Guide for Authors and Editors in Medicine and Related Sciences / D.N. Baron, H. McKenzie Clarke

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Added: Thursday, Sep 4 2008

The Cloud Book : How to Understand the Skies / Richard Hamblyn

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: This attractive and entertaining guide to the clouds, helps readers to identify every cloud type and related phenomena, and understand its implications for the weather. Unlike other books about clouds and weather, which can be very scientific and hard to understand, The Cloud Book follows a logical progression from low clouds to the high stratus clouds, and on to special clouds. The book also features a detailed introduction on the history of cloud classification--how it came about, the challenge involved with naming transitional forms in nature and how it was overcome. Packed with stunning images from the Met Office's archive combined with a lively and informative text, this is the definitive guide to the clouds and the skies.

Added: Thursday, Sep 4 2008

Quick Selection Guide to Chemical Protective Clothing / Krister Forsberg, S.Z. Mansdorf

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Chemical Protective Clothing is the last line of defence for protecting the skin, so care must be taken to ensure it provides the protection expected. This one-stop guidebook provides users with the latest information on selection, use and care of Chemical Protective Clothing including protective gloves, suits, and other garments. There is no other independent source of information on the market, which updates on a regular basis. This new edition has been fully extended to cover all the latest advances in the protective clothing industry, and now boasts colour-coded selection recommendations, to aid the user further in achieving a safer workflow.

Added: Thursday, Sep 4 2008

Electron Spin Resonance : Analysis and Interpretation / Philip H. Rieger

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Electron Spin Resonance covers the obtaining, analysing and interpreting of cw X-band ESR spectra of molecules with unpaired electron (s). The purpose of the book is to describe in mathematical terms the extraction of useful information from ESR spectra about the interaction of unpaired electrons with atoms in the molecules being studied. A reader familiar with quantum mechanics should gain a thorough understanding of the origins of the phenomena which make ESR spectra possible. The information that can be obtained from the spectra are explained in detail and in a logical step-by-step fashion. Examples of spectra of organic, inorganic and organometallic molecules, both in solution and in frozen solution are shown, analysed and interpreted and the mathematical basis of this interpretation clearly presented. The examples start with straightforward cases and proceed to more complicated ones. The ESR of biradicals, triplet states and other systems with more than one unpaired electron is also addressed. Particular attention is paid to the analysis and interpretation of spectra obtained from frozen solutions of paramagnetic organometallic compounds in which the g-matrix and the molecular axes are non-coincident. This book lays a firm groundwork for understanding more sophisticated experiments, which the availability of newer commercial instruments have made possible.

Added: Thursday, Sep 4 2008

Cosmic Anger : Abdus Salam - the First Muslim Nobel Scientist / By Gordon Fraser

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: This book presents a biography of Abdus Salam, the first Muslim to win a Nobel Prize for Science (Physics 1979), who was nevertheless excommunicated and branded as a heretic in his own country. His achievements are often overlooked, even besmirched. Realizing that the whole world had to be his stage, he pioneered the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, a vital focus of Third World science which remains as his monument. A staunch Muslim, he was ashamed of the decline of science in the heritage of Islam, and struggled doggedly to restore it to its former glory. Undermined by his excommunication, these valiant efforts were doomed.

Added: Thursday, Sep 4 2008

Symmetry Rules : How Science and Nature Are Founded on Symmetry / Joe Rosen

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: When we use science to describe and understand the world around us, we are in essence grasping nature through symmetry. In fact, modern theoretical physics suggests that symmetry is a, if not the, foundational principle of nature. Emphasizing the concepts, this book leads the reader coherently and comprehensively into the fertile field of symmetry and its applications. Among the most important applications considered are the fundamental forces of nature and the Universe. It is shown that the Universe cannot possess exact symmetry, which is a principle of fundamental significance. Curie's principle - which states that the symmetry of the effect is at least that of the cause - features prominently. An introduction to group theory, the mathematical language of symmetry, is included. This book will convince all interested readers of the importance of symmetry in science. Furthermore, it will serve as valuable background reading for all students in the physical sciences.

Added: Thursday, Sep 4 2008

Encyclopedia of Scientific Principles, Laws, and Theories / Robert E. Krebs ; Illustrations By Rae Dejur

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: What is a scientific theory? How is it different from a law or a principle? And what practical is it? Science students, especially those new to studying the sciences, ask these questions everyday about these essential parts of a science education. To supports these students, the Encyclopedia of Scientific Principles, Laws, and Theories is designed to be an easy-to-understand, accessible, and accurate description of the most famous scientific concepts, principles, laws, and theories that are known in the areas of astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, mathematics, medicine, meteorology, and physics. The encyclopedia contributes to the scientific literacy of students and the general public by providing them with a comprehensive but not overwhelming source of those scientific concepts, principles, laws and theories that impact every facet of their daily lives. The Encyclopedia of Scientific Principles, Laws, and Theories includes several hundred entries. BLFor ease of use, entries are arranged alphabetically by the names of the men or women who are best-known for their discovery or development or after whom the particular scientific law or theory is named. Entries include: BLCalvin's Carbon Cycle BLClausius's Laws and Theory of Thermodynamics BLDicke's Theory of the Big Bang BLGilbert's Theory of Magnetism BLLysenko's Theory of the Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics BLMohorovicic's Theory of the Earth's Interior Structure BLOhm's Law BLUlam's Monte Carlo System Entries include a short biography of the main discoverers, as well as any information that was of particular relevance in the evolution of the scientific topic. The encyclopedia includes sidebars and examples of the usefulness of the theories, principles, and laws in everyday life, demonstrating that understanding these concepts have practical use. Each entry also includes resources for further research, and the encyclopedia includes a general bibliography of particularly useful primary and secondary source materials.

Added: Thursday, Sep 4 2008

The Drunkard's Walk : How Randomness Rules Our Lives / Leonard Mlodinow

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: In this irreverent and illuminating book, acclaimed writer and scientist Leonard Mlodinow shows us how randomness, change, and probability reveal a tremendous amount about our daily lives, and how we misunderstand the significance of everything from a casual conversation to a major financial setback. As a result, successes and failures in life are often attributed to clear and obvious cases, when in actuality they are more profoundly influenced by chance. The rise and fall of your favorite movie star of the most reviled CEO--in fact, of all our destinies--reflects as much as planning and innate abilities. Even the legendary Roger Maris, who beat Babe Ruth's single-season home run record, was in all likelihood not great but just lucky. And it might be shocking to realize that you are twice as likely to be killed in a car accident on your way to buying a lottery ticket than you are to win the lottery. How could it have happened that a wine was given five out of five stars, the highest rating, in one journal and in another it was called the worst wine of the decade? Mlodinow vividly demonstrates how wine ratings, school grades, political polls, and many other things in daily life are less reliable than we believe. By showing us the true nature of change and revealing the psychological illusions that cause us to misjudge the world around us, Mlodinow gives fresh insight into what is really meaningful and how we can make decisions based on a deeper truth. From the classroom to the courtroom, from financial markets to supermarkets, from the doctor's office to the Oval Office, Mlodinow's insights will intrigue, awe, and inspire. Offering readers not only a tour of randomness, chance, and probability but also a new way of looking at the world, this original, unexpected journey reminds us that much in our lives is about as predictable as the steps of a stumbling man fresh from a night at the bar.

Added: Thursday, Sep 4 2008

CO? Rising : the World's Greatest Environmental Challenge / Tyler Volk

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: The most colossal environmental disturbance in human history is under way. Ever-rising levels of the potent greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) are altering the cycles of matter and life and interfering with the Earth's natural cooling process. Melting Arctic ice and mountain glaciers are just the first relatively mild symptoms of what will result from this disruption of the planetary energy balance. In CO2 Rising, scientist Tyler Volk explains the process at the heart of global warming and climate change: the global carbon cycle. Vividly and concisely, Volk describes what happens when CO2 is released by the combustion of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas), letting loose carbon atoms once trapped deep underground into the interwoven web of air, water, and soil. To demonstrate how the carbon cycle works, Volk traces the paths that carbon atoms take during their global circuits. Showing us the carbon cycle from a carbon atom's viewpoint, he follows one carbon atom into a leaf of barley, then into an alcohol molecule in a glass of beer, through the human bloodstream, and then back into the air. He also compares the fluxes of carbon brought into the biosphere naturally with those created by the combustion of fossil fuels and explains why the latter are responsible for rising temperatures. Knowledge about the global carbon cycle and the huge disturbances that human activity produces in it will equip us to consider the hard questions that Volk raises in the second half of CO2 Rising: projections of future levels of CO2; which energy systems and processes (solar, wind, nuclear, carbon sequestration?) will power civilization in the future; the relationships among the wealth of nations, energy use, and CO2 emissions; and global equity in per capita emissions. Answering these questions will indeed be our greatest environmental challenge.

Added: Thursday, Sep 4 2008

Mathematical Ecology of Populations and Ecosystems / John Pastor

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Population ecologists study how births and deaths affect the dynamics of populations and communities while ecosystem ecologists study how species control the flux of energy and materials through food webs and ecosystems. Although all these processes occur simultaneously in nature, the mathematical frameworks bridging the two disciplines have developed independently. Consequently, this independent development of theory has impeded the cross-fertilization of population and ecosystem ecology. Using recent developments from dynamical systems theory, this advanced undergraduate/graduate level textbook shows how to bridge the two disciplines seamlessly. The book shows how bifurcations between the solutions of models can help understand regime shifts in natural populations and ecosystems once thresholds in rates of births, deaths, consumption, competition, nutrient inputs, and decay are crossed. Mathematical Ecology is essential reading for students of ecology who have had a first course in calculus and linear algebra or students in mathematics wishing to learn how dynamical systems theory can be applied to ecological problems.

Added: Thursday, Sep 4 2008

Reenacting Galileo's Experiments : Rediscovering the Techniques of Seventeenth-century Science / Paolo Palmieri ; with a Preface By William R. Shea

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Added: Thursday, Sep 4 2008

The Shadow Factory / Paul West

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: From the introduction by Diane Ackerman:Paul West recalls the early days after his stroke, exploring some of the all-too-real tricks the mind plays to save itself from the tomb of lost words.Paul had a massive stroke, tailored to his own private hell. The author of over fifty stylishly written books, a master of English prose with one of the largest working vocabularies, a man whose life revolves around words, he had suffered brain damage to the key language areas of his brain and could no longer process language in any form. Global aphasia, it's called, the curse of a perpetual tip-of-the-tongue memory hunt. He understood little of what people said, and all he could utter was the syllable "mem."His prognosis was grim. The brain cells were dead in Broca's and some of Wernicke's area, he could no longer swallow food without choking, and it was a left-hemisphere stroke. After three weeks in the rehab unit, he was able to say proudly: "I can talk good coffee." Still, it was a complete sentence."You know, dear," I said about two months later, when he was feeling mighty low, "maybe you want to write the first aphasic memoir." He smiled: "Good idea! Mem, mem, mem." And so he began dictating, sometimes with mountain-moving effort, and others sailing along at a good clip, an account of what the mental world of aphasia felt and looked like. Writing the book was the best speech therapy anyone could have prescribed.

Added: Thursday, Sep 4 2008

Mean and Lowly Things : Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo / Kate Jackson

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: In 2005 Kate Jackson ventured into the remote swamp forests of the northern Congo to collect reptiles and amphibians. Her camping equipment was rudimentary, her knowledge of Congolese customs even more so. She knew how to string a net and set a pitfall trap, but she never imagined the physical and cultural difficulties that awaited her. Culled from the mud-spattered pages of her journals, Mean and Lowly Things reads like a fast-paced adventure story. It is Jackson's unvarnished account of her research on the front lines of the global biodiversity crisiscoping with interminable delays in obtaining permits, learning to outrun advancing army ants, subsisting on a diet of Spam and manioc, and ultimately falling in love with the strangely beautiful flooded forest. The reptile fauna of the Republic of Congo was all but undescribed, and Jackson's mission was to carry out the most basic study of the amphibians and reptiles of the swamp forest: to create a simple list of the species that exist therea crucial first step toward efforts to protect them. When the snakes evaded her carefully set traps, Jackson enlisted people from the villages to bring her specimens. She trained her guide to tag frogs and skinks and to fix them in formalin. As her expensive camera rusted and her Western soap melted, Jackson learned what it took to swim with the snakesand that there's a right way and a wrong way to get a baby cobra out of a bottle. (20080415)

Added: Thursday, Sep 4 2008

Synthetic Aperture Radar Imaging / Didier Massonnet and Jean-Claude Souyris

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Describing a field that has been transformed by the recent availability of data from a new generation of space and airborne systems, the authors offer a synthetic geometrical approach to the description of synthetic aperture radar, one that addresses physicists, radar specialists, as well as experts in image processing.

Added: Thursday, Sep 4 2008

The Chicago Guide to Your Career in Science : a Toolkit for Students and Postdocs / Victor A. Bloomfield and Esam E. El-Fakahany

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Embarking upon research as a graduate student or postdoc can be exciting and enrichingthe start of a rewarding career. But the world of scientific research is also a competitive one, with grants and good jobs increasingly hard to find. The Chicago Guide to Your Career in Science is intended to help scientists not just cope but excel at this critical phase in their careers. Victor A. Bloomfield and Esam E. El-Fakahany, both well-known scientists with extensive experience as teachers, mentors, and administrators, have combined their knowledge to create a guidebook that addresses all of the challenges that today's scientists-in-training face. They begin by considering the early stages of a career in science: deciding whether or not to pursue a PhD, choosing advisors and mentors, and learning how to teach effectively. Bloomfield and El-Fakahany then explore the skills essential to conducting and presenting research. The Chicago Guide to Your Career in Science offers detailed advice on how to pursue research ethically, manage time, and communicate effectively, especially at academic conferences and with students and peers. Bloomfield and El-Fakahany write in accessible, straightforward language and include a synopsis of key points at the end of each chapter, so that readers can dip into relevant sections with ease. From students prepping for the GRE to postdocs developing professional contacts to faculty advisors and managers of corporate labs, scientists at every level will find The Chicago Guide to Your Career in Science an unparalleled resource. "The Chicago Guide to Your Career in Science is a roadmap to the beginning stages of a scientific career. I will encourage my own students to purchase it."Dov F. Sax, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, Brown University "Step-by-step, Victor Bloomfield and Esam El-Fakahany provide sound, thorough, yet succinct advice on every issue a scientist in training is likely to encounter. Young readers will welcome the authors' advice on choosing a graduate school, for example, while senior scientists will probably wish that a book like this had been around when they were starting out. With down-to-earth and occasionally humorous advice, The Chicago Guide to your Career in Academic Biology belongs on the bookshelf of every graduate student and advisor."Norma Allewell, Dean, College of Chemical and Life Sciences, University of Maryland (20071009)

Added: Thursday, Sep 4 2008

Athletic Development : the Art & Science of Functional Sports Conditioning / Vern Gambetta

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Athletic Development offers a rare opportunity to learn and apply a career full of knowledge from the best. World-renowned strength and conditioning coach Vern Gambetta condenses the wisdom he's gained through more than 40 years of experience of working with athletes across sports, age groups, and levels of competition, including members of the Chicago White Sox, New York Mets, and U.S. men's 1998 World Cup soccer team. The result is an information-packed, myth-busting explanation of the most effective methods and prescriptions in each facet of an athlete's physical preparation. Gambetta includes never-before-published and ready-to-use training approaches in<ul> <li>sport-specific demands analysis, </li><li>work capacity enhancements, </li><li>movement skills development, </li><li>long- and short-term training program progressions, and </li><li>rest and regeneration techniques.</li></ul> Athletic Development explains what works, what doesn't, and why. Gambetta's no-nonsense approach emphasizes results that pay off in the competitive season and reflect his work at the highest echelons of sport. Merging principles of anatomy, biomechanics, and exercise physiology with sports conditioning applications and four decades of professional practice, this is the definitive guide to performance-enhancing training.

Added: Thursday, Sep 4 2008

MCAT Premier Program 2008-2009

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Includes:<ul><li>Full-length practice MCAT with detailed explanations </li><li>2 full-length verbal reasoning tests </li><li>Complete Science Review </li><li>Effective tips and strategies </li><li>CD-ROM with practice questions and flashcards </li><li>4-color illustrations featuring charts, graphs, and diagrams of the most-tested material</li></li></ul>

Added: Tuesday, Sep 2 2008

Global Catastrophes and Trends : the Next 50 Years / Vaclav Smil

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Fundamental change occurs most often in one of two ways: as a "fatal discontinuity," a sudden catastrophic event that is potentially world changing, or as a persistent, gradual trend. Global catastrophes include volcanic eruptions, viral pandemics, wars, and large-scale terrorist attacks; trends are demographic, environmental, economic, and political shifts that unfold over time. In this provocative book, scientist Vaclav Smil takes a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary look at the catastrophes and trends the next fifty years may bring. This is not a book of forecasts or scenarios but one that reminds us to pay attention to, and plan for, the consequences of apparently unpredictable events and the ultimate direction of long-term trends. Smil first looks at rare but cataclysmic events, both natural and human-produced, then at trends of global importance: the transition from fossil fuels to other energy sources; demographic and political shifts in Europe, Japan, Russia, China, the United States, and Islamic nations; the battle for global primacy; and growing economic and social inequality. He also considers environmental change--in some ways an amalgam of sudden discontinuities and gradual change--and assesses the often misunderstood complexities of global warming. Global Catastrophes and Trends does not come down on the side of either doom-and-gloom scenarios or techno-euphoria. Instead, relying on long-term historical perspectives and a distaste for the rigid compartmentalization of knowledge, Smil argues that understanding change will help us reverse negative trends and minimize the risk of catastrophe.

Added: Monday, Aug 11 2008

Nucleic Acids From A to Z : a Concise Encyclopedia / Edited By Sabine Muller

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Concise but complete, this mini-encyclopedia contains over 1,500 entries covering all important concepts, compounds, techniques and acronyms for quick and easy reference. Guiding readers through the ever-increasing jungle of nucleic acid science and technology, the book distills the key information out of the large body of primary literature and presents it in a single volume. A first-stop resource for everyone, from students to established researchers, as both a desktop and library reference.

Added: Wednesday, Jul 30 2008

Out of the Blue / Paul Horsman ; Photography By Seapics.com

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Seen from space, the earth is blue. That luminous blueness is water -- the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Antarctic oceans. Seventy percent of what we call "earth" is under water. Life began in the ocean, and the ocean still plays a vital role in our lives and the earth's ecosystem. More than half the world's population lives within a few miles of the sea; we're drawn to it to swim, surf, sail, or simply gaze out across the waves. The ocean itself teems with life, from the coldest, ice-bound poles to the warmest tropical seas, from the surface to the deepest trenches where no light penetrates. Out of the Blue is a celebration of the rich variety of ocean life. Stunning color photographs and engaging, informative text capture the astonishing diversity of marine life, from the tiniest plants and plankton to the awe-inspiring Giant Squid and the blue whale, the largest animal ever to have lived. Out of the Blue looks at the drifters, the minute creatures that are the ocean's life source and the first link in the marine food chain. It describes the migration of turtles and whales, and the living structures of coral reefs and atolls. It shows us fish, marine mammals, and the secret lives of creatures who live in the deepest and darkest part of the ocean. It reveals unusual ecosystems such as sea mounts and the Sargasso Sea. And it considers the consequences of human activity -- including climate change and pollution -- on the life of the sea. Throughout, it emphasizes how the different elements within the oceans interact.

Added: Wednesday, Jul 30 2008