bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Primer for Mathematics Competitions
Authors: Zawaira Alexander , Hitchcock Gavin
Published: November 2023

The importance of mathematics competitions has been widely recognised for three reasons: they help to develop imaginative capacity and thinking skills whose value far transcends mathematics; they constitute the most effective way of discovering and nurturing mathematical talent; and they provide a means to combat the prevalent false image of mathematics held by high school students, as either a fearsomely difficult or a dull and uncreative subject. This book provides a comprehensive training resource for competitions from local and provincial to national Olympiad level, containing hundreds of diagrams, and graced by many light-hearted cartoons. It features a large collection of what mathematicians call “beautiful” problems—non-routine, provocative, fascinating, and challenging problems, often with elegant solutions. It features careful, systematic exposition of a selection of the most important topics encountered in mathematics competitions, assuming little prior knowledge. Geometry, trigonometry, mathematical induction, inequalities, Diophantine equations, number theory, sequences and series, the binomial theorem, and combinatorics are all developed in a gentle but lively manner, liberally illustrated with examples, and consistently motivated by attractive “appetiser” problems, whose solution appears after the relevant theory has been expounded. Each chapter is presented as a “toolchest” of instruments designed for cracking the problems collected at the end of the chapter. Other topics, such as algebra, co-ordinate geometry, functional equations and probability, are introduced and elucidated in the posing and solving of the large collection of miscellaneous problems in the final toolchest. An unusual feature of this book is the attention paid throughout to the history of mathematics—the origins of the ideas, the terminology and some of the problems, and the celebration of mathematics as a multicultural, cooperative human achievement. As a bonus the aspiring “mathlete” may encounter, in the most enjoyable way possible, many of the topics that form the core of the standard school curriculum.
Binomial Theorem
Authors: Zawaira Alexander , Hitchcock Gavin
Published: November 2023

As an appetizer, here is a typical problem of the kind you should be able to solve when you have worked through this Toolchest. You are invited to try it as soon as you wish. You will probably find it hard for now, but by the end of Section 3, where its solution is given, it should not look difficult to you.
An Unexpected Reprieve
Authors: Wright Patrick
Published: November 2023

Sutton House is only a couple of miles from Spitalfields, and by the time I first came across it beleaguered among the tower blocks, there were unmistakable signs of relief all round. Country-house style decor had filtered down through the lifestyle magazines to be within the reach of any of the more prosperous ‘skyscraper families’ who felt inclined to turn their flat into a proper home. As for the classical columns that such neo-romantic artists as John Piper and Michael Ayrton had shown scattered and broken at ruined country houses during the war, their replacements were turning up in new housing developments throughout east London.
Ethnography, Gender, and Nation
Authors: Gopal Priyamvada
Published: November 2023

Even if the ‘private’ is as yet inaccessible in English, exemplary ‘lives’ can, nevertheless, be rendered into public narratives. Accordingly, the voice of the lowly peasant who finds himself in an awkward relationship to great historical events is what Govinda Samanta or Bengal Peasant Life claims to offer. Billed as an ‘authentic history’ of the life of a raiyat, or tenant farmer in Bengal, Lal Behari Day’s novel proffers itself as a documentary that will educate a reader unfamiliar with is context and culture. Outlining, rather defensively, ‘what the reader is to expect and what he is not to expect’, Day’s preface adumbrates the anxieties generated by the foray into Europeanstyle realist prose.
chapter 7Language in an Epigenetic Framework
Authors: Vercelli Donata , Piattelli-Palmarini Massimo
Published: November 2023

I have to tell you a story and the story is that the reason I am here is that I can’t say no to my friends. Juan Uriagereka was both very insistent and very eloquent in inviting me, so here I am, presenting something that Massimo and I have been thinking about. I have to tell you that the division of labor is such that Massimo takes all the credit and I take all the blame. So this, by way of disclaimer, that I think we acknowledge that there is a little element of absurdity in what we may be saying, but we hope that we also have something that may be relevant to you.
chapter 9Hierarchy, Merge, and Truth
Authors: Hinzen Wolfram
Published: November 2023

I’d like to speak about what I think is a rather novel problem on the scientific landscape, the origin and explanation of human semantics – the system of the kind of meanings or thoughts that we can express in language. In the last decades we have seen a very thorough description and systematization of semantics, using formal tools from logic, but moving from there to explanation requires, I believe, quite different tools and considerations. I’d like to offer some thoughts in this direction.
chapter 10Two Interfaces
Authors: Higginbotham James
Published: November 2023

The two interfaces that I will be talking about are (i) the interface between syntax and semantics, and (ii) the interface between what I call linguistic semantics (the stuff we do ordinarily, in Departments of Linguistics) and more philosophical questions about semantics – philosophical in the classical sense of raising questions about the nature of truth, and the relations of what we say to the world that we live in.
Remarks on the Individual Basis for Linguistic Structures
Authors: Bever Thomas G
Published: November 2023

This paper reviews an approach to the enterprise of paring away universals of attested languages to reveal the essential universals that require their own explanation. An example, discussed at this conference, is the long-standing puzzle presented by the Extended Projection Principle (EPP, Chomsky 1981). I am suggesting an explanation for the EPP based on the learner’s need for constructions to have a common superficial form, with common thematic relations, the hallmark of EPP. If one treats EPP phenomena as the result of normal processes of language acquisition, the phenomena not only receive an independently motivated explanation, they also no longer constitute a structural anomaly in syntactic theory.
chapter 20What is there in Universal Grammar? On innate and specific aspects of language
Authors: Laka Itziar
Published: November 2023

One of the most controversial and influential aspects of Chomsky’s legacy is the hypothesis that there is an innate component to language, which he named universal grammar (UG) (Chomsky 1965), in homage to the rationalist thinkers in whose footsteps he was walking. I would like to present and discuss results obtained from a variety of sources, mostly in neighboring fields within cognitive science, that bear on this central issue.
chapter 22Language and the Brain
Authors: Friederici Angela D
Published: November 2023

Let me begin with a little anecdote. When I came to MIT in 1979, I was full of the energy and proud of the data derived from my Ph.D. research. Very early on, actually during my first week at MIT, I was able to take part in a workshop and there I came to sit at a table next to a person whom I didn’t know, but whom I told all about my wonderful work in reading and writing, and this person said to me, “Why do you think this is interesting?” [laughter] And you guess who that person was. It was Noam Chomsky. As a result of this my entire career has focused on auditory language processing, and so in today’s talk I will discuss the brain basis of auditory language comprehension.
realism and the politics of (dis) enchantment
Authors: Tjalve Vibeke Schou
Published: November 2023

Our current political reality is, as Henry Luce prophesized, an American one: shaped by US capital, US principles, and US policies. But it is also an era tempted by the very logics with which the American century promised to do away: repression, exclusion, and forced uniformity. Putting it somewhat polemically, secular enlightenment won the war against totalitarianism, yet emerged from that victory on ideological foundations stretched so thin, that it recurrently finds itself tempted by the strategies of cohesion propagated by the side that lost. To some, this paradox is but the product of pure hypocrisy—a proof of Western arrogance and insincerity. Hence, the frequent accusation that means and ends collide in the liberal ‘war on terror’ hence the routine claim that Western enlightenment is it self a form of fundamentalism. It is understandable and in some ways comforting that this is a common reaction to the often blatant contradictions of liberal foreign policy. Yet to engage with the discrepancies displayed in contemporary politics, a different response is called for.
Normative Political Theory: A Flight from Reality?
Authors: Sangiovanni Andrea
Published: November 2023

abstract

In this essay, I first seek to characterize what I conceive to be some of the most difficult objections to the project of systematic normative reflection about politics, and then to work towards their assessment. These objections are at the heart of several forms of contemporary political realism and have quite wide-ranging implications for how to think about the possibility of normative political theory, including much of contemporary international political theory. My aim will not be to defend systematic normative reflection about politics per se, but to assess how the force of these objections, when properly understood, should alter the way we think of the justification and formulation of political values—justice, human rights, solidarity, liberty, equality, and so on—in contemporary political philosophy.
Thinking about Religious Identity, Politics, and Public Policy
Authors: Saggar Shamit
Published: November 2023

A compelling debate has emerged in recent years about the role of religious faith and identity in political affairs. This debate is not about the extent or indeed the nature of religious faith that is or is not made to feel welcome in shaping political matters. That is a rather separate question and one that is touched upon, briefly, later in this chapter and the next. Instead, what is at issue is how far religious faith is underscored by one-dimensional collective identity. In the case of some faiths in the modern world, this tendency towards a single faith-based identity has been significant and almost overwhelming. Muslim groups in Western societies are a noticeable case in point. Among others, faith identities have played a smaller—and sometimes a negligible— role but this has been part of a larger interplay between a variety of identitybased political movements on one hand and the workings of political and social change on the other.
Grievance Politics
Authors: Saggar Shamit
Published: November 2023

The post-9/11 environment has frequently heightened tensions about Islam in the West that were already present in many Western countries. The degree of such tensions is widely disputed by commentators as are the local, countryspecific variations and causes. For instance, in France, the spectacular demonstration of radical Islamist political violence, linked to Algerian political turmoil, in the mid-1990s had already created a context in which deep tensions had been registered. The strictly non-French dimension of this conflict had precious little effect on its internalization into domestic politics at the time. A decade later, the French public debate over the (non-) right of Muslim girls to wear headscarves at school took place within a political environment that had already been deeply coloured by events in the 1990s.
Extremism and Reputational Politics
Authors: Saggar Shamit
Published: November 2023

Islamist-inspired religious extremism is often described as a comparatively rare phenomenon. This characterization is broadly supported by whatever patchy evidence has been gathered on this subject. Much of these insights are grounded not so much in its frequency of incidence but rather the underlying factors that are thought to be responsible for its largely undetected rise and apparent embeddedness. Extremism can in fact be mapped in terms of its background circumstances and its primary triggers for engagement.
Aid-Recipient Sovereignty in Historical Context
Authors: Fraser Alastair
Published: November 2023

The previous chapter laid out a series of challenges to the rational actor model that has been widely used to analyse aid negotiations. It argued that the strategies recipients adopt in aid negotiations are heavily constrained by factors that go well beyond the economic dependence of the recipient on aid and debt relief. Geo-strategic questions as well as ideological and political developments in both donor and recipient states provide an influential context for negotiations. This chapter illustrates the argument by sketching a global history of donorrecipient relations. It also sets the stage for the country studies by clarifying, through contrast with the past, the constraints and opportunities facing recipients now.
Understanding Contemporary Aid Relationships
Authors: Fraser Alastair , Whitfield Lindsay
Published: November 2023

Chapter 2 showed how aid donors worked through the 1980s to develop a conditionality regime designed to influence the economic policies of aid receiving countries. Through the 1990s, donors broadened the range of policy issues covered by conditionality and sought to close loopholes in the implementation phase exploited by aid recipients, introducing tranches and benchmarks into the loan negotiation and tying more bilateral aid to World Bank and IMF approval. It came as something of a surprise then when donors started to argue in the late 1990s that they did not want their relations with recipients to be understood in terms of conditionality.
Mozambique: Contested Sovereignty? The Dilemmas of Aid Dependence
Authors: Renzio Paolo de , Hanlon Joseph
Published: November 2023

Mozambique appears as many aid-dependent countries, with the government apparently believing that its undoubted reliance on foreign assistance means that it is not in a position to insist on its own priorities. [A]id dependency does not have to entail subservience, and boldness by the government can go part way to redressing the asymmetry just mentioned. (Killick, Castel-Branco, and Gerster 2005: 50) Mozambique has been seen by donors as a success story of peace, stability, and growth since the end of its devastating war in 1992. Indeed, it has become increasingly important to the international community as one of the few successes in Africa. Donors have invested substantial resources in Mozambique and are understandably committed to sustaining it for as long as possible.
Zambia: Back to the Future?
Authors: Fraser Alastair
Published: November 2023

Since the mid-1980s, Zambia has been identifled as an emblematic case of a country dominated by its donors. Massive debt and aid dependency have weakened the government’s ability to negotiate with external actors, to set its own policies, and to act on the wishes of its citizens. Abrahamsen (2000) described a ‘disciplined democracy’, in which conditionality had been used by the Bretton Woods institutions to enforce their prescriptions, with the result that no matter who was elected economic liberalization would follow. Yet, in the past two years, the possibility has been mooted that Zambia is reclaiming the initiative in its aid relationships.
Notebooks from New guinea
Authors: Novotny Vojtech
Published: November 2023

This is a unique and delightfully engaging account by a leading tropical biologist of doing science at one of the last wild frontiers in the world. Vojtech Novotny is a highly respected Czech scientist. His widely cited work, of profound importance to ecology and evolution, is not done, like much modern science, in a lab full of gleaming apparatus. Instead, he chose as his 'laboratory' the remotest parts of Papua New Guinea, where he has established a research station. Supported by a team of Papuans whom he has trained up so that they can combine their wide and intimate knowledge of the plants and animals of their tropical forest with the knowledge of modern science, Novotny studies the ecological interactions of butterflies and plants. Clearly this is no ordinary scientist. Combined with his intrepid courage (PNG is one of the most dangerous places on Earth, with a very high homicide rate), he is a shrewd observer of human nature. In the richly varied notes and reflections of this very individual volume are not only descriptions of natural history and scientific research in the rainforest, but accounts of the local peoples and their culture, the challenges of working across very different cultures, and amusing portraits of the antics of Western tourists, separated by a few 'intermezzi' - episodes when the author fought bouts of malaria. Novotny is that rare combination of excellent scientist and superb storyteller. The faithful translations by David Short bring these notes and reflections on science, nature, and human beings to a wide audience, without any loss to their richness, warmth, humility, and wisdom. The volume is illustrated with beautiful drawings by a self-taught Papuan artist, Benson Avea Bego, who lives in a remote village.
Finance Ministers and Central Bankers in East Asian Financial Cooperation
Authors: Nesadurai Helen E S
Published: November 2023

At least since the late 1950s, there have been networks of finance officials in the Asia-Pacific region. Nonetheless, the region has not had strong regional financial cooperation until the last decade. The Asian financial crisis of 1997–98 catalysed a rapid deepening of regional monetary cooperation, undergirded by several key networks of officials. This chapter analyses the emergence and influence of these networks. In the late 1950s, organizations such as the SEANZA (the Southeast Asia, New Zealand, and Australia forum) and SEACEN (the Southeast Asian Central Banks forum) were set up to provide training to regional central bank officials and have continued to do so. In 1991, central bankers began to meet under the framework of EMEAP, the Executives’ Meeting of East Asian and Pacific Central Banks. Since 1994, finance ministers have been meeting in the framework of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, while finance ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) began meeting in March 1997 just before the Asian financial crisis broke out in July of that year.
The Centre for Latin American Monetary Studies and its Central Bankers’ Networks
Authors: Coates Kenneth G
Published: November 2023

This chapter discusses the origins and evolution of a group of networks of central bank officials nested within a formal inter-governmental organization, the Mexico City-based Centre for Latin American Monetary Studies (CEMLA). Created before the rise of the East Asian central bankers’ networks discussed by Helen Nesadurai in this book, the Latin American networks are supported by a formal institution with its own legal personality, statutes, governance bodies, and executive structures. While the official mandate of the CEMLA is capacity-building, research, information dissemination, and technical assistance, it also coordinates four networks of senior central bank officials who meet regularly to discuss matters of mutual interest and to respond to emergencies in the international and regional financial environments.
Conclusion: Networks of Influence?
Authors: Martinez-Diaz Leonardo , Woods Ngaire
Published: November 2023

Government networks have become a prominent feature of international relations and global economic governance, and they look poised to stay. In a world facing growing transnational problems that require greater international coordination and harmonization, yet one dominated by governments reluctant to cede power to supra-national organizations, networks will retain their appeal. At the same time, inter-governmental networking has also ceased to be the exclusive province of the richest and most powerful countries and is becoming a widespread practice among developing countries, including of both lowand middle-income countries. How will developing countries fare in an increasingly networked world order? This book has tried to address this broad question by asking two smaller ones: Are networks exacerbating the inequalities of power already present in the world economy by giving the most powerful states another vehicle to exert their influence, or are they helping relatively weak states exert influence and build capacity of their own? And under what conditions might developing countries benefit from building their own networks?
Theiler’s murine encephalomyelitis virus infection in mice: a persistent viral infection of the central nervous system which induces demyelination
Authors: Welsh C J R , Blakemore W F , Tonks P , Borrow P , Nash A A
Published: November 2023

Theiler’s murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) was originally isolated by Max Theiler in 1933 from the central nervous system (CNS) of a mouse which had developed flaccid paralysis of the hind limbs. He subsequently reproduced the lesions in weanling mice by intracerebral or intranasal inoculation (Theiler, 1934). The mice developed paralysis 1–4 weeks post-infection. Lesions were mainly located in the spinal cord and were characterized by necrosis of the ventral horn motor neurones similar to that seen in the human disease of poliomyelitis.
Fed-batch and continuous culture
Authors: Brown Anne
Published: November 2023

A variety of techniques has been developed for the submerged culture of microorganisms. Batch and fed-batch culture have been part of the art of fermentation since antiquity and are still used today for most industrial fermentations. Continuous culture techniques are relatively new and have not yet found much industrial application but have proved invaluable as a tool for laboratory studies. There are few descriptions in the literature of the methodology of submerged culture due, perhaps, to the diverse range of fermentations and the vast amount of equipment on the market. This chapter will describe some of the general aspects of setting up and running fed-batch and continuous culture, and will compare these with simple batch culture.
Cell Permeabilization
Authors: Tatham Peter E R , Gomperts Bastien D
Published: November 2023

For many years investigations of cell regulation, and in particular stimulus—response coupling, were limited to studies of intact, viable cells. Details of intracellular mechanisms remained obscure until it was discovered that permeabilized cells, in which the cytosol is directly accessible from the exterior, retain specialized functions in response to appropriate second messenger molecules. We have developed a range of techniques that allow us to dictate the composition of the cytosol so that we may then dissect and investigate the biochemical processes that occur during the activation of mast cells. Many of these methods are applicable to other cell types.
Peptide Hormone Action
Authors: Siddle K , Hutton J C
Published: November 2023

This, the second of two volumes, covers methods relating to the biosynthesis, processing, and secretion of polypeptides. It also covers techniques for investigating the major signalling systems which mediate hormone action, including cyclic nucleotides, inositol phosphates, diacylglycerol, calcium, and tyrosyl kinases.
Peptide Hormone Receptors
Authors: Toft Steen Gammel
Published: November 2023

Peptide hormones induce their cellular actions via interaction with specific cell surface receptors. The characterization of hormone receptors has primarily been based on their cellular functions: recognition of hormone, transmission of chemical signal, and activation of cellular effector systems such as transport carriers, metabolic enzymes, and secretory vesicles. In addition, receptors mediate also proteolytic degradation of their peptide ligand via endocytosis of the receptor—hormone complex. Peptide hormone receptors are integral membrane proteins consisting of an extracellular domain with ligand binding activity, a transmembrane domain, and a cytoplasmic domain involved in signal transduction. Recently, receptors for several peptide hormones, as well as polypeptide growth factors and neuropeptides have been purified and their amino-acid sequences resolved from the cDNA structures of their precursors. It should be emphasized that peptide hormone receptors show no principal differences in their structure and function from receptors for growth factors and neuropeptides, and they can be considered as one group of cellular proteins. Based on structural homologies between receptors, different classes have been recognized. In spite of the recent progress in resolving amino-acid sequences of receptors from the nucleotide sequence of their cDNAs, functional assays of receptor-binding, internalization and cellular actions remain fundamental in the identification of receptors.
Scanning electron microscopy and morphometry
Authors: Stanjsstreet Martin
Published: November 2023

This chapter is concerned with the application of scanning electron microscopy and morphometry to the study of postimplantation mammalian embryogenesis. The production of scanning electron micrographs, once regarded as a science in itself, is now a routine procedure, whereas morphometry has not yet been applied extensively to studies of postimplantation mammalian embryos.
Fur1ctions of extraembryonic membranes
Authors: Freeman Stuart J
Published: November 2023

Several extraembryonic membranes arc interposed between the postimplantation mammalian embryo and the maternal tissue, and these subserve a variety of functions which together provide a well-regulated environment for embryo growth and development. The functions indudc protection against mechanical and chemical injury and immunological rejection, transmission of nutrients, and passive immunity and control of the volume and composition of the fluid sunounding the embryo. Much of the evidence for these findings comes from studies using intact pregnant animals in which the scope for more detailed quantitative investigation is somewhat limited. However, several methods are now available for the in vitro culture of extra. embryonic membranes and these have brought about significant advances in our understanding of the functions of these membranes. This chapter deals almost exclusively with one of these membranes, the visceral yolk sac. The yolk sac has been the subject of a great deal of investigation in recent years and numerous techniques are now well established for its study, particularly in the rodent. In addition to describing these methods, this chapter will review some of the key observations that have been made using culture and in vivo techniques and discuss their relevance in the context of developmental biology and toxicology.
Clonal analysis of cell lineages
Authors: Beddington Rosa S P , Lawson Kirstie A
Published: November 2023

This chapter is concerned with methods for studying the development of single cells and their progeny during gastrulation and early organogenesis in the intact mouse embryo. There are various reasons for wishing to conduct such clonal analyses. Most importantly, the results from a series of clones marked in different regions of the embryo and at different developmental stages will provide information regarding cell lineage and the stage at which apparent restrictions in developmental potential occur. In addition, the effects of a specific genetic perturbation may be best studied by following the development of a clone of genetically altered cells in an otherwise normal embryo.
Studying development in embryo fragments
Authors: Tam Patrick p. L
Published: November 2023

This chapter describes procedures for the isolation, culture, and ectopic transfer of embryo fragments and tissues in the study of postimplantation mammalian development. Although complementary to developmental studies on whole embryos cultured in vitro (Chapter 15), analysis of embryo fragments is the method of choice when an experiment has the following requirements.
Extraction of lipids and derivative formation
Authors: Hamilton Shiela , hamilton Richard J , sewell peter A
Published: November 2023

The extraction of most lipids involves the use of solvents. The handling and use of solvents are the first, most important stage in the consideration of means of extraction. All practising chemists and biochemists recognize the necessity to handle any chemical carefully. Recently, there has been the need to assess the hazards of each operation in the science laboratory and to assess the use of every chemical. In the experimental sections which follow, it is assumed that the proper handling of chemicals will be given due care and attention. chemical reactions in fume cupboards or other similar vented spaces. Some of the small-scale reactions covered in the subsequent sections of the book are carried out in screw-capped vials or centrifuge tubes. Provided that the operations of mixing the reagents and the placing them in the tubes are performed in the fume cupboard, the subsequent warming or leaving to stand can take place on the laboratory bench. Some of the experimental procedures are quoted exactly as given in the original literature. Thus, there are mentions of chloroform and benzene, two solvents which have been all-but-banned from many laboratories. Alternatives to these two which are currently being used are dichloromethane for chloroform and toluene for benzene.
Nucleic acid isolation and hybridization techniques
Authors: Gurr Sarah Jane , Mcpherson Michael J
Published: November 2023

Recent advances in recombinant DNA technology provide a means to analyse host-pathogen interactions at the molecular level. In this chapter we focus on various techniques currently used in our laboratory pertinent to molecular plant pathology studies. Several of our protocols have been optimized for plant and fungal systems by adapting the methods of other workers. All procedures which are well documented or commonplace elsewhere are referenced in the text.
The dynamics of microbial processes: a personal view
Authors: Pirt S John
Published: November 2023

I was introduced to microbial growth dynamics when I went to Rome in 1960 to be initiated into chemical microbiology by Ernst Chain. My objective was to study the biosynthesis of penicillin. However, gradually I became diverted and fascinated by the problems of process control in penicillin production by the filamentous mould Penicillium chrysogenum.
Recent extensions of the surface stress theory
Authors: Koch Arthur L
Published: November 2023

Bacteria grow in a quite different manner than do higher cells. This is because the latter use proteins, like actin, to control the shapes and movements of the cell and its nucleus (Koch, 1985a,b; Koch, 1988a,b). Most bacteria cannot do otherwise than rely on their positive turgor pressure and their control of the location of secretion and crosslinking of the peptidoglycan (PG) and their control of the hydrolysis of stress-bearing PG for morphogenetic movements (Koch et al., 1981a; Koch, 1983). Evidently from the success of bacteria, these processes are deployed effectively. It can be concluded a priori that the successful prokaryote uses the turgor pressure constructively, but resists its destructive effect. They have had to devise strategies so that the quite considerable stress in the plane of the wall is distributed about equally among many of the bonds in any small region. Obviously, when the stress is shared equally by many chains the structure will be optimally strong and when only a few of many support the stress, bonds will break and cracks will propagate.
Energetics of growth at low growth rates and its relevance for the maintenance concept
Authors: Stouthamer A H , Bulthuis B A , Van Verseveld H W
Published: November 2023

It is well known from chemostat experiments that yield parameters (Y) are dependent on the specific growth rate(µ,). In 1965 Pirt reformulated the linear equation for substrate conversion, in which the maximum growth yield (Yxsm) and the maintenance demand (ms) are constant parameters (see equations la and b). They can be calculated from the measured substrate utilization rate (rs), the specific rate of substrate utilization (qs), the specific rate of biomass formation (rx) and the biomass concentration (xt):
Principles of Protein Turnover: Possible Manipulations
Authors: Jentsch Stefan , Bachmair Andreas
Published: November 2023

1. Introduction Protein degradation is an essential biological activity of living cells. In several cases protein turnover has a regulatory function, e.g. in reducing the levels of key enzymes of metabolic pathways and in the elimination of cellular regulators. In particular, some transcription factors, repressors, certain products of viral and cellular oncogenes, and crucial cell-cycle regulators, such as the cyclins, are short-lived in vivo. Turnover rates for individual proteins can vary considerably depending on the cell type, nutritional and other influences, and the position within the cell cycle. Another function of intracellular protein degradation is the elimination of misfolded, misassembled, mislocalized, damaged, or otherwise abnormal proteins.
Chemical Approaches to Protein Engineering
Authors: Offord Robin E
Published: November 2023

1. Introduction This chapter exemplifies the chemical approach to protein engineering. We shall see that such an approach permits the preparation of, among other things, human insulin from porcine insulin, a super-active version of the same hormone, an antibody adapted for tumour location by a regio-specific substitution, proteins with high-abundance isotopic substitution of single atoms (radioactive and stable), specific C-terminal amidation of peptides produced by recombinant means, and various types of protein chimeras. Some of these applications are admittedly quite specialized, but it is clear that the methodology in general has much to offer, not only to research workers concerned with a particular system, but also to those who produce large quantities of recombinant polypeptides for some practical purpose, while encountering some limitation in the capacity of the normal biological expression system to introduce some particular structural feature.
Immunochemical methods for assaying carcinogen-DNA adducts
Authors: Poirier Miriam C
Published: November 2023

For approximately fifteen years a number of laboratories have been engaged in the quantitation and localization of DNA adducts using antisera elicited against DNA adducts and carcinogen modified DNAsu.
Mutational spectrometry: opportunity and limitations in human risk assessment
Authors: Thilly William G
Published: November 2023

Benzer and Freese’s work in the 1950’s established the fact that mutagens induce unique distributions of point mutations with regard to kind and position in the DNA of bacteriophage T4. Subsequent studies confirmed their findings in bacteria and mammalian cell DNA sequences.
Quantitation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-serum protein and lymphocyte DNA adducts in Danish foundry workers usmg 1mmunoassays
Authors: Autrup H , Seremet T , Sherson D
Published: November 2023

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are ubiquitous in the environment, and have long been of concern as a potential human health hazard. Incomplete combustion of organic material, including fossil fuels, is the major source of PAH in the environment. High levels of PAH have been reported in many occupational settings.1,2 The PAH in cigarette smoke has been considered one of the etiological agents in lung cancer.
The N-alkyl Edman method for haemoglobin adduct measurement: updating and applications to humans
Authors: Töjrnqvist M
Published: November 2023

The N-alkyl Edman method, a modification of the Edman degradation method, was developed for specific determination of adducts to the Nterminal valine in haemoglobin (Hb). Later improvements of the method with respect of sensitivity, reproducibility, etc., have been summarized.4-5 The derivatives of the alkylvalines, the pentafluorophenylthiohydantoins (PFPTHs) are determined by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with chemical ionization in the negative ion mode, monitoring characteristic fragments.
Immunological methods for studying and quantifying lipoproteins and apolipoproteins
Authors: Milne Ross W , Weech Philip K , Marcel Yves L
Published: November 2023

Antibodies and immunochemical techniques have been used to quantify lipoproteins and apolipoproteins and to study their structure, function, metabolism, heterogeneity, and genetic polymorphism. The antibodies used are, in general, directed against the apolipoproteins or against molecules that are implicated in lipoprotein metabolism such as the triglyceride lipases, cell surface lipoprotein receptors, lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase, and lipid transfer proteins. Due to their complex structure, lipoproteins have a number of distinct antigenic properties that impose certain modifications to the usual criteria that are applied in the production, characterization, and use of antibodies. In this chapter we will emphasize the unique antigenic features of lipoproteins and how these peculiarities influence the methodologies that are used to detect and measure lipoproteins. The techniques that are described are those that we currently use in our laboratories. For other techniques and a description of the production and use of antibodies in general, the reader is referred to reference (1).
Analysis of genomic sequence variation using amplification and mismatch detection (AMD) and direct sequencing
Authors: Roberts Roland G , Montandon A Jane , Green Peter M , Bentley David R
Published: November 2023

Genomic DNA sequence variation between individuals is the basis of both heritable phenotypic traits (including lethal diseases) and the neutral polymorphisms used for linkage analysis (1). The analysis of new disease mutations has until recently been performed by cloning and sequencing (e.g. see ref. 2), while the identification of novel restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) for a given DNA probe has usually been effected by Southern analysis of DNAs digested with a selection of restriction enzymes (1, 3). The advent of the polymerase chain reaction (4) (PCR), direct sequencing (5), and mismatch detection [using chemical modification (6, 7), RNase A cleavage (8), or denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (9)] has improved both the speed and efficiency of detecting all types of sequence variation. This chapter describes the use of PCR in combination with chemical mismatch detection and sequencing to detect sequence variation, and discusses their application to the study of both mutations and polymorphisms.
PCR amplification of microdissected DNA
Authors: Johnson Daniel H
Published: November 2023

A common experimental strategy for understanding the molecular basis of developmental and physiological processes begins with the isolation of the genes encoding the cellular components which mediate these events. In many cases our knowledge of these genes is limited to the relative physical map location, on a chromosome, of mutant alleles which appear to perturb normal processes or contribute to disease states. With the advent of in vitro amplification synthesis of DNA (PCR) it has been possible to develop efficient protocols for the recovery of DNA restriction fragments from microdissected chromosomal regions harbouring specific genes of interest (1, 2).
PCR-directed cDNA libraries
Authors: Jane Sarah Jane , McPherson Michael J
Published: November 2023

Construction of a PCR-directed cDNA library from total RNA may provide the only methodological approach to analyse cell-specific gene expression where the amount of biological tissue is severely restricted. This approach is particularly applicable where a specific stimulus results in the particularly or differentiation of a small number of cells within a population. We are interested in studying changes in gene expression in plant roots where some 0.1 to 0.01% of the tissue is modified by an invasive pathogen.
Receptor-mediated endocytosis and lysosomal transport
Authors: Nolan Catherine M
Published: November 2023

Endocytosis is the process by which cells internalize their plasma membrane together with molecules adsorbed to the plasma membrane, fluid from the extracellular medium, and solutes dissolved in this fluid. Most cell types perform this process to greater or lesser extents. In addition to being a means of maintaining the correct proportion and composition of the plasma membrane, endocytosis can serve many other functions, including nutrition, regulation of the extracellular environment, antigen processing and presentation, and hormone processing. It may play an important role in processes such as growth and differentiation, wound healing, embryonic development, and pathological processes such as inflammation. The endocytic process can also be subverted by bacteria and viruses for penetration of them or their toxins into the host cell.
Network antibodies as tools for studying intracellular protein traffic
Authors: Vaux David
Published: November 2023

Many questions in cell biology can be reduced to a study of the interactions between two protein components, whether these are enzyme and substrate, surface receptor and extracellular ligand, or targeting signal and intracellular receptor. Many biochemical techniques can be applied to these problems, but there are occasions when these techniques are insufficient. Under these circumstances, it is justified to turn to an immunological approach to modelling the interaction between two proteins and to make use of the ability of the immune system to generate connected networks of interrelated immunoglobulins, network antibodies. In this chapter I will briefly outline the theoretical basis for this approach, consider the advantages and limitations of the method, and then provide detailed practical protocols.
Bioreactors for mammalian cells
Authors: Hanoa-Corrigan Anita
Published: November 2023

Contamination problems can occur at all stages of operation. At the early stages of expansion of a culture for inoculum preparation, operator errors and excessive dependence on anti-microbial agents contribute to increased risks of contamination. During larger-scale cultivation, problems with maintaining sterility can occur in a number of areas in the bioreactor including: exit and entry ports; air inlet and exhaust filters; valves and seals; bioreactor internals such as agitator shafts and probes; connectors and connecting lines to other vessels, pumps, analysers; etc. Successful sterile cultivation at any scale requires a combination of highly skilled cell culturists and well-designed (but not over-designed!) bioreactors. Care should be taken not to make a choice based solely on the bioreactor’s capability of achieving high cell or product yields. Some of the more sophisticated mammalian cell culture bioreactors are often prone to high contamination risks.
Conditions for density gradient separations
Authors: Dobrota Milosla V , Hinton Richard
Published: November 2023

While the theory of centrifugation may at first appear daunting, the actual techniques involved in density gradient centrifugation are in practice quite simple and can be mastered easily by a beginner. This chapter is written primarily for those new to the techniques of density gradient centrifugation and for researchers who find that there is no published method which gives the separation which they require and must develop their own. It is, however, rarely necessary to start completely from scratch as some useful pointers to approaches can be obtained from the numerous successful applications which have been developed already. As the authors know by experience, given the different properties of rotors, gradient media, and gradient design, one can spend one’s life trying to optimize separations rather than facing the real problem, the study of the properties of the separated particles. The aim of this chapter is to help people with the practical problems of designing gradient separation methods so that they can get on with real science. Hence the approach described is essentially empirical. However, theoretical considerations inevitably impose limitations on what can be achieved and it is those limits which will be addressed first.
Isolation and characterization of membranes and cell organelles
Authors: Evans W Howard
Published: November 2023

Centrifugal techniques have contributed crucially to the subcellular dissection of cells, providing important knowledge on their structure and function (1). Centrifugation is the basis of traditional methods for separating cell membranes and organelles. A number of other techniques which exploit various physical parameters (e.g. electrical charge) or biological properties (e.g. ligand affinity) have been investigated as ways of examining the complexity of organelles and membranes. However, even when using these other methods it is often the case that better results will be obtained if the material is first purified by centrifugal methods.
Centrifugation separations of mammalian cells
Authors: Brouwer Adriaan , Hendriks Henk F J , Ford Terry , Knook Dick L
Published: November 2023

Detailed analysis of the biochemistry, function, and behaviour of a specific cell population can be ascertained only on relatively homogeneous cell populations. However, cell preparations obtained from blood or tissues represent a mixture of different cell types. Many techniques are currently available for fractionating heterogeneous cell populations and for isolating fractions which are enriched for a specific type of cell, even if it constitutes only a minor component of the original population.
Matrix components produced by endothelial cells: type VIII collagen, SPARC, and thrombospondin
Authors: Sage E Helene , Bornstein Paul
Published: November 2023

The development, growth, and response to injury of the blood vasculature depend in part on interactions of vessel wall cells with their extracellular matrix (ECM). In addition to providing cues for other cells, the endothelial ECM directs many of the functions and responses of the endothelium itself. Since changes in endothelial cell behaviour (for example attachment, proliferation, biosynthetic activity, and/or migration) have been causally linked to one or more specific ECM macromolecules, identification of matrix-associated proteins secreted by endothelial cells has become critical to our understanding of vascular cell biology. Few proteins, with the exception of von Willebrand protein, have been shown to be specific to endothelial cells. Although several of them were either initially described or studied extensively as products of endothelial cells in vitro, extracellular proteins such as fibronectin, laminin, plasminogen activators and their inhibitors, various collagen types, thrombo-spondin (TSP), and SPARC, have been ascribed functions within a broad range of cells and tissues. Because of their potential role in the regulation of endothelial cell growth, three of these proteins have been chosen as subjects for this chapter: type VIII collagen, TSP, and SPARC.