Buck - Böcker

The Maximum Entropy Method and the related Bayesian Probability Theory have recently become somewhat better known to research workers; but the power of these methods to resolve the true structures underlying many kinds of data is still not as widely recognized as it ought to be. This book is the first readily available account of such methods. It grew out of a series of interdisciplinary seminars, organized by the editors, and given by leading proponents of maximum entropy techniques in the UK. The written versions are intended to introduce the reader to the principles of probability theory, viewed as the logic of inference, and to explain the role that entropy plays in the assignment of probabilities. The chapters concerned with applications show how the resulting algorithms can be implemented and how they work out in practice. In addition, new light is shed upon the relation between statistical and dynamical theories in physics, and on the confusion which surrounds the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

Exotic pests and diseases have long been an important concern in agriculture. The problem is becoming increasingly urgent and complex because agricultural trade has been liberalized worldwide, and as a consequence, the probability of spreading a disease or a pest through national borders has become a real threat, not only for the agricultural industry but also for human health and the natural environment. This edited volume’s list of international contributors reads like a Who’s Who of international agricultural research! This book includes ten interdisciplinary case studies that focus on specific pests or diseases that represent a range of threats to U.S. agriculture, wild lands and the urban landscape, and possible government responses to these threats. Each chapter combines, in an original fashion, biological foundations and implications for the public, giving powerful insights to a series of public policy issues of national and international relevance. In many instances, economic analysis of alternative policies is included. Exotic pest control is discussed in a public good general framework, and under the international regulatory laws comprised by the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Protocol of the WTO.

This authoritative reference covers recent advances in the field, stressing an interdisciplinaryapproach to the development and use of biosensor technology in physics,engineering, analytical chemistry, and biochemistry (including immunochemistry).about the editors ...RICHARD P. BucK is a Professor in the Chemistry Department, University of Northcarolina, Chapel Hill. Professor Buck serves on the editorial boards of severaljournals including Analytical Instrumentation: Applications and Designs for Chemica~Biomedica~ and Environmental Science (Marcel Dekker, Inc.). He is a member of theAmerican Chemical Society, Electrochemical Society, and International Society ofElectrochemistry. He received the B.S. (1950) and M.S. (1951) degrees from thecalifornia Institute of Tochnology, Pasadena, and Ph.D. degree (1954) from theMassachusetts Institute of Tochnology, cambridge.W1WAM E. HATFIELD is Mary Ann Smith Professor and Vice Chairman of Chemistry,and Acting Chairman of the Curriculum in Applied Sciences, University of Northcarolina, Chapel Hill. He is the author or coauthor of over 300 publications, andcoeditor, with John H. Miller, Jr., of High-Temperature Superconducting Materials:Preparations, Properties, and Processing (Marcel Dekker, Inc.). He is a member of theAmerican Chemical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science,and Materials Research Society. He received the B.S. (1958) and M.S. (1959) degreesfrom Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia, Ph.D. degree (1962) from theUniversity of Arizona, Tucson, and completed postdoctoral research at the Universityof Illinois, Urbana.M1KTHA UMANA is an independent consultant to Glaxo Inc. and Research 'IriangleInstitute, Research 'Iriangle Park, and Duke University Engineering Research Center,Durham, North carolina. The coauthor of numerous scientific journal articles, herresearch interests include surface chemistry, electrochemistry, and biosensors. Shereceived the B.Sc. degree (1969) from the University of Chile, Santiago, and Ph.D.degree (1972) from the University of London, England.EDMOND E BowoEN is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry andin the Biotechnology Program, North carolina State University, Raleigh. Thecoauthor of numerous journal articles, his research interests include bioelectrochemistry,biological electron transfer, biosensors, and surface chemistry. He receivedthe B.S. degree (1970) from Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, and Ph.D.degree (1982) from Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond.