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However well the anatomy of the gastro-intestinal tracts of a wide range of mammals is described and quantified, there can be no real explanation of observed patterns without consideration of the mechanical and chemical properties of the food consumed, and of the digestive stages involved in its processing. This book aims to integrate findings from the many different types of investigations of mammalian digestive systems into a coherent whole. Using the themes of food, form and function, researchers discuss models of digestive processes, linking this with evolutionary aspects of food utilisation. Macroscopic and ultrastructural studies of the gastro-intestinal tract are also presented, as are physiological, ecological and biochemical aspects of the digestion of different food types. The book ends with an integrative chapter, bringing together the themes running through the earlier sections.

However well the anatomy of the gastro-intestinal tracts of a wide range of mammals is described and quantified, there can be no real explanation of observed patterns without consideration of the mechanical and chemical properties of the food consumed, and of the digestive stages involved in its processing. This book aims to integrate findings from the many different types of investigations of mammalian digestive systems into a coherent whole. Using the themes of food, form and function, researchers discuss models of digestive processes, linking this with evolutionary aspects of food utilisation. Macroscopic and ultrastructural studies of the gastro-intestinal tract are also presented, as are physiological, ecological and biochemical aspects of the digestion of different food types. The book ends with an integrative chapter, bringing together the themes running through the earlier sections.

Ring systems represent a very important branch of organic chemistry. Benzene is perhaps the pre-eminent example and provides the benchmark for the so-called aromatic character of cyclic systems. Cycloalkanes are another prominent class of organic compounds and these saturated ring systems form a homologous series known as alicyclics. Materials that are constructed from organic polymers such as polythene, polystyrene, polyisoprene (natural rubber) and polyvinyl chloride are common features of our daily lives. Most of these and related organic polymers are generated from acyclic precursors by free radical, anionic, cationic or organometallic polymerisation processes or by condensation reactions. The focus of this book is monocyclic inorganic ring systems of the p-block elements and the polymers that are, in many cases derived from them. Bicyclic or polycyclic arrangements are considered when they are closely related to those of monocyclic systems. Inorganic heterocycles that are more accurately described as coordination complexes of chelating inorganic ligands are included only when they are directly related to an inorganic homocycle or heterocycle by the replacement of one p-block element by a more metallic p-block element. After a short introductory chapter, the first half of the book is comprised of seven chapters that deal with the fundamentals of the subject intended for undergraduates or researchers who are unfamiliar with the topic, covering the following areas: - synthetic methods - characterisation techniques - delocalisation in inorganic rings - paramagnetic inorganic rings - inorganic macrocycles - ligand chemistry - inorganic polymers (general concepts including, synthesis, structure and bonding, characterisation methods, properties and applications) The final four chapters discuss in detail the chemistry of inorganic homo- and hetero-cycles involving the elements of groups 13-16 (the p-block elements). The focus is on relating the early seminal contributions to the field with exciting new developments. From the fundamental standpoint, novel structures and new bonding concepts are highlighted, in addition to synthetic approaches. This is the first book that addresses both the fundamental and applied aspects of inorganic ring systems through an emphasis of their use as precursors to inorganic polymers and other useful materials (e.g. semiconductors and ceramics). The book is intended primarily for senior undergraduates and graduate students in inorganic chemistry, as well research workers in the field of inorganic ring systems and polymers. At the undergraduate level it serves as a supplementary text to the more general inorganic chemistry text books and at the graduate level it would be the text of choice for a course in the area of inorganic rings and polymers.

The AK-47, or 'Kalashnikov', is the most abundant and efficient firearm on earth. It is so light it can be used by children. It has transformed the way we fight wars, and its story is the chilling story of modern warfare.C. J. Chivers's extraordinary new book tells an alternative history of the world as seen through these terrible weapons. He traces them back to their origins in the early experiments of Gatling and Maxim, and examines the first appearance of the machine-gun. The quest for ever greater firepower and mobility culminated in the AK-47 at the beginning of the Cold War, a weapon so remarkable that, over sixty years after its invention and having broken free of all state control, it has become central to civil wars all over the world.