Biophysical Thermodynamics Of Intracellular Processes

This book is aimed at a large audience: from students, who have a high school background in physics, mathematics, chemistry, and biology, to scien tists working in the fields of biophysics and biochemistry. The main aim of this book is to attempt to describe, in terms of physical chemistry and chemi cal physics, the peculiar features of "machines" having molecular dimen sions which play a crucial role in the most important biological processes, viz., energy transduction and enzyme catalysis. One of the purposes of this book is to analyze the physical background of the high efficiency of molecu lar machines functioning in the living cell. This book begins with a brief review of the subject (Chapter 1). Macro molecular energy-transducing complexes operate with thermal, chemical, and mechanical energy, therefore the appropriate framework to discuss the functioning of biopolymers comes from thermodynamics and chemical kinet ics. That is why we start our analysis with a consideration of the conventional approaches of thermodynamics and classical chemical kinetics, and their application to the description of bioenergetic processes (Chapter 2). Critical analysis of these approaches has led us to the conclusion that the conven tional approaches of physical chemistry to the description of the functioning of individual macromolecular devices, in many cases, appear to be incom plete. This prompted us to consider the general principles ofliving machinery from another point of view."

No detailed description available for "Thermodynamics and Regulation of Biological Processes".

No detailed description available for "Thermodynamics of Biological Processes".

No detailed description available for "Thermodynamics and Pattern Formation in Biology".

The heat transfer and analysis on heat pipe and exchanger, and thermal stress are significant issues in a design of wide range of industrial processes and devices. This book includes 17 advanced and revised contributions, and it covers mainly (1) thermodynamic effects and thermal stress, (2) heat pipe and exchanger, (3) gas flow and oxidation, and (4) heat analysis. The first section introduces spontaneous heat flow, thermodynamic effect of groundwater, stress on vertical cylindrical vessel, transient temperature fields, principles of thermoelectric conversion, and transformer performances. The second section covers thermosyphon heat pipe, shell and tube heat exchangers, heat transfer in bundles of transversely-finned tubes, fired heaters for petroleum refineries, and heat exchangers of irreversible power cycles. The third section includes gas flow over a cylinder, gas-solid flow applications, oxidation exposure, effects of buoyancy, and application of energy and thermal performance index on energy efficiency. The forth section presents integral transform and green function methods, micro capillary pumped loop, influence of polyisobutylene additions, synthesis of novel materials, and materials for electromagnetic launchers. The advanced ideas and information described here will be fruitful for the readers to find a sustainable solution in an industrialized society.

Foundations of Bioenergetics provides an introduction to the physical foundations of bioenergetics and the methods of applying these constructs to biological problems. It combines parts of thermal physics, biochemistry, ecology, and cellular and organismic biology into a single coherent work. Much of the material in this volume comes from ""Entropy for Biologists,"" an introductory thermodynamics book aimed particularly at life scientists. Some of the topics originally appeared in the monograph ""Energy Flow in Biology."" The current volume expands on that material with respect to biological applications and attempts to bridge the gap between physics and biology. The book explains basic concepts such as energy, temperature, the second law of thermodynamics, entropy, information theory, and statistical mechanics. It discusses the relations between thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, free-energy functions, radiant energy, the free energy of cells and tissue, chemical kinetics, and cyclic flows. It examines the relationships between energy flows and biological processes; applications of the concepts of Gibbs free energy, chemical potential, and activity; and measurements of temperature, energy, and thermochemical quantities. The book also includes chapters that deal with irreversible dynamics, irreversible theory, and osmotic flow.

Biophysics is the science of physical principles underlying the "phenomenon of life" on all levels of organization. This book begins by explaining molecular and ionic interactions, movements, excitation and energy transfer, and the self-organization of supramolecular structures. Then the biological organism is introduced as a non-equilibrium system. Finally, system analyses are discussed as well as environmental biophysics, ecological interactions, growth, differentiation, and evolution. A growing number of applications in biotechnology are based on these biophysical concepts.