Cellular Materials In Nature And Medicine

Describes the structure and mechanics of a wide range of cellular materials in botany, zoology, and medicine.

Over the past two decades, there has been a shift in research and industrial practice, and products traditionally manufactured primarily from wood are increasingly combined with other nonwood materials of either natural or synthetic origin. Wood and other plant-based fiber is routinely combined with adhesives, polymers, and other "ingredients" to produce composite materials. Introduction to Wood and Natural Fiber Composites draws together widely scattered information concerning fundamental concepts and technical applications, essential to the manufacture of wood and natural fiber composites. The topics addressed include basic information on the chemical and physical composition of wood and other lignocellulosic materials, the behavior of these materials under thermocompression processes, fundamentals of adhesion, specific adhesive systems used to manufacture composite materials, and an overview of the industrial technologies used to manufacture major product categories. The book concludes with a chapter on the burgeoning field of natural fiber-plastic composites. Introduction to Wood and Natural Fiber Composites is a valuable resource for upper-level undergraduate students and graduate students studying forest products and wood science, as well as for practicing professionals working in operational areas of wood- and natural-fiber processing. For more information on the Wiley Series in Renewable Resources, visit www.wiley.com/go/rrs Topics covered include: Overview of lignocellulosic material, their chemical and physical composition Consolidation behavior of wood and fiber in response to heat and pressure Fundamentals of adhesion Adhesives used to bond wood and lignocellulosic composites Manufacturing technology of major product types Fiber/plastic composites

All living things on Earth are composed of cells. A cell is the simplest unit of a self-contained living organism, and the vast majority of life on Earth consists of single-celled microbes, mostly bacteria. These consist of a simple 'prokaryotic' cell, with no nucleus. The bodies of more complex plants and animals consist of billions of 'eukaryotic' cells, of varying kinds, adapted to fill different roles - red blood cells, muscle cells, branched neurons. Each cell is an astonishingly complex chemical factory, the activities of which we have only begun to unravel in the past fifty years or so through modern techniques of microscopy, biochemistry, and molecular biology. In this Very Short Introduction, Terence Allen and Graham Cowling describe the nature of cells - their basic structure, their varying forms, their division, their differentiation from initially highly flexible stem cells, their signalling, and programmed death. Cells are the basic constituent of life, and understanding cells and how they work is central to all biology and medicine. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Addresses a Growing Need for the Development of Cellular and Porous Materials in Industry Building blocks used by nature are motivating researchers to create bio-inspired cellular structures that can be used in the development of products for the plastic, food, and biomedical industry. Representing a unified effort by international experts, Biofoams: Science and Applications of Bio-Based Cellular and Porous Materials highlights the latest research and development of biofoams and porous systems, and specifically examines the aspects related to the formation of gas bubbles in drink and food. The book offers a detailed analysis of bio-polymers and foaming technologies, biodegradable and sustainable foams, biomedical foams, food foams, and bio-inspired foams. Explores the Generation of New Materials with Wide-Ranging Technological Applicability This book introduces the science, technologies, and applications related to the use of biopolymers and biomaterials in the development of porous structures. It presents topics that include bio-based polymers for the development of biodegradable and sustainable polymeric foams, foams in food, foams in biomedical applications, biohybrids, and bio-inspired cellular and porous systems. It also includes recent studies on the design of polymer-based composites and hybrid scaffolds, weighs in on the challenges related to the production of porous polymers, and presents relevant examples of cellular architecture present in nature. In addition, this book: Focuses on materials compatible with natural tissues Discusses the engineering of bio-inspired scaffolds with the ability to mimic living tissue Reveals how to use renewable resources to develop more sustainable lightweight materials Illustrates the state of the art of porous scaffold and process techniques A book dedicated to material science, Biofoams: Science and Applications of Bio-Based Cellular and Porous Materials focuses on food technology, polymers and composites, biomedical, and chemical engineering, and examines how the principles used in the creation of cellular structures can be applied in modern industry.

Innovative Developments in Virtual and Physical Prototyping presents essential research in the area of Virtual and Rapid Prototyping. The volume contains reviewed papers presented at the 5th International Conference on Advanced Research in Virtual and Rapid Prototyping, hosted by the Centre for Rapid and Sustainable Product Development of the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Portugal, from September 28 to October 1, 2011. A wide range of topics is covered, such as CAD and 3D Data Acquisition Technologies, Additive and Nano Manufacturing Technologies, Rapid Tooling & Manufacturing, Biomanufacturing, Materials for Advanced Manufacturing Processes, Virtual Environments and Simulation, Applications of Virtual and Physical Prototyping Technologies. Innovative Developments in Virtual and Physical Prototyping is intended for engineers, designers and manufacturers who are active in the areas of mechanical, industrial and biomedical engineering.

Takes a materials science approach, correlating structure-property relationships with function across a broad range of biological materials.

Biomaterials have existed for millennia as mechanical replacement structures following disease or injury. Biomaterial design has changed markedly from structural support with an “inert immune profile as the primary objective to designs that elicit an integrative local tissue response and a pro-repair immune cell phenotype. Immunomodulatory Biomaterials: Regulating the Immune Response with Biomaterials to Affect Clinical Outcome offers a single, comprehensive reference on biomaterials for modulation of the host response, for materials scientists, tissue engineers and those working in regenerative medicine. This book details methods, materials and strategies designed to regulate the host immune response following surgical implantation and thus facilitate specific local cell infiltration and tissue deposition. There has been a dramatic transformation in our understanding of the role of the immune system, both innate and adaptive; these changes include recognition of the plasticity of immune cells, especially macrophages, cross-talk between the immune system and stem cells, and the necessity for in situ transition between inflammatory and regulatory immune cell phenotypes. The exploitation of these findings and the design and manufacture of new biomaterials is occurring at an astounding pace. There is currently no book directed at the interdisciplinary principles guiding the design, manufacture, testing, and clinical translation of biomaterials that proactively regulate the host tissue immune response. The challenge for academia, industry, and regulatory agencies to encourage innovation while assuring safety and maximizing efficacy has never been greater. Given the highly interdisciplinary requirements for the design, manufacture and use of immunomodulatory biomaterials, this book will prove a useful single resource across disciplines. Holistically covers the design, manufacture, testing, and clinical translation of biomaterials that proactively regulate the host tissue immune response Provides a single reference for understanding and utilizing the host response in biomaterials design An international collaboration of leading researchers in the field offering a novel insight into this fast-growing area