Unfoldings


Book Description

In this book the authors introduce unfoldings, an approach to model checking which alleviates the state explosion problem by means of concurrency theory. They offer an introduction to the basics of the method and detail an unfolding-based algorithm for model checking concurrent systems against properties specified as formulas of linear temporal logic (LTL). The book will be of value to researchers and graduate students engaged in automatic verification and concurrency theory.




Glass Transition and Phase Transitions in Food and Biological Materials


Book Description

Glass and State Transitions in Food and Biological Materials describes how glass transition has been applied to food micro-structure, food processing, product development, storage studies, packaging development and other areas. This book has been structured so that readers can initially grasp the basic principles and instrumentation, before moving through the various applications. In summary, the book will provide the “missing link” between food science and material science/polymer engineering. This will allow food scientists to better understand the concept and applications of thermal properties.







Theory of Phase Transitions in Polypeptides and Proteins


Book Description

There are nearly 100 000 different protein sequences encoded in the human genome, each with its own specific fold. Understanding how a newly formed polypeptide sequence finds its way to the correct fold is one of the greatest challenges in the modern structural biology. The aim of this thesis is to provide novel insights into protein folding by considering the problem from the point of view of statistical mechanics. The thesis starts by investigating the fundamental degrees of freedom in polypeptides that are responsible for the conformational transitions. This knowledge is then applied in the statistical mechanics description of helix↔coil transitions in polypeptides. Finally, the theoretical formalism is generalized to the case of proteins in an aqueous environment. The major novelty of this work lies in combining (a) a formalism based on fundamental physical properties of the system and (b) the resulting possibility of describing the folding↔unfolding transitions quantitatively. The clear physical nature of the formalism opens the way to further applications in a large variety of systems and processes.




Molecular Biology of Protein Folding, Part A


Book Description

The importance of protein folding has been recognized for many years. It is the underlying etiology in a large number of human diseases and it appears to be a novel method for cellular regulation of the expression of newly translated proteins. These volumes (Parts A & B) address this important topic. As a volume in Progress in Nucleic Acid Research and Molecular Biology, this book provides the latest information on the expanding research being conducted on protein folding. Follow the new editor-in-chief, P. Michael Conn, as he introduces this first thematic volume in the series – an in-depth aid to researchers who are looking for the best techniques and tools for understanding the complexities of protein folding Understand the advantages of protein folding over other therapeutic approaches and see how protein folding plays a critical role in the development of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and diabetes Decipher the rules of protein folding through compelling and timely reviews combined with chapters written by international authors in engineering, biochemistry, physics and computer science







Thermodynamics


Book Description

Thermodynamics is one of the most exciting branches of physical chemistry which has greatly contributed to the modern science. Being concentrated on a wide range of applications of thermodynamics, this book gathers a series of contributions by the finest scientists in the world, gathered in an orderly manner. It can be used in post-graduate courses for students and as a reference book, as it is written in a language pleasing to the reader. It can also serve as a reference material for researchers to whom the thermodynamics is one of the area of interest.




Protein Stability and Folding


Book Description

In 1998, we published the data compilation PROTEIN STABILITY AND FOLDING which covered the data from the early beginnings of thermodynamic studies of protein folding until 1996. Since then, the amount of available thermodynamic data has increased nearly twice. The data constitute very important additions to the information on the protein folding problem, the construction of mutant protein, and the practical application of proteins in various fields. The Supplement covers the period 1997-1999 and is designed to make the vast amount of present data accessible to multidisciplinary research where chemistry, physics, biology, and medicine are involved and also biotechnology, pharmaceutical and food research. At the same time the data could be helpful to identify problems unsolved so far, and to avoid unnecessary duplication of scientific work. The structure of the Supplement is the same as in the previous data compilation. However, some additional data characterizing protein-denaturant interaction and protein unfolding by trifluoroethanol have been added. In that context, some previous data have been reconsidered. The author wishes to thank everyone who provided data, ideas, or even unpublished results. Furthermore, support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (INK 16 BI-I) is gratefully acknowledged. Finally, I would like to thank the staff of Springer Verlag for their efforts and for excellent assistance during the production of the data collections.




Proceedings of the First Workshop on Biological Physics 2000


Book Description

This book is devoted to the broad subject of flavor physics, embracing the question of what distinguishes one type of elementary particles from another. The articles range from the forefront of formal theory (treating the physics of extra dimensions) to details of particle detectors. Although special emphasis is placed on the physics of kaons, charmed and beauty particles, top quarks, and neutrinos, the articles also dealing with electroweak physics, quantum chromodynamics, supersymmetry, and dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking. Violations of fundamental symmetries such as time reversal invariance are discussed in the context of neutral kaons, beauty particles, electric dipole moments, and parity violation in atoms. The physics of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix and of quark masses are described in some detail, both from the standpoint of present and future experimental knowledge and from a more fundamental viewpoint, where physicists are still searching for the correct theory




Protein Folding and Metal Ions


Book Description

The role of metal ions in protein folding and structure is a critical topic to a range of scientists in numerous fields, particularly those working in structural biology and bioinorganic chemistry, those studying protein folding and disease, and those involved in the molecular and cellular aspects of metals in biological systems. Protein Folding an