This is a comprehensive and novel text that examines key features that predispose individuals to autoimmune diseases. The first section details the basic mechanism of autoimmunity and examines immunogenetic and environmental factors in autoimmunity. The next section examines autoimmune thyroid disease. The third section takes a look at Type 1...

Telephone, telefax, email and internet - the key ingredient of the inner workings is the conduit: the line which is designed to carry massive amounts of data at breakneck speed. In their data-carrying capacity optical fiber lines beat other technologies (copper cable, microwave beacons, satellite links) hands down, at least in the long...

Cardiac surgery is performed on hundreds of thousands of patients a year, and can have an important beneficial impact on the outcomes of patients with coronary and valvular heart diseases. Despite the favorable recovery of most patients, some will have their post-operative period interrupted by the development of atrial fibrillation, with a...

The first edition, published in 2001, reviewed the multiple facets of the cosmetic field including the physiology of...

Taking a task view wherever possible, this book is...

Creating Web Portals with BEA WebLogic shows the beginning portal developer how to develop a portal application from start to finish, and supplies the intermediate developer with proven strategies and development techniques for creating an enterprise portal. It also provides the advanced Java application server developer with a full...

An important research challenge within this book is to...

This volume first introduces the mathematical tools necessary for understanding and working with a broad class of applied stochastic models. The toolbox includes Gaussian processes, independently scattered measures such as Gaussian white noise and Poisson random measures, stochastic integrals, compound Poisson, infinitely divisible and stable...