Applications of Network Thermodynamics to Problems in Biomedical Engineering

In this text, the author encourages the reader to utilise some of the most sophisticated techniques of the computer age and then to apply them to the most complicated of systems, the living organism. The book begins with a review of classical thermodynamic reasoning and shows what it can do and also where it stops short. It then shows how network analysis revolutionised electronics by using a relatively simple methodology combining graph theory and the definition of resistance, capacitance and inductance. The text demonstrates that the most complex of dynamics systems can be solved by this method, even in the areas of biofluid kinetics, pharmacokinetics and other dynamic systems of living organisms. The book is considered essential for students and researchers in biomedical engineering and for advanced graduate students and researchers in physiology.

About the Author :
Donald C. Mikulecky is Professor of Physiology, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University. He has used network theory to simulate complex physical systems for nearly twenty years.

Review :
"A very readable and even-handed interpretation of a complex and controversial topic. The author integrates a wealth of diverse historical and contemporary data to provide as full an understanding as one can have about political Islam's severe challenge to state and society in Algeria . . . Highly recommended." -John P. Entelis, author of "State and Society in Algeria" "An informed and balanced political chronology that is of great utility to any analyst seeking to formulate his or her own interpretation of the Algerian tragedy. Willis has gathered together a wide range of sources allowing him to construct a political chronology that traces how a nation, endowed with political, cultural, and economic assets and moving toward democracy at the end of the 1980s, devolved into chaos through much of the 1990s. The book's careful documentation, multiple perspectives, and thoughtful refelctions willl challenge simplistic explanations of Algeria's latest tragedy."-"Journal of World History", "Integrates a wealth of diverse historical and contemporary data to provide as full an understanding as one can have about political Islam's severe challenge to state and society in Algeria." -John P. Entelis, author of "Sate and Society in Algeria" "What [Willis does], and what he does extremely well, is explain how it all came about...he carefully traces the rise of Algerian Islamism from its early days during the 132 years of French colonial rule, its short moment of glory when it seemed about to take power in the late 1980s, and its subsequent crash...well-written, skillfully presented, and illuminating." -"New York Review of Books",