College of Sciences Bookshelf

A gallery of books by faculty from the College of Sciences, Old Dominion University. Faculty books are also listed under specific departments.

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X and the City: Modeling Aspects of Urban Life
2012
John A. Adam

X and the City, a book of diverse and accessible math-based topics, uses basic modeling to explore a wide range of entertaining questions about urban life. How do you estimate the number of dental or doctor's offices, gas stations, restaurants, or movie theaters in a city of a given size? How can mathematics be used to maximize traffic flow through tunnels? Can you predict whether a traffic light will stay green long enough for you to cross the intersection? And what is the likelihood that your city will be hit by an asteroid?… [From Amazon.com]
Encyclopedia of Body Image and Human Appearance
2012
Thomas F. Cash (Editor)

This scholarly work is the most comprehensive existing resource on human physical appearance―how people’s outer physical characteristics and their inner perceptions and attitudes about their own appearance (body image) affect their lives. The encyclopedia’s 117 full-length chapters are composed and edited by the world’s experts from a range of disciplines―social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. The extensive topical coverage in this valuable reference work includes: (1) Important theories, perspectives, and concepts for understanding body image and appearance; (2) Scientific measurement of body image and physical attributes (anthropometry); (3) The development and determinants of human appearance and body image over the lifespan: (4) How culture and society influences the meanings of human appearance; (5) The psychosocial effects of appearance-altering disease, damage, and visible differences; (6) Appearance self-change and self-management; (7) The prevention and treatment of body image problems, including psychosocial and medical interventions. Chapters are written in a manner that is accessible and informative to a wide audience, including the educated public, college and graduate students, and scientists and clinical practitioners. Each well-organized chapter provides a glossary of definitions of any technical terms and a Further Reading section of recommended sources for continued learning about the topic. [From Amazon.com]
Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts
2012
James W. Lee (Editor)

Designed as a text not only for students and researchers, but anyone interested in green technology, Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts offers the reader a vast overview of the state-of-the-art in renewable energies. The typical chapter sets out to explain the fundamentals of a new technology as well as providing its context in the greater field. With contributions from nearly 100 leading researchers across the globe, the text serves as an important and timely look into this rapidly expanding field. [Amazon.com]
A Dictionary of Bible Plants
2012
Lytton John Musselman

This book describes and illustrates each plant mentioned in the Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha. The book draws on Lytton John Musselman's extensive field investigations from Beirut to Borneo and from the Atlas to the Zagros Mountains and includes his original images of each plant. Incorporating new research on their use, the text also reviews recent analytical studies of plants used in materials and technology as well as ancient grains, beer production, medicine, tensile materials, soap, and other articles. Based on these materials, Musselman provides several new plant identifications for controversial biblical passages. In addition, the book surveys the history of Bible plant literature from the time of the Greeks and Romans to the present and reviews and correlates it with Bible plant hermeneutics. To aid readers, extensive references for further study are provided, along with an index to all verses containing references to these plants, which enables the reader to quickly locate the plant of interest in its textual setting. [From Amazon.com]
Plants of the Chesapeake Bay: A Guide to Wildflowers, Grasses, Aquatic Vegetation, Trees, Shrubs, and Other Flora
2012
Lytton John Musselman and David A. Knepper

Buttonbush. Hercules’ Club. Panic Grass. Tearthumb. Beach Spurge. Sea Rocket. Ladies’ Tresses. These name a few of the wild and wonderful plants found in this quick reference guide to plants of the Chesapeake Bay.

Written by wetland scientists with decades of experience in the Bay’s waterways, this guide includes detailed descriptions and beautiful photographs of the plants most commonly found in the Chesapeake Bay... [From Amazon.com]
Guesstimation 2.0: Solving Today's Problems on the Back of a Napkin
2012
Lawrence Weinstein

Guesstimation 2.0 reveals the simple and effective techniques needed to estimate virtually anything--quickly--and illustrates them using an eclectic array of problems. A stimulating follow-up to Guesstimation, this is the must-have book for anyone preparing for a job interview in technology or finance, where more and more leading businesses test applicants using estimation questions just like these.

The ability to guesstimate on your feet is an essential skill to have in today's world, whether you're trying to distinguish between a billion-dollar subsidy and a trillion-dollar stimulus, a megawatt wind turbine and a gigawatt nuclear plant, or parts-per-million and parts-per-billion contaminants. Lawrence Weinstein begins with a concise tutorial on how to solve these kinds of order of magnitude problems, and then invites readers to have a go themselves. The book features dozens of problems along with helpful hints and easy-to-understand solutions. It also includes appendixes containing useful formulas and more.
Body Image: A Handbook of Science, Practice, and Prevention
2011
Thomas F. Cash (Editor) and Linda Smolak (Editor)

The standard reference for practitioners, researchers, and students, this acclaimed work brings together internationally recognized experts from diverse mental health, medical, and allied health care disciplines. Contributors review established and emerging theories and findings; probe questions of culture, gender, health, and disorder; and present evidence-based assessment, treatment, and prevention approaches for the full range of body image concerns. Capturing the richness and complexity of the field in a readily accessible format, each of the 53 concise chapters concludes with an informative annotated bibliography… [From Amazon.com]
An Introduction to Bootstrap Methods with Applications to R
2011
Michael R. Chernick and Robert A. LaBudde

Bootstrap methods provide a powerful approach to statistical data analysis, as they have more general applications than standard parametric methods. An Introduction to Bootstrap Methods with Applications to R explores the practicality of this approach and successfully utilizes R to illustrate applications for the bootstrap and other resampling methods. This book provides a modern introduction to bootstrap methods for readers who do not have an extensive background in advanced mathematics. Emphasis throughout is on the use of bootstrap methods as an exploratory tool, including its value in variable selection and other modeling environments… [Amazon.com]
A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes: From Maine to Texas
2011
Valerie A. Kells and Kent E. Carpenter

A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes is a comprehensive, current, and accurate identification guide to the more than 1,000 nearshore and offshore fishes that live in brackish and marine waters from Maine to Texas. Reliable and up-to-date, A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes is the most complete book ever published on East and Gulf Coast fishes―perfect for boat, home, or classroom. Its beautiful design and accessible format make it an ideal guide for fishermen, divers, students, scientists, naturalists, and fish enthusiasts alike. [Amazon.com]
New Classes of Multivariate Gamma Survival and Reliability Models
2010
Norou Diawara

Multivariate modeling and analysis based on the multivariate normal distribution is well established and widely used. However, when the marginal distributions have only a positive support, such as time-to-event models, that are positively skewed, often the multivariate normal theory and resulting approximations fail. Accordingly, over the last fifty years, thousands of papers have been published suggesting many ways of generating families of positive support multivariate distributions, such as gamma, Weibull and exponential. As evidenced by recent literature, this quest is still rigorously pursued even today. In this work, we provide a large and flexible class of multivariate gamma distributions that contains both absolutely continuous and discontinuous distributions on the positive hypercube support. All of these models are applicable to the area of reliability and survival modeling. Also, since this theoretical research resulted from a real world application we also provide methods for parameter estimation for a variety of applications. [Amazon.com]
Geobiology: Microbial Mats in Sandy Deposits from the Archean Era to Today
2010
Nora Noffke

A murmur is heard from the depths of time. Life and Earth are engaged in a dialog that has lasted for four billion years. Sometimes it’s a whisper, sometimes a roar. One part sometimes gets the upper hand, dominates the discussion and sets the agenda. But mostly the two have some kind of mutual understanding, and the murmur goes on. Most of us don’t listen. Nora does. She listens, and she tries to understand. Nora Noffke has focused her scientific career on the interaction between the living and the non-living. This is no mean task in an academic world where you are usually either this or that, such as either a biologist or a geologist. The amount of stuff you need to grasp is so large that it usually feels better to sit comfortably on one chair, rather than to risk falling between them. Geobiology is not for the faint of heart. Nora’s focus is on that all-important biological substance mucus, or EPS (ext- cellular polymeric substance). EPS is the oil in the machinery, the freeway to travel for many small animals and protists, the coat of armour for others, the mortar in the brick wall for yet others. For microbes such as cyanobacteria it may be the world they built, the world they live, eat, fight, multiply, and die in. [From Amazon.com]
A Mathematical Nature Walk
2009
John A. Adam

How heavy is that cloud? Why can you see farther in rain than in fog? Why are the droplets on that spider web spaced apart so evenly? If you have ever asked questions like these while outdoors, and wondered how you might figure out the answers, this is a book for you. An entertaining and informative collection of fascinating puzzles from the natural world around us, A Mathematical Nature Walk will delight anyone who loves nature or math or both… [From Amazon.com]
Vehicular Networks: From Theory to Practice
2009
Stephan Olariu (Editor) and Michele C. Weigle (Editor)

In spite of their importance and potential societal impact, there is currently no comprehensive source of information about vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). Cohesively integrating the state of the art in this emerging field, Vehicular Networks: From Theory to Practice elucidates many issues involved in vehicular networking, including traffic engineering, human factors studies, and novel computer science research.

Divided into six broad sections, the book begins with an overview of traffic engineering issues, such as traffic monitoring and traffic flow modeling. It then introduces governmental and industrial efforts in the United States and Europe to set standards and perform field tests on the feasibility of vehicular networks. After highlighting innovative applications enabled by vehicular networks, the book discusses several networking-related issues, including routing and localization. The following section focuses on simulation, which is currently the primary method for evaluating vehicular networking systems. The final part explores the extent and impact of driver distraction with in-vehicle displays.

Encompassing both introductory and advanced concepts, this guide covers the various areas that impact the design of applications for vehicular networks. It details key research challenges, offers guidance on developing future standards, and supplies valuable information on existing experimental studies. [Amazon.com]
Numerical Simulations and Case Studies Using Visual C++.Net
2008
Shaharuddin Salleh, Albert Y. Zomaya, Stephan Olariu, and Bahrom Sanugi

Master the numerical simulation process required to design, test and support mobile and parallel computing systems. An accompanying ftp site contains all the Visual C++ based programs discussed in the text to help readers create their own programs. With its focus on problems and solutions, this is an excellent text for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students, and a must-have reference for researchers and professionals in the field of simulations. [Amazon.com]
Guesstimation: Solving the World's Problems on the Back of a Cocktail Napkin
2008
Lawrence Weinstein and John A. Adam

Guesstimation is a book that unlocks the power of approximation--it's popular mathematics rounded to the nearest power of ten! The ability to estimate is an important skill in daily life. More and more leading businesses today use estimation questions in interviews to test applicants' abilities to think on their feet. Guesstimation enables anyone with basic math and science skills to estimate virtually anything--quickly--using plausible assumptions and elementary arithmetic... [From Amazon.com]
Women and Leadership: Transforming Visions and Diverse Voices
2007
Jean Lau Chin (Editor), Bernice Lott (Editor), and Janis Sanchez-Hucles (Editor)

Over the past thirty years the number of women assuming leadership roles has grown dramatically. This original and important book identifies the challenges faced by women in positions of leadership, and discusses the intersection between theories of leadership and feminism. [Amazon.com]
Figs, Dates, Laurel, and Myrrh: Plants of the Bible and the Quran
2007
Lytton John Musselman

This book celebrates the plants of the Old Testament and New Testament, including the Apocrypha, and of the Quran. From acacia, the wood of the tabernacle, to wormwood, whose bitter leaves cured intestinal worms, 81 fascinating chapters—covering every plant that has a true botanical counterpart—tell the stories of the fruits and grains, grasses and trees, flowers and fragrances of ancient lore. The descriptions include the plants' botanical characteristics, habitat, uses, and literary context. With evocative quotations and revelatory interpretations, this information is all the more critical today as the traditional agrarian societies that knew the plants intimately become urbanized.

The unusually broad geographic range of this volume extends beyond Israel to encompass the Holy Land's biblical neighbors from southern Turkey to central Sudan and from Cyprus to the Iraq border.

Richly illustrated with extensive color photography and with a foreword by the incomparable Garrison Keillor, this delightful ecumenical botany offers the welcome tonic of a deep look into an enduring, shared natural heritage. [From Aamazon.com]
New Frontiers in Ultrasensitive Bioanalysis: Advanced Analytical Chemistry Applications in Nanobiotechnology, Single Molecule Detection, and Single Cell Analysis
2007
Xiao-Hong Nancy Xu

An overview of current research and developments in ultrasensitive bioanalysis.New platforms of ultrasensitive analysis of biomolecules and single living cells using multiplexing, single nanoparticle sensing, nano-fluidics, and single-molecule detection are advancing every scientific discipline at an unprecedented pace. With chapters written by a diverse group of scientists working in the forefront of ultrasensitive bioanalysis, this book provides an overview of the current status and an in-depth understanding of the objectives and future research directions of ultrasensitive bioanalysis… [From Amazon.com]
Geochemistry of Marine Sediments
2006
David J. Burdige

The processes occurring in surface marine sediments have a profound effect on the local and global cycling of many elements. This graduate text presents the fundamentals of marine sediment geochemistry by examining the complex chemical, biological, and physical processes that contribute to the conversion of these sediments to rock, a process known as early diagenesis. Research over the past three decades has uncovered the fact that the oxidation of organic matter deposited in sediment acts as a causative agent for many early diagenetic changes. Summarizing and discussing these findings and providing a much-needed update to Robert Berner's Early Diagenesis: A Theoretical Approach, David J. Burdige describes the ways to quantify geochemical processes in marine sediment. By doing so, he offers a deeper understanding of the cycling of elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, along with important metals such as iron and manganese. (from Amazon.com)
Tick-Borne Diseases of Humans
2005
Jesse L. Goodman, David T. Dennis, and Daniel E. Sonenshine

Comprehensive information on the biology, ecology, and clinical aspects of these diseases.
• Presents state-of-the-art information on disease epidemiology, transmission, and ecology.
• Integrates divergent information relevant to the full spectrum of tick-borne diseases, incorporating tick biology and identification, distribution of the diseases ticks transmit, and various strategies for tick control.
• Reviews the clinical approach to a patient with a possible tick-borne affliction.
• Features in-depth profiles of specific diseases, including information on disease history, biology, epidemiology, ecology, transmission, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment and prevention.
• Examines the geographical distribution of tick-borne diseases and their vectors.

(from amazon.com)
Handbook of Bioinspired Algorithms and Applications
2005
Stephan Olariu (Editor) and Albert Y. Zomaya (Editor)

The mystique of biologically inspired (or bioinspired) paradigms is their ability to describe and solve complex relationships from intrinsically very simple initial conditions and with little or no knowledge of the search space. Edited by two prominent, well-respected researchers, the Handbook of Bioinspired Algorithms and Applications reveals the connections between bioinspired techniques and the development of solutions to problems that arise in diverse problem domains.

A repository of the theory and fundamentals as well as a manual for practical implementation, this authoritative handbook provides broad coverage in a single source along with numerous references to the available literature for more in-depth information. The book's two sections serve to balance coverage of theory and practical applications. The first section explains the fundamentals of techniques, such as evolutionary algorithms, swarm intelligence, cellular automata, and others. Detailed examples and case studies in the second section illustrate how to apply the theory in actually developing solutions to a particular problem based on a bioinspired technique.

Emphasizing the importance of understanding and harnessing the robust capabilities of bioinspired techniques for solving computationally intractable optimizations and decision-making applications, the Handbook of Bioinspired Algorithms and Applications is an absolute must-read for anyone who is serious about advancing the next generation of computing. [Amazon.com]
Electron Scattering: From Atoms, Molecules, Nuclei, And Bulk Matter
2005
Colm T. Whelan (Editor) and Nigel J. Mason (Editor)

There is a unity to physics; it is a discipline which provides the most fundamental understanding of the dynamics of matter and energy. To understand anything about a physical system you have to interact with it and one of the best ways to learn something is to use electrons as probes. This book is the result of a meeting, which took place in Magdalene College Cambridge in December 2001. Atomic, nuclear, cluster, soHd state, chemical and even bio- physicists got together to consider scattering electrons to explore matter in all its forms. Theory and experiment were represented in about equal measure. It was meeting marked by the most lively of discussions and the free exchange of ideas. We all learnt a lot. The Editors are grateful to EPSRC through its Collaborative Computational Project program (CCP2), lOPP, the Division of Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Plasma Physics (DAMOPP) and the Atomic Molecular Interactions group (AMIG) of the Institute of Physics for financial support. The smooth running of the meeting was enormously facilitated by the efficiency and helpfulness of the staff of Magdalene College, for which we are extremely grateful. This meeting marked the end for one of us (CTW) of a ten-year period as a fellow of the College and he would like to take this opportunity to thank the fellows and staff for the privilege of working with them. [Amazon.com]
Mathematics in Nature: Modeling Patterns in the Natural World
2003
John A. Adam

From rainbows, river meanders, and shadows to spider webs, honeycombs, and the markings on animal coats, the visible world is full of patterns that can be described mathematically. Examining such readily observable phenomena, this book introduces readers to the beauty of nature as revealed by mathematics and the beauty of mathematics as revealed in nature. [From the Publisher]
Privacy and Disclosure of Hiv in interpersonal Relationships: A Sourcebook for Researchers and Practitioners
2003
Kathryn Greene, Valerian J. Derlega, Gust A. Yep, and Sandra Petronio

As the HIV epidemic enters its third decade, it remains one of the most pressing health issues of our time. Many aspects of the disease remain under-researched and inadequate attention has been given to the implications for the relationships and daily lives of those affected by HIV. Disclosing an HIV diagnosis remains a decision process fraught with difficulty and despite encouraging medical advances, an HIV diagnosis creates significant anxiety and distress about one's health, self-identity, and close relationships.

This book provides an overarching view of existing research on privacy and disclosure while bringing together two significant areas: self-disclosure as a communication process and the social/relational consequences of HIV/AIDS. The unifying framework is communication privacy management and the focus of this volume is on private voluntary relational disclosure as opposed to forced or public disclosure. Utilizing numerous interviews with HIV patients and their families, the authors examine disclosure in a variety of social contexts, including relationships with intimate partners, families, friends, health workers, and coworkers. Of note are the examinations of predictors of willingness to disclose HIV infection, the message features of disclosure, and the consequences of both disclosure and non-disclosure. [Amazon.com]
The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Atlantic
2002
Kent E. Carpenter

This 3 volume field guide covers the species of interest to fisheries of the major marine resource groups exploited in the Western Central Atlantic. The area of coverage includes FAO Fishing Area 31. The marine resource groups included are the bivalves, gastropods, cephalopods, stomatopods, shrimps, lobsters, crabs, hagfishes, sharks, batoid fishes, chimaeras, bony fishes, sea turtles, and marine mammals. The introductory chapter outlines the environmental, ecological, and biogeographical factors influencing the marine biota, and the basic components of the fisheries in the Western Central Atlantic. Within the field guide, the sections on the resource groups are arranged phylogenetically according to higher taxonomic levels such as class, order, and family. Each resource group is introduced by general remarks on the group, an illustrated section on technical terms and measurements, and a key or guide to orders or families. Each family generally has an account summarizing family diagnostic characters, biological and fisheries information, notes on similar families occurring in the area, a key to species, a checklist of species and a short list of relevant literature. Families that are less important to fisheries include an abbreviated family account and no detailed species information. Species in the important families are treated in detail (arranged alphabetically by genus and species) and include the species name, frequent synonyms and names of similar species, an illustration, FAO common name(s), diagnostic characters, biology and fisheries information, notes on geographical distribution, and a distribution map. For less important species, abbreviated accounts are used. Generally, this includes the species name, FAO common name(s), an illustration, a distribution map, and notes on biology, fisheries, and distribution. The final volume concludes with an index of scientific and common names.