Digital library
Textbooks, references and open learning resources.
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An Introduction to Nutrition
Independent · 2012
Welcome to Essentials of Nutrition: A Functional Approach! This book is written for students who are not majoring in nutrition, but want to learn about the fundamental aspects of nutrition and how it applies to their own lives. We have written this book with the assumption that you have little or no prior knowledge of college level chemistry, biology, or physiology. But that does not mean it’s not scientific! Nutrition is a science-based discipline, so all the material included is backed up by rigorous scientific research, but it is presented in a clear, easy-to-understand fashion without requiring a background in science.
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Biotechnology Foundations
Jack O'Grady · OpenStax CNX · 2013
Given the broad definition of biotechnology applications and products, it is easy to see how there is enormous overlap within the fields of cellular biology, microbiology, chemistry, and biomedical engineering. It is the goal of this textbook to provide foundational knowledge to begin building your biotechnology toolkit and enter an exciting career of making a difference through biotechnology. This textbook first explores the fundamentals of laboratory science and biotechnology. Unit 1 begins with a dive into the foundation of biology and chemistry by asking what is life and what are the molecules of life? The end of the unit offers a primer into laboratory science; preparing solutions and operating basic lab equipment. Unit 2 brings readers through a vital tool of biomanufacturing, understanding the growth and control of microbes. Many biotechnology products are made by harnessing the work of microbes, and this unit explores this invisible and intriguing world of microorganisms. The final unit, molecular biotechnology, offers a more in-depth look at how biological molecules such as DNA and protein are manipulated into creating useful products.
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Introduction to Soil Science
Amber Anderson; Rivka Fidel · Iowa State University Digital Press · 2025
This textbook introduces readers to introductory soil science topics including the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils; soil formation, classification, and global distribution; soil health, soils and humanity, and sustainable land management. The second edition brings forward new information about soil water and soil chemistry alongside updates to the core chapters.
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The Essential Guide to Planet Earth
Benjamin Burger · Benjamin Burger · 2020
Every moment of your life will be from the perspective of a single planet—Planet Earth. You were born here and you will die here. This textbook is a guide to your home, to your place in the universe. By taking this course, you will learn about your home planet: how it works and how we know it works this way. This course is a user's manual for planet Earth, with direct recommendations for future generations, such as yourself, to maintain its health and natural wonders. As an astute student, you will be introduced to the theoretical principles of science and of how to defend yourself from the spread of ignorance. You will learn about Earth’s dimensions and motions, as well as how to navigate its surface. You will learn how energy originates from the closest star (the Sun), its Moon, and other sources of energy in the Earth’s active core and how this energy can be used and stored. You will learn basic scientific principles of matter, the makeup of substances that form the field of chemistry. You will examine the planet’s atmosphere, the air that you are breathing as you read this, and how that air is slowly changing. You will explore the vast abundance of Earth’s water, covering the planet in enormous oceans, abundant lakes, and rivers, as well as frozen water locked within snow and ice. You will learn how to predict wind and storms and how climates shift. You will lead your own exploration of the solid interior of the Earth, the composition of mountains, rocks, and dirt. You will learn about life, the most unique feature of the planet. You will explore theories of how life arose and how it has evolved and changed over time, learning that you are of Earth and the story of your own origin on this planet. You will undertake an examination of the great biomes of jungles, forests, and deserts and the life that exists within them. You will survey the important field of biology as you learn about life and its interactions with the planet. In the end, you will come to face th
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Food Product Development Lab Manual
Ken Prusa; Kate Gilbert · Iowa State University · 2021
A practical how-to illustrating the process of developing a new food product from ideation and formulation to processing and lastly commercialization. This book highlights the overall process and gives instructions for each of the steps along the way.
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Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet
Thomas Murphy · eScholarship · 2021
Where is humanity going? How realistic is a future of fusion and space colonies? What constraints are imposed by physics, by resource availability, and by human psychology? Are default expectations grounded in reality? This textbook, written for a general-education audience, aims to address these questions without either the hype or the indifference typical of many books. The message throughout is that humanity faces a broad sweep of foundational problems as we inevitably transition away from fossil fuels and confront planetary limits in a host of unprecedented ways—a shift whose scale and probable rapidity offers little historical guidance. Salvaging a decent future requires keen awareness, quantitative assessment, deliberate preventive action, and—above all—recognition that prevailing assumptions about human identity and destiny have been cruelly misshapen by the profoundly unsustainable trajectory of the last 150 years. The goal is to shake off unfounded and unexamined expectations, while elucidating the relevant physics and encouraging greater facility in quantitative reasoning. After addressing limits to growth, population dynamics, uncooperative space environments, and the current fossil underpinnings of modern civilization, various sources of alternative energy are considered in detail— assessing how they stack up against each other, and which show the greatest potential. Following this is an exploration of systemic human impediments to effective and timely responses, capped by guidelines for individual adaptations resulting in reduced energy and material demands on the planet’s groaning capacity. Appendices provide refreshers on math and chemistry, as well as supplementary material of potential interest relating to cosmology, electric transportation, and an evolutionary perspective on humanity’s place in nature.
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Environmental Toxicology
Kees van Gestel · Environmental Toxicology · 2020
This open online textbook on Environmental Toxicology aims at covering the field in its full width, including aspects of environmental chemistry, ecotoxicology, toxicology and risk assessment. With that, it will contribute to improving the quality, continuity and transparency of the education in environmental toxicology. We also want to make sure that fundamental insights on fate and effects of chemicals gained in the past are combined with recent approaches of effect assessment and molecular analysis of mechanisms causing toxicity. The book consists of six chapters, with each chapter being divided into several sub-chapters to enable covering all aspects relevant to the topic. All chapters are designed in a modular way, which each module having clear training goals and being flagged with a number of keywords. Most modules have an average length of 1000-2000 words, a limited number of references, and 3-5 figures and/or tables. A few modules are enlighted with short clips, animations or movies to allow better illustration of the theory. The introduction chapter of the book, for instance, contains a short interview with two key experts reflecting on the development of the field over the past 30 years. The book contains tools for self-study and training, like a (limited) number of questions at the end of each module. For the future we foresee the addition of separate exercises and other tools that may help the student in understanding the theory.
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The Adventure of Physics - Vol. V: Motion Inside Matter - Pleasure, Technology, and Stars
Christoph Schiller · Motion Mountain · 1990
This book is written for anybody who is curious about nature and motion. Curiosity about how bodies, images and empty space move leads to many adventures. This volume presents the best adventures about the motion inside people, inside animals, and inside any other type of matter – from the largest stars to the smallest nuclei. Motion inside bodies – dead or alive – is described by quantum theory. Quantum theory describes all motion with the quantum of action h, the smallest change observed in nature. Building on this basic idea, the text first shows how to describe life, death and pleasure. Then, the text explains the observations of chemistry, materials science, astrophysics and particle physics. In the structure of physics, these topics correspond to the three ‘quantum' points in Figure 1. The story of motion inside living and non-living matter, from the coldest gases to the hottest stars, is told here in a way that is simple, up to date and captivating. In order to be simple, the text focuses on concepts, while keeping mathematics to the necessary minimum. Understanding the concepts of physics is given precedence over using formulae in calculations. The whole text is within the reach of an undergraduate. In order to be up to date, the text is enriched by the many gems – both theoretical and empirical – that are scattered throughout the scientific literature. In order to be captivating, the text tries to startle the reader as much as possible. Read- ing a book on physics should be like going to a magic show. We watch, we are astonished, we do not believe our eyes, we think, and finally we understand the trick. When we look at nature, we often have the same experience. Indeed, every page presents at least one sur- prise that makes the reader think. Also numerous interesting challenges are proposed. The motto of the text, die Menschen stärken, die Sachen klären, a famous statement by Hartmut von Hentig on pedagogy, translates as: ‘To fortify people, to clarify thing
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Radiobiology Textbook
Sarah Baatout · Springer · 2023
This open access textbook focuses on the various aspects of radiobiology. The goal of radiobiological research is to better understand the effects of radiation exposure at the cellular and molecular levels in order to determine the impact on health. This book offers a unique perspective, by covering not only radiation biology but also radiation physics, radiation oncology, radiotherapy, radiochemistry, radiopharmacy, nuclear medicine, space radiation biology & physics, environmental and human radiation protection, nuclear emergency planning, molecular biology and bioinformatics, as well as the ethical, legal and social considerations related to radiobiology. This range of disciplines contributes to making radiobiology a broad and rather complex topic. This textbook is intended to provide a solid foundation to those interested in the basics and practice of radiobiological science. It is a learning resource, meeting the needs of students, scientists and medical staff with an interest in this rapidly evolving discipline, as well as a teaching tool, with accompanying teaching material to help educators.
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Neuroscience for Pre-Clinical Students
Renée LeClair · Virginia Tech Publishing · 2022
Neuroscience for Pre-Clinical Students covers neuroenergetics, neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, and selected amino acid metabolism and degradation. This USMLE-aligned text is designed for a first-year undergraduate medical course and is meant to provide the essential biochemical information from these content areas in a concise format to enable students to engage in an active classroom. Hence, it does not cover neurophysiology and neuroanatomy; and clinical correlates and additional application of content are intended to be provided in the classroom experience. The text assumes that the students will have completed medical school prerequisites (including the MCAT) in which they will have been introduced to the most fundamental concepts of biology and chemistry that are essential to understand the content presented here. With its focus on high-yield concepts, this resource will assist the learner later in medical school and for exam preparation. The 49-page text was created specifically for use by pre-clinical students at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and was based on faculty experience and peer review to guide development and hone important topics. Instructors reviewing, adopting, or adapting parts or the whole of the text are requested to register their interest at: https://bit.ly/interest-preclinical. Instructors and subject matter experts interested in and sharing their original course materials relevant to pre-clinical education are requested to join the instructor portal at https://www.oercommons.org/groups/pre-clinical-resources/10133.
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Kansas State University Human Nutrition Flexbook
Brian Lindshield · 2018
The Kansas State University Human Nutrition (FNDH 400) Flexbook is a textbook for students taking Kansas State University FNDH 400 course.FNDH 400 is a 3-hour, intermediate-level, human nutrition course at Kansas State University take primarily by sophomores and juniors because it has prerequisites of a college biology and chemistry courses.
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Technical Writing and Simple Statistics : For laboratory classes
Stephanie Wettstein · TRAILS · 2022
This upper division resource focuses on how to communicate results through technical writing, use Excel to perform simple statistics, and create professional charts/documents. Excel tutorials are provided for performing descriptive statistics, t-tests, and linear regression as well as using text boxes, formatting figures and captions, and using Equation Editor to insert equations. Additionally, guidance and examples of different communication components are provided along with team writing strategies and guidelines on how to hold efficient meetings. This textbook was designed for Biology and Chemistry majors for a 400 level course.
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Electrolysers, Fuel Cells and Batteries: Analytical Modelling
Willem Haverkort · TU Delft Open · 2024
Electrochemical engineering deals with electrochemical devices like electrolysers, fuel cells, and batteries. While several excellent books exist in this long-standing and still growing field, their focus is usually on chemistry or phenomenology. In this textbook, we focus on mathematical modelling of the physical phenomena involved. Instead of resorting to numerical modelling, the aim is to derive simplified analytical models that maximise understanding. Porous electrodes, ion mass transport, and multiphase flow are central themes in this book. Examples include modelling the water saturation in a fuel cell diffusion layer, the gas fraction and current distribution in an alkaline water electrolyser, the potential distribution in a binary electrolyte inside porous battery electrode, and the concentration distribution in the flow channel of a redox flow battery. This makes for a diverse, challenging, and stimulating journey, for both students and researchers.
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Chemical Process Dynamics and Controls
Peter Woolf · openmichigan · 2009
Process controls is a mixture between the statistics and engineering discipline that deals with the mechanism, architectures, and algorithms for controlling a process. Some examples of controlled processes are: •Controlling the temperature of a water stream by controlling the amount of steam added to the shell of a heat exchanger. •Operating a jacketed reactor isothermally by controlling the mixture of cold water and steam that flows through the jacket of a jacketed reactor. •Maintaining a set ratio of reactants to be added to a reactor by controlling their flow rates. •Controlling the height of fluid in a tank to ensure that it does not overflow.
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From Lab to Laptop: Case studies in teaching practical courses online
Tab Betts; Paolo Oprandi · University of Sussex Library · 2024
The ability to teach online makes learning content accessible to all with internet access. However, in the process of moving our courses online it is crucial that educators continue to provide students practical experiences to learn from. Hands-on learning in courses such as nursing, dance, and chemistry is challenging to adapt for online learning and significant ingenuity is needed to make them suitable for an online setting. That is why it is crucial that, as a broader community, we share ideas on how to overcome the challenges faced. This book aims to address this need by providing a range of case studies from higher education students and staff on how practical learning can be redesigned for online teaching.
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Scientific Computing for Chemists with Python
Charles Weiss · Charles J. Weiss · 2025
This book serves as an introduction to coding for chemists. The tools employed in this book are the powerful and popular combination of Jupyter notebooks and the Python programming language. No background beyond first-year college chemistry and occasionally some very basic spectroscopy (for advanced chapters) is assumed for most of this book. This book starts with a brief primer on Jupyter notebooks in chapter 0 and computer programming with Python in chapters 1 and 2. If you already have a background in these tools, feel free to skip ahead. The rest of the book dives into applications of Python to solving chemical problems. Python and Jupyter were chosen for a variety of reasons, including that they are: Relatively easy to use and learn Powerful and well-suited for solving chemical problems Free, open-source software Cross-platform (e.g., runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux) Supplemented with numerous, specialized libraries for handling specific types of data or problems (e.g., machine learning) Supported by a helpful and welcoming community Learning to use a number of popular Python scientific libraries to solve chemical problems is one of the themes of this book. A Python library can be thought of as a tool pack with premade functions for performing common tasks in scientific data processing, analysis, and visualization. For example, the matplotlib library provides a variety of functions for creating a wide range of plots, while the scikit-learn library contains functions and resources for machine learning.
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A First Course in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Louis Scharf · OpenStax CNX · 2009
This book was written for an experimental freshman course at the University of Colorado. The course is now an elective that the majority of our electrical and computer engineering students take in the second semester of their freshman year, just before their first circuits course. Our department decided to offer this course for several reasons: we wanted to pique student' interest in engineering by acquainting them with engineering teachers early in their university careers and by providing with exposure to the types of problems that electrical and computer engineers are asked to solve; we wanted students entering the electrical and computer engineering programs to be prepared in complex analysis, phasors, and linear algebra, topics that are of fundamental importance in our discipline; we wanted students to have an introduction to a software application tool, such as MATLAB, to complete their preparation for practical and efficient computing in their subsequent courses and in their professional careers; we wanted students to make early contact with advanced topics like vector graphics, filtering, and binary coding so that they would gain a more rounded picture of modern electrical and computer engineering. In order to introduce this course, we had to sacrifice a second semester of Pascal programming. We concluded that the sacrifice was worth making because we found that most of our students were prepared for high-level language computing after just one semester of programming. We believe engineering educators elsewhere are reaching similar conclusions about their own students and curriculums. We hope this book helps create a much needed dialogue about curriculum revision and that it leads to the development of similar introductory courses that encourage students to enter and practice our craft.Students electing to take this course have completed one semester of calculus, computer programming, chemistry, and humanities. Concurrently with this course, students take ph
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High Performance Computing
Charles Severance; Kevin Dowd · OpenStax CNX · 2010
The purpose of this book is to teach new programmers and scientists about the basics of High Performance Computing. Too many parallel and high performance computing books focus on the architecture, theory and computer science surrounding HPC. This book speaks to the practicing chemistry student, physicist, or biologist who need to write and run their programs as part of their research.
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CHEM 121: Concepts for a Molecular View of Biology II
Krista Cunningham · Case Western Reserve University
In the contents: 1: Organic Chemistry Basics · 1.01: Organic Chemistry · 1.09: Organic Chemistry: Alkanes
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Thermodynamics and Introduction to Quantum Mechanics
Cathrine Southern · DePaul University
In the contents: 10: Appendix- Mathematics for Physical Chemistry