Photoprocesses, Photoreceptors, and Evolution discusses the important role that visible radiation has played in the development of photoreceptor systems, hence, in the evolution of life on earth. The book examines the spectrum of energies that impinge on the Earth, what kinds of molecules absorb these energies, and how they are structured within the cell to function as a photoreceptor system. The text describes the molecular structure of the cell membrane; the various kinds of pigment molecules; and the structures associated with photobiological phenomena. The relationship between the photoreceptor system and behavior, i.e. phototropism and phototaxis, photosynthesis, and vision, is also considered. The book further tackles the photoprocesses which function in photoperiodic phenomena - the "biological clocks, aging, memory, and bioluminescence. The text then demonstrates the structure of the invertebrate and vertebrate photoreceptors; and the intervebrate and vertebrate visual pigments and their photochemistry. Photobiologists will find the book invaluable.

First multi-year cumulation covers six years: 1965-70.

The following are the proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Perception held in Pavia, Italy, on September 27-30, 1993, under the auspices of four institutions: the Group of Cybernetic and Biophysics (GNCB)s of the National Research Council (CNR), the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AI * IA), the Italian Association of Psychology (AlP), and the Italian Chapter of the International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR). The theme of this third workshop was: "Human and Machine Vision: Analogies and Divergencies." A wide spectrum of topics was covered, ranging from neurophysiology, to computer architecture, to psychology, to image understanding, etc. For this reason the structure of this workshop was quite different from those of the first two held in Parma (1991), and Trieste (1992). This time the workshop was composed of just eight modules, each one consisting of two invited lectures (dealing with vision in nature and machines, respectively) and a common panel discussion (including the two lecturers and three invited panellists).

This book provides a detailed description of light absorption and absorbents in seawaters with respect to provenance, region of the sea, depth of the occurrence and trophicity. The text is based on a substantial body of contemporary research results taken from the subject literature (over 400 references) and the work of the authors over a period of 30 years.

Proceedings of the 10th Jerusalem Symposium on Quantum Chemistry and Biochemistry held in Jerusalem, Israel, March 28-31, 1977

Liquid Crystals & Biological Structures covers analogies between biological structures and behavior of living cells to liquid crystalline structures and their behavior. It emphasizes that the physical state of the matter involved in life processes is to a great extent liquid crystalline. The first chapters discuss the physical, chemical, structural, and optical properties of liquid crystals, as well as the structure of the principal molecules associated with life systems. The core chapters cover selected cellular structures exhibiting liquid crystalline behavior to emphasize the nature of various cellular membranes, from the cell membranes to the receptors and effectors. The book also considers differentiated organelles of the cell that are specialized for photoreception, including chloroplasts for photosynthesis, the retinal photoreceptors of the eye, and the rods and cones for visual excitation. This book is suited for students and bioscientists who are interested in the potential of the liquid crystalline state in exploring a variety of biological phenomena.

"Mr. Wolkenstein's Physical Approaches to Biological Evolution, whether or not it proves to give the ultimate truth on the matters with which it deals, certainly deserves, by its breadth and scope and profundity, to be considered an impor tant event in the philosophical world." This is a quotation from an introduction written by Bertrand Russell for Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. I exchanged only name and subject. As for the rest, I could continue quoting Russell, but I would rather say something myself. As Wittgenstein did with formal logic, Wolkenstein rectifies our views on how to approach the logic of life from a formal theoretical basis. Many bio logists do not believe that their subject lends itself to the scrutiny of physical theory. They certainly admit that one can simulate biological phenomena by models that can be expressed in a mathematical form. However, they do not believe that biology can be given a theoretical foundation that is defined within the general framework of physics. Rather, they insist on a holistic approach, banning any reduction to fundamental principles subject to physical theory.

Comparative Color Vision provides information about the means by which color vision has been studied in nonhuman animals and about the outcomes of these studies for a variety of representative species. Individuals who become interested in color vision in animals come from a variety of different educational backgrounds—from the traditional biological and behavioral sciences as well as from more applied fields. Accordingly, this book includes sufficient tutorial information about color vision so that a relative newcomer would be able to make sense out of this area without having to search out still more background material. To provide this, basic information about the psychophysics of color vision and about the methods used to study color vision in animals is presented; along with coverage of the broad range of biological mechanisms responsible for color vision. Subsequent chapters present systematic reviews of studies of color vision in a wide selection of vertebrate species. The final chapter is devoted to a discussion of two fascinating issues raised by studies of animal color vision: the evolutionary origins and the functional utility of color vision.

This comparative survey of how animals detect light and image in their world includes discussions of photoreceptors, light emitters and optics. It focuses on the evolution of different types of optical systems, describing how these systems have developed into more complex designs.