Biological Thermodynamics

Maximum Dissipation: Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics and its Geometric Structure explores the thermodynamics of non-equilibrium processes in materials. The book develops a general technique created in order to construct nonlinear evolution equations describing non-equilibrium processes, while also developing a geometric context for non-equilibrium thermodynamics. Solid materials are the main focus in this volume, but the construction is shown to also apply to fluids. This volume also: • Explains the theory behind thermodynamically-consistent construction of non-linear evolution equations for non-equilibrium processes • Provides a geometric setting for non-equilibrium thermodynamics through several standard models, which are defined as maximum dissipation processes • Emphasizes applications to the time-dependent modeling of soft biological tissue Maximum Dissipation: Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics and its Geometric Structure will be valuable for researchers, engineers and graduate students in non-equilibrium thermodynamics and the mathematical modeling of material behavior.

Energy and life

The pharmaceutical sciences have always struggled with the varied backgrounds of a diverse student population and in most cases background material in either the physical chemical or biological sciences, is desirable depending upon their undergraduate backgrounds. With the increasingly biological orientation of the pharmaceutical sciences a large number of incoming students have not had the basics of physical chemistry or thermodynamics which are fundamental to drug discovery, design and understanding mechanism of transport and action in the body. In addition, the industry as well as the Food and Drug Administration through its Critical Path initiative express an urgent need to move towards much scientific orientation of formulation and manufacture to try to reduce the extensive time needed to develop, test and eventually market a drug often due to historic trial and error processes based upon previously approved processes. This textbook could fill that void nicely in many graduate programs and lay the foundation for higher level courses.

This book brings theories in nonlinear dynamics, stochastic processes, irreversible thermodynamics, physical chemistry and biochemistry together in an introductory but formal and comprehensive manner.