Historically, science has sought to reduce complex problems to their simplest components, but more recently it has recognized the merit of studying complex phenomena in situ. Fractal geometry is one such appealing approach, and this book discusses its application to complex problems in molecular biophysics. The book provides a detailed, unified treatment of fractal aspects of protein and structure dynamics, fractal reaction kinetics in biochemical systems, sequence correlations in DNA and proteins, and descriptors of chaos in enzymatic systems. In an area that has been slow to acknowledge the use of fractals, this is an important addition to the literature, offering a glimpse of the wealth of possible applications to complex problems.

This book presents a unified treatment of the application of fractals in molecular biophysics. It brings together diverse applications of fractals under a format that moves from structural to dynamic problems. It aims to establish the utility of the fractal formalism when discussing the complex organization and dynamics of proteins, nucleic acids and biomembranes. The book is intended for two audiences, the biophysical chemist that is unfamiliar with fractals and the "practitioner" of fractals who is unfamiliar with biophysical problems.

Biophysics represents perhaps one of the best examples of interdisciplinary research areas, where concepts and methods from disciplines such as physics, biology, b- chemistry, colloid chemistry, and physiology are integrated. It is by no means a new ?eld of study and has actually been around, initially as quantitative physiology and partly as colloid science, for over a hundred years. For a long time, biophysics has been taught and practiced as a research discipline mostly in medical schools and life sciences departments, and excellent biophysics textbooks have been published that are targeted at a biologically literate audience. With a few exceptions, it is only relatively recently that biophysics has started to be recognized as a physical science and integrated into physics departments’ curr- ula, sometimes under the new name of biological physics. In this period of cryst- lization and possible rede?nition of biophysics, there still exists some uncertainty as to what biophysics might actually represent. A particular tendency among phy- cists is to associate biophysics research with the development of powerful new te- niques that should eventually be used not by physicists to study physical processes in living matter, but by biologists in their biological investigations. There is value in that judgment, and excellent books have been published that introduce the int- ested reader to the use of physical principles for the development of new methods of investigation in life sciences.

Effect of Reynolds number on fractal binding kinetics on a surface-based biosensor -- DNA fractal binding and dissociation kinetics -- Fractal analysis of binding and dissociation interactions of estrogen receptors to ligands on biosensor surfaces -- A fractal analysis of analyte-estrogen receptor binding and dissociation kinetics using biosensors : environmental effects -- A fractal analysis of analyte-estrogen receptor binding and dissociation kinetics using biosensors : biomedical effects -- Fractal analysis of binding interactions of nuclear estrogen receptors occurring on biosensor surfaces -- A kinetic study of analyte-receptor binding and dissociation for biosensor applications : a fractal analysis for cholera toxin and peptide-protein interactions / -- The temporal nature of the binding and dissociation rate coefficients and the affinity values for biosensor kinetics -- Fractal analysis of analyte-receptor binding and dissociation, and dissociation alone for biosensor applicati ...

Fractal dynamics provide an unparalleled tool for understanding the evolution of natural complexity throughout physical, biological, and psychological realms. This book’s conceptual framework helps to reconcile several persistent dichotomies in the natural sciences, including mind-brain, linear-nonlinear, subjective-objective, and even personal-transpersonal processes. A fractal approach is especially useful when applied to recursive processes of consciousness, both within their ordinary and anomalous manifestations. This novel way to study the interconnection of seemingly divided wholes encompasses multiple dimensions of experience and being. It brings together experts in diverse fields—neuropsychologists, psychiatrists, physicists, physiologists, psychoanalysts, mathematicians, and professors of religion and music composition—to demonstrate the value of fractals as model, method, and metaphor within psychology and related social and physical sciences. The result is a new perspective for understanding what has often been dismissed as too subjective, idiosyncratic, and ineffably beyond the scope of science, bringing these areas back into a natural-scientific framework.

The essential question that fractal dimensions attempt to answer is about the scales in Nature. For a system as non-idealistic and complex as a protein, studying scale-invariance becomes particularly important. Fractal Symmetry of Protein Interior investigates the diverse facets of the various scales at which we describe protein biophysical and biochemical phenomena. Following a thorough introduction to fractal dimensions, fractal-dimension-based approaches, that have been employed to study protein interior biophysical properties, are described. The focus is on the question “which scales are scale-invariant?” Investigations related to scaling of biophysical and biochemical behaviors may one day help us to formulate a fundamental theory about protein biophysics; which, in turn, may help us to understand fundamental principles of proteins.

New Frontiers in Nanochemistry: Concepts, Theories, and Trends, Volume 1: Structural Nanochemistry is the first volume of the new three-volume set that explains and explores the important concepts from various areas within the nanosciences. This first volume focuses on structural nanochemistry and encompasses the general fundamental aspects of nanochemistry while simultaneously incorporating crucial material from other fields, in particular mathematic and natural sciences, with specific attention to multidisciplinary chemistry. Under the broad expertise of the editor, the volume contains 50 concise yet comprehensive entries from world-renowned scholars, alphabetically organizing a multitude of essential basic and advanced concepts, ranging from algebraic chemistry to new energy technology, from the bondonic theory of chemistry to spintronics, and from fractal dimension and kinetics to quantum dots and tight binding—and much more. The entries contain definitions, short characterizations, uses and usefulness, limitations, references, and more.