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Basic calculations for chemical and biological analyses
396
Book Reviews/Analytics
Chimica Acta 347 (1997) 395-398
Applied Biochemical Sciences at the University of Ulster at Jordan&own. The table of Contents shows a good selection of topics, but the coverage in its majority is cursory. As written, the book more resembles topical notes to guide a lecturer than an authoritative monograph. There are repetitions (e.g., the socalled ‘bananatrode’ is revisited often), and there are typographical errors (e.g., the last name of Maud L. Menten, in referring to the Michaelis-Menten constant, is entered a few times as Menton, even in the Index). It is, however, a source for those uninitiated in the topic, and who want to learn what is generally involved in biosensor design. This Reviewer doubts, however, that if... is an invaluable reference source for anyone working with biosensors...n as claimed in the back cover of the book. After an%troductionn in which a biosensor is correctly defined asA... a device incorporating a biological sensing element connected to a transducerkr, the book has chapters dedicated to the biological elements, the immobilization of the biological component, transducers (electrochemical, optical, and other), performance factors, applications, three experimental examples, and closing considerations on commercial applications. Horatio
A. Mottola
M. Parkany (Ed.), The Use of Recovery Factors in Truce Analysis, The Royal Society of Chemistry, London, 1996 (ISBN 0-85404-736-O). vii+136 pp. Price f45.00. Recovery factors are an important, yet often hidden and rarely discussed, component of many analytical procedures. Whether they are used, and how they are derived, can be crucially important in the interpretation of analytical results, particularly in the context of legal enforcement. The focus of this book is the proceedings of a conference called to discuss these matters: the Seventh International Humanization Symposium on a Protocol for Recovery Factors held in Orlando, FL on 4-5 September 1996. My initial suspicions that it would be very difficult to write a lengthy tome on recovery factors were confirmed when I first opened the book. Of its pages, only 62 are taken up by the main Symposium papers and even then there are only eight contributions. Their
treatment of the subject ranges from theoretical to those covering rather specialised applications such as the “use of radioisotope traces for the determination of recovery factors in trace element determinations by radiochemical neutron activation analysis”. If only half of one book derives from the conference itself, what is there in the remainder? 38 pages are taken up with a reproduction of the Report of the 20th Session of the joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission on Methods of Analysis and Sampling. This is followed by a 24 page list of IS0 standards. This is not a book that is likely to reach the bestseller lists. It contains too little information directly on the subject of recovery factors to justify spending &45 on it. Alan G. Howard
Bassey J.S. Efiok, Basic Calculations for Chemical and Biological Analyses, AOAC International, 1996 (ISBN O-935584-51-X). ix +135 pp. Price USS45.00 in N. America, US$55.00 elsewhere. This book consists in the main of formulae and worked examples of calculations involving concentrations, buffers, absorbance, enzyme activity and radioactivity. Although there are descriptions of principles, it is of more use as a reference than as a teaching tool with the emphasis being one of providing formulae for each situation. As such, it is well indexed with an index of practical examples and extensive cross referencing of the examples, which are mostly biochemical. Both SI and traditional units and discussed here. Significant figures are addressed in an appendix. There are some typographical errors in explanations and worked examples, four in the final worked example. This is a book that will appeal to those who prefer to apply a formulae rather than to think about the problem. Most readers of this journal will not need it but many may know someone who does. Roger A. Jewsbury
Trends in Analytical Chemistry, Reference Edition, Volume 14, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1995 (ISBN O-444 82388-3). ix +534 pp. Price Dfl.889.00, US$555.75.
Book Reviews/Analytics
Chimica Acta 347 (1997) 395-398
Applied Biochemical Sciences at the University of Ulster at Jordan&own. The table of Contents shows a good selection of topics, but the coverage in its majority is cursory. As written, the book more resembles topical notes to guide a lecturer than an authoritative monograph. There are repetitions (e.g., the socalled ‘bananatrode’ is revisited often), and there are typographical errors (e.g., the last name of Maud L. Menten, in referring to the Michaelis-Menten constant, is entered a few times as Menton, even in the Index). It is, however, a source for those uninitiated in the topic, and who want to learn what is generally involved in biosensor design. This Reviewer doubts, however, that if... is an invaluable reference source for anyone working with biosensors...n as claimed in the back cover of the book. After an%troductionn in which a biosensor is correctly defined asA... a device incorporating a biological sensing element connected to a transducerkr, the book has chapters dedicated to the biological elements, the immobilization of the biological component, transducers (electrochemical, optical, and other), performance factors, applications, three experimental examples, and closing considerations on commercial applications. Horatio
A. Mottola
M. Parkany (Ed.), The Use of Recovery Factors in Truce Analysis, The Royal Society of Chemistry, London, 1996 (ISBN 0-85404-736-O). vii+136 pp. Price f45.00. Recovery factors are an important, yet often hidden and rarely discussed, component of many analytical procedures. Whether they are used, and how they are derived, can be crucially important in the interpretation of analytical results, particularly in the context of legal enforcement. The focus of this book is the proceedings of a conference called to discuss these matters: the Seventh International Humanization Symposium on a Protocol for Recovery Factors held in Orlando, FL on 4-5 September 1996. My initial suspicions that it would be very difficult to write a lengthy tome on recovery factors were confirmed when I first opened the book. Of its pages, only 62 are taken up by the main Symposium papers and even then there are only eight contributions. Their
treatment of the subject ranges from theoretical to those covering rather specialised applications such as the “use of radioisotope traces for the determination of recovery factors in trace element determinations by radiochemical neutron activation analysis”. If only half of one book derives from the conference itself, what is there in the remainder? 38 pages are taken up with a reproduction of the Report of the 20th Session of the joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission on Methods of Analysis and Sampling. This is followed by a 24 page list of IS0 standards. This is not a book that is likely to reach the bestseller lists. It contains too little information directly on the subject of recovery factors to justify spending &45 on it. Alan G. Howard
Bassey J.S. Efiok, Basic Calculations for Chemical and Biological Analyses, AOAC International, 1996 (ISBN O-935584-51-X). ix +135 pp. Price USS45.00 in N. America, US$55.00 elsewhere. This book consists in the main of formulae and worked examples of calculations involving concentrations, buffers, absorbance, enzyme activity and radioactivity. Although there are descriptions of principles, it is of more use as a reference than as a teaching tool with the emphasis being one of providing formulae for each situation. As such, it is well indexed with an index of practical examples and extensive cross referencing of the examples, which are mostly biochemical. Both SI and traditional units and discussed here. Significant figures are addressed in an appendix. There are some typographical errors in explanations and worked examples, four in the final worked example. This is a book that will appeal to those who prefer to apply a formulae rather than to think about the problem. Most readers of this journal will not need it but many may know someone who does. Roger A. Jewsbury
Trends in Analytical Chemistry, Reference Edition, Volume 14, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1995 (ISBN O-444 82388-3). ix +534 pp. Price Dfl.889.00, US$555.75.