| buffer | <biochemistry, chemistry> A system that acts to minimise the change in concentration of a specific chemical species in solution against addition or depletion of this species. PH buffers: weak acids or weak bases in aqueous solution. The working range is given by pKa +/ 1. Metal ion buffers: a metal ion chelator for example EDTA, partially saturated by the metal ion acts, as a buffer for the metal ion. (18 Nov 1997) |
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| buffer capacity | <chemistry> The ability of a buffer solution to absorb added alkali or acid while maintaining the solution's pH. (09 Oct 1997) |
| buffer index | The power of a substance in solution to absorb acid or alkali without change in pH; this is highest at a pH value equal to the pKa value of the acid of the buffer pair. See: buffer capacity. Synonym: buffer index. (05 Mar 2000) |
| buffer pair | An acid and its conjugate base (anion). (05 Mar 2000) |
| buffer value | The power of a substance in solution to absorb acid or alkali without change in pH; this is highest at a pH value equal to the pKa value of the acid of the buffer pair. See: buffer capacity. Synonym: buffer index. (05 Mar 2000) |
| buffer value of the blood | The ability of the blood to compensate for additions of acid or alkali without disturbance of the pH. (05 Mar 2000) |
| buffer zone | <ecology> An area of land separating two distinct land uses that acts to soften or mitigate the effects of one land use on the other. (09 Oct 1997) |
| riparian buffer | Riparian areas that are managed to protect the aquatic and riparian ecosystem. A riparian buffer protects water quality and temperature, habitat along the banks, upland habitat for aquatic and riparian species, and some or all of the floodplain. (05 Dec 1998) |
| secondary buffer | See: Hamburger's law. (05 Mar 2000) |
| dipolar buffer | Buffer whose structure can include opposite charges. Synonym: dipolar buffer. (05 Mar 2000) |
| zwitterionic buffer | Buffer whose structure can include opposite charges. Synonym: dipolar buffer. (05 Mar 2000) |
| absolute system of units | A system based on absolute units accepted as being fundamental (length, mass, time) and from which other units (force, energy or work, power) are derived; such system's in common use are the foot-pound-second, centimeter-gram-second, and meter-kilogram-second system's. (05 Mar 2000) |
| absorbent system | <anatomy> The tissues and organs (including the bone marrow, spleen, thymus and lymph nodes) that produce and store cells that fight infection and the network of vessels that carry lymph. (12 May 1997) |
| alimentary system | The organs that are responsible for getting food into and out of the body and for making use of food to keep the body healthy. These include the mouth, oesophagus, stomach, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, small intestine, colon, and rectum. (12 Dec 1998) |
| anterolateral system | A composite bundle of fibres, located in the ventrolateral part of the lateral funiculus, containing spinothalamic, spinohypothalamic, spinoreticular, and spinomesencephalic (spinotectal, spinal to periaqueductal grey, etc.) fibres; occupies the combined areas of the spinal white matter historically divided into anterior and lateral spinothalamic tracts; located in white matter ventral to the denticulate ligament, hence the anatomical basis for the anterolateral cordotomy; concerned with the transmission of nociceptive and thermal information and with crude (nondiscriminative) touch. (05 Mar 2000) |