Bücher veröffentlicht von IntechOpen

Despite the tremendous growth in the field of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evidenced in the initial phases of its development in the early twentieth century, scientific focus has shifted in recent years toward the study of physiology and pathophysiology that span the spatial scales of the molecule, cell, tissue, and organ. Intensified research activities over the past 15 years have justified efforts toward molecular and cellular imaging, dual-modality imaging systems, real-time acquisitions, dedicated image processing techniques and applications, and the critical evaluation of their potential translational value for use in the clinic. The integrative focus on molecular-cellular-tissue-organ function and dysfunction has taken a primary role in modern, personalized medicine, and it is envisaged to continue to do so, as accumulated knowledge from basic and clinical science work continues to elucidate molecular, cellular, and physiological/pathophysiological pathways and mechanisms. In this scientific effort, MRI continues to play a critical and synergistic role from the perspectives of basic science, diagnosis, and clinical interventional/therapeutic approaches. Within the realm of the current role of MRI in modern medicine, this book summarizes state-of-the-art direct and derived MRI methodologies and approaches as applied toward the assessment of cellular and organ function and dysfunction. The contributions in this effort are not excessive but few, comprehensive, and distinguished and of high quality. The topic areas can be generalized to find applications in other scientific areas and span both brain and cardiac applications, extending interest to wider audiences.

This edited book, Toxicology - New Aspects to This Scientific Conundrum, is intended to provide an overview on the different xenobiotics employed every day in our anthropogenic activities. We hope that this book will continue to meet the expectations and needs of all interested in the implications for the living species of known and new toxicants and to guide them in the future investigations.

Skin cancers, basal and squamous cell carcinomas, malignant melanomas, and Merkel cell carcinomas, constitute arguably the most common and increasingly prevalent human neoplasms. Here we discuss the epigenetic changes in DNA and chromatin, which are increasingly associated with melanoma. Several chapters focus on the posttranscriptional modification of the proteins at the melanocyte cell surface, their role in tumorigenesis, and their potential as therapeutic targets. Specifically, extracellular modifications of integrins, glycosylation of cell surface proteins, and changes of cadherins are presented. In a very interesting approach, a potential to target the mitochondria of melanoma cells is investigated. In conclusion, this volume presents various aspects of human skin cancers, components of the large worldwide effort to combat and eradicate this growing health concern.

The book consists mainly of two parts: Chapter 1 - Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 - Chapter 14. Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 treat design techniques based on linearization of nonlinear systems. An analysis of nonlinear system over quantum mechanics is discussed in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 to Chapter 7 are estimation methods using Kalman filtering while solving nonlinear control systems using iterative approach. Optimal approaches are discussed in Chapter 8 with retarded control of nonlinear system in singular situation, and Chapter 9 extends optimal theory to H-infinity control for a nonlinear control system.Chapters 10 and 11 present the control of nonlinear dynamic systems, twin-rotor helicopter and 3D crane system, which are both underactuated, cascaded dynamic systems. Chapter 12 applies controls to antisynchronization/synchronization in the chaotic models based on Lyapunov exponent theorem, and Chapter 13 discusses developed stability analytic approaches in terms of Lyapunov stability. The analysis of economic activities, especially the relationship between stock return and economic growth, is presented in Chapter 14.

The idea of simulating the brain was the goal of many pioneering works in Artificial Intelligence. The brain has been seen as a neural network, or a set of nodes, or neurons, connected by communication lines. Currently, there has been increasing interest in the use of neural network models.This book contains chapters on basic concepts of artificial neural networks, recent connectionist architectures and several successful applications in various fields of knowledge, from assisted speech therapy to remote sensing of hydrological parameters, from fabric defect classification to application in civil engineering. This is a current book on Artificial Neural Networks and Applications, bringing recent advances in the area to the reader interested in this always-evolving machine learning technique.

Land degradation which is caused by multiple forces-extreme weather conditions and anthropogenic activities that pollute or degrade the quality of soils and land utility-negatively affects food production, livelihoods, and the provision of other ecosystem goods and services. Land degradation can also lead to climate change and affect human health. The problem is more pronounced in least developing countries due to overdependence of natural resources for survival. Sustainable ways to reduce land degradation and desertification demand research and advocacy of sustainable land management practices. This book is organized into two sections. The first section covers three major aspects, viz., an understanding of patterns of land degradation and desertification for developing mitigation strategies, land-atmosphere interaction from response of land cover to climate change effects of Karst rocky desertification, and the effect of unprecedented human activity into land degradation and desertification processes using natural and human-induced landscape research. The last section dwells on the relationship between soil degradation and crop production and an examination on how land degradation impacts the quality of soil in communal rangelands.Environmentalists, land-use planners, ecologists, pedologists, researchers, and graduate students will find this book to be an essential resource.

Epilepsy seems to represent one of the most frequent neurological diseases and occurs in about 1% of the general population. Although epilepsy is known since antiquity, the precise data on its pathogenesis and effective treatment are still collected and nowadays represents an interest for neurologists and psychiatrists. Being a neurological disease, epilepsy is characterized by a broad palette of comorbid psychiatric disorders (affective and anxiety disorders, psychoses) that reduce the quality of life. Moreover, the risk of suicidal attempts in persons with epilepsy is much higher than in general population that once again increases the actuality of epilepsy research in many aspects. The book contains 13 chapters written by different authors from all over the world on different topics, including phenomenology, pathogenesis, and treatment in epilepsy. The modern data on these topics may be helpful for many specialists in the domain of epileptology.

Today, tropical cyclones continue to bring destruction, as well as disruption, to societies that are exposed to their threat. This book represents a compilation of recent cutting-edge research on tropical cyclones and their impacts from researchers at many institutions around the world. This book contains new looks at tropical cyclone dynamics, the use of satellite-based remote sensing in the detection and climatology of tropical cyclones, and the modeling and prediction of tropical cyclones as well as their associated impacts. This book would make a nice addition to any course on tropical meteorology highlighting topics of interest in recent research on this topic.

Grape and Wine Biotechnology is a collective volume divided into 21 chapters focused on recent advances in vine pathology and pests, molecular tools to control them, genetic engineering and functional analysis, wine biotechnology including molecular techniques to study Saccharomyces and non-Saccharomyces yeast in enology, new fermentative applications of nonconventional yeasts in wine fermentation, biological aging on lees and wine stabilization, advanced instrumental techniques to detect wine origin and frauds, and many other current applications useful for researchers, lecturers, and vine or wine professionals. The chapters have been written by experts from different universities and research centers of 13 countries being representative of the knowledge, research, and know-how of many wine regions worldwide.

In general, metallic alloys are the interdisciplinary subject or even an area that cover physics, chemistry, material science, metallurgy, crystallography, etc. This book is devoted to the metallic alloys. The primary goal is to provide coverage of advanced topics and trends of R

Greenhouse Gases - Selected Case Studies, is a book which covers a range of topics. The long term effective management of the natural environment, requires a detailed understanding of greenhouse gases. This has both environmental and economic implications, especially where there is any anthropogenic involvement. Numerical models are often the tool and framework used for predicting the effects, both in the long-term and short-term, of greenhouse gases. However, the relevant atmospheric processes can vary quite considerably depending upon the spatial and temporal scales under consideration. For this reason for the past few decades, scientists, engineers, meteorologists and mathematicians have all been continuing to conduct research into the many aspects which influence greenhouse gases. These issues range from: industrial science, agricultural research, carbon dioxide and other emissions. This book reports the findings from recent research in greenhouse gases, primarily in the the form of case studies, particularly from an interdisciplinary perspective. The research was carried out by researchers who specialise in areas such as: energy production, emissions from livestock, chemical industry, and metallurgical process technology.

Outstanding scientific advances over the last decades unceasingly reveal real complexity of wound-healing process, astonishing in its staged progression, as life is unfolding itself. This natural course of tissue repair seems to bear thousands of overlapping molecular and macroscopic processes that nowadays only start to unfold to our knowledge. The present volume collecting recent scientific references proposes to readers a two-folded audacious goal. First, an updated design of intimate cellular mechanisms is entailed in tissue regeneration that emanates from the first section of the book. Next, a multidisciplinary therapeutic perspective that focuses on macroscopic healing throughout the second part of this work adds clinically integrated observation. Practical diagnostic and treatment information is appended in each chapter that may equally help experienced clinicians or dedicated students and researchers in broadening essential breaking points of their work. It is the wish of all multidisciplinary experts who gather prominent author's panel of this volume to incorporate latest medical reports and compel limits of current understanding for better tissue regeneration, limb salvage, and improved quality of life of our patients.

The goal of this book is to present an overview of applications of molecular spectroscopy to investigations in organic and inorganic materials, foodstuffs, biosamples and biomedicine, and novel characterization and quantitation methods. This text is a compilation of selected research articles and reviews covering current efforts in various applications of molecular spectroscopy. Sections 1 and 2 deal, respectively, with spectroscopic studies of inorganic and organic materials. Section 3 provides applications of molecular spectroscopy to biosamples and biomedicine. Section 4 explores spectroscopic characterization and quantitation of foods and beverages. Lastly, Section 5 presents research on novel spectroscopic methodologies. Overall, this book should be a great source of scientific information for anyone involved in characterization, quantitation, and method development.

The available parenteral and oral anticoagulants have a large clinical use. Understanding biochemistry of anticoagulants may help to improve therapeutic strategies. Resistance to vitamin K antagonist drugs might be a problem for rodent populations. Patients who have thrombogenic risk factors should be anticoagulated. The need for cardiac implantable electronic devices is increasing, and there is a substantial number of patients who are on oral anticoagulant therapy. Prothrombin complex concentrate and other plasma concentrates are useful to deal with over-coagulated situations. The efficacy and safety of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants have been proven in large phase III trials. The real-world data suggest even better outcomes with these agents compared to vitamin K antagonists.

Over the past few decades, exciting developments have taken place in the field of combustion technology. The present edited volume intends to cover recent developments and provide a broad perspective of the key challenges that characterize the field. The target audience for this book includes engineers involved in combustion system design, operational planning and maintenance. Manufacturers and combustion technology researchers will also benefit from the timely and accurate information provided in this work.The volume is organized into five main sections comprising 15 chapters overall: - Coal and Biofuel Combustion - Waste Combustion - Combustion and Biofuels in Reciprocating Engines - Chemical Looping and Catalysis - Fundamental and Emerging Topics in Combustion Technology

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by progressive demyelination and neurodegeneration of the central nervous system (CNS), constituting the most common demyelinating disease of the CNS in humans. Although intensive research over many decades has unveiled many pathophysiological mechanisms in the development of MS, the cause is still unknown. Nevertheless, it does seem clear that genetic susceptibility and environmental factors play crucial roles.Trending Topics in Multiple Sclerosis is a book that provides an insight into some of the main problems currently debated in this area of research, focusing on topics that deal with genetic and environmental risk factors, pathophysiological mechanisms, neurocognitive findings, and neuroprotective strategies.

New Challenges in Seed Biology - Basic and Translational Research Driving Seed Technology combines different aspects of basic and translational research in seed biology. A collection of eight chapters written by seed biology experts from the field of seed physiology, ecology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and seed technology was gathered. We hope that this book will attract the attention of researchers and technologists from academia and industry, providing points for interactive and fruitful discussion on this fascinating topic.

Concrete is widely used because of its versatility, affordability, and availability of raw materials, strength, and durability. Urban development that took place through the world in the last few decades yielded significant developments for concrete technology. The term high-performance concrete (HPC) is relatively new, and it refers to many properties such as strength, durability, sound and heat insulation, waterproofing, and side advantages such as air purification, self-cleaning, etc. Researchers and engineers are constantly working for improving concrete properties. This book provides the state of the art on recent progress in the high-performance concrete applications written by researchers and experts of the field. The book should be useful to graduate students, researchers, and practicing engineers in related fields.

Gold, considered catalytically inactive for a long time, is now a fascinating partner of modern chemistry, as scientists such as Bond, Teles, Haruta, Hutchings, Ito and Hayashi opened new perspectives for the whole synthetic chemist community. Recently gold has attracted significant attention due to its advantageous characteristics as a catalytic material and since it allows easy functionalization with biologically active molecules. In this context, when gold is prepared as very small particles, it turns out to be a highly active catalyst. However, such a phenomenon completely disappears when the gold particle size grows into the micrometer range. Therefore, the preparation for obtaining an active gold catalyst is so important. The primary objective of this book is to provide a comprehensive overview of gold metal nanoparticles and their application as promising catalysts.

The book "Actual Problems of Emergency Abdominal Surgery" was written by an international team of authors with extensive practical experience. It contains literature reviews describing some of the diseases and pathological conditions that occur in emergency surgical practice. The problems described are relevant for emergency abdominal surgery. We hope that the materials of the book will be of interest to anyone who considers it his or her specialty.

It is my pleasure to place before you the book ''Forensic Analysis - From Death to Justice'' which presents one of the major portions of the broad specialty of Forensic Science comprising mainly of Thanatology and Criminalistics. This book has been designed to incorporate a wide range of new ideas and unique works from all authors from topics like Forensic Engineering, Forensic Entomology and Crime Scene Investigation. I hope that it will be useful to practitioners of forensic medicine, experts, pathologists, law makers, investigating authorities, undergraduate and postgraduate medical school graduates of medicine.

Mobile Health Technologies, also known as mHealth technologies, have emerged, amongst healthcare providers, as the ultimate Technologies-of-Choice for the 21st century in delivering not only transformative change in healthcare delivery, but also critical health information to different communities of practice in integrated healthcare information systems. mHealth technologies nurture seamless platforms and pragmatic tools for managing pertinent health information across the continuum of different healthcare providers. mHealth technologies commonly utilize mobile medical devices, monitoring and wireless devices, and/or telemedicine in healthcare delivery and health research. Today, mHealth technologies provide opportunities to record and monitor conditions of patients with chronic diseases such as asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD) and diabetes mellitus. The intent of this book is to enlighten readers about the theories and applications of mHealth technologies in the healthcare domain.

This book ''Recent Advances in Graphene Research'' provides a state-of-the-art report of the knowledge accumulated in graphene research. It contains 12 chapters divided into three sections. Section 1 ''Fundamentals of Graphene'' deals with quantum hall effect in graphene, electronic properties of carbon nanostructures and spectral statistics of graphene nanoflakes. In Section 2 ''Graphene Synthesis,'' the optimized synthesis procedures of graphene and its derivatives are presented. The application of graphene and its nanostructured-based materials for energy storage, conservation and other extensive applications are described in Section 3 ''Application of Graphene and its Nanostructures''. We believe that this book offers broader prospective to the readers in the recent advances in graphene research, starting from fundamental science to application.

The pervasive relevance of geospatial information and the development of emerging geospatial technologies offer new opportunity for bridging the gap between remote sensing scientific know-how and end users of products and services. Geospatial technology comprises tools and techniques dealing with the use of spatially referenced information, for the description and modeling of spatial and dynamic phenomena related to the Earth's environment. This book addresses environmental and social applications of geospatial technologies, thus also providing a multidisciplinary perspective on emerging geospatial techniques and tools. It consists of ten chapters offering insight into geospatial technology progress and trends. Authors present several application-oriented studies from various parts of the world, including applications in collaborative geomatics, geospatial statistics, GIS, agriculture, and natural hazard monitoring.

Updates in Volcanology - From Volcano Modeling to Volcano Geology is a new book that is based on book chapters offered by various authors to provide a snapshot of current trends in volcanological researches. Following a short Introduction, the book consists of three sections, namely, ''Understanding the Volcano System from Petrology, Geophysics to Large Scale Experiments,'' ''Volcanic Eruptions and Their Impact to the Environment,' and ''Volcanism in the Geological Record.'' These sections collect a total of 13 book chapters demonstrating clearly the research activity in volcanology from geophysical aspects of volcanic systems to their geological framework. Each chapter provides a comprehensive summary of their subject's current research directions. This book hence can equally be useful for students and researchers.

Amyloid protein aggregates are involved in ''protein-misfolding diseases'' of enormous social and economic impact, still with no effective therapies. The most prevalent amyloid pathologies are related to neurodegenerative diseases, but amyloidosis also affects other organs. The majority of the studies includes serious health connotations on amyloids. However, not all amyloid fibers play a detrimental role in host. An increasing number of studies shows an important beneficial role as ''functional amyloids''. This book opens an exciting door to provide up-to-date information about the function and the mechanisms of the amyloid formation process from the structural, biophysical, biomedical, and nanotechnological perspective, combining the new findings on toxic and functional amyloids studies using theoretical and experimental approaches to fight against amyloid-based diseases.

Water stress in plants is caused by the water deficit, as induced possibly by drought or high soil salinity. The prime consequence of water stress in plants is the disruption in the agricultural production, resulting in food shortage. The plants, however, try to adapt to the stress conditions using biochemical and physiological interventions. The edited compilation is an attempt to provide new insights into the mechanism and adaptation aspects of water stress in plants through a thoughtful mixture of viewpoints. We hope that the content of the book will be useful for the researchers working with the plant diversity-related environmental aspects and also provide suggestions for the strategists.

This book contains selected peer-reviewed chapters which cover updated information on ALS written by international researchers. Update on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is comprised of 13 chapters from some of the world's top central nervous system researchers and neurologists to provide a timely review of the most recent developments in ALS, covering historic aspects, experimental animal models, genetics, pathogenesis, clinical aspects and imagenology among others. Contributors from Belgium, France, Japan, India, Italy, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, and Switzerland have collaborated enthusiastically and efficiently, dedicating their time to create this reader-friendly yet comprehensive work which includes many explanatory figures, tables and photos to enhance legibility and make the book clinically useful. We are looking forward with confidence and pride in the remarkable role that this book will play for a new vision and mission.

Herpesviruses are unique among viruses as they encode for a complex self-regulatory system, aggressively invade and persist in the host, evade immune defense, alter all regulatory mechanisms of the macroorganism and modify the replication of heterologous viruses. Environmental factors influence these unconventional relationships. Consequently, a single herpesvirus species can be attributed to a wide range of diseases as etiological agents or cofactors. This book is intended to give an overview on selected clinical hot topics: herpes simplex virus encephalitis, persistent infection in the gingiva, thymidine kinase gene expression causing male infertility, and pharmaceutical reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus for oncolysis. Immune evasion mechanisms and new ways to formulate vaccines are exhaustively reviewed. Finally, a surprise: bovine herpesviruses could serve as models to study the pathomechanism of herpesviruses.

This book gives a comprehensive overview of the recent advancements and developments of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) and technologies, which are quite novel approaches and might be used as laboratory bench manual for the rapid diagnosis of the various disease conditions. The book focuses on various aspects and properties of RDTs, point-of-care tests (POCTs), quality control, assurance, calibration, safety, nano-/microfluidic technologies, and fusion with DNA technologies. I hope that this work might increase the interest in this field of research and that the readers will find it useful for their investigations, management, and clinical usage.