Böcker utgivna av IntechOpen

The aim and purpose of our book, Community and Global Ecology of Deserts, is to give an overview and report from the frontiers of desert ecological research. The ecology of deserts as a scientific discipline plays a key role in solving many of global problems due to collective adaptation methods and approaches of lifeforms living in extreme environments. If ecologists or environmental scientists are talking about desert ecological research, then almost everyone is thinking about specific desert flora, fauna, or desertification itself as a consequence of climate change, or sand dune-triggered disasters. In fact, the importance of ecological research in deserts is far more general and broader. We hope that our book will be interesting and useful for researchers, lecturers, students and anybody interested in this field.

It is vital to understand the recent perceptions in animal welfare and its implications in changing global scenarios. The introductory chapter to Animal Welfare provides concise details of the application of emerging these scenarios. The book is self-contained with everything needed to understand the importance of animal welfare and its perspectives. This is the first edition of the book so it covers the introductory level of topics, which are written specifically for veterinary students, classroom use, and practitioners who require more knowledge of animal welfare. The book contains sections on global perspectives, animal health and welfare, and husbandry and welfare. Each section comprises chapters from renowned experts in each area and gives readers a unique opportunity to explore the topic.

This book focuses on the transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene regulations and presents a detailed portrait of many novel aspects related to highlighting the importance of key TFs in some vital biological processes, the role of certain TFs to control some infectious diseases, the role of non-coding RNAs in controlling mRNA expression, the involvement of these non-coding RNAs in diseases, and the interplay between TFs and microRNAs as key players for gene expression regulation giving a complete picture of how genes are regulated at the cellular level. The editor embarked upon this writing project entitled "Transcriptional and Post-transcriptional Regulation" to make pertinent contributions accessible to the scientific community. Hopefully, a large audience will enjoy reading and benefit from the chapters of this book.

Neoplasm refers to an abnormal tissue growth that arises as a consequence of rapid cell proliferation and continues to grow abnormally even after terminating the stimuli that had instigated the change. It lacks partial or complete functional coordination with that of the normal tissues. Neoplasms are classified depending on the degree and type of tissues involved. Carcinogenesis is a multistep process where a plethora of endogenous and exogenous factors turns out genetic and epigenetic modifications, which collectively amend some critical cellular pathways controlling the proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation. The cells having aberrant modifications are transformed into malignant ones of which the clonal expansion results in the development of cancer. This book provides the reader with a comprehensive overview of various cancer types along with their molecular mechanisms of initiation and progression. It also describes the current knowledge about the state-of-the-art measures being employed in cancer diagnosis and therapeutics. Particular attention is paid to make this book equally useful for students, practitioners, and expert scientists.

Around 80% of electrical consumption in an industrialised society is used by machinery and electrical drives. Therefore, it is key to have reliable grids that feed these electrical assets. Consequently, it is necessary to carry out pre-commissioning tests of their insulation systems and, in some cases, to implement an online condition monitoring and trending analysis of key variables, such as partial discharges and temperature, among others. Because the tests carried out for analysing the dielectric behaviour of insulation systems are commonly standardised, it is of interest to have tools that simulate the real behaviour of those and their weaknesses to prevent electrical breakdowns. The aim of this book is to provide the reader with models for electrical insulation systems diagnosis.

The volume of data that is generated, stored, and communicated across different industrial sections, business units, and scientific research communities has been rapidly expanding. The recent developments in cellular telecommunications and distributed/parallel computation technology have enabled real-time collection and processing of the generated data across different sections. On the one hand, the internet of things (IoT) enabled by cellular telecommunication industry connects various types of sensors that can collect heterogeneous data. On the other hand, the recent advances in computational capabilities such as parallel processing in graphical processing units (GPUs) and distributed processing over cloud computing clusters enabled the processing of a vast amount of data. There has been a vital need to discover important patterns and infer trends from a large volume of data (so-called Big Data) to empower data-driven decision-making processes. Tools and techniques have been developed in machine learning to draw insightful conclusions from available data in a structured and automated fashion. Machine learning algorithms are based on concepts and tools developed in several fields including statistics, artificial intelligence, information theory, cognitive science, and control theory. The recent advances in machine learning have had a broad range of applications in different scientific disciplines. This book covers recent advances of machine learning techniques in a broad range of applications in smart cities, automated industry, and emerging businesses.

The broad vision of this book is to offer book lovers a comprehensive appraisal of topics in the global advancements of experimental facts, instrumentation, and practical applications of LED and OLED materials and their applications. The prime feature of this book is connected with LED and OLED materials approaches of fabrication, optimization limits, and their extensive technical applications. This book is comprised of seven chapters encompassing the importance of LEDs and OLEDs, the history of LEDs and OLEDs with necessary examples, the phototoxic-cum-bactericidal effect due to the usage of blue LED irradiation, DC network indoor and outdoor LED lighting, WLEDs with thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters, tetradentate cyclometalated platinum (II) complex-based efficient organic LEDs, the impact of the use of large LED lighting loads in low-voltage networks, highly efficient OLEDs using thermally activated delayed fluorescent materials, and AlGaN deep ultraviolet LEDs. Individual chapters provide a base for the wide range of common bibliophiles in diversified fields, students, and researchers, who may conduct research pertinent to this book and will find simply explained basics as well as advanced principles of designated subjects related to these phenomena. The book was created from seven contributions from experts in the diversified fields of LED and OLED fabrication and technology from over 15 research institutes across the globe.

Chemical additives used for increasing plant productivity can contaminate the raw materials used in food production. Physical methods represent alternative promising sources for stimulating plant and mushroom development and increasing vegetable production. Many physical factors are currently used for plant treatment, including electromagnetic waves, optical emission, laser, magnetic field, gamma rays and ultrasound and ionizing radiation. This book discusses these physical methods for stimulation of plant and mushroom development and seed invigoration. Current research trends, future research directions and challenges are also discussed. This book will be of interest to many readers, researchers and scientists who can find this information useful for the advancement of their research works towards a better understanding of physical methods in plant and mushroom development.

With this book, you'll be able to update your knowledge in the field of foot and ankle surgery and pathology. This book includes a sport injuries section dedicated to Achilles tendon injuries in athletes and to ankle injuries in basketball players. The next section is about the management of pediatric and adult flatfoot deformity and the recent advances in this field. The third section is unique as it is about quality control in patients with foot and ankle injuries. I believe this section will be very helpful to foot and ankle practitioners to better asses the functionality and quality of life in their patients. The last section is on the third generation of percutaneous forefoot surgery and includes a novel system of Diabetes Ground Control. This book is a useful tool in your practice armamentarium.

Nowadays, the Internet plays a vital role in our lives. It is currently one of the most effective media that is shifting to reach into all areas in today's society. While we move into the next decade, the future of many emerging technologies (IoT, cloud solutions, automation and AI, big data, 5G and mobile technologies, smart cities, etc.) is highly dependent on Internet connectivity and broadband communications. The demand for mobile and faster Internet connectivity is on the rise as the voice, video, and data continue to converge to speed up business operations and to improve every aspect of human life. As a result, the broadband communication networks that connect everything on the Internet are now considered a complete ecosystem routing all Internet traffic and delivering Internet data faster and more flexibly than ever before. This book gives an insight into the latest research and practical aspects of the broadband communication networks in support of many emerging paradigms/applications of global Internet from the traditional architecture to the incorporation of smart applications. This book includes a preface and introduction by the editors, followed by 20 chapters written by leading international researchers, arranged in three parts. This book is recommended for researchers and professionals in the field and may be used as a reference book on broadband communication networks as well as on practical uses of wired/wireless broadband communications. It is also a concise guide for students and readers interested in studying Internet connectivity, mobile/optical broadband networks and concepts/applications of telecommunications engineering.

We are more aware of the need to achieve sustainable development than ever before. One of the main factors to achieve the goal of sustainable development is sustainability assessment and reporting because it is not possible to take precautions without understanding the current situation. And also, undoubtedly, future generations have a right to know what kind of world we will leave them. This book brings together different perspectives on sustainability assessment and reporting. When you look at the chapters, you will understand that sustainability assessment and reporting are addressing interdisciplinary and vast areas. It should be because sustainability assessment and reporting cover all aspects of social, economic and environmental factors. In this five-chapter book, you will see how sustainability assessment and reporting are addressed in different areas.

Emotional, physical and social well-being describe human health from birth. Good health goes hand in hand with the ability to handle stress for the future. However, biological factors such as diet, life experiences such as drug abuse, bullying, burnout and social factors such as family and community support at the school stage tend to mold health problems, affecting academic achievements. This book is a compilation of current scientific information about the challenges that students, families and teachers face regarding health and academic achievements. Contributions also relate to how physical activity, psychosocial support and other interventions can be made to understand resilience and vulnerability to school desertion. This book will be of interest to readers from broad professional fields, non-specialist readers, and those involved in education policy.

This book presents recent developments and research activities that highlight the importance of clay science and engineering in the environment and medical and civil engineering. The book contains nine chapters separated into three main sections: (1) Clay for the Environment, (2) Clay in Civil Engineering, and (3) Clay in Medical Applications. There are four chapters in the first section and the focus is made on the topics related to an introduction to the natural sources and chemical structure of one of the important clay types, montmorillonite. The application of waste recycling and the removal of arsenic and fluoride are the focus of next two chapters. In addition, a technique for corrosion protection is presented as the fourth chapter within this section. In the second section, special emphasis has been placed on the importance and application of clay in civil engineering, which is demonstrated in two chapters. In the third section, new research and development on utilizing clay minerals in medical applications is presented. Intended for readers wishing to acquire an understanding of the current trends in clay science and engineering and comprehension of the issue, this book addresses exciting topics in this field.

In recent years, all over the world, the attention paid to local and traditional productions is growing, especially in the agro-food sector. Maybe, it is not only due to the impact of globalization and the social and economic changes but also due to the increased consideration to health and nutritional aspects of food. Hence, for economic, social, historical, and nutritional reasons, this trend has led to the rediscovery and reuse of landraces of many different crops, responding to requests for more and more demanding market. This volume collects examples of local crops and old landraces of different areas of the planet that testify the extreme importance of the relation existing among a land, the local productions, the historical traditions, the conservation of biodiversity, the health benefits, the environmental impact and the local economies, also including the significance to dedicate resources to scientific researches in local crops.

Advances in the understanding of cardiomyopathies and the growth of cardiology have paralleled one another. Over the years, many classification methods have been developed for cardiomyopathies based on aetiology, structural models and the functional approach. The new concepts and events that have occurred in cardiology generally and in cardiomyopathies specifically are sufficient changes to justify this book. Developments in cardiomyopathies have advanced at a rapid rate, largely because of the progress that has been made in instrumental analysis and the integration of clinical cardiology with other fields of basic research. The material in this book encompasses and blends the knowledge recently acquired in genetics, pathology and physiology with the practical matters of diagnosis and treatment.

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic microorganisms that inhabit almost all geographic locations, including oceans, caves, ponds, lakes, soil, snow, and hot springs. Their acumen to survive and succeed in a plethora of ambiance is due to their extraordinary metabolism and adaptations. Their wide applications include therapeutics, cosmeceuticals, wastewater remediation, biofuels, antioxidative enzymes, agriculture, and so on. This book highlights the important aspects pertinent to the fascinating world of cyanobacteria covering diverse topics such as electron microscopic dimension, cultivation, stress, and adaptations. This book provides insights into the world of tiny microbial factories and unravels the potentials for their futuristic innovative applications as precursors of drug molecules, eco-friendly renewable energy sources, remediation, and reservoirs of diverse value-added products for a better and brighter tomorrow.

"Vasculitis" describes an inflammatory process that involves the blood vessels and contributes to vascular damage. Autoimmunity, infections, drugs, and malignancies have been considered among potential etio-pathogenic factors. In vasculitis, the inflammation might develop in either a systemic or an organ-specific form and might exist as an independent pathology "primary vasculitis" or as a presentation of an existing primary pathology, that is, "secondary vasculitis". This book Vasculitis In Practice-An Update on Special Situations - Clinical and Therapeutic Considerations unlike many publications in the field, uses a different evidence-based approach to organ-specific vascular inflammatory diseases. The authors highlighted the unmet needs from the 1994 Chapel Hill Consensus Conference introducing the latest clinically relevant definitions for the different forms of vasculitis revised in 2012. The identification, classification, and management of kidney disease with different types of vasculitis with an evidence-based update on proposed therapeutic strategies are presented in this publication.

Health sciences require up-to-date and reliable information for decision-making related to the provision of health services and care. For this it is necessary that health professionals carry out relevant and correct research or appraise the available clinical research. Among the different research designs, cohort studies were developed over a century ago as a powerful methodological tool to determine risk factors for different events or health outcomes. Despite their potential biases and limitations, which are inherent in any epidemiological study, the findings derived from cohort studies provide a high level of evidence for health decision-making. In addition, for many questions derived from health care, and due to the ethical concern or logistic impossibility of conducting a clinical trial, the cohort study can be the best option for clinical research. This book highlights the main characteristics of cohort studies: comparative advantages and disadvantages and their main strengths and limitations; and through examples shows the contribution of findings from cohort studies to be used in the health field.

Epidemiological studies show that weight loss has many health benefits, so different strategies have been explored to lose weight, with health and esthetic reasons being the base of those strategies. Weight loss may be the result of pathologies, so both intentional and unintentional weight loss are different situations, each being a relevant focus of study. Along with that distinction, gender and ethnic topics are also relevant aspects, and different chapters of this book are related to male vs. female topics as well as to cultural differences related to weight loss. Childhood obesity from a parenting style perspective is also developed in this book. Finally, it must be noted that activity is essential to improve body composition and also to keep an ideal weight.