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With globalisation on the rise and capitalism expanding, social responsibility, corporate as well as individual social responsibility, plays an important part to save the natural environment and improve the lives of citizens. But how responsibly do corporations and ordinary citizens act in order to meet the demands of our fast-changing world? Authors from different universities contribute their knowledge on this open-access platform to be shared at a global level. This book starts off by contemplating whether the concept of world society could be an ice-breaker for a global shift in sociology (Wittmann); it critically assesses social responsibility of Spanish university students (Ramos), discusses professional social responsibility in engineering (Bielefeldt), looks at conflicts in Kenya's mining industry (Abuya) and evaluates the public healthcare system in Italy (Comite) and the corporate and consumer social responsibility in the Italian food industry (Boccia

This book deals with the microorganism Salmonella. This bacterium is well known for a long time, being involved in systemic (typhus and paratyphus infections) and nonsystemic diseases such as food poisoning. Major and minor Salmonellae are widespread worldwide in developing countries and industrialized areas, respectively. In 2015, about 3576 Salmonella strains have been isolated from human infections in Italy. S. typhimurium and S. enteritidis are the most prevalent serotypes and represent 80% of cases of infections over the last 10 years. The antibiotic susceptibility decrease over the last decades is a big issue in the management of this bacterium, once considered easy to treat. The use of antibiotic combinations in order to overcome the microorganism resistance should be hoped.

This book is designed to provide an overview of the different genotoxicants and their effects on living organisms, including humans. The contributions made by the specialists in this field of research are gratefully acknowledged. We hope that the information presented in this book will meet the expectations and needs of all those interested in the different aspects of the genotoxicity field. The publication of this book is of great importance to those scientists, pharmacologists, physicians and veterinarians, as well as engineers, teachers, graduate students and administrators of environmental programmes, who make use of these investigations to understand both the basic and applied genotoxic aspects of known and new xenobiotics, and to guide them in their future investigations.

Occupational health and safety (OHS) is an important focus of governments and organizations throughout the world because there are over 2.78 million fatal and 374 million nonfatal work-related injuries and illnesses experienced by employees every year. Addressing these requires paying attention to the physical organizational, cultural, and social contexts amidst which work is undertaken. A multidisciplinary approach is also necessary in finding effective solutions. Interestingly, countries and regions address different aspects of OHS depending on what OHS hazards and risks are important to them. This book, based on research from Australia, Belgium, Ghana, Malaysia, Turkey, and Slovakia, examines how a range of OHS hazards are addressed in these contexts. We believe that this is an important first step in addressing an age-old OHS problem through a multiregional collaboration.

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a problem so common and so significant in routine clinical practice that accurate diagnostics are especially important. In particular, complicated UTI is associated with an increased rate of therapy failures, as a result of possible biofilm formation on foreign elements and antibiotic resistance, as well as the increased possibility of an infection recurrence. These are the arguments for the constant search for novel diagnostic tools and techniques. These and many other vital topics regarding UTI complications, management, and treatment, in addition to antibiotic resistance and bacterial virulence traits allowing us to mitigate or avoid antibiotic action, are presented in this book.

Thalassemia is a very common disease first described by pediatrician Thomas Benton Cooley in 1925 who described it in a patient of Italian origin. At that time, it was designated as Cooley's anemia. George Hoyt Whipple, a Nobel prize winner, and W. L. Bradford, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Rochester, coined the term thalassemia in 1936, which in Greek means anemia of the sea (Thalassa means "sea", and emia means "blood"), due to the fact that it is very common in the area of the Mediterranean Sea. This name is actually misleading because it can occur everywhere in the world. Thalassemia is not a single disease; it is rather a group of hereditary disorders of the production of globulin chain of the hemoglobin. Throughout the world, thalassemia affects approximately 4.4 of every 10,000 live births. It represents a major social and emotional impact on the patient and his family and a major burden on health services where the prevalence is high.

The sensory nervous system is of critical importance in our daily lives and contributes to our personal well-being and safety as well as communication with others. However, it is only when disease or injury impair its function that we fully appreciate the relevance of our sensory modalities. During the past decades, research of our senses has seen an ever-growing interest in this exciting field of study. This book provides the reader with an overview of the current state-of-the-art of research of our senses and focuses on the most important evidence-based developments in this area. This book addresses both the physiology and pathophysiology of our sensory nervous system ranging from molecular, cellular, and systems to cognitive and behavioral topics. Individual chapters focus on recent advances in specific areas of sensory systems in different model organisms and humans. All chapters represent recent contributions to the rapidly developing field of sensory science.

Fundamental societal changes resulted from the necessity of people to get organized in mining, transporting, processing, and circulating the heavy metals and their follow-up products, which in consequence resulted in a differentiation of society into diversified professions and even societal strata. Heavy metals are highly demanded technological materials, which drive welfare and progress of the human society, and often play essential metabolic roles. However, their eminent toxicity challenges the field of chemistry, physics, engineering, cleaner production, electronics, metabolomics, botany, biotechnology, and microbiology in an interdisciplinary and cross-sectorial manner. Today, all these scientific disciplines are called to dedicate their efforts in a synergistic way to avoid exposure of heavy metals into the eco- and biosphere, to reliably monitor and quantify heavy metal contamination, and to foster the development of novel strategies to remediate damage caused by heavy metals.

Molecular docking has always been and will be on the forefront of developments in the eminent field of drug design and medicinal chemistry. At the early days, drug discovery was based on blackboard drawings and expert intuition. However, as times move on, the amount of available information and overall knowledge base that needs to be analyzed cannot be processed manually. This, coupled by the rapid growth in computational infrastructure and processing power, has allowed for the efficient use of molecular docking tools and algorithms to be considered in the greater field of drug discovery. In the postgenomic era, molecular docking has become the key player for the screening of hundreds of thousands of compounds against a repertoire of pharmacological targets.

Nature-inspired algorithms have a great popularity in the current scientific community, being the focused scope of many research contributions in the literature year by year. The rationale behind the acquired momentum by this broad family of methods lies on their outstanding performance evinced in hundreds of research fields and problem instances. This book gravitates on the development of nature-inspired methods and their application to stochastic, dynamic and robust optimization. Topics covered by this book include the design and development of evolutionary algorithms, bio-inspired metaheuristics, or memetic methods, with empirical, innovative findings when used in different subfields of mathematical optimization, such as stochastic, dynamic, multimodal and robust optimization, as well as noisy optimization and dynamic and constraint satisfaction problems.

Fusarium species are ubiquitous environmental fungi and can cause severe invasive infections in plants. They are crop pathogens, and consumption of such infected crops can cause diseases in humans and animals. Furthermore, they act as spoilage organisms in stored products, such as wheat, sorghum, rice, and corn (maize). Fusarium species are mycotoxin producers and contaminate food and grains. Therefore, their eradication and management have economic importance as they can cause enormous economic and agricultural production losses. Despite the fact that the genus Fusarium Link (1809) has been known for over 200 years, new scientific information is being revealed by rapid advancements and breakthrough findings of interdisciplinary studies. This book presents an introductory overview of an update to the scientific knowledge about Fusarium. It discusses various aspects of Fusarium, such as its genetic diversity, root rot incidence and severity, genetic resistance, molecular markers, mycotoxins, diseases caused by Fusarium, and their management and the biological control of these phytopathogens. Furthermore, it also elaborates upon new plant secondary metabolites that are effective against Fusarium and the molecular interaction between Fusarium and the plant.

Titanium dioxide is currently being used in many industrial products. It provides unique photocatalytic properties for water splitting and purification, bacterial inactivation, and organics degradation. It has also been widely used as the photoanode for dye-sensitized solar cells and coatings for self-cleaning surfaces, biomedical implants, and nanomedicine. This book covers various aspects of titanium dioxide nanomaterials including their unique one-dimensional, two-dimensional, mesoporous, and hierarchical nanostructures and their synthetic methods such as sol-gel, hydrothermal, anodic oxidation, and electrophoretic deposition, as well as its key applications in environmental and energy sectors. Through these 24 chapters written by experts from the international scientific community, readers will have access to a comprehensive overview of the recent research and development findings on the titanium dioxide nanomaterials.

There are many different types of cancer. Some are very common; others are rare. Having some similar features, each cancer has its own characteristics and symptoms, which vary according to the type of cancer and where it is in the body. The treatment selected may be influenced by the patient's age, concurrent health problems, life expectancy, characteristics of the individual's cancer, the patient's goals of treatment, and the bias of the treating physician. In preparing this book, we have considered and reflected on the concept of the recent advances in cancer management and therapy as well as molecular applications in cancer therapy. The readers can find detailed information about the treatment and management of specific cancers in these book chapters.

The worldwide consumption of fossil fuel continues to increase at unsustainable levels, which will lead to progressive scarcity, if immediate and innovative measures are not taken for its sustainable use. This scarcity necessitates the development of renewable and sustainable alternatives for fossil fuels. A possible solution to today's energy challenges can be provided by biofuels. This book intends to provide the reader with a comprehensive overview of the current status and the future implications of biofuels. Diverse and aptly covered comprehensive information in this book will directly enhance both basic and applied research in biofuels and will particularly be useful for students, scientists, breeders, growers, ecologists, industrialists and policy makers. It will be a valuable reference point to improve biofuels in the areas of ecologically and economically sustainable bioenergy research.

The use of copper, silver, gold and platinum in jewelry as a measure of wealth is well known. This book contains 19 chapters written by international authors on other uses and applications of noble and precious metals (copper, silver, gold, platinum, palladium, iridium, osmium, rhodium, ruthenium, and rhenium). The topics covered include surface-enhanced Raman scattering, quantum dots, synthesis and properties of nanostructures, and its applications in the diverse fields such as high-tech engineering, nanotechnology, catalysis, and biomedical applications. The basis for these applications is their high-free electron concentrations combined with high-temperature stability and corrosion resistance and methods developed for synthesizing nanostructures. Recent developments in all these areas with up-to-date references are emphasized.

Space has always been intriguing people's imagination. However, space flight has only been feasible over the last 60 years. The collective effort of distinguished international researchers, within the field of space flight, has been incorporated into this book suitable to the broader audience. The book has been edited by Prof. George Dekoulis, Aerospace Engineering Institute (AEI), Cyprus, an expert on the state-of-the-art implementations of reconfigurable space physics systems. The book consists of six sections, namely, "Introduction," "Spacecraft Simulators," "Spacecraft Navigation," "Spacecraft Propulsion," "Suborbital Flight," and "Deep-Space Flight." We hope that this book will be beneficial for professionals, researchers, and academicians and inspires the younger generations into pursuing relevant academic studies and professional careers within the space industry.

For thousands of years, cataract surgery continues to be the "pearl" of ophthalmic surgery. It is explained by the fact that cataract removal always leads to an increase in visual acuity of patients. A new technology of cataract removal, phacoemulsification, was introduced by Charles Kelman in 1967. Despite this, it was difficult for the surgeons to transform from extracapsular cataract extraction to the new method - phacoemulsification. Recently, in the ophthalmological practice, the method of femtolaser cataract surgery (FLACS) has been introduced. This method allows you to automatically perform the basic stages of cataract surgery - corneal incisions, capsulorhexis, nucleus fracture. At the same time, to apply the various techniques of cataract surgery, the surgeon must possess virtually all the necessary techniques. This is dictated by the fact that, as a rule, cataract itself is rarely isolated - senile. Knowledge of the basic rules of cataract surgery, the use of pupillary rings and iris retractors in narrow pupils, the use of capsular rings in subluxations of the lens, the use of special modes of phaco in severe late cataracts, and a comprehensive clinical way of thinking can undoubtedly reduce the complications of cataract surgery.

Bismuth (Bi) is a post-transition metal element with the atomic number of 83, which belongs to the pnictogen group elements in Period 6 in the elemental periodic table. As a heavy metal, the hazard of Bi is unusually low in contrast to its neighbors Pb and Sb. This property, along with other typical characteristics like strong diamagnetism and low thermal conductivity, makes Bi attractive in industrial applications. There are more than 100 commercial bismuth products, from pharmaceutical to industrial catalysts. Based on the wide applications of Bi materials, this book goes further and mainly focuses on the potential uses of Bi-based materials, which consist of nine chapters. In addition, a special chapter concerning the defect in bismuth is also presented.

Our anatomy and physiology have been completely shaped by Earth's gravity. All body systems function in synergy with this unseen force. Yet, as we journey further and longer into space, our bodies must conform to a new reality, wherein gravity is absent or reduced, cosmic radiation threatens and our social and familial connections become distant. Into Space: A Journey of How Humans Adapt and Live in Microgravity gives an overview of some of the physiological, anatomical and cellular changes that occur in space and their effects on different body systems, such as the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal, and touches on cultural and psychosocial aspects of leaving behind family and the safety of Earth. It further addresses the complexity of manned space flights, showing how interdisciplinary this subject is and discussing the challenges that space physiologists, physicians and scientists must face as humans seek to conquer the final frontier.

Goat science covers quite a wide range and varieties of topics, from genetics and breeding, via nutrition, production systems, reproduction, milk and meat production, animal health and parasitism, etc., up to the effects of goat products on human health. In this book, several parts of them are presented within 18 different chapters. Molecular genetics and genetic improvement of goats are the new approaches of goat development. Several factors affect the passage rate of digesta in goats, but for diet properties, goats are similar to other ruminants. Iodine deficiency in goats could be dangerous. Assisted reproduction techniques have similar importance in goats like in other ruminants. Milk and meat production traits of goats are almost equally important and have significant positive impacts on human health. Many factors affect the health of goats, heat stress being of increasing importance. Production systems could modify all of the abovementioned characteristics of goats.

Corticosteroids are mainly used to reduce inflammation and suppress the immune system. Corticosteroids will only be prescribed if the potential benefits of treatment outweigh the risks. They will also be prescribed at the lowest effective dose for the shortest possible time. This book will strive to highlight the importance of corticosteroids, to focus on minimizing side effects, to monitor and sensitize the population on the potential adverse effects of misuse, to provide additional knowledge about the design and development of new drug delivery systems loaded with corticosteroids potentially useful in the treatment of chronic inflammatory-based diseases, and to reduce inflammation and affect the immune system. The major objective of this book will be to present the information in a lucid, condensed, and cohesive form and to specially cater to the needs of readers in medicine and pharmacy.

The editor has incorporated contributions from a diverse group of leading researchers in the field of differential equations. This book aims to provide an overview of the current knowledge in the field of differential equations. The main subject areas are divided into general theory and applications. These include fixed point approach to solution existence of differential equations, existence theory of differential equations of arbitrary order, topological methods in the theory of ordinary differential equations, impulsive fractional differential equations with finite delay and integral boundary conditions, an extension of Massera's theorem for n-dimensional stochastic differential equations, phase portraits of cubic dynamic systems in a Poincare circle, differential equations arising from the three-variable Hermite polynomials and computation of their zeros and reproducing kernel method for differential equations. Applications include local discontinuous Galerkin method for nonlinear Ginzburg-Landau equation, general function method in transport boundary value problems of theory of elasticity and solution of nonlinear partial differential equations by new Laplace variational iteration method. Existence/uniqueness theory of differential equations is presented in this book with applications that will be of benefit to mathematicians, applied mathematicians and researchers in the field. The book is written primarily for those who have some knowledge of differential equations and mathematical analysis. The authors of each section bring a strong emphasis on theoretical foundations to the book.

Arid environments are basically associated with water scarcity. Therefore, soils will have an extremely low moisture level to support plant and animal life as well as human social life. Sustainability is the long durability of systems and processes within various adapted environmental conditions. Recently, systematic scientific studies on arid environments and sustainability have become more attractive, critical, and sound than the previous years. Sharing such experiences related to different environmental circumstances will absolutely help scientists and decision-makers to have better interpretation of their own environment. By learning lessons, appropriate, fast, and effective approaches require to implement for overwhelming such problems. Such actions will certainly lead to more secure and sustainable environments for plant, animal, and human life.

Cancer risk factors include exposure to certain substances, which may contribute to the development of cancer. However, substances can have different levels of cancer-causing potential, and the risk of developing cancer is dependent on several factors, including individual genetic background and the amount and duration of the exposure. This book focuses on various cancer risk factors, covering numerous known, probable, and possible carcinogens; their role in carcinogenesis; mechanisms of carcinogenicity; and methods for detecting carcinogens. And due to the growing concerns over the effects that substances and environmental exposures can have on human health, the chapters also emphasize on the vital need for further topic-related research as well as development and implementation of beneficial approaches.

This book focuses on metagenomics for gut microbiomes. The host is deprived of various benefits derived from the numerous gut microbes for food metabolism and health. However, polysaccharides such as cellulose, xylans, resistant starch, and inulin that are found in vegetables in our diet are digested by certain species that colonize the intestines. In contrast, metagenomic studies that reiterate microbiome intrinsic factors from particular communities and lifestyles and are extremely important for bacterial communities traveling over a long distance have entered a new era. Predominantly to understand the behavior of organisms and their action in a host, next-generation sequencing will provide a new insight into analyzing the livestock industry, agriculture, and human health risks and will consider for future development novel therapies for various diseases through identification of advanced tools. Hence, the book will give more precise information on the role of gut microbiomes in the host.

The book Potassium - Improvement of Quality in Fruits and Vegetables Through Hydroponic Nutrient Management provides useful information regarding potassium nutrition management in hydroponic cultivation, which will help in producing quality horticultural crops. The first few chapters describe the role of potassium nutrition in plants, its interaction with other nutrients, its source fertilizers, the role in postharvest produce qualities, and human nutrition. Potassium fertilizer management, its metabolism in plants, and cultivation techniques of fruits and leafy vegetables are also included in the middle section. The final chapter illustrates the software development for the calculation of hydroponic nutrients including potassium for easy management of cultural solution. As a whole, this book covers several major aspects on the topic for making it a complete and useful resource.

Taxes are a constant part of life for every company and a constant element of economics, finance, and financial law. Any changes observed in the science and theory also apply to the importance and position of taxes in the practice of corporate finance, public finance, and economic growth. Beside this, a new meaning of taxes in the economies of countries in the world and the European Union is introduced. Taxes will always introduce risks and uncertainties in business, due to the high volatility and uncertainty of tax law. Moreover, being a category that affects the economic growth, they cause disturbances in stability and welfare of the state. Therefore, while considering the essence of taxes in a country, one should not consider this category in isolation from corporate finance and social welfare. Two things are certain in the world: death and taxes.

Cotton, a source of natural fiber for textile industry, has a long breeding history aiming at increasing cotton fiber yield and its quality. Newly developed cotton varieties poorly respond in low-input environments. Secondly, the impact of changing climate may threaten the cotton production in the future. To address these challenges, efforts toward the development of resilient cotton varieties have been initiated using genetic and modern genomic approaches. In this book, research updates on cotton fiber types and properties, DNA markers for selecting desirable cotton plants, and cotton fiber genomics were compiled. Also, the modern breeding trends including development of transgenic cotton and the biosafety studies and possibilities of improving cotton genome using modern genome editing tools were also compressively discussed.

The development of diabetic retinopathy is a long slow process affected by hyperglycemia, hypertension, lipid levels and genetics. It is expected that in 20 years' duration nearly all those with diabetes will exhibit diabetic retinopathy. In some patients, it will progress to blindness. While the number of individuals with diabetes increases, our current treatments are only effective at advanced levels of disease. Further, our screening methods to detect those needing treatment are currently not optimal. Early Events in Diabetic Retinopathy and Intervention Strategies covers topics addressing imaging processes currently available in the development of diabetic retinopathy screening. Potential biomarkers, that may be used to identify those at risk and illuminate the new pathways which lead to diabetic retinopathy, are expounded.

Surface waves have drawn a significant attention and interest in the recent years in a broad range of commercial applications, while their commercial developments have been supported by fundamental and applied research studies. This book is a result of contributions of experts from international scientific community working in different aspects of surface waves and reports on the state-of-the-art research and development findings on this topic through original and innovative research studies. It contains up-to-date publications of leading experts, and the edition is intended to furnish valuable recent information to the professionals involved in surface wave analysis and applications. The text is addressed not only to researchers but also to professional engineers, students, and other experts in various disciplines, both academic and industrial, seeking to gain a better understanding of what has been done in the field recently and what kind of open problems are in this area.