Biomineralization : From molecular and nano-structural analyses to environmental science
Over the past 45 years, biomineralization research has unveiled details of the characteristics of the nano-structure of various biominerals; the formation mechanism of this nano-structure, including the initial stage of crystallization; and the function of organic matrices in biominerals, and this knowledge has been applied to dental, medical, pharmaceutical, materials, agricultural and environmental sciences and paleontology. As such, biomineralization is an important interdisciplinary research area, and further advances are expected in both fundamental and applied research.
Bio-mechanisms of swimming and flying ; Fluid dynamics, biomimetic robots, and sports science
This book follows "Bio-mechanisms of Animals in Swimming and Flying" published in 2004 including 11 chapters. This time, the book includes 31 chapters on the latest researches into natural autonomous systems and locomotion in both flying and swimming organisms. The area of sports science such as analysis and simulation of human swimming is newly added. The computational frameworks for the modeling, simulation and optimization of animals in swimming and flying demonstrate an important role in the progress of interdisciplinary work in the fields of biology and engineering. An innovative technology is exhibited for the flight of an insect size micro air vehicle. Neuronal science is not only unveiling the locomotion mechanisms of swimming in fish from the aspect of the neuronal activities, but also applied to underwater biomimetic robots. The interdisciplinary works are exhibited in the fields of biology and engineering, yielding real-world benefits in innovative technologies.
Biomarkers as targeted herbal drug discovery : A pharmacological approach to nanomedicines
Looks at the applications of biomarkers as important tools for herbal drug discovery, presenting research on phytoconstituents with advanced nanotechnological applications for healthcare benefits. Herbal drug discovery based on biomarkers is an emerging area in complementary and alternative medicine that has tremendous potential in healthcare. Conventional medications have limited efficacy and high toxicity, whereas herbal drugs are said to provide wide structural diversity that is not usually seen with conventional/synthetic drug molecules. Recognition of various herbal constituents, such as terpenoids, fatty acids, flavonoids and steroids, are well explored in the management and treatment of various disorders in this volume. These agents target various biomarkers such as nitric oxide (NO), cytokines, chemokines, adhesion molecules, NF- kβ, lipoxygenase (LOX), and arachidonic acid. Reviews the literature on inflammatory biomarkers in the treatment of diseases Looks at the development of herbal drug discovery based on biomarkers Explores emerging concepts of nanomedicines for herbal drug delivery Takes an interdisciplinary approach, with application to disciplines related to medical, pharmaceutical, biotechnological, Ayurvedic, Unani and biomedical engineering fields
Biological processes associated with impact events
The biological effects of asteroid and comet impacts have been widely viewed as primarily destructive. The role of an impactor in the K/T boundary extinctions has had a particularly important influence on thinking concerning the role of impacts in ecological and biological changes. th During the 10 and final workshop of the ESF IMPACT program during March 2003, we sought to investigate the wider aspects of the involvement of impact events in biological processes, including the beneficial role of these events from the prebiotic through to the ecosystem level. The ESF IMPACT programme (1998-2003) was an interdisciplinary effort that is aimed at understanding impact processes and their effects on the Earth environment, including environmental, geological and biological changes.
Bioinorganic electrochemistry
Interfacial electrochemistry of redox metalloproteins and DNA-based molecules is presently moving towards new levels of structural and functional resolution. This is the result of powerful interdisciplinary efforts. Underlying fundamentals of biological electron and proton transfer is increasingly well understood although with outstanding unresolved issues. Comprehensive bioelectrochemical studies have mapped the working environments for bioelectrochemical electron transfer, supported by the availability of mutant proteins and other powerful biotechnology. Introduction of surface spectroscopy, the scanning probe microscopies, and other solid state and surface physics methodology has finally offered exciting new fundamental and technological openings in interfacial bioelectrochemistry of both redox proteins and DNA-based molecules.
Bioinformatics Using Computational Intelligence Paradigms
Bioinformatics as well as Computational Intelligence are undoubtedly remarkably fast growing fields of research and real-world applications with enormous potential for current and future developments. "Bioinformatics using Computational Intelligence Paradigms" contains recent theoretical approaches and guiding applications of biologically inspired information processing systems(Computational Intelligence) against the background of bioinformatics. This carefully edited monograph combines the latest results of Bioinformatics and Computational Intelligence and offers a promising cross-fertilisation and interdisciplinary work between these growing fields.
Biofuels and sustainability : Holistic perspectives for policy-making
This open access book presents a comprehensive analysis of biofuel use strategies from an interdisciplinary perspective using sustainability science. This interdisciplinary perspective (social science-natural science) means that the strategies and policy options proposed will have significant impacts on the economy and society alike. Biofuels are expected to contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, revitalizing economies in agricultural communities and alleviating poverty. However, despite these anticipated benefits, international organizations such as the FAO, OECD and UN have published reports expressing concerns that biofuel promotion may lead to deforestation, water pollution and water shortages. The impacts of biofuel use are extensive, cross-sectoral and complex, and as such, comprehensive analyses are required in order to assess the extent to which biofuels can contribute to sustainable societies.
Bioethics in Cultural Contexts : Reflections on Methods and Finitude
This book discusses a range of methodological issues for an interdisciplinary bioethics. How can bioethics be an enterprise that does not only isolate issues and moral reasons but also (re)contextualises them? What are the strengths and weaknesses of different traditional and innovative modes of ethical work in terms of these tasks?
Bioethics in a Small World
Bioethics has addressed many of the issues that arise in the context of globalisation. This book presents the results of a conference the Europaische Akademie held in 2003 which developed its thesis in open discussions of foundational and applied problems of bioethics from an interdisciplinary and international perspective.
Bioelectricity : A Quantitative Approach
"The authors’ goal in producing this book was to provide an introductory text to electrophysiology, based on a quantitative approach. In attempting to achieve this goal, therefore, the authors have opened the book with a useful, and digestible, introduction to various aspects of the mathematics relevant to this field, including vectors, introduction to Laplace, Gauss’s theorem, and Green’s theorem. This book will be useful for students in medical physics and biomedical engineering wishing to enter the field of electrophysiological investigation. It will also be helpful for biologists and physiologists who wish to understand the mathematical treatment of the processes and signals at the center of the interesting interdisciplinary field.
Bioeconomy : Shaping the transition to a sustainable, biobased economy
This book defines the new field of "Bioeconomy" as the sustainable and innovative use of biomass and biological knowledge to provide food, feed, industrial products, bioenergy and ecological services. The chapters highlight the importance of bioeconomy-related concepts in public, scientific, and political discourse. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the authors outline the dimensions of the bioeconomy as a means of achieving sustainability.
Big Data in Context : Legal, Social and Technological Insights
Sheds new light on a selection of big data scenarios from an interdisciplinary perspective. It features legal, sociological and economic approaches to fundamental big data topics such as privacy, data quality and the ECJ’s Safe Harbor decision on the one hand, and practical applications such as smart cars, wearables and web tracking on the other. Addressing the interests of researchers and practitioners alike, it provides a comprehensive overview of and introduction to the emerging challenges regarding big data.All contributions are based on papers submitted in connection with ABIDA (Assessing Big Data), an interdisciplinary research project exploring the societal aspects of big data and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Beam Instrumentation and Diagnostics
This treatise covers all aspects of the design and the daily operations of a beam diagnostic system for a large particle accelerator. A very interdisciplinary field, it involves contributions from physicists, electrical and mechanical engineers and computer experts alike so as to satisfy the ever-increasing demands for beam parameter variability for a vast range of operation modi and particles. The author draws upon 40 years of research and work, most of them spent as the head of the beam diagnostics group at GSI. He has illustrated the more theoretical aspects with many real-life examples that will provide beam instrumentation designers with ideas and tools for their work.
Balloon Kyphoplasty
This book focuses on balloon kyphoplasty and alter- tive minimally invasive treatments for stabilization of osteoporotic vertebral fractures. The optimal treatment of a patient with osteoporotic vertebral fractures requires an interdisciplinary - proach, and therefore our book draws on the expertise of orthopedic surgeons, traumatologists and neu- surgeons, and also includes a chapter on medical treatment.
Attention in Cognitive Systems : Theories and Systems from an Interdisciplinary Viewpoint ; 4th International Workshop on Attention in Cognitive Systems, WAPCV 2007 Hyderabad, India, January 8, 2007 Revised Selected Papers
The embodied nature of sensory-motor intelligence requires a continuous and focused interplay between the control of motor activities and the interpretation of feedback from perceptual modalities. Decision making about the selection of information from the incoming sensory stream – in tune with contextual processing on a current task and an agent’s global objectives – becomes a further challenging issue in attentional control. Attention must operate at interfaces between bottom-up driven world int- pretation and top-down driven information selection, thus acting at the core of arti?cial cognitive systems. These insights have already induced changes in AI-related disciplines, such as the design of behavior-based robot control and the computational modeling of animats. Today, the development of enabling technologiessuch as autonomous robotic systems,miniaturizedmobile–evenwearable–sensors,andambientintelligence systems involves the real-time analysis of enormous quantities of data. These data have to be processed in an intelligent way to provide “on time delivery” of the required relevant information. Knowledge has to be applied about what needs to be attended to, and when, and what to do in a meaningful sequence, in correspondence with visual feedback.
Attention and Performance in Computational Vision ; 2nd International Workshop, WAPCV 2004, Prague, Czech Republic, May 15, 2004, Revised Selected Papers
This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Attention and Performance in Computational Vision, WAPCV 2004, held in Prague, Czech Republic in May 2004. The goal of this workshop was to provide an interdisciplinary forum tocommunicatecomputationalmodelsofvisualattentionfromvariousviewpoints,such as from computer vision, psychology, robotics and neuroscience. The motivation for - terdisciplinarity was communication and inspiration beyond the individual community, to focus discussion on computational modelling, to outline relevant objectives for p- formance comparison, to explore promising application domains, and to discuss these with reference to all related aspects of cognitive vision.
Astrobiology : Future perspectives
Astrobiology, a new exciting interdisciplinary research field, seeks to unravel the origin and evolution of life wherever it might exist in the Universe. The current view of the origin of life on Earth is that it is strongly connected to the origin and evolution of our planet and, indeed, of the Universe as a whole. We are fortunate to be living in an era where centuries of speculation about the two ancient and fundamental problems: the origin of life and its prevalence in the Universe are being replaced by experimental science. The subject of Astrobiology can be approached from many different perspectives. This book is focused on abiogenic organic matter from the viewpoint of astronomy and planetary science and considers its potential relevance to the origins of life on Earth and elsewhere. Guided by the review papers in this book, the concluding chapter aims to identify key questions to motivate future research and stimulate astrobiological applications of current and future research facilities and space missions. Today’s rich array of new spacecraft, telescopes and dedicated scientists promises a steady flow of discoveries and insights that will ultimately lead us to the answers we seek.
Arts and health promotion : Tools and bridges for practice, research, and social transformation
This book offers an overview of the beautiful, powerful, and dynamic array of opportunities to promote health through the arts from theoretical, methodological, pedagogical, and critical perspectives. This is the first-known text to connect the disparate inter-disciplinary literatures into a coherent volume for health promotion practitioners, researchers, and teachers. It provides a one-stop depository for using the arts as tools for health promotion in many settings and as bridges across communities, cultures, and sectors.
Artistic cartography and design explorations towards the pluriverse
Explores the pluriverse of art and design through epistemological and methodological considerations. What kinds of sustainable ways are there for knowledge transfer, supporting plural agendas, finding novel ways for unsettling conversations, unlearning and learning and challenging power structures with marginalised groups and contexts through art and design? The main themes of the book are art and design methods, epistemologies and practices that provide critical, interdisciplinary, pluriversal and decolonial considerations. The book challenges the domination of the white logic of art and design and shifts away from the Anglo-European one-world system towards the pluriverse.
Artificial intelligence techniques for satellite image analysis
The main objective of this book is to provide a common platform for diverse concepts in satellite image processing. In particular it presents the state-of-the-art in Artificial Intelligence (AI) methodologies and shares findings that can be translated into real-time applications to benefit humankind. Interdisciplinary in its scope, the book will be of interest to both newcomers and experienced scientists working in the fields of satellite image processing, geo-engineering, remote sensing and Artificial Intelligence. It can be also used as a supplementary textbook for graduate students in various engineering branches related to image processing.



















