الصفحة 3
الصفحة 3
Networked Embedded Sensing and Control ; Workshop NESC'05 : University of Notre Dame, USA, October 2005 Proceedings
Recent technological developments in sensing, communications, control and computation have created an emerging class of complex systems hereon called networked embedded systems. These systems can be roughly described as collections of spatially distributed sensors, actuators and controllers whose behaviour is coordinated through wired or wireless communication links. This integration between different technologies and scientific domains presents new and challenging fundamental problems underlying the theoretical foundations for this class of systems. This workshop aims at bringing together researchers working of different aspects of networked embedded systems in order to exchange research experiences and to identify the main scientific challenges in this exciting new area.
Neonatal Immunity
New advances in cellular immunology, molecular biology, recombinant DNA and proteins, and the function of cytokines and chemokines have revolutionized the study of neonatal immune responsiveness. In Neonatal Immunity, Constantin Bona, MD, critically reviews the classic, as well as most recent-and quite seminal-findings concerning the phenotypic and molecular characteristics of both fetal and neonatal B and T cells, the cells that mediate antibody and cellular immune responses in newborns and infants. Dr. Bona shows how the antibody response of neonates is modulated by maternal antibodies and how, in certain cases, this can cause transient or life-threatening neonatal autoimmune disease. He also describes the characteristics of neonatal tolerance induced by foreign allo- and self-antigens, which are the basis for understanding impaired infant immune response and which provide a rationale for the development of efficient neonatal vaccines. By making clear the characteristics and differences between the immune system and the immune responses of both newborns and infants, compared to those of adults, Dr. Bona offers insights and challenging hypotheses that promise to help overcome the poor responses of neonates to various antigens. Authoritative and forward-looking, Neonatal Immunity critically reviews what we know of the neonatal immune response today, and how this is dramatically opening new therapeutic horizons in such areas as infant vaccination, stem cells, gene therapy, and transplantation.
Nearest Neighbor Search : A Database Perspective
Modern applications are both data and computationally intensive and require the storage and manipulation of voluminous traditional (alphanumeric) and nontraditional data sets (images, text, geometric objects, time-series). Examples of such emerging application domains are: Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Multimedia Information Systems, CAD/CAM, Time-Series Analysis, Medical Information Sstems, On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP), and Data Mining. These applications pose diverse requirements with respect to the information and the operations that need to be supported. From the database perspective, new techniques and tools therefore need to be developed towards increased processing efficiency. This monograph explores the way spatial database management systems aim at supporting queries that involve the space characteristics of the underlying data, and discusses query processing techniques for nearest neighbor queries. It provides both basic concepts and state-of-the-art results in spatial databases and parallel processing research, and studies numerous applications of nearest neighbor queries.
Natures Principles
One of the most basic problems in the philosophy of science involves determining the extent to which nature is governed by laws. This volume presents a wide-ranging overview of the contemporary debate and includes some of its foremost participants. It begins with an extensive introduction describing the historical, logical and philosophical background of the problems dealt with in the essays. Among the topics treated in the essays is the relationship between laws of nature and causal laws as well as the role of ceteris paribus clauses in scientific explanations. Traditionally, the problem of the unity of science was intimately connected to the problem of understanding the unity of nature. This fourth volume of Logic, Epistemology, and the Unity of Science tackles these problems as part of our consideration of the most fundamental aspects of scientific understanding.
Natural Resistance Mechanisms of Plants to Viruses
Resistance phenomena such as the local lesion response, induced resistance, "green islands" and resistance in various crop plants are linked with new information on gene-silencing mechanisms, gene silencing suppressors, movement proteins and plasmodesmatal gating, downstream signalling components, and more.
Natural products and human diseases : Pharmacology, molecular targets, and therapeutic benefits
Provides insight into the clinical and translational application of natural products in human diseases Details the impact of natural products on a molecular basis Describes the identification of biomarkers, therapeutic effects of phytochemicals, and and new targets
Natural Products : Drug Discovery and Therapeutic Medicine
Although the natural product drug discovery programs of the large drug companies are now equaled by programs for the high throughput screening of synthetic compounds generated through combinatorial chemistry, natural compounds still hold great promise to overcome such problems as antibiotic resistance, the emergence of new diseases, the failure to conquer old diseases, and the toxicity of some contemporary medical products. In Natural Products: Drug Discovery and Therapeutic Medicine, a panel of recognized experts and leaders in the field discuss the past successes of natural products as medicines and review future possibilities arising from both conventional and new technologies. High-performance liquid chromatography profiling, combinatorial synthesis, genomics, proteomics, DNA shuffling, bioinformatics, and genetic manipulation all now make it possible to rapidly evaluate the activities of extracts as well as purified components derived from microbes, plants, and marine organisms. The authors apply these methods to new natural product drug discovery, to accessing microbial diversity, to investigating specific groups of products (Chinese herbal drugs, antitumor drugs from microbes and plants, terpenoids, and arsenic compounds), and to exploiting specific sources (the sea, rainforest, and endophytes). These new opportunities show how research and development trends in the pharmaceutical industry can advance to include both synthetic compounds and natural products, and how this paradigm shift can be more productive and efficacious.
Natural product experiments in drug discovery
Explores a wide range of evidence-based complementary medicine and various bio-analytical techniques used to define botanical products. Collecting recent work and current developments in the field of contemporary phytomedicine as well as their future possibilities in human health care, the book includes unique contributions in the form of chapters on phytomedicine and screening biological activities explained with diverse hyphenated techniques, as well as issues related to herbal medications, such as efficacy, adulteration, safety, toxicity, regulations, and drug delivery. Written for the Springer Protocols Handbooks series, chapters feature advice from experts on how to best conduct future experiments. Extensive and practical, Natural Product Experiments in Drug Discovery serves as an ideal reference for students, professors, and researchers in universities, R&D institutes, pharmaceutical and herbal enterprises, and health organizations.
Natural poisons and venoms: Plant toxins : Polyketides, phenylpropanoids and further compounds
Biogenic toxins are fascinating natural products characterized by an enormous diversity of chemical structures and pharmacological activities. They not only pose hazards to humans and animals, but they are important components in the interplay of substances and living beings in nature and, moreover, important sources for new drugs.
Natural poisons and venom : Plant toxins : Terpenes and steroids
Biogenic toxins are fascinating natural products characterized by an enormous diversity of chemical structures and pharmacological activities. They not only pose hazards to humans and animals, but they are important components in the interplay of substances and living beings in nature and, moreover, important sources for new drugs.
Nanophytomedicine : An emerging platform for drug delivery
Covers recent advances in experimental and theoretical studies on various properties of nanoparticles derived from plant sources. This book assesses the recent advancements and applications of plant-based nanoparticles and also highlights emerging concepts of biomimetics. Contains 24 chapters encompassing various therapeutic applications of phytochemicals derived from plants, ferns, seaweeds, and so on, mediated through nanotechnology and its allied approaches. A fervent attempt has been made to compile every significant advancement in the field of phytonanomedicine so as to accelerate its momentum in the pharmaceutical sector.
Nanomaterials in clinical therapeutics : Synthesis and applications
Nanotechnology-based applications is a rapidly growing field encompassing a diverse range of disciplines that impact our daily lives. Nanotechnology is being used to carry out large-scale reactions in practically every field of biotechnology and healthcare. The incredible progress being made in these applications is particularly true for the healthcare sector, where they are used in cancer detection and treatment, medical implants, tissue engineering, and so forth. Expansions in this discipline are expected to continue in the future, resulting in the creation of a variety of life-saving medical technology and treatment procedures.
Nanomaterials and Nanosystems for Biomedical Applications
The book includes expert reviews on the advances and current problems associated with the implants and nanodevices along with their applications in medicine, pharmaceutics, cancer therapy, gene transfer and drug delivery. The editor, M. R. Mozafari (PhD), has been working in the field of nanobiotechnology for the past 14 years and has produced more than 60 publications.
Nanoinformatics
Brings out the state of the art on how informatics-based tools are used and expected to be used in nanomaterials research. There has been great progress in the area in which “big-data” generated by experiments or computations are fully utilized to accelerate discovery of new materials, key factors, and design rules. Data-intensive approaches play indispensable roles in advanced materials characterization. "Materials informatics" is the central paradigm in the new trend. "Nanoinformatics" is its essential subset, which focuses on nanostructures of materials such as surfaces, interfaces, dopants, and point defects, playing a critical role in determining materials properties. There have been significant advances in experimental and computational techniques to characterize individual atoms in nanostructures and to gain quantitative information. The collaboration of researchers in materials science and information science is growing actively and is creating a new trend in materials science and engineering.
Myosins : A Superfamily of Molecular Motors
Application of state-of-the-art cellular and molecular biological, structural biological, genetic, biochemical and biophysical techniques has provided and continues to provide critical information regarding the structure–function relationship; and the cellular roles of various myosins in organisms as diverse as protozoa, yeast, plants and higher animals. The association of myosins with diseases including neurological disorders, immu- deficiencies, cardiomyopathies, hearing and vision loss testify to the importance of understanding the biochemical properties and cellular roles of myosins. The 16 chapters in this volume summarize the tremendous progress made in studying members of the myosin superfamily in recent years and offer critical insight into what future research will yield.
Myeloproliferative disorders
Contains a series of contributions from internationally renowned academics with special expertise in one or other diseases which collectively are grouped under the heading myeloproliferative disorders. This term includes Ph-positive chronic myeloid leukemia as well as the various Ph-negative variants.
Mycorrhizae : Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry
This book discusses and goes into detail on a number of topics: the molecular basis of nutrient exchange between arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and host plants; the role of AM fungi in disease protection, alleviation of soil stresses and increasing grain production; interactions of AM fungi and beneficial saprophytic mycoflora in terms of plant growth promotion; the role of AM fungi in the restoration of native ecosystems; indirect contributions of AM fungi and soil aggregation to plant growth and mycorrhizosphere effect of multitrophic interaction; the mechanisms by which mycorrhizas change a disturbed ecosystem into productive land; the importance of reinstallation of mycorrhizal systems in the rhizosphere is emphasized and their impact on landscape regeneration, and in bioremediation of contaminated soils; Ectomycorrhizae (ECM) and their importance in forest ecosystems and associations of ECM in tropical rain forests function to maintain tropical monodominance; in vitro mycorrhization of micro-propagated plants, and visualizing and quantifying endorhizal fungi; the use of mycorrhizae, mainly AM and ECM, for sustainable agriculture and forestry.
Mycorrhiza : State of the Art, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Eco-Function, Biotechnology, Eco-Physiology, Structure and Systematics
This third updated and revised edition emphasises strongly on genetics and molecular biology. It contains new chapters, which are written by the leading experts in their respective field of knowledge and expertise.Mycorrhizas are symbioses between fungi and the roots of higher plants. As more than 90% of all known species of plants have the potential to form mycorrhizal associations, the productivity and species composition and the diversity of natural ecosystems are frequently dependent upon the presence and activity of mycorrhizas. The biotechnological application of mycorrhizas is expected to promote the production of food while maintaining ecologically and economically sustainable production systems.
Multiwavelength Approach to Unidentified Gamma-Ray Sources : A 2nd Workshop on the Nature of the High-Energy Unidentified Sources
Nearly one half of the point-like gamma-ray sources detected by EGRET instrument of the late Compton satellite are still defeating our attempts at identifying them. To establish the origin and nature of these enigmatic sources has become a major problem of current high-energy astrophysics. The second workshop on Multiwavelength Approach to Unidentified Gamma-ray Sources intends to shed new and fresh light on the problem of the nature of these mysterious sources and the objects behind them. The proceedings contain 46 contributed papers in this subject, which cover theoretical models on gamma-ray sources as well as the best multiwavelength strategies for the identification of the promising candidates. The topics of this conference also include energetic phenomena ocurring both in galactic and extragalactic scenarios, phenomena that might lead to the appearance of what we have called high-energy unidentified sources. The book will be of interest for all active researchers in the high-energy astrophysics and related research areas as well as for scientists and graduate students interested in understanding the recent progress in this field.
Multiscale processes in the earth’s magnetosphere : From interball to cluster ; Proceedings of the NATO ARW on Multiscale Processes in the Earth's Magnetosphere: From Interball to Cluster, Prague, Czech Republic from 9 to 12 September 2003
The past forty years of space research have seen a substantial improvement in our understanding of the Earth’s magnetosphere and its coupling with the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic ?eld (IMF). The magnetospheric str- ture has been mapped and major processes determining this structure have been de?ned. However, the picture obtained is too often static. We know how the magnetosphere forms via the interaction of the solar wind and IMF with the Earth’s magnetic ?eld. We can describe the steady state for various upstream conditions but do not really understand the dynamic processes leading from one state to another. The main dif?culty is that the magnetosphere is a comp- cated system with many time constants ranging from fractions of a second to days and the system rarely attains a steady state. Two decades ago, it became clear that further progress would require multi-point measurements. Since then, two multi-spacecraft missions have been launched — INTERBALL in 1995/96 and CLUSTER II in 2000. The objectives of these missions d- fered but were complementary: While CLUSTER is adapted to meso-scale processes, INTERBALL observed larger spatial and temporal scales. However, the number of papers taking advantage of both missions simul- neously is rather small.
