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Dipeptidyl Aminopeptidases : Basic Science and Clinical Applications
Dipeptidyl Aminopeptidases exert a potent modulatory role at an interface between immune mechanisms, metabolic responses, and neuroendocrine pathways. Experimental models and clinical studies addressing the role of these enzymes and the effect of specific inhibitors pave the way to novel therapeutic concepts in immunology, rheumatology, oncology, reproductive medicine and diabetes. Leading experts in the field will contribute to this book, which will present a state-of-the-art view on these enzymes at a time when our understanding of their function is growing ever more rapidly and therapeutic options have become imminent. The sections of the book will focus on various topics including DP IV and related enzymes in: expression and function, metabolic disorders, immune mechanisms and immune disorders, neuronal diseases and cancer, and related drug development.
Diffuse matter from star forming regions to active galaxies : A volume honouring John Dyson
In this volume dedicated to him, introductory reviews to a number of the key processes and to the sources themselves are given by leading experts. The mechanisms in which the multi-component natures of media affect their dynamics receive particular attention, but the roles of hydromagnetic effects are also highlighted.
Diastolic Heart Failure
This book addresses the epidemiology, pathophysiologic mechanisms, diagnostic methods, treatment and prognosis. It also gives an analysis of specific problems, related to coronary artery disease, arterial hypertension, diabetes, hypertrophic and restrictive cardiomyopathies, and constrictive pericarditis.
Diapause in Aquatic Invertebrates : Theory and Human Use
Contributors to this new book are leaders in the field of diapause studies, and many authors were participants at a recent workshop on diapause in aquatic invertebrates (Pallanza, Italy 2003). The book consists of two major parts, as indicated in its title: Phenomenology of diapause and significance of this adaptation in scientific and practical uses. Application to newly developing areas such as cultivation of live food, like rotifers or Artemia, in modern aquaculture is covered, as are aspects of diapause that promote the colonization of new environments by facilitating the passive transport of resting stages of invasive species. Creation of artificial ecosystems outside of the Earth’s biosphere using dormant propagules becomes an actual possibility as humankind develops plans to colonize our nearest planets.
Designing Organizations : 21st Century Approaches
The design of organizations has been an ongoing concern of management theory and practice over the past several decades. Over this time, there has been little change in the fundamental theory, principles and concepts of Organization Design (OD). Recently organizational life has changed dramatically with the advent of: new communication systems, adaptive mechanisms, information technology, knowledge management systems, innovation processes and more. This book systemically examines these developments and their impact on OD with contributions from leading scholars in the area. Also featured in the book are the practical issues with implementing OD in organizations. The individual chapters are organized into five sections: (1) Putting Contingency Theory in its Place, (2) Focus on Individuals Who Make up the Organization, (3) Innovation Processes and Organization Design, (4) Adaptation and Technology, and (5) Design for Performance. Each chapter examines aspects of the book’s threefold theme: (1) core issues in organization design, (2) emerging theoretical perspectives in OD, and (3) new developments and directions in OD. A special feature of each chapter is: 1) implications for theory, and 2) implications for practice.
Designing Democracy : Ideas for Better Rules
While liberal democracies are the best systems of self-governance for societies, they rarely invoke great enthusiasm. On the one hand, democracies have been known to fail in achieving efficient or fair allocations. On the other hand, many citizens take the democratic system for granted as they have yet to experience an alternative. In this book the vision we propose is that the potential of democ racies has not yet been exhausted, and that optimal democracies are both the Utopia for societies and the aim that scientists should be committed to. We present a number of ideas for drawing up new rules to im prove the functioning of democracies. The book falls into two parts. The first part examines ways of combining incentive contracts with democratic elections. We suggest that a judicious combina tion of these two elements as a dual mechanism can alleviate a wide range of political failures, while at the same time adhering to the founding principles of democracies. The second part presents new rules for decision-making and agenda setting. Together with modern communication devices, these rules can sometimes transcend the limitations of liberal VI Preface democracies in achieving desirable outcomes. Examples of such rules include the flexible majority rule where the size of the ma jority required depends on the proposal, or the rule that only those belonging to the winning majority can be taxed.
Design of Hybrid Structures : Where Steel Profiles Meet Concrete
Focuses on design approaches for concrete structures reinforced in an unconventional way by steel profiles. It explains force transfer mechanisms of steel profiles and oncrete interfaces, and an analysis of the characteristics of hybrid structures, including slendercomponents. Several types of hybrid designs are addressed: walls and columns with several embedded steel profiles, connections strengthened by steel profiles between steel and composite or reinforced concrete components, including the specific case of shear keys connecting deep beams or flat slabs to columns. The transition zones in partly reinforced concrete and partly composite columns are also covered.
Dermatopathology
The book describes the principles of histopathologic patterns in selected acquired skin diseases, together with short clinical descriptions and case reports. The underlying, or possible underlying, mechanisms are elucidated, and controversial concepts are discussed. To facilitate the understanding of underlying mechanisms, the first chapters of the book comprise summaries of basic histology of lymphatics and blood vessels, relevant parts of general pathology, immunology, and molecular cell biology.
Deployment and operation of complex software in heterogeneous execution environments : The SODALITE approach
This book provides an overview of the work developed within the SODALITE project, which aims at facilitating the deployment and operation of distributed software on top of heterogeneous infrastructures, including cloud, HPC and edge resources. The experts participating in the project describe how SODALITE works and how it can be exploited by end users. While multiple languages and tools are available in the literature to support DevOps teams in the automation of deployment and operation steps, still these activities require specific know-how and skills that cannot be found in average teams. The SODALITE framework tackles this problem by offering modelling and smart editing features to allow those we call Application Ops Experts to work without knowing low level details about the adopted, potentially heterogeneous, infrastructures. The framework offers also mechanisms to verify the quality of the defined models, generate the corresponding executable infrastructural code, automatically wrap application components within proper execution containers, orchestrate all activities concerned with deployment and operation of all system components, and support on-the-fly self-adaptation and refactoring.
Dental neuroimaging: the role of the brain in oral functions
Provides an up-to-date overview of neuroimaging research on the neural mechanisms underlying mastication, swallowing, sensory processing, and other oral topics.
Dental Hard Tissues and Bonding : Interfacial Phenomena and Related Properties
This book comprehensively reviews bonding to enamel, dentin and cementum and analyses relevant adhesion mechanisms. Emphasis is placed on the characterization of material interfaces with dental tissues in situ. The volume also stresses the importance of appropriate experimental protocol design in facilitating clinically-relevant research methods, clarifies the mechanisms of adhesion of polymeric materials to hard dental tissues and furnishes a handy reference for routine clinical procedures in restorative and prosthetic dentistry as well as orthodontics. The book introduces important aspects of the chemistry of dental materials and their adaptation to dental hard tissues. It also analyses interfacial phenomena occurring during application of materials, including mechanical properties, and structural-compositional alterations. The text presents the current instrumental approaches in studying related issues and a summary of the current status of theories concerning bonding to dental tissues.
Defending Life : The Nature of Host-Parasite Relations
Defending Life discusses the relationship between hosts and parasites. A major contention of the book is that the immune system depends ontologically on the ecosystem in which it is embedded; it would not have the features it has if it was not related in one way or other to parasitic agents and to the host’s own cells and tissues. To sustain the argument, life is investigated at all layers – from molecules up through cells, organisms and ecosystems. Together with the inverse course, which goes from ecological contingencies down to gene-expression profiles, the approach facilitates an advanced understanding of immunocompetence as well as its converse, immunoincompetence. The emphasis on analytical abstractions, coherent patterns and generative mechanisms makes possible the distinction between genuine causality and coincidental associations, and thus increases the understanding of why we observe what we observe. The book contains detailed descriptions of the immune system and the microbial world as well as methodological and conceptual clarifications.
Deep Learning, Machine Learning and IoT in Biomedical and Health Informatics : Techniques and Applications
Examines and demonstrates state-of-the-art approaches for IoT and Machine Learning based biomedical and health related applications. This book aims to provide computational methods for accumulating, updating and changing knowledge in intelligent systems and particularly learning mechanisms that help us to induce knowledge from the data. It is helpful in cases where direct algorithmic solutions are unavailable, there is lack of formal models, or the knowledge about the application domain is inadequately defined. In the future IoT has the impending capability to change the way we work and live. These computing methods also play a significant role in design and optimization in diverse engineering disciplines. With the influence and the development of the IoT concept, the need for AI (artificial intelligence) techniques has become more significant than ever.
Deep Integration, Global Firms, and Technology Spillovers
This book explores the impact of deep regional economic integration on spillovers of knowledge and technology across countries. Deep integration through signing deep regional trade agreements (DRTAs), which cover various policy areas in addition to tariff reductions, may or may not facilitate technology spillovers among their signatories. To understand the mechanism of the impact of deep integration on technology spillovers, this book starts by analyzing the behavior of global firms. Factors that affect global firms’ activities, such as export, foreign direct investment (FDI), offshore outsourcing, are examined. Micro data on Japanese firms are employed for the analysis. Then, the relationships between bilateral trade patterns and technology spillovers and between types of FDI and technology spillovers are investigated in detail.
Datatype-Generic Programming ; International Spring School, SSDGP 2006, Nottingham, UK, April 24-27, 2006, Revised Lectures
A leitmotif in the evolution of programming paradigms has been the level and extent of parametrisation that is facilitated — the so-called genericity of the paradigm. The sorts of parameters that can be envisaged in a programming language range from simple values, like integers and fioating-point numbers, through structured values, types and classes, to kinds (the type of types and/or classes).Datatype-generic programming is about parametrising programsby the structure of the data that they manipulate. To appreciate the importance of data type genericity,one need look no further than the internet. The internet is a massive repository of structured data, but the structure is rarely exploited. For example, compression of data can be much more efiective if its structure is known, but most compression algorithms regard the input data as simply a string of bits, and take no account of its internal organisation. Datatype-generic programming is about exploiting the structure of data when it is relevant and ignoring it when it is not. Programming languages most c- monly used at the present time do not provide efiective mechanisms for do- menting and implementing datatype genericity.
Cytokines and Cancer
This volume provides a comprehensive review of the current knowledge on cytokines and cancer. Cytokines play a variety of roles in cancer, both as components of pathogenetic mechanisms, as well as agents used in the treatment of certain malignancies.The volume is divided in two sections. Section one focuses on current developments in the basic science field with particular emphasis on novel mechanisms of cytokine actions in malignant cells. The second section deals with translational and clinical research in the field, and many of the chapter authors were among the first to introduce several cytokines in the treatment of certain tumors.
Cytochrome P450 : Structure, Mechanism, and Biochemistry
In this newest edition, we find that the newest discussion of P450 structure includes information of bacterial (soluble) P450s interwoven with that of eukaryotic (membrane bound) of this superfamily, highlighting the newest developments in this area. The complete battery of human P450s is now known and summarized in the new edition. In addition, general overviews of plant P450s and those from microbes contained within this newest edition provide a broader view of P450 diversity than seen in earlier editions. Each of these three editions should be on bookshelves of laboratories studying P450s. The third edition of Cytochrome P450: Structure, Mechanism, and Biochemistry provides an opportunity to judge progress in many key areas of P450 research while at the same time learn of new directions in the field. It is an excellent and most useful volume.
Cyclin Dependent Kinase 5 (Cdk5)
Cyclin Dependent Kinase 5 provides a comprehensive and up-to-date collection of reviews on the discovery, signaling mechanisms and functions of Cdk5, as well as the potential implication of Cdk5 in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Since the identification of this unique member of the Cdk family, Cdk5 has emerged as one of the most important signal transduction mediators in the development, maintenance and fine-tuning of neuronal functions and networking. Further studies have revealed that Cdk5 is also associated with the regulation of neuronal survival during development as well as in neurodegenerative diseases. These observations indicate that precise control of Cdk5 is essential for the regulation of neuronal survival. The pivotal role that Cdk5 appears to play in both the regulation of neuronal survival and synaptic functions thus raises the interesting possibility that Cdk5 inhibitors may have therapeutic potential for the treatment of a number of neurodegenerative diseases.
Current Perspectives in microRNAs (miRNA)
In this book, many new perspectives of the miRNA research are reviewed and discussed, including their roles in stem cell maintenance, embryonic development, tissue differentiation, adult physiology, disease pathology, cancer research, viral infection, genetic engineering in plants, and utility in cosmetic applications. These new findings may not only provide significant insight into the various mechanisms of miRNAs but also offer a great opportunity in developing new therapeutic interventions.
CSR and Codes of Business Ethics in the USA, Austria (EU) and China and their Enforcement in International Supply Chain Arbitrations
Analyzes the implementation of CSR reporting and codes of business conduct and ethics in the legal systems of the USA, Austria and China and their enforcement in international supply chain arbitrations. demonstrates that long-term profit maximization is increasingly intertwined with corporate ethics and CSR policies. In order to prevent window-dressing and greenwashing, certain control mechanisms and legal standards are required along the entire supply chain.
