Neural and Neuroendocrine Mechanisms in Host Defense and Autoimmunity
This comprehensive volume, written by experts in the integrative fields of neuroscience, endocrinology and immunology, provides insight into the mechanisms by which neural and neuroendocrine factors influence susceptibility to infection and autoimmunity. The book focuses on multiple sclerosis as the prototypic autoimmune disease and discusses infectious diseases including anthrax, influenza virus, herpes virus and human immunodeficiency virus. The effects of stress on experimental models of multiple sclerosis and also clinical observations of stress in multiple sclerosis patients are discussed. Neural and Neuroendocrine Mechanisms in Host Defense and Autoimmunity is an ideal book for researches and professionals in the fields of immunology, neuroscience, infectious disease, psychology, microbiology, virology, public health and pharmaceutical sciences.
Network-Centric Service-Oriented Enterprise
Network-Centric Service-Oriented Enterprise (NSCOE) is seen as heralding the next generation of mainstream Enterprise-business information collaboration solution that can enforce information and decision superiority in the decentralized, loosely-coupled, and highly interoperable service environments. Network-Centric Service Oriented Enterprise establishes a system-of-systems (SoS) view of information technologies, offering a synergistic combination of data and information-processing capacity upon an innovative networked-management framework.
Network-Centric Collaboration and Supporting Frameworks ; IFIP TC 5 WG 5.5, Seventh IFIP Working Conference on Virtual Enterprises, 25-27 September 2006, Helsinki, Finland
This book contains a number of selected articles from PRO-VE’06, the seventh working conference on virtual enterprises held in Helsinki, Finland, which was sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) and the Society of Collaborative Networks (SOCOLNET). Being recognized as the most focused scientific and technical conference on Collaborative Networks, PRO-VE continues offering the opportunity for presentation and discussion of both the latest research developments as well as the practical application case studies. Following the vision of IFIP and SOCOLNET, the PRO-VE conference offers a forum for collaboration and knowledge exchange among experts from different regions of the world.
Network Science, Nonlinear Science and Dynamic Game Theory Applied to the Study of Infrastructure Systems
Network Science, Nonlinear Science and Infrastructure Systems has been written by leading scholars in these areas. Its express purpose is to develop common theoretical underpinnings to better solve modern infrastructural problems. It is felt by many who work in these fields that many modern communication problems, ranging from transportation networks to telecommunications, Internet, supply chains, etc., are fundamentally infrastructure problems. Moreover, these infrastructure problems would benefit greatly from a confluence of theoretical and methodological work done with the areas of Network Science, Dynamical Systems and Nonlinear Science. This book is dedicated to the formulation of infrastructural tools that will better solve these types of infrastructural problems.
Network Performance Analysis : Using the J Programming Language
This useful volume introduces concepts and principles of network performance analysis by example, using the J programming language. J is rich in mathematical functionality, which makes it an ideal tool for analytical methods. The book favours a practical approach and develops functions in J to demonstrate mathematical concepts, thereby enabling readers to explore the underlying principles behind network performance analysis. In addition, this allows the subject to become more accessible to those who, although have a mathematical background, are not pure mathematicians.
Network Classification For Traffic Management : Anomaly detection, feature selection, clustering and classification
Investigates network traffic classification solutions by proposing transport-layer methods to achieve better run and operated enterprise-scale networks. With the massive increase of data and traffic on the Internet within the 5G, IoT and smart cities frameworks, current network classification and analysis techniques are falling short. Novel approaches using machine learning algorithms are needed to cope with and manage real-world network traffic, including supervised, semi-supervised, and unsupervised classification techniques. Accurate and effective classification of network traffic will lead to better quality of service and more secure and manageable networks. Investigates network traffic classification solutions by proposing transport-layer methods to achieve better run and operated enterprise-scale networks. The authors explore novel methods for enhancing network statistics at the transport layer, helping to identify optimal feature selection through a global optimization approach and providing automatic labelling for raw traffic through a SemTra framework to maintain provable privacy on information disclosure properties.
Nature Inspired Problem-Solving Methods in Knowledge Engineering ; 2nd International Work-Conference on the Interplay Between Natural and Artificial Computation, IWINAC 2007, La Manga del Mar Menor, Spain, June 18-21, 2007, Proceedings, Part II
The second of a two-volume set, this book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second International Work-Conference on the Interplay between Natural and Artificial Computation, IWINAC 2007, held in La Manga del Mar Menor, Spain in June 2007.
Natural Skincare Cosmetics
Aging skin is suffering of decrease pigment-containing cells and overproduction of melanin in the skin, also changes in the connective tissue reduce the skin's strength and elasticity. Over the last 20 years, clinical and laboratory studies have identified the benefits of an array of natural ingredients for skin care. A variety of skin care products exist in today’s marketplace. They fulfill a variety of functions by either acting directly on the skin (e.g., moisturizers) or being a cosmetically elegant vehicle for the delivery of specific active ingredients (e.g., sunscreens or antipruritic or antiacne medicaments). Certain ingredients used in cosmeceuticals may be claimed to be therapeutic for common skin diseases. These ingredients are regulated as over the counter (OTC) drug monographs for acne, dermatitis/psoriasis, skin protectant, topical analgesia and sunscreens, by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
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 venoms : Animal toxins
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.
National Systems of Innovation in Comparison : Structure and Performance Indicators for Knowledge Societies
The book documents major elements of the joint work of eight leading German institutes, elaborated in the context of a regular annual report on Germany's technological performance. It provides much more than the pure compilation of quantitative indicators for international benchmarking, but gives support to an appropriate interpretation of the referring results and suggests relevant conclusions for innovation policy. A special focus is on Germany; so the book also aims at non-German readers interested in specific features of the German innovation system.
Multivariate Statistical Machine Learning Methods for Genomic Prediction
This book brings together the latest genome base prediction models currently being used by statisticians, breeders and data scientists. It provides an accessible way to understand the theory behind each statistical learning tool, the required pre-processing, the basics of model building, how to train statistical learning methods, the basic R scripts needed to implement each statistical learning tool, and the output of each tool. To do so, for each tool the book provides background theory, some elements of the R statistical software for its implementation, the conceptual underpinnings, and at least two illustrative examples with data from real-world genomic selection experiments.
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.
Multiscale fatigue crack initiation and propagation of engineering materials ; Structural integrity and microstructural worthiness : Fatigue crack growth behaviour of small and large bodies
This book elucidates the correlation of fatigue crack growth data to multiscale cracking, particularly to the understanding of micrographs influenced by mechanical disturbance and thermodynamic variables. Attention is given to the interpretation of test data by fatigue crack growth rate using two empirical parameters in consistence with the fracture control methodology currently used by industry.
Multiple-Aspect Analysis of Semantic Trajectories ; First International Workshop, MASTER 2019, Held in Conjunction with ECML-PKDD 2019, Würzburg, Germany, September 16, 2019, Proceedings
This book constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the First International Workshop on Multiple-Aspect Analysis of Semantic Trajectories, MASTER 2019, held in conjunction with the 19th European Conference on Machine Learning and Knowledge Discovery in Databases, ECML PKDD 2019, in Würzburg, Germany, in September 2019.
Multinational Financial Management
The eleventh edition of Multinational Financial Management is a comprehensive survey of the essential areas of the international financial market environment, including foreign exchange and derivative markets, risk management, and international capital markets and portfolio investment.
Multinational Enterprises, Foreign Direct Investment and Growth in Africa : South African Perspectives
How can Africa, the world’s most lagging region, benefit from globalisation and achieve sustained economic growth? Africa needs greater investment by Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) to improve competitiveness and generate more growth through positive spill-over effects. Despite the fact that Africa’s returns on investment averaged 29% since 1990, Africa has gained merely 1% of global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows. The challenge for African countries is how to be a more desirable destination for FDI. The study integrates three currents of economic research, namely from the literature on (endogenous) economic growth, convergence and regional integration, the explanations for Africa’s poor growth and the growing understanding of the role of MNEs in a global economy. The empirical side of the book is based on an econometric study of the determinants of FDI in Africa as well as a detailed firm-level survey conducted in 2000.



















