Biotechnology is a diverse, complex, and rapidly evolving field. Students and experienced researchers alike face the challenges of staying on top of developments in their field of specialty and maintaining a broader overview of the field as a whole. This latest volume of "Biotechnology Annual Review" comprises expert reviews on a diverse range of topics, ranging from gene expression microarray analysis to the use of ethnomedicines and ethnomedicinal phytophores to treat herpes viruses. Such a diverse range of review topics will keep biotechnologists of all levels up-to-date on the latest in the vast field of biotechnology and deepen their understanding of the many facets of the field as a whole.
*More than 150 figures elucidate and reinforce key points
*Inclusion of reviews of such hot-topics as arginine methylation in health and disease
*Wide variety of coverage keeps biotechnologists up-to-date on many facets of the field

Portable Biosensors and Point-of-Care Systems describes the principles, design and applications of a new generation of analytical and diagnostic biomedical devices, characterized by their very small size, ease of use, multi-analytical capabilities and speed to provide handheld and mobile point-of-care (POC) diagnostics. The book is divided in four Parts. Part I is an in-depth analysis of the various technologies upon which portable diagnostic devices and biosensors are built. In Part II, advances in the design and optimization of special components of biosensor systems and handheld devices are presented. In Part III, a wide scope of applications of portable biosensors and handheld POC devices is described, ranging from the support of primary healthcare to food and environmental safety screening. Diverse topics are covered, including counterterrorism, travel medicine and drug development. Finally, Part IV of the book is dedicated to the presentation of commercially available products including a review of the products of point-of-care in-vitro-diagnostics companies, a review of technologies which have achieved a high Technology Readiness Level, and a special market case study of POC infusion systems combined with intelligent patient monitoring. This book is essential reading for researchers and experts in the healthcare diagnostic and analytical sector, and for electronics and material engineers working on portable sensors.

The catalytic epoxidation of olefins plays an important role in the industrial production of several commodity compounds, as well as in the synthesis of many intermediates, fine chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. The scale of production ranges from millions of tons per year to a few grams per year. The diversity of catalysts is large and encompasses all the known categories of catalyst type: homogeneous, heterogeneous, and biological. This book summarizes the current status in these fields concentrating on rates, kinetics, and reaction mechanisms, but also covers broad topics including modeling, computational simulation, process concepts, spectroscopy and new catalyst development. The similarities and distinctions between the different reaction systems are compared, and the latest advances are described.
* Comprehensive listing of epoxide products
* Broad comparison of turnover frequencies of homogeneous, hetergeneous, main-group, biomimetic and biological catalysts
* Analysis of the general strengths and weaknesses of varied catalytic systems
* Detailed description of the mechanisms of reaction for classical and emerging catalysts

Chemical engineering has often been referred to as a study in methodology. Approaches in chemical engineering are determined by individual phenomena/processes, and each of these are studied individually. The phenomena that are treated in chemical engineering can be classified into two groups:
(1) phenomena that are definite and can be expressed by formulas such as differential equations
(2) phenomena that can be expressed only by probability terms.
The focus of Chemical Engineering - A new Perspective is on "information entropy." The main themes covered are mixing, separation, turbulent structure, particle size distribution and degree of uncertainty. The book recognizes that the information entropy may not be the only viewpoint, and how the degree of information entropy is useful for the other phenomena.
* Introduction of information entropy to chemical engineering
* Assertion of the significance of a consistent viewpoint
* Presenting new information about phenomena that can be treated by probability terms

New technologies will have an increasing effect on prospects for development and growth in the world economy. Technology and Innovation in the International Economy contains extensive and detailed assessments of two key areas of technological innovation which present both a threat and an opportunity for developing countries: microelectronics and biotechnology.The two major review essays - Jeffrey James on microelectronic technology and Martin Fransman on biotechnology - assess the impact of these new technologies on production, trade, employment and welfare in developing countries. The introduction by Charles Cooper deals with recent advances in the economics of innovation and diffusion of new technologies, and attempts to build a bridge between the study of technology in the industrial sectors of developed countries and the type of technology policy needed in the developing countries. Policymakers, researchers and students will welcome the clarity and breadth of this important volume which contains much original analysis and detailed information on a major issue confronting developing and developed nations alike.

The observation of nature has been the inspiration for many materials, laws, and theories, as well as computational methods. Nature-Inspired computing Design, Development, and Applications covers all the main areas of natural computing, from methods to computationally synthesized natural phenomena, to computing paradigms based on natural materials. This volume is comprised of ideas and research from nature to develop computational systems or materials to perform computation. Researchers, academic educators, and professionals will find a comprehensive view of all aspects of natural computing with emphasis on its main branches.

The complexity of today's risk decisions is well known. Beyond cost and risk there are many other factors contributing to these decisions, including type of risk (such as human injury or fatality), the economic impact on the local community, profitability, availability of capital, alternatives for reducing or eliminating the risk, costs of implementing alternatives, codes, standards, regulation, and good industry practice. This book presents a large range of decision aids for risk analysts and decision makers in industry so that vital decisions can be made in a more consistent, logical, and rigorous manner. Though primarily aimed at the process industry, this book can be used by anyone who makes similar decisions in other industries, including those in management science.

The Textbook of Ion Channels is a set of three volumes providing a wide-ranging reference source on ion channels for students, instructors, and researchers. Ion channels are membrane proteins that control the electrical properties of neurons and cardiac cells, mediate the detection and response to sensory stimuli like light, sound, odor, and taste, and regulate the response to physical stimuli like temperature and pressure. In non-excitable tissues, ion channels are instrumental for the regulation of basic salt balance that is critical for homeostasis. Ion channels are located at the surface membrane of cells, giving them the unique ability to communicate with the environment, as well as the membrane of intracellular organelles, allowing them to regulate internal homeostasis. Ion channels are fundamentally important for human health and diseases, and are important targets for pharmaceuticals in mental illness, heart disease, anesthesia, pain and other clinical applications. The modern methods used in their study are powerful and diverse, ranging from single ion-channel measurement techniques to models of ion channel diseases in animals, and human clinical trials for ion channel drugs. All three volumes give the reader an introduction to fundamental concepts needed to understand the mechanism of ion channels, a guide to the technical aspects of ion channel research, offer a modern guide to the properties of major ion channel families, and include coverage of key examples of regulatory, physiological, and disease roles for ion channels.

"Perovskite-Based Solar Cells: From Fundamentals to Tandem Devices" gives fundamental understanding of perovskite solar cells from the chemical composition of each thin layer composing the different stacks to the whole device. Special attention has been given to the development of the materials forming the perovskite solar cell and their effect on the device performance, in addition to the recent progress of this emerging technology. Moreover, light has been shed on the perovskite elaboration techniques, in addition to the several techniques proposed to improve both the efficiency and the stability of perovskite solar cells. Furthermore, special emphasis was given to the three types of tandem solar cells and their recent advances starting from Perovskite/perovskite tandem solar cells to Perovskite/ CIGS tandem cells to perovskite/ heterojunction silicon tandem solar cells. The latter constitute a promising solution to improve photovoltaic solar cells performance.

This book bridges the communication gap between neuroscientists and engineers through the unifying theme of correlation-based learning

Developing brain-style signal processing or machine learning algorithms has attracted many sharp minds from a range of disciplines. Now, coauthored by four researchers with varying backgrounds in signal processing, neuroscience, psychology, and computer science, Correlative Learning unifies the many cross-fertilized ideas in computational neuroscience and signal processing in a common language that will help engineers understand and appreciate the human brain as a highly sophisticated biosystem for building more intelligent machines.

First, the authors present the necessary neuroscience background for engineers, and then go on to relate the common intrinsic structures of the learning mechanisms of the brain to signal processing, machine learning, kernel learning, complex-valued domains, and the ALOPEX learning paradigm.

This correlation-based approach to building complex, reliable (robust), and adaptive systems is vital for engineers, researchers, and graduate students from various fields of science and engineering. Figures, tables, worked examples, and case studies illustrate how to use computational tools for either helping to understand brain functions or fitting specific engineering applications, and a comprehensive bibliography covering over 1,000 references from major publications is included for further reading.