Microbial or biological degradation has long been the subject of active concern, and the rapid expansion and growing sophistication of various industries in the last century has significantly increased the volume and complexity of toxic residues of wastes. These can be remediated by plants and microbes, either natural origin or adapted for a specific purpose, in a process known as bioremediation. The interest in microbial biodegradation of pollutants has intensified in recent years in an attempt to find sustainable ways to clean contaminated environments. These bioremediation and biotransformation methods take advantage of the tremendous microbial catabolic diversity to degrade, transform or accumulate a variety of compounds, such as hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, polaromatic hydrocarbons pharmaceutical substances, radionuclides and metals. Unlike conventional methods, bioremediation does not physically disturb the site. This book describes the basic principles of biodegradation and shows how these principles are related to bioremediation. Authored by leading, international environmental microbiologists, it discusses topics such as aerobic biodegradation, microbial degradation of pollutants, and microbial community dynamics. It provides valuable insights into how biodegration processes work and can be utilised for pollution abatement, and as such appeals to researchers and postgraduate students as well as experts in the field of bioremediation.

Air pollution is an alarming problem, not only in terms of air quality, but also in relation to health issues. Toxic air pollutant concentrations produce harmful impacts on plant health and human health. Further, though there are various sources of air pollution, anthropogenic and biogenic sources are becoming increasingly problematic. A number of control methods have been applied to reduce the air pollutant concentrations so that their global environmental burden on plants as well as humans can be mitigated. However, as confirmed in numerous reports and studies, their concentrations continue to be very high and everyday cases related to air pollution have become exponentially high not only in developing countries but also in developed countries. In plants, toxic air quality has various adverse effects, including biochemical and physiological disorders, chronic diseases and/or lower yields. In humans, air pollutants affect the body's metabolism and immune system, lungs and central nervous system. This book provides an essential overview of air pollution, its impacts on plant and human health, and potential control strategies. The respective chapters cover general monitoring and characterization techniques for air pollutants, air quality modelling applications, plant and human health effects, risk assessment, and air pollution control policy. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable and unique resource for students of Environmental Science, Biological Science, Medical Science and Agriculture; and for environmental consultants, researchers and other professionals whose work involves air quality, plant and human related research.

This book introduces flood inundation area and flood risks assessment based on a comprehensive monitoring system using remote sensing and geographic information system technologies. Taking the 2011 flood disaster of Ayutthaya in Thailand as an example, it presents a flood intrusion zone identification method based on remote sensing technology, spatial information technology and geographic information system for flood disaster monitoring and early warning system. It introduces the study area and data, vegetation index, improved support vector machine and flood intrusion zone identification method. It also analyzes the flood remote sensing parameters and waterborne diseases, method of risk assessment of waterborne disease outbreak, waterborne disease outbreak risk monitoring based on backpropagation neural network and its expert system. It not only promotes a new interdisciplinary approach both in public health and space information technology, but also greatly supports decision makers in disaster reduction.

This volume of the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) series covers the most prevalent NTDs in Europe and Central Asia. This book discusses in detail the pathology, diagnostics and control approaches of the most important neglected pathogens occurring in these geographical regions. Each chapter focuses on one specific disease or group of related diseases, and provides the reader with in-depth insights into the topic. This volume addresses researchers in Microbiology and Biomedicine as well as clinicians and public health officials working in affected regions.

This book reviews recent research advances in sustainable agriculture, with focus on crop production, biodiversity and biofuels in Africa and Asia.

This book presents recent developments involving the role of nanoparticles on plant physiology and growth. Nanotechnology applications include improvement of agricultural production using bio-conjugated NPs (encapsulation), transfer of DNA in plants for development of insect pest-resistant varieties, nanoformulations of agrochemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers for crop improvement, and nanosensors/nanobiosensors in crop protection for identification of diseases and residues of agrochemicals. Recent findings on the increased use of nanotechnology in agriculture by densely populated countries such as China and India indicate that this technology may impart a substantial impact on reducing hunger, malnutrition, and child mortality.

This book discusses essential strategies and approaches to creating mentally restorative environments for highly stressed and depressed workers at sweatshop factories. Drawing on the Foxconn factory in Longhua, China and an adjacent urban village as a sample site for research and design practice, the book employs a bottom-up and participatory process. The content is divided into two main parts, the first of which investigates economic, cultural, human rights, and environmental issues related to the electronic industry and urban village, providing in-depth research on various aspects, especially the working and living conditions for Foxconn workers. Based on these findings, the second part highlights potential landscape designs to address a range of issues, locations, and scales. The book's goals are to provide a set of original methods for research and design practice in a complex social and economic context, and to raise awareness regarding the health, dignity and freedom of millions of workers.

This new edition describes the role of heat shock proteins in the life cycle of malaria parasites, particularly in the context of intracellular parasite stages. Thoroughly revised, this work provides a general introduction to the structural and functional features of heat shock proteins with a special focus on their role as molecular chaperones in ensuring protein quality control. The emphasis is on the heat shock protein families from Plasmodium falciparum, and their role in proteostasis and the development of malaria pathology. Moreover, the authors explore the latest prospects of targeting heat shock proteins in antimalarial drug discovery either directly or in combination therapies. Readers will experience a functional analysis of the individual families of heat shock proteins and their cooperation in functional networks, including both the parasite-resident proteome and the exportome released into host cells during intracellular stages. Subcellular and extracellular organelles such as the apicoplast and the Maurer's Clefts associated with Plasmodium species are discussed in detail. The book highlights the role of heat shock proteins in the development and function of these structures. Biochemical expertise and the inclusion of novel therapeutic solutions make this collection a unique reference for experts in heat shock protein research, parasitology and infectious diseases, cell stress, molecular biology and drug discovery. Not least, advances in malaria control will contribute to ending epidemics and ensuring healthy lives in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

This edited book assesses the impacts of various extreme weather events on human health and development from a global perspective, and includes several case studies in various geographical regions around the globe. Covering all continents, it describes the impact of extreme weather conditions such as flash floods, heatwaves, cold waves, droughts, forest fires, strong winds and storms in both developing and developed countries. The contributing authors also investigate the spread of diseases and the risk to food security caused by drought and flooding. Further, the book discusses the economic damage resulting from natural disasters including hurricanes. It has been estimated that in 2017 natural disasters and climate change resulted in economic losses of 309 billion US dollars. Scientists also predict that if nothing is done to curb the effects of climate change, in Europe the death toll due to weather disasters could rise 50-fold by the end of the 21st century, with extreme heat alone causing more than 150,000 deaths a year, as the report on global warming of 1.5 DegreesC warns that China, Russia and Canada's current climate policies would steer the world above a catastrophic 5 DegreesC of warming by the end of 2100. As such, the book highlights how the wellbeing of different populations is threatened by extreme events now and in the foreseeable future.

Over the years, Oxfam has been involved in a wide variety of health-related projects. The Practical Health Guides draw on this experience to put forward ideas on best practice in the provision of health care and services in developing countries The number of refugees and displaced persons has increased greatly in recent years. At least 80 per cent of them are living in tropical or semi-tropical countries where vector-borne diseases, such as malaria, dengue fever and sleeping sickness are common and cause widespread sickness and death in the crowded conditions of refugee camps. This work is intended to help development workers and planners to identify and assess the risks of vector-borne diseases in a camp and to plan and implement cost-effective ways of controlling them. The main vector-borne diseases are described, the importance of identifying the particular disease and its vector and of considering a variety of methods of control is emphasized. The book discusses the need for a community-based approach to vector control, the safe use of insecticides and selection of spraying equipment. Also included are lists of suppliers of insecticides and equipment, sources of advice and recommended texts.

This volume gathers the latest advances and innovations in the field of structural health monitoring, as presented at the 8th Civil Structural Health Monitoring Workshop (CSHM-8), held on March 31-April 2, 2021. It discusses emerging challenges in civil SHM and more broadly in the fields of smart materials and intelligent systems for civil engineering applications. The contributions cover a diverse range of topics, including applications of SHM to civil structures and infrastructures, innovative sensing solutions for SHM, data-driven damage detection techniques, nonlinear systems and analysis techniques, influence of environmental and operational conditions, aging structures and infrastructures in hazardous environments, and SHM in earthquake prone regions. Selected by means of a rigorous peer-review process, they will spur novel research directions and foster future multidisciplinary collaborations.

Global climate change threatens human existence through its potential impact on agriculture and the environment. Agriculture is climate-sensitive, and climate variability and climate change have net negative impact on it. Additionally, the agricultural landscape is affected by monoculture and agro-biodiversity loss, soil fertility depletion and soil loss, competition from biofuel production, crop yield plateaus and invasive species. Nevertheless, the global agricultural production system has to meet the food demands from the growing human population, which is set to exceed 10 billion by 2050. This book discusses the impacts of climate change on agriculture, animal husbandry and rural livelihoods. Further, since agriculture, forestry and other land-use sectors contribute about 10-12 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent per year, it argues that agricultural policy must dovetail adaptation and mitigation strategies to reduce greenhouse gases emissions. This calls for a reformative and disruptive agricultural strategy like climate-smart agriculture, which can operate at all spatio-temporal scales with few modifications. The book also redefines sustainable agriculture through the lens of climate-smart agriculture in the context of the sustainability of Earth's life- support system and inter- and intra-generational equity. The climate-smart agriculture approach is gaining currency thanks to its inherent positive potential, and its goal to establish an agricultural system which includes "climate-smart food systems", "climate-proof farms", and "climate-smart soils". Climate-smart agriculture provides a pathway to achieve sustainable development goals which focus on poverty reduction, food security, and environmental health.

Environmental health and safety (EHS) audit programs have become an established and essential component of corporate governance in most every major organization whose activities could affect public health and the environment. While many of the audit programs in existence are quite mature there continues to be an evolution of audit practices designed to better identify and control EHS risks. This new updated second edition takes a look at many of those practices and potential advances in the profession. Among the critical topics addressed are: *What is the current EHS regulatory outlook in the U.S. and how might this affect a company's and the regulator's attitudes towards compliance and auditing? Are the potential consequences of "taking your eye off the ball" still significant? *How does one know whether an audit program is actually working and meeting its established objectives? What are the best performance criteria to use? *How can risk management be factored into audit programs and how individual audits are conducted to assure efficient and relevant outcomes? How can we get at the true risks and avoid the tendency to focus on "administrivia"? *How can auditors become more proficient and how can we train people to help assure we maximize an individual auditor's potential? Can the individual auditor be "all things to all people"? *Can innovative approaches such as "virtual" audits achieve the same or even better results more cost-effectively? How can limited resources be applied optimally? The second edition addresses the key components of an EHS audit program and provides advice on: *How to improve the management and execution of an audit program *How to address the true compliance risks in implementing an audit program *How to make auditors more effective and versatile *How to help auditors understand the special demands of auditing internationally *How to utilize innovative techniques, such as virtual auditing, to maximize a program's effectiveness and efficiency.

Over the last few decades, unprecedented global population growth has led to increased demand for food and shelter. At the same time, extraction of natural resources beyond the Earth's resilience capacity has had a devastating effect on ecosystems and environmental health. Furthermore, climate change is having a significant impact in a number of areas, including the global hydrological cycle, ecosystem functioning, coastal vulnerability, forest ecology, food security, and agricultural sustainability. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), only immediate and sustained action will prevent climate change causing irreversible and potentially catastrophic damage to our environment. This book presents various scientific views and concepts, research, reviews, and case studies on contemporary environmental issues in changing climate scenarios and highlights different adaptation measures. Increasing awareness of modern-day patterns of climate change, it addresses questions often raised by environmental scientists, researchers, policymakers and general readers.

Today's travel medicine includes not only tourism and business travelers, but also incorporates volunteerism, medical care, migration, ecotourism, and more. Travel Medicine, 4th Edition, reflects all of these changes in the field while keeping you up to date with new vaccines and newly proposed regimens, pre-travel advice and post-travel screening, and all travel-related illnesses - for a one-stop, authoritative reference on all aspects of travel medicine. Includes new chapters to assist your care of specific populations such as those engaging in ecotourism or military travel, as well as the VIP traveler. A new chapter on pre-travel considerations for non-vaccine preventable travel infections has also been added. Provides new information on new influenza and shingles vaccines, microbiome and drug resistance, Zika and the pregnant or breastfeeding traveler, the Viagra effect and increase in STIs, refugees and immigrants, and much more. Covers new methods of prevention of dengue virus, Zika virus, chikungunya virus, Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome, sleeping sickness, and avian flu. New illustrations and numerous new tables and boxes provide visual guidance and make reference quick and easy. Helps you prepare for the travel medicine examination with convenient cross references to the ISTM "body of knowledge" in specific chapters and/or passages in the book. Keeps you updated on remote destinations and the unique perils they present. Enhanced eBook version included with purchase. Your enhanced eBook allows you to access all of the text, figures, and references from the book on a variety of devices.

Offering an example for transnational cooperation and successful reduction of a neglected tropical disease, this volume shows how Chinese scientists and local physicians controlled schistosomiasis in Zanzibar. Over a four-year study, local medical specialists and the population of Zanzibar were taught how to diagnose the parasitosis caused by flukes (trematode worms) of the genus Schistosoma. Furthermore, methods to eliminate the disease and prevent new infections were established. The developed control system will avoid repeated increase of human schistosomiasis, which is still prevalent in the tropics and subtropics. Rural populations and poor communities lacking access to clean drinking water and adequate sanitation are most affected. This book is a blueprint of activities urgently needed to combat schistosomiasis in countries with low medical impact. The strategies outlined are particularly relevant to parasitologists and professionals in public health, physicians, medical personnel and also governmental, healthcare and pharmaceutical institutions.

This thematic collection focuses on key parasites and their vectors in Southeast Asia. Up-to-date essays invite readers to discover parasite and vector morphology, genetic diversity as well as dynamic parasite communities linked to human land-use and climate change. The authors shed light on transmission pathways and explore tick-borne diseases, intestinal protozoa, cestodes, nematodes and the multiplicity of cryptic trematode species. Particular attention is given to mosquito vectors in changing environments and the dynamic biodiversity of vertebrate hosts, including mammals, birds and fish. The richly illustrated chapters are completed by new approaches in diagnostic methods, treatment and prevention to protect humans and animals from tropical parasite infections. Not only parasitologists and experts in tropical medicine but also public health officials and travelers will find this volume highly informative.

This book presents research findings and conclusions that has been developed as algorithms or intelligent new methods solving problems in the fields of air pollution, climate and health, natural hazards and risks, water resources, human activities and management and informatics, remote sensing, high-performance computing and GIS for environmental monitoring and management. Environmental protection and disaster risk topics are challenging fields, that scientific world is trying to address as much as it can. Earthquakes, floods, fires, droughts, blizzards, dust storms, natural releases of toxic gases and liquids, diseases and other environmental variations affect hundreds of millions of people each year. Many disaster events are triggered by human activities. Dealing with these problems will require systems thinking and integrating multidisciplinary science. Actions in these directions are taken more and more in the recent years by political bodies, NGOs and scientific groups trying to find sustainable solutions for the future generations. Every point of view matter when it comes to our global home - The Planet Earth.

< p=""> This monograph is based on pollution control technologies available to deal with water and air pollution. It includes removal of variety of pollutants including arsenic, chromium, uranium, pesticides and arsenic from water using adsorption technique. In addition, this book deals with the sampling and removal of microplastics using various techniques. The contents also focus on the role of membrane technology in water and wastewater treatment, and particulate matter air pollution and its control techniques. This volume will be a useful guide for researchers, academics and scientists. ^

This book presents comprehensive chapters on the latest research and applications in wastewater treatment using green technologies. Topics include mesoporous materials, TiO2 nanocomposites and magnetic nanoparticles, the role of catalysts, treatment methods such as photo-Fenton, photocatalysis, electrochemistry and adsorption, and anti-bacterial solutions. This book will be useful for chemical engineers, environmental scientists, analytical chemists, materials scientists and researchers.

This edited volume provides a biosemiotic analysis of the ecological relationship between food and medicine. Drawing on the origins of semiotics in medicine, this collection proposes innovative ways of considering aliments and treatments. Considering the ever-evolving character of our understanding of meaning-making in biology, and considering the keen popular interest in issues relating to food and medicines - fueled by an increasing body of interdisciplinary knowledge - the contributions here provide diverse insights and arguments into the larger ecology of organisms' engagement with and transformation through taking in matter. Bodies interpret molecules, enzymes, and alkaloids they intentionally and unintentionally come in contact with according to their pre-existing receptors. But their receptors are also changed by the experience. Once the body has identified a particular substance, it responds by initiating semiotic sequences and negotiations that fulfill vital functions for the organism at macro-, meso-, and micro-scales. Human abilities to distill and extract the living world into highly refined foods and medicines, however, have created substances far more potent than their counterparts in our historical evolution. Many of these substances also lack certain accompanying proteins, enzymes, and alkaloids that otherwise aid digestion or protect against side-effects in active extracted chemicals. Human biology has yet to catch up with human inventions such as supernormal foods and medicines that may flood receptors, overwhelming the body's normal satiation mechanisms. This volume discusses how biosemioticians can come to terms with these networks of meaning, providing a valuable and provocative compendium for semioticians, medical researchers and practitioners, sociologists, cultural theorists, bioethicists and scholars investigating the interdisciplinary questions stemming from food and medicine.

This book explores how human factors and ergonomic principles are currently transforming healthcare. It reports on the design of systems and devices used to improve the quality, safety, efficiency and effectiveness of patient care, and discusses findings on improving organizational outcomes in the healthcare setting, as well as approaches to analyzing and modeling those work aspects that are unique to healthcare. Based on papers presented at the AHFE 2020 Virtual Conference on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Healthcare and Medical Devices, held on July 16-20, 2020, the book highlights the physical, cognitive and organizational aspects of human factors and ergonomic applications, and shares various perspectives, including those of clinicians, patients, health organizations and insurance providers. Given its scope, the book offers a timely reference guide for researchers involved in the design of medical systems and healthcare professionals managing healthcare settings, as well as healthcare counselors and international health organizations.

This book brings together studies broadly addressing human error and safety management from the perspectives of various disciplines, and shares the latest findings on ensuring employees' safety, health, and welfare at work. It combines a diverse range of disciplines - e.g. work physiology, health informatics, safety engineering, workplace design, injury prevention, and occupational psychology - and presents new strategies for safety management, including accident prevention methods such as performance testing and participatory ergonomics. It reports on cutting-edge methods and findings concerning safety-critical systems, defense, and security, and discusses advanced topics regarding human performance, human variability, and reliability analysis; medical, driver and pilot error, as well as automation error; and cognitive modeling of human error. Further, it highlights cutting-edge applications in safety management, defense, security, transportation, process controls, and medicine. Gathering the proceedings of the AHFE 2020 International Conference on Safety Management and Human Factors and the AHFE 2020 Virtual Conference on Human Error, Reliability, Resilience, and Performance, held on July 16-20, 2020, USA, the book offers an extensive, timely, and multidisciplinary guide for researchers and practitioners dealing with safety management and human error.

This book is a collection of policy briefs produced from research presented at the 16th Conference on Urban Health in Xiamen, China, November 4-8, 2019, under the theme "People Oriented Urbanisation: Transforming Cities for Health and Well-Being", co-organized by the Urban Health and Wellbeing (UHWB) programme of the International Science Council (ISC). The UHWB programme takes an interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral and systemic view on issues of health and wellbeing in cities which include the urban economy and finance systems, education, employment, mobility and transport, food, energy and water resources, access to public services, urban planning, public spaces and urban green, as well as social inclusion. Contributions to this book have been made by scientists from multidisciplinary research fields. The policy briefs in this book present the background and context of an urban health issue, research findings and recommendations for policy/decision-makers and action-takers. In some cases, they inform about relevant events and developments from the science community or important opinion pieces which address health emergencies, like the current COVID-19 pandemic. The book is intended for citizens and political decision-makers, who are interested in systems perspectives on urban health and wellbeing, examples of how to deal with the increasing complexity of cities and the accompanying environmental and social impacts of increasing urbanization. Furthermore, it hopes to inspire decision-makers to facilitate finding solutions, in order to reach the goal of advancing global urban health and wellbeing.