The phylum Mollusca is the second largest group of animals and occur in virtually all habitats. Many non-marine molluscs are threatened with more recorded extinctions than all tetrapod vertebrates combined. This two-volume set will provide the first general account of molluscs in decades and will include hundreds of colour figures. General chapters bring together a diverse and extensive literature, while taxon chapters provide overviews of their evolution, phylogeny and classification as well as more specific and detailed coverage of their biology (reproduction, feeding and digestion, excretion, respiration etc.), their long fossil record, and their natural history.

Healing Plants of Nigeria: Ethnomedicine and Therapeutic Applications offers comprehensive information on the use of herbal medicines in West Africa. Combining an evidence-based, ethnobotanical perspective with a pharmacological and pharmaceutical approach to phytomedicine, the book bridges the gap between the study of herbal plants' pharmacological properties and active compounds for the development of clinical drugs and community-oriented approaches, emphasising local use. It demonstrates how the framework of African traditional medicine can be preserved in a contemporary clinical context. The book outlines the history and beliefs surrounding the traditional use of herbs by the local population alongside their application in contemporary phytotherapy in Nigeria and West Africa. It features a critical assessment of the scientific rationale behind the use of these plants in ethnomedicine and offers a composite catalogue of phytotherapeutic and wellness agents, detailing the safety profile, efficacy, and scientific integrity of plants used to treat diseases and optimise health. Features: An ethnobotanical survey containing over 200 full-colour photographs of Nigerian and West African plants. A unique combination of ethnobotany and pharmacognosy, bridging the divide between pharmaceutical and community-oriented approaches to herbal medicine research. Contextual discussion of the therapeutic potential of Nigerian herbal medicine. Offers a template which can be used to separate the superstitious aspects of ethnomedicine from culturally inherited deposits of knowledge. A handbook for herbal and natural medicine practitioners, the book is aimed at African thinkers, scientists, healthcare providers and students of pharmacology and ethnomedicine.

Investigative Interviewing: Adopting a Forensic Mindset is a straight-forward, practical textbook outlining proper interview planning and techniques, detailing all relevant case law concerning confessions. Being a forensic professional infers that investigator apply the highest standards in collecting, analyzing, preserving, and presenting evidence to a court of law or other tribunals. The author contends that the key to a proper forensic interviewing methodology is the elimination of the term "interrogation," and the confession-obtaining mindset it creates. Forensic interviewers can achieve all interview objectives, including truthful confessions that stand up to the scrutiny of the courts and public opinion, by adhering to best-practice, ethical standards. What transpires during the interview must stand up to the scrutiny of the courts and public opinion. In this regard, due process, documenting the procedure, and practicing proven, effective techniques is paramount to getting to the truth-the ultimate goal of any investigation. The book addresses important issues in the field such as false confessions, due to its criticality and frequent occurrences of this. Coverage also includes the desired qualities of an investigative interviewer and strategies to break down barriers and gain trust with reluctant, uncooperative, and hostile interviewees. Proper report writing, an underrated key to any interview and investigation, is addressed in detail. Lastly. the book provides training on best practice interview steps and strategies to lead the interviewee to the truth. Numerous case examples, and transcripts of real interviews, are provided illustrate real-world interviewing practices and concepts. Features includes: Examines the human factor in the qualities of a good investigative interviewer such as understanding the offender and strategies to gain the interviewees trust Shares practical experience and best practices, noting traditional pitfalls and mistakes that can impede the truth and lead to false confessions Discusses legal considerations, case law, and the intent behind entering an interview situation with a forensic mindset, prioritizing due process and documenting procedure Presents a notable and extensive case study that includes six informative interviews denoting effective techniques in practice Provides pedagogical elements including chapter learning objectives and end of chapter review with discussion questions Investigative Interviewing: Adopting a Forensic Mindset promotes legal and ethical investigative interviewing methods and is a welcome addition to the literature for use in forensic science and criminal justice curricula and programs.

This book was written to venture beyond interpretations of Cormac McCarthy's characters as simple, antinomian, and non-psychological; and of his landscapes as unrelated to the violent arcs of often orphaned and always emotionally isolated and socially detached characters. As McCarthy usually eschews direct indications of psychology, his landscapes allow us to infer much about their motivations. The relationship of ambivalent nostalgia for domesticity to McCarthy's descriptions of space remains relatively unexamined at book length, and through less theoretical application than close reading. By including McCarthy's latest book, this study offer the only complete study of all nine novels. Within McCarthy studies, this book extends and complicates a growing interest in space and domesticity in his work. The author combines a high regard for McCarthy's stylistic prowess with a provocative reading of how his own psychological habits around gender issues and family relations power books that only appear to be stories of masculine heroics, expressions of misogynistic fear, or antinomian rejections of civilized life.

Detecting Signals at the Single Molecule Level: Pioneering Achievements in Microscopy

Recent advances have led to such remarkable improvements in fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy's (FLIM) capacity for contrast and sensitivity that researchers can now employ it to detect signals at the single molecule level. FLIM also offers the additional benefit of independence from fluorophore concentration and excitation intensity. Moreover, its unique sensitivity makes it an excellent reporter of conformational changes and of variations in the molecular surroundings of biological molecules.

Most of this improvement and discovery have occurred during the past decade, and, to date, information that would benefit a broad range of researchers remains scattered in the literature. Edited by two of the top pioneers in the field, FLIM Microscopy in Biology and Medicine presents the fundamentals of FLIM along with a number of advanced considerations so that a wider audience can appreciate recent and potential improvements that make it such a valuable tool.

New Opportunities for Biomedical Researchers... New Challenges for Microscopy Researchers

Discussion sections in all the chapters clearly show the challenges for implementing FLIM for various applications. Certain chapters discuss limits on the number of photons required for highly accurate lifetime determinations, as well as the accuracy with which multiple, closely associated lifetime components can reliably be determined. Such considerations are important for the user when he or she is selecting the most advantageous method of FLIM to use for a particular application.

While this book provides an introduction for those new to FLIM, it gathers a wealth of material to enhance the work of experts involved in pioneering technological improvements, as well as those research opportunities in this unique and promising area of microscopy.

This timely Second Edition reflects the mounting pressure on pharmaceutical companies to accelerate the new drug development and launch process, and the shift from developing small molecules to the growth of biopharmaceuticals. It meets the need for up-to-date and advanced information for drug preformulation and formulation, and addresses the current trends in the continually evolving pharmaceutical industry.

Ideal for practitioners working in the pharmaceutical industry (including R&D scientists, technicians, and managers), as well as undergraduate and postgraduate courses in industrial pharmacy and pharmaceutical technology, this text addresses:

• candidate drug selection
• drug discovery and development
• preformulation predictions and drug
• selections
• product design to commercial dosage form
• biopharmaceutical support in formulation
• development
• and more

Our future is closely tied to that of the variety of life on Earth, and yet there is no greater threat to it than us. From population explosions and habitat destruction to climate change and mass extinctions, John Spicer explores the causes and consequences of our biodiversity crisis. In this revised and updated edition, he examines how grave the situation has become over the past decade and outlines what we must do now to protect and preserve not just nature’s wonders but the essential services that biodiversity provides for us, seemingly for nothing.

Numerous criminologists have noted their dissatisfaction with the state of criminology. The need for a new paradigm for the 21st century is clear. However, many distrust biology as a factor in studies of criminal behavior, whether because of limited exposure or because the orientation of criminology in general has a propensity to see it as racist, classist, or at least illiberal. This innovative new book by noted criminologist Anthony Walsh dispels such fears, examining how information from the biological sciences strengthens criminology work and both complements and improves upon traditional theories of criminal behavior. With its reasoned case for biological science as a fundamental tool of the criminologist, Walsh's groundbreaking work will be required reading for all students and faculty within the field of criminology.

Forensic Engineering: The Art and Craft of a Failure Detective synthesizes the current academic knowledge, with advances in process and techniques developed in the last several years, to bring forensic materials and engineering analysis into the 21st century. The techniques covered in the book are applied to the myriad types of cases the forensic engineer and investigator may face, serving as a working manual for practitioners. Analytical techniques and practical, applied engineering principles are illustrated in such cases as patent and intellectual property disputes, building and product failures, faulty design, air and rail disasters, automobile recalls, and civil and criminal cases. Both private and criminal cases are covered as well as the legal obligation, requirements, and responsibilities under the law, particularly in cases of serious injury or even death. Forensic Engineering will appeal to professionals working in failure analysis, loss adjustment, occupational health and safety as well as professionals working in a legal capacity in cases of produce failure and liability-including criminal cases, fraud investigation, and private consultants in engineering and forensic engineering.

The present book deals with the research work related to conversion and utilization of agricultural waste into useful products and to increase their economic values. The book mainly aims in analyzing the various application and research carried in the fields of potential utilization of agricultural wastes. The recycling and utilization of agricultural wastes is an important step forward towards environmental protection, energy structure and agricultural development. The recycling and utilization pathway of agricultural wastes have also been discussed. The book also deals with the laws and regulations and strengthening of rural market. It will provide more comprehensive fundamental information for the recycling and utilization of agricultural wastes during the modernization and urbanization around the globe. Note: T& F does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. This title is co-published with New India Publishing Agency.

Logistic Regression Models presents an overview of the full range of logistic models, including binary, proportional, ordered, partially ordered, and unordered categorical response regression procedures. Other topics discussed include panel, survey, skewed, penalized, and exact logistic models. The text illustrates how to apply the various models to health, environmental, physical, and social science data.

Examples illustrate successful modeling
The text first provides basic terminology and concepts, before explaining the foremost methods of estimation (maximum likelihood and IRLS) appropriate for logistic models. It then presents an in-depth discussion of related terminology and examines logistic regression model development and interpretation of the results. After focusing on the construction and interpretation of various interactions, the author evaluates assumptions and goodness-of-fit tests that can be used for model assessment. He also covers binomial logistic regression, varieties of overdispersion, and a number of extensions to the basic binary and binomial logistic model. Both real and simulated data are used to explain and test the concepts involved. The appendices give an overview of marginal effects and discrete change as well as a 30-page tutorial on using Stata commands related to the examples used in the text. Stata is used for most examples while R is provided at the end of the chapters to replicate examples in the text.

Apply the models to your own data
Data files for examples and questions used in the text as well as code for user-authored commands are provided on the book's website, formatted in Stata, R, Excel, SAS, SPSS, and Limdep. See Professor Hilbe discuss the book.

Since ROC curves have become ubiquitous in many application areas, the various advances have been scattered across disparate articles and texts. ROC Curves for Continuous Data is the first book solely devoted to the subject, bringing together all the relevant material to provide a clear understanding of how to analyze ROC curves. The fundamental theory of ROC curves The book first discusses the relationship between the ROC curve and numerous performance measures and then extends the theory into practice by describing how ROC curves are estimated. Further building on the theory, the authors present statistical tests for ROC curves and their summary statistics. They consider the impact of covariates on ROC curves, examine the important special problem of comparing two ROC curves, and cover Bayesian methods for ROC analysis. Special topics The text then moves on to extensions of the basic analysis to cope with more complex situations, such as the combination of multiple ROC curves and problems induced by the presence of more than two classes. Focusing on design and interpretation issues, it covers missing data, verification bias, sample size determination, the design of ROC studies, and the choice of optimum threshold from the ROC curve. The final chapter explores applications that not only illustrate some of the techniques but also demonstrate the very wide applicability of these techniques across different disciplines. With nearly 5,000 articles published to date relating to ROC analysis, the explosive interest in ROC curves and their analysis will continue in the foreseeable future. Embracing this growth of interest, this timely book will undoubtedly guide present and future users of ROC analysis.

This brilliant CGP book covers all the maths skills needed in AS and A-Level Biology (the use of maths is required for 10% of the marks in the final exams and assessments). It explains Calculations, Graph Skills and Statistics, with clear study notes and step-by-step examples in the context of Biology. And to make sure you've really got to grips with it all, there are practice questions for each topic - with answers included at the back of the book.

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are a diverse group of bacteria that comprise low GC content Gram-positive cocci or rods that produces lactic acid as the major end product of the fermentation process. Bifidobacterium genera may also be considered as a part of the LAB group for possessing some similar phenotypical characteristics despite the higher GC content. The key feature of LAB metabolism is efficient carbohydrate fermentation. This contributes to the production of several microbial metabolites that result in the improvement of flavor and texture of fermented foods, in addition to its positive impact on the human health when LAB is administered as a probiotic. The book deals with advances made in the functionalities of LAB, such as their effect on vitamin D receptor expression, impact on neurodegenerative pathologies, production of B-vitamins for food bio-enrichment, production of bacteriocins to improve gut microbiota dysbiosis, production of metabolites from polyphenols and their effects on human health, effect on reducing the immunoreaction of food allergens, as biological system using time-temperature to improve food safety, and the use of probiotics in animal feed. The book also reviews the use of LAB and probiotic technologies to develop new functional foods and functional pharmaceuticals.

Through nine successful editions, and for over 45 years, Biogeography: An Ecological and Evolutionary Approach has provided a thorough and comprehensive exploration of the varied scientific disciplines and research that are essential to understanding the subject. The text, noted for its clear and engaging style of writing, has been praised for its solid background in historical biogeography and basic biology, that is enhanced and illuminated by discussions of current research. This new edition incorporates the exciting changes of the recent years and presents a thoughtful exploration of the research and controversies that have transformed our understanding of the biogeography of the world. New themes and topics in this tenth edition include: Next generation genetic technologies and their use in historical biogeography, phylogeography and population genomics Biogeographical databases and biodiversity information systems, which are becoming increasingly important for biogeographical research An introduction to functional biogeography and its applications to community assembly, diversity gradients and the analysis of ecosystem functioning Updated case studies focusing on island biogeography, using the latest phylogenetic studies Biogeography: An Ecological and Evolutionary Approach reveals how the patterns of life that we see today have been created by the two great Engines of the Planet: the Geological Engine, plate tectonics, which alters the conditions of life on the planet, and the Biological Engine, evolution, which responds to these changes by creating new forms and patterns of life.

Presents short topics tied to numerical or conceptual ideas, reinforced with worked examples and questions Retaining the user-friendly style of the first edition, this text is designed to eliminate the knowledge gap for those life sciences students who have not studied chemistry at an advanced level. It contains new chapters on - * Water, covering the mole concept and colloids * Gases, discussing pressure, gas laws, partial pressure, solubility of gases, and diffusion * Metals in biology, including properties, oxygen carriers, biocatalysis, charge carriers, and toxicity The authors divide their analysis of carbon compounds into two chapters. One focuses exclusively on aliphatic carbon compounds, while the other provides a greatly expanded exploration of aromatic carbon compounds, isomerism, amines and amino acids, including benzene, aromaticity, types of isomerism, and absolute configuration. With a current examination of organic and biological reactions, this instructional volume also features end-of-chapter questions and provides a solutions manual for qualified instructors. Key Features: Focuses on the particular aspects of chemistry that underpin biochemical and biomedical studies Includes new chapters on emerging topics of interest Offers a sequence of short topics with numerical or conceptual ideas supported by worked examples and questions within the text Provides a solutions manual for qualified instructors

The large amount of information on fish reproduction available is not always readily accessible to all interested parties. Written to appeal to aquaculturalists, conservation managers, and scientific researchers, Methods in Reproductive Aquaculture provides an overview of available techniques and addresses ways to improve depleted stocks of endangered fish and other species. The book focuses on gamete quality and management, exploring new objectives and areas of application and research, and new tools to deal with some aspects in reproduction of aquatic species. It begins with an examination of basic methods and techniques for gamete extraction, mainly sperm collection and egg stripping in different species, then describes techniques of spawning stimulation in males and females. The volume then highlights sperm and egg quality evaluation and considers sperm analysis from a practical broodstock management point of view and in the selection of appropriate breeders. The book goes on to discuss techniques used for artificial fertilization and the procedures for obtaining modified offspring. It introduces cryopreservation procedures for sperm, oocytes, and embryos, then discusses the materials and facilities required for gamete preparation and freezing-thawing procedures. The book concludes with an extensive section detailing sperm cryopreservation protocols for fifty-six marine and freshwater species. Unique in its focus on both marine and freshwater aquaculture of fishes, the book provides information on endangered, highly profitable species for aquaculture or fisheries and species with high potential in laboratory research. Presenting the available information in an easily understandable way, this is not merely a techniques book, but also a complete guide to fish reproduction, gamete quality, and management.

Computational Genomics with R provides a starting point for beginners in genomic data analysis and also guides more advanced practitioners to sophisticated data analysis techniques in genomics. The book covers topics from R programming, to machine learning and statistics, to the latest genomic data analysis techniques. The text provides accessible information and explanations, always with the genomics context in the background. This also contains practical and well-documented examples in R so readers can analyze their data by simply reusing the code presented. As the field of computational genomics is interdisciplinary, it requires different starting points for people with different backgrounds. For example, a biologist might skip sections on basic genome biology and start with R programming, whereas a computer scientist might want to start with genome biology. After reading: You will have the basics of R and be able to dive right into specialized uses of R for computational genomics such as using Bioconductor packages. You will be familiar with statistics, supervised and unsupervised learning techniques that are important in data modeling, and exploratory analysis of high-dimensional data. You will understand genomic intervals and operations on them that are used for tasks such as aligned read counting and genomic feature annotation. You will know the basics of processing and quality checking high-throughput sequencing data. You will be able to do sequence analysis, such as calculating GC content for parts of a genome or finding transcription factor binding sites. You will know about visualization techniques used in genomics, such as heatmaps, meta-gene plots, and genomic track visualization. You will be familiar with analysis of different high-throughput sequencing data sets, such as RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, and BS-seq. You will know basic techniques for integrating and interpreting multi-omics datasets. Altuna Akalin is a group leader and head of the Bioinformatics and Omics Data Science Platform at the Berlin Institute of Medical Systems Biology, Max Delbruck Center, Berlin. He has been developing computational methods for analyzing and integrating large-scale genomics data sets since 2002. He has published an extensive body of work in this area. The framework for this book grew out of the yearly computational genomics courses he has been organizing and teaching since 2015.

Geospatial health data are essential to inform public health and policy. These data can be used to quantify disease burden, understand geographic and temporal patterns, identify risk factors, and measure inequalities. Geospatial Health Data: Modeling and Visualization with R-INLA and Shiny describes spatial and spatio-temporal statistical methods and visualization techniques to analyze georeferenced health data in R. The book covers the following topics: Manipulating and transforming point, areal, and raster data, Bayesian hierarchical models for disease mapping using areal and geostatistical data, Fitting and interpreting spatial and spatio-temporal models with the integrated nested Laplace approximation (INLA) and the stochastic partial differential equation (SPDE) approaches, Creating interactive and static visualizations such as disease maps and time plots, Reproducible R Markdown reports, interactive dashboards, and Shiny web applications that facilitate the communication of insights to collaborators and policymakers. The book features fully reproducible examples of several disease and environmental applications using real-world data such as malaria in The Gambia, cancer in Scotland and USA, and air pollution in Spain. Examples in the book focus on health applications, but the approaches covered are also applicable to other fields that use georeferenced data including epidemiology, ecology, demography or criminology. The book provides clear descriptions of the R code for data importing, manipulation, modelling, and visualization, as well as the interpretation of the results. This ensures contents are fully reproducible and accessible for students, researchers and practitioners.

Drug Discovery and Development, Third Edition presents up-to-date scientific information for maximizing the ability of a multidisciplinary research team to discover and bring new drugs to the marketplace. It explores many scientific advances in new drug discovery and development for areas such as screening technologies, biotechnology approaches, and evaluation of efficacy and safety of drug candidates through preclinical testing. This book also greatly expands the focus on the clinical pharmacology, regulatory, and business aspects of bringing new drugs to the market and offers coverage of essential topics for companies involved in drug development. Historical perspectives and predicted trends are also provided. Features: Highlights emerging scientific fields relevant to drug discovery such as the microbiome, nanotechnology, and cancer immunotherapy; and novel research tools such as CRISPR and DNA-encoded libraries Case study detailing the discovery of the anti-cancer drug, lorlatinib Venture capitalist commentary on trends and best practices in drug discovery and development Comprehensive review of regulations and their impact on drug development, highlighting special populations, orphan drugs, and pharmaceutical compounding Multidiscipline functioning of an Academic Research Enterprise, plus a chapter on Ethical Concerns in Research Contributions by 70+ experts from industry and academia specialists who developed and are practitioners of the science and business

"Lucidly Integrates Current Activities"

Focusing on both fundamentals and recent advances, Introduction to Machine Learning and Bioinformatics presents an informative and accessible account of the ways in which these two increasingly intertwined areas relate to each other.

"Examines Connections between Machine Learning & Bioinformatics"

The book begins with a brief historical overview of the technological developments in biology. It then describes the main problems in bioinformatics and the fundamental concepts and algorithms of machine learning. After forming this foundation, the authors explore how machine learning techniques apply to bioinformatics problems, such as electron density map interpretation, biclustering, DNA sequence analysis, and tumor classification. They also include exercises at the end of some chapters and offer supplementary materials on their website.

"Explores How Machine Learning Techniques Can Help Solve Bioinformatics Problems"

Shedding light on aspects of both machine learning and bioinformatics, this text shows how the innovative tools and techniques of machine learning help extract knowledge from the deluge of information produced by today's biological experiments.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of music data analysis, from introductory material to advanced concepts. It covers various applications including transcription and segmentation as well as chord and harmony, instrument and tempo recognition. It also discusses the implementation aspects of music data analysis such as architecture, user interface and hardware. It is ideal for use in university classes with an interest in music data analysis. It also could be used in computer science and statistics as well as musicology.

Ancient therapeutic systems have played a tremendous role in health preservation all around the globe for thousands of years; even the earliest humans on earth had used these approaches along with simple surgical procedures for the betterment of their health. Complementary and Alternative Medicinal Approaches for Enhancing Immunity examines various aspects of health and diseases and the importance of basic but essential factors for the preservation of health and management of diseases. Concisely written, the author discusses ancient ways to enhance self-healing abilities and stimulate the immune system such as, fasting, meditation, acupuncture, cupping therapy, balneotherapy and aromatherapy. The importance of nutrition and diet is also examined as it plays a crucial role in the prevention and causation of diseases. Additional features include: Discusses how the integration of various CAM modalities helps in enhancing self-healing abilities and boosts the human immune system. Contains various topics from different systems of medicines that are taught widely as individual courses or discussed broadly in several institutes. Reviews Eastern pharmacotherapy and how using certain herbs, minerals, and animal-based products aids in maintaining health and alleviating diseases. Using evidence-based knowledge taken from ancient literature and recently published articles, this book will inform readers on the importance of holistic health approaches and some ancient treatment modalities that enhance the immune system to combat diseases.