The book spans across the research domains of mechanisation and automation, agrobusiness, food processing and value addition, climate smart agriculture, rural sanitation, agro biotechnology, and rural energy.

Management in the Age of Digital Business Complexity focuses on how the digital age is changing management and vastly speeding up complexity dynamics. The recent coevolution of technologies has dramatically changed in just a few years how people and firms learn, communicate, and behave. Consequently, the process of how firms coevolve and the speed at which they coevolve has been dramatically changed in the digital age, and managerial methods are lagging way behind. Combining his own expertise with that of a number of specialist and international co-authors, McKelvey conveys how companies that fall behind digitally can quickly be driven out of business. The book has been created for academics seeking to upgrade management thinking into the modern digital age and vastly improve the change capabilities of firms facing digital-oriented competition.

Value-Added Biocomposites: Technology, Innovation, and Opportunity explores advances in research, processing, manufacturing, and novel applications of biocomposites. It describes the current market situation, commercial competition, and societal and economic impacts and advantages of substituting biocomposites for conventional composites, including natural fibers and bioplastics. FEATURES Discusses manufacturing and processing procedures that focus on improving physical, mechanical, thermal, electrical, chemical, and biological properties and achieving required specifications of downstream industries and customers Analyzes the wide range of available base materials and fillers of biocomposites and bioplastics in terms of the strength and weaknesses of materials and economic potential in the market Displays special and unique properties of biocomposites in different market sectors Showcases the insight of expert scientists and engineers with first-hand experience working with biocomposites across various industries Covers environmental factors, life cycle assessment, and waste recovery Combining technical, economic, and environmental topics, this work provides researchers, advanced students, and industry professionals a holistic overview of the value that biocomposites add across a variety of engineering applications and how to balance research and development with practical results.

The aim of this book is to present new computational techniques and methodologies for the analysis of the clinical, epidemiological and public health aspects of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 pandemic. The book presents the use of soft computing techniques such as machine learning algorithms for analysis of the epidemiological aspects of the SARS-CoV-2. This book clearly explains novel computational image processing algorithms for the detection of COVID-19 lesions in lung CT and X-ray images. It explores various computational methods for computerized analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 infection including severity assessment. The book provides a detailed description of the algorithms which can potentially aid in mass screening of SARS-CoV-2 infected cases. Finally the book also explains the conventional epidemiological models and machine learning techniques for the prediction of the course of the COVID-19 epidemic. It also provides real life examples through case studies. The book is intended for biomedical engineers, mathematicians, postgraduate students; researchers; medical scientists working on identifying and tracking infectious diseases.

Tissue Engineering Strategies for Organ Regeneration addresses the existing and future trends of tissue engineering approaches for organ/tissue regeneration or repair. This book provides a comprehensive summary of the recent improvement of biomaterials used in scaffold-based tissue engineering, and the tools and different protocols needed to design tissues and organs. The chapters in this book provide the in-depth principles for many of the supporting and enabling technologies including the applications of BioMEMS devices in tissue engineering, and the combination of organoid formation and three dimensional (3D) bioprinting. The book also highlights the advances and strategies for regeneration of three-dimensional microtissues in microcapsules, tissue reconstruction techniques, and injectable composite scaffolds for bone tissue repair and augmentation. Key Features: Addresses the current obstacles to tissue engineering applications Provides the latest improvements in the field of integrated biomaterials and fabrication techniques for scaffold-based tissue engineering Shows the influence of microenvironment towards cell-biomaterials interactions Highlights significant and recent improvements of tissue engineering applications for the artificial organ and tissue generation Describes the applications of microelectronic devices in tissue engineering Describes different current bioprinting technologies

In nowadays aging society, many people require mobility assistance. Sometimes, assistive devices need a certain degree of autonomy when users' disabilities difficult manual control. However, clinicians report that excessive assistance may lead to loss of residual skills and frustration. Shared control focuses on deciding when users need help and providing it. Collaborative control aims at giving just the right amount of help in a transparent, seamless way. This book presents the collaborative control paradigm. User performance may be indicative of physical/cognitive condition, so it is used to decide how much help is needed. Besides, collaborative control integrates machine and user commands so that people contribute to self-motion at all times. Collaborative control was extensively tested for 3 years using a robotized wheelchair at a rehabilitation hospital in Rome with volunteer inpatients presenting different disabilities, ranging from mild to severe. We also present a taxonomy of common metrics for wheelchair navigation and tests are evaluated accordingly. Obtained results are coherent both from a quantitative and qualitative point of view.

Covers different modalities for improvement of healthcare system Describes implementation strategies and their applications in diagnosis of modalities Reviews automatic identification of related disorders using medical modality Discusses bio-potential signals and their appropriate analysis for studying different disorders Includes case studies, real-time examples and research directions

This book provides an introduction to next-generation applications and technologies for improving diagnostic accuracy and prediction of treatment outcomes in dentistry through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The authors attempt to bridge the gap between dental research and global health outcomes, as well as provide a comprehensive guide to general and clinical aspects of dental and oral health issues and the etiology, prevalence, assessment, and management of these conditions. This book combines engineering applications and medical healthcare and will be an important reference for researchers, biomedical engineers, dental students, and dental practitioners.

This work represents an inventive attempt to apply recent advances in nanotechnology to identify and characterise novel polymer systems for drug delivery through the skin. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements of the nanoscale mechanical properties of topical, drug-containing polymeric films enabled the author to identify optimal compositions, in terms of flexibility and substantivity, for application to the skin. To elucidate the enhanced drug release from polyacrylate films incorporating medium chain triglycerides, the author combined AFM studies with the complementary technique of Raman micro-spectroscopy. This experimental strategy revealed that the significant increase in the drug released from these films is the result of a nanoscale two-phase structure. Finally, in experiments examining the microporation of skin using femtosecond laser ablation, the author demonstrated that the threshold at which the skin's barrier function is undermined can be dramatically reduced by the pre-application of ink. The approach allows thermal damage at the pore edge to be minimised, suggesting a very real potential for substantially increasing drug delivery in a minimally invasive fashion.

In healthcare, the realisation of an optimistic prognosis against pessimistic ones depends on current innovations in diagnostic and cost-effective treatment approaches being widely adopted in clinical practice. Utilisation of advanced early and predictive diagnostics, targeted prevention and personalised medical approaches could enable the elderly subpopulation to reach the 100-year age limit in good physical and mental health, as actively contributing members of society. This task requires intelligent political regulations and creation of new guidelines to advance current healthcare systems. In this book, we will collect contributions from several geopolitical regions of Europe, Asia and USA that provide expert opinion on healthcare organisation and outlook as well as economical aspects of personalised medicine.

This book is a detailed reference on biomedical applications using Deep Learning. Because Deep Learning is an important actor shaping the future of Artificial Intelligence, its specific and innovative solutions for both medical and biomedical are very critical. This book provides a recent view of research works on essential, and advanced topics. The book offers detailed information on the application of Deep Learning for solving biomedical problems. It focuses on different types of data (i.e. raw data, signal-time series, medical images) to enable readers to understand the effectiveness and the potential. It includes topics such as disease diagnosis, image processing perspectives, and even genomics. It takes the reader through different sides of Deep Learning oriented solutions. The specific and innovative solutions covered in this book for both medical and biomedical applications are critical to scientists, researchers, practitioners, professionals, and educations who are working in the context of the topics.

In this book, leading authors in the field discuss development of Ambient Assisted Living. The contributions have been chosen and invited at the 5th AAL congress, Berlin. It presents new technological developments which support the autonomy and independence of individuals with special needs. As the technological innovation raises also social issues, the book addresses micro and macro economical aspects of assistive systems and puts an additional emphasis on the ethical and legal discussion. The presentation is supported by real world examples and applications.

Metabolic systems engineering combines the tools and approaches of systems biology, synthetic biology, and evolutionary engineering. This book reviews studies on metabolism, from the earliest work of Lavoisier and Buchner to current cutting-edge research in metabolic systems engineering. This technology has been used in bioengineering applications to create high-performing microbes and plants that produce important chemicals, pharmaceuticals, crops, and other natural products. Current applications include optimizing metabolic pathways to enhance degradation of biomass for biofuel production and accelerated processing of environmental waste products and contaminants. The book includes examples to illustrate the applications of this technology in the optimization of metabolic pathways to create robust industrial strains as well as in the engineering of biological processes involving health and diseases of humans, animals, and plants. Written by a seasoned computational biologist with many years of experience in genomics, bioinformatics, and systems biology, this book will appeal to anyone interested in metabolic systems analysis and metabolic pathway engineering.

Recent advances in nanotechnology has led the nanomaterials into the realm of sensing applications. This descriptive book utilizes a multi-disciplinary approach to provide extensive information about sensors and elucidates the impact of nanotechnology on development of chemical and biosensors for diversified applications. The main focus of this book is not only the inclusion of various research works, which have already been reported in literature, but also to make a potential conclusion about the mechanism behind this. This book will serve as an invaluable tool for both frontline researchers and academicians to work towards the future development of nanotechnology in sensing devices.

This book examines the use of biomedical signal processing-EEG, EMG, and ECG-in analyzing and diagnosing various medical conditions, particularly diseases related to the heart and brain. In combination with machine learning tools and other optimization methods, the analysis of biomedical signals greatly benefits the healthcare sector by improving patient outcomes through early, reliable detection. The discussion of these modalities promotes better understanding, analysis, and application of biomedical signal processing for specific diseases. The major highlights of Biomedical Signal Processing for Healthcare Applications include biomedical signals, acquisition of signals, pre-processing and analysis, post-processing and classification of the signals, and application of analysis and classification for the diagnosis of brain- and heart-related diseases. Emphasis is given to brain and heart signals because incomplete interpretations are made by physicians of these aspects in several situations, and these partial interpretations lead to major complications. FEATURES Examines modeling and acquisition of biomedical signals of different disorders Discusses CAD-based analysis of diagnosis useful for healthcare Includes all important modalities of biomedical signals, such as EEG, EMG, MEG, ECG, and PCG Includes case studies and research directions, including novel approaches used in advanced healthcare systems This book can be used by a wide range of users, including students, research scholars, faculty, and practitioners in the field of biomedical engineering and medical image analysis and diagnosis.

New prospects for biomedical and healthcare engineering are being created by the rapid development of Robotic and Artificial Intelligence techniques. Innovative technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, Robotics, and IoT are currently under huge influence in today's modern world. For instance, a micro-nano robot allows us to study the fundamental problems at a cellular scale owing to its precise positioning and manipulation ability; the medical robot paves a new way for the low-invasive and high-efficient clinical operation, and rehabilitation robotics is able to improve the rehabilitative efficacy of patients. This book aims at exhibiting the latest research achievements, findings, and ideas in the field of robotics in biomedical and healthcare engineering, primarily focusing on the walking assistive robot, telerobotic surgery, upper/lower limb rehabilitation, and radiosurgery. As a result, a wide range of robots are being developed to serve a variety of roles within the medical environment. Robots specializing in human treatment include surgical robots and rehabilitation robots. The field of assistive and therapeutic robotic devices is also expanding rapidly. These include robots that help patients rehabilitate from severe conditions like strokes, empathic robots that assist in the care of older or physically/mentally challenged individuals, and industrial robots that take on a variety of routine tasks, such as sterilizing rooms and delivering medical supplies and equipment, including medications. The objectives of the book are in terms of advancing the state-of-the-art of robotic techniques and addressing the challenging problems in biomedical and healthcare engineering. This book Lays a good foundation for the core concepts and principles of robotics in biomedical and healthcare engineering, walking the reader through the fundamental ideas with expert ease. Progresses on the topics in a step-by-step manner and reinforces theory with a full-fledged pedagogy designed to enhance students' understanding and offer them a practical insight into the applications of it. Features chapters that introduce and cover novel ideas in healthcare engineering like Applications of Robots in Surgery, Microrobots and Nanorobots in Healthcare Practices, Intelligent Walker for Posture Monitoring, AI-Powered Robots in Biomedical and Hybrid Intelligent Systems for Medical Diagnosis, and so on. Deepak Gupta is an Assistant Professor at the Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology, GGSIPU, Delhi, India. Moolchand Sharma is an Assistant Professor at the Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology, GGSIPU, Delhi, India. Vikas Chaudhary is a Professor at the JIMS Engineering Management Technical Campus, GGSIPU, Greater Noida, India. Ashish Khanna currently works at the Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology, GGSIPU, Delhi, India.

Freeze Drying of Pharmaceutical Products provides an overview of the most recent and cutting-edge developments and technologies in the field, focusing on formulation developments and process monitoring and considering new technologies for process development. This book contains case studies from freeze dryer manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies for readers in industry and academia. It was contributed to by lyophilization experts to create a detailed analysis of the subject matter, organically presenting recent advancements in freeze-drying research and technology. It discusses formulation design, process optimization and control, new PAT-monitoring tools, multivariate image analysis, process scale-down and development using small-scale freeze-dryers, use of CFD for equipment design, and development of continuous processes. This book is for industry professionals, including chemical engineers and pharmaceutical scientists.

This book explores novel methods for implementing X-ray diffraction technology as an imaging modality, which have been made possible through recent breakthroughs in detector technology, computational power, and data processing algorithms. The ability to perform fast, spatially-resolved X-ray diffraction throughout the volume of a sample opens up entirely new possibilities in areas such as material analysis, cancer diagnosis, and explosive detection, thus offering the potential to revolutionize the fields of medical, security, and industrial imaging and detection. Featuring chapters written by an international selection of authors from both academia and industry, the book provides a comprehensive discussion of the underlying physics, architectures, and applications of X-ray diffraction imaging that is accessible and relevant to neophytes and experts alike. Teaches novel methods for X-ray diffraction imaging Comprehensive and self-contained discussion of the relevant physics, imaging techniques, system components, and data processing algorithms Features state-of-the-art work of international authors from both academia and industry. Includes practical applications in the medical, industrial, and security sectors

There is an urgent need to develop and integrate new statistical, mathematical, visualization, and computational models with the ability to analyze Big Data in order to retrieve useful information to aid clinicians in accurately diagnosing and treating patients. The main focus of this book is to review and summarize state-of-the-art big data and deep learning approaches to analyze and integrate multiple data types for the creation of a decision matrix to aid clinicians in the early diagnosis and identification of high risk patients for human diseases and disorders. Leading researchers will contribute original research book chapters analyzing efforts to solve these important problems.

This book discusses recent advances in wearable technologies and personal monitoring devices, covering topics such as skin contact-based wearables (electrodes), non-contact wearables, the Internet of things (IoT), and signal processing for wearable devices. Although it chiefly focuses on wearable devices and provides comprehensive descriptions of all the core principles of personal monitoring devices, the book also features a section on devices that are embedded in smart appliances/furniture, e.g. chairs, which, despite their limitations, have taken the concept of unobtrusiveness to the next level. Wearable and personal devices are the key to precision medicine, and the medical community is finally exploring the opportunities offered by long-term monitoring of physiological parameters that are collected during day-to-day life without the bias imposed by the clinical environment. Such data offers a prime view of individuals' physical condition, as well as the efficacy of therapy and occurrence of events. Offering an in-depth analysis of the latest advances in smart and pervasive wearable devices, particularly those that are unobtrusive and invisible, and addressing topics not covered elsewhere, the book will appeal to medical practitioners and engineers alike.

This book addresses biometrics from a biomedical engineering point of view. Divided into five sections, it discusses topics including the influence of pathologies on various biometric modalities (e.g. face, iris, fingerprint), medical and security biometrics, behavioural biometrics, instrumentation, wearable technologies and imaging. The final chapters also present a number of case studies. The book is suitable for advanced graduate and postgraduate students, engineers and researchers, especially those in signal and image processing, biometrics, and biomedical engineering.