This book entails the developments in the field of e-waste management with particular focus on urban mining, sustainability, and circular economy aspects. It further explains e-waste recycling technologies, supply chain aspects, e-waste disposal in IT industries including health and environmental effects of E-waste recycling processes and associated issues, challenges, and solutions. Further, it describes economic potential of resource recovery from e-waste. Features: Covers recent developments in e-waste management. Explores technological advancements such as nanotech from e-waste, MREW, fungal biotech and so forth. Reviews electronic component recycling aspects. Discusses implementation of circular economy in e-waste sector. Includes urban mining and sustainability aspects of e-waste. This book is aimed at graduate students and researchers in environmental engineering, waste management, urban mining, circular economy, waste processing, electronics, and telecommunication engineering, electrical and electronics engineering, and chemical engineering.

Key features Major concepts in thermal physics are introduced cohesively through computational and mathematical treatments. Computational examples in Python programming language guide students on how to simulate and visualize thermodynamic principles and processes for themselves.

Provides an introduction to renewable energy for scientists and engineers, addressing the science and technology of all types of renewable energy in detail, as well as nonrenewables. Includes new chapters covering population dynamics and statistics. Self-study problems have been added for each chapter. Incorporates more worked examples. Completely up-to-date, covering such areas as hydraulic fracturing, integration of renewable energy to power grid, and cost.

The first accessible text on the topic of animals as environmental predictors, bringing together the literature from as far back as 18th century through to the present day. - Covers wider terrain than other titles in a relatively unexplored subject area. The text discusses climate change (highly topical) and how animals may be able to be used to predict future weather and climatic events. There is international potential as the climate challenge is global, and the examples span worldwide case studies. The sources used include myths, anecdotes, news articles and stories backed up by relevant scientific literature in international peer-reviewed journals. Each chapter starts with a short fictitious story to set the scene and anecdotes from indigenous cultures are especially interesting. The author draws on his vast expertise in biochemistry and cell biology. The science does not impede the less technical reader, due to the engaging mix of stories, anecdotes, personal observations and scientific underpinnings.

Enzyme kinetics, binding kinetics and pharmacological dose-response curves are currently analyzed by a few standard methods. Some of these, like Michaelis-Menten enzyme kinetics, use plausible approximations, others, like Hill equations for dose-response curves, are outdated. Calculating realistic reaction schemes requires numerical mathematical routines which usually are not covered in the curricula of life science. This textbook will give a step-by-step introduction to numerical solutions of non-linear and differential equations. It will be accompanied with a set of programs to calculate any reaction scheme on any personal computer. Typical examples from analytical biochemistry and pharmacology can be used as versatile templates. When a reaction scheme is applied for data fitting, the resulting parameters may not be unique. Correlation of parameters will be discussed and simplification strategies will be offered.

Provides understanding of the device architecture, electrode design, and pros-cons of classical supercapacitors Explains material design in the context of electrochemical energy storage Covers state-of-the-art quantum supercapacitor and technological challenges Describes advanced version of supercapacitor devices describing macro-to-micro scale devices and applications at different scales Include details of challenges and outline of future designs

This book, based on a selection of invited presentations from a topical workshop, focusses on time-variable oscillations and their interactions. The problem is challenging, because the origin of the time variability is usually unknown. In mathematical terms, the oscillations are non-autonomous, reflecting the physics of open systems where the function of each oscillator is affected by its environment. Time-frequency analysis being essential, recent advances in this area, including wavelet phase coherence analysis and nonlinear mode decomposition, are discussed. Some applications to biology and physiology are described. Although the most important manifestation of time-variable oscillations is arguably in biology, they also crop up in, e.g. astrophysics, or for electrons on superfluid helium. The book brings together the research of the best international experts in seemingly very different disciplinary areas.

Features • Provides a cutting edge review of the latest emerging science, technology and applications in the field. • Tackles a topic with fast growing interest in USA, Europe and China. • Explores the simple and cheap design and tests of lasers, and outline the feasible applications.

Serious congenital malformations are a major contributor to the infant death rate worldwide. Their nonhereditary causes are multiple and complex, and include infectious and metabolic dangers, disease medication, nutritional inadequacy, medicinal products, environmental agents and pollutants, among them. The cause of many however is still unknown. The wide range of these causes makes the defects of interest to those of a wide range of medical and investigatory backgrounds, especialy clinicians, fundamental scientists, and environmentalists.

The book provides a comprehensive review of the fundamental and practical aspects of bioanalytical support and the integral role it plays in the development of safe and efficacious biopharmaceutical drugs with speed and cost-effectiveness. The book focuses on a broad range of conventional and emerging biopharmaceutical modalities including monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics, gene therapy, cell therapy, peptides and oligonucleotides. The book starts with an introductory overview of bioanalysis showcasing the integral role it plays in understanding the drug disposition (pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics and immunogenicity) and the progression of bioanalytical strategy as the drug progresses through discovery and development stages of the program, taking into consideration the continually evolving regulatory landscape. The book further diversifies into individual biopharmaceutical modalities - monoclonal antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, bispecifics, Fc-fusion proteins, gene therapies, cell therapies, peptides and oligonucleotides. The individual chapters focus on modality-specific bioanalytical assay strategies, critical reagents, assay formats, analytical platforms, associated bioanalytical challenges and mitigation strategies, industry best practices, and the latest understanding of regulatory guidance as applicable to the fast-growing biopharmaceutical landscape.

This book presents the latest findings in the field of cardiac mechanobiology in health and disease. Cardiac mechanobiology provides knowledge of all aspects of mechanobiology of the heart. Cardiomyogenesis is discussed as well as the mechanobiology of cardiac remodeling and regeneration. The molecular mechanisms of mechanoperception and mechanotransduction in cardiomyocytes are explained, as well as stretch induced differentiation of cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells. This volume of the series Cardiac and Vascular Biology complements the volume Vascular Mechanobiology in Physiology and Disease (volume 8) published in this series. The book is aimed at clinicians as well as researchers in cardiovascular biology, bioengineering and biophysics, and also represents an educational resource for young researchers and students in these fields.

This book covers the latest findings of a wide variety of viral, prokaryotic and eukaryotic macromolecular protein complexes and builds upon the solid macromolecular foundations established by previous volumes of the Subcellular Biochemistry series. Thus, an almost encyclopaedic coverage of the broad field of protein complex structure and function has been established. The 17 interesting chapters included in this book have been organised into four sections: Soluble Protein Complexes, Membrane Protein Complexes, Fibrous Protein Complexes and Viral Protein Complexes. Significant topics present here are: Fatty Acid Synthase, the Fork Protection Complex, Ribonucleotide Reductase, the Kinetochore, G proteins, the FtsEX Complex, the Kainate Receptor, the Photosystem I-antenna, the Mycobacterial Arabinofuranosyltransferases, the the Bacterial Flagellum, the Actomyosin Complex, Motile Cilia, SLS Collagen Polymorphic Structures, and the Reovirus Capsid and Polymerase. Up-dates/expansion of chapter topics present in earlier volumes are now included in chapters here, e.g., those on Ferritin-like proteins and the Multi-tRNA Synthetase. The book is richly illustrated throughout, the result of an impressive integration of structural data from X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy. The functional aspects of protein-protein interactions are also given a high priority.

Valuation is a hot topic among life sciences professionals. There is no clear understanding on how to use the different valuation approaches and how to determine input parameters. Some do not value at all, arguing that it is not possible to get realistic and objective numbers out of it. Some claim it to be an art. In the following chapters we will provide the user with a concise val- tion manual, providing transparency and practical insight for all dealing with valuation in life sciences: project and portfolio managers, licensing executives, business developers, technology transfer managers, entrep- neurs, investors, and analysts. The purpose of the book is to explain how to apply discounted cash flow and real options valuation to life sciences p- jects, i.e. to license contracts, patents, and firms. We explain the fun- mentals and the pitfalls with case studies so that the reader is capable of performing the valuations on his own and repeat the theory in the exercises and case studies. The book is structured in five parts: In the first part, the introduction, we discuss the role of the players in the life sciences industry and their p- ticular interests. We describe why valuation is important to them, where they need it, and the current problems to it. The second part deals with the input parameters required for valuation in life sciences, i.e. success rates, costs, peak sales, and timelines.

This systematic theological study uses the example of Johann Georg Hamann (1730-1788) to examine and systematically develop the question of determining the relationship of theology and natural science. In the course of translating basic structures of an "objective" view of the world into categories of a linguistic-hermeneutic understanding of reality, Hamann makes possible a connection of creation as a communicative process with an understanding of nature which opens up its "grammatical" structures.

This revised edition offers an approach to information theory that is more general than the classical approach of Shannon. Classically, information is defined for an alphabet of symbols or for a set of mutually exclusive propositions (a partition of the probability space ) with corresponding probabilities adding up to 1. The new definition is given for an arbitrary cover of , i.e. for a set of possibly overlapping propositions. The generalized information concept is called novelty and it is accompanied by two concepts derived from it, designated as information and surprise, which describe "opposite" versions of novelty, information being related more to classical information theory and surprise being related more to the classical concept of statistical significance. In the discussion of these three concepts and their interrelations several properties or classes of covers are defined, which turn out to be lattices. The book also presents applications of these concepts, mostly in statistics and in neuroscience.

While most books contain some information on related sensors topics, they are limited in their scope on biomedical sensors. Sensors in Biomedical Applications: Fundamentals, Design, Technology and Applications is the first systematized book to concentrate on all available and potential sensor devices of biomedical applications! Sensors in Biomedical Applications presents information on sensor types in a comprehensive and easy to understand format. The first four chapters concentrate on the basics, lending an understanding to operation and design principles of sensor elements. Introduced are sections on: basic terms, sensor technologies, sensor structure and sensing effects. The next three chapters describe application possibilities: physical sensors, sensors for measuring chemical qualities and biosensors. Finally, a chapter covers biocompatability, in addition to an appendix and glossary. Sensors in Biomedical Applications is the definitive reference book for a broad audience. All physicists, chemists and biologists interested in the chemical basis and effects of sensors will find this work invaluable. Biomedical engineers and sensor specialists will find the text useful in its pointed analysis of special design, processing and application problems. Physicians practicing with diagnostic tools will want to see the possibilities and limits of biomedical sensors. Finally, students of all of the above areas who wish to learn more about the basics of biomedical sensors need to have this book.

The first half of the book is aimed at quantitative research workers in biology, medicine, ecology and genetics. The book as a whole is aimed at graduate students in statistics, biostatistics, and other quantitative disciplines. Ten detailed examples show how the author approaches real-world statistical problems in a principled way that allows for adequate compromise and flexibility. The need to accommodate correlations associated with space, time and other relationships is a recurring theme, so variance-components models feature prominently. Statistical pitfalls are illustrated via examples taken from the recent scientific literature. Chapter 11 sets the scene, not just for the second half of the book, but for the book as a whole. It begins by defining fundamental concepts such as baseline, observational unit, experimental unit, covariates and relationships, randomization, treatment assignment, and the role that these play in model formulation. Compatibility of the model with the randomization scheme is crucial. The effect of treatment is invariably modelled as a group action on probability distributions. Technical matters connected with space-time covariance functions, residual likelihood, likelihood ratios, and transformations are discussed in later chapters.

Key features: Provides a literature-based approach with examples of cutting-edge applications and the state of the art Presents the necessary theory as needed, chapter by chapter Synthesises concepts from physics and chemistry.

Advances in cellular physiology and molecular biology have now disclosed the metabolic changes and adaptational responses of the heart to various kinds of stresses. Topics covered in this volume include the regulation of myocardial proteins in mechanical overload, the alteration of adrenoceptors in the stressed heart, metabolic adaptation in cardiac hypertrophy, intracellular calcium metabolism in the ischemia-reperfused myocardium, calcium overload as a cause of myocardial stunning, acquisition of ischemic tolerance by ischemic preconditioning, factors that accelerate myocardial injury, and ventricular remodeling in the ischemic heart. As an update of the latest findings in basic cardiology, this book will benefit both researchers and clinical practitioners.

High-throughput measurements of gene expression and genetic marker data facilitate systems biologic and systems genetic data analysis strategies. Gene co-expression networks have been used to study a variety of biological systems, bridging the gap from individual genes to biologically or clinically important emergent phenotypes.

There are many examples of cooperation in Nature: cells cooperate to form tissues, organs cooperate to form living organisms, and individuals cooperate to raise their offspring or to hunt. However, why cooperation emerges and survives in hostile environments, when defecting would be a much more profitable short-term strategy, is a question that still remains open. During the past few years, several explanations have been proposed, including kin and group selection, punishment and reputation mechanisms, or network reciprocity. This last one will be the center of the present study. The thesis explores the interface between the underlying structure of a given population and the outcome of the cooperative dynamics taking place on top of it, (namely, the Prisoner's Dilemma Game). The first part of this work analyzes the case of a static system, where the pattern of connections is fixed, so it does not evolve over time. The second part develops two models for growing topologies, where the growth and the dynamics are entangled.

Covers all aspects of gold nanorods along with selected protocols Focuses on synthetic chemistry, optical property, and fictionalization approach of colloidal gold nanorods Describes standard synthetic methods and advantage of gold nanorods in biomedical applications Includes authentic and reproducible experimental procedures Discusses applications like redox catalyst, catalyst promoter, delivery carrier, solar cell material, and so forth

I want to express my sincere thanks to all authors who submitted research papers to support the Third IFIP International Conference on Computer and Computing Te- nologies in Agriculture and the Third Symposium on Development of Rural Infor- tion (CCTA 2009) held in China, during October 14-17, 2009. This conference was hosted by the CICTA (EU-China Centre for Information & Communication Technologies, China Agricultural University), China National En- neering Research Center for Information Technology in Agriculture, Asian Conf- ence on Precision Agriculture, International Federation for Information Processing, Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering, Beijing Society for Information Te- nology in Agriculture, and the Chinese Society for Agricultural Machinery. The pla- num sponsor includes the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Ministry of Education of China, among others. The CICTA (EU-China Centre for Information & Communication Technologies, China Agricultural University) focuses on research and development of advanced and practical technologies applied in agriculture and on promoting international communi- tion and cooperation. It has successfully held three International Conferences on C- puter and Computing Technologies in Agriculture, namely CCTA 2007, CCTA 2008 and CCTA 2009. Sustainable agriculture is the focus of the whole world currently, and therefore the application of information technology in agriculture is becoming more and more - portant. 'Informatized agriculture' has been sought by many countries recently in order to scientifically manage agriculture to achieve low costs and high incomes.

This textbook has been conceptualized to provide a detailed description of the various aspects of Systems and Synthetic Biology, keeping the requirements of M.Sc. and Ph.D. students in mind. Also, it is hoped that this book will mentor young scientists who are willing to contribute to this area but do not know from where to begin. The book has been divided into two sections. The first section will deal with systems biology - in terms of the foundational understanding, highlighting issues in biological complexity, methods of analysis and various aspects of modelling. The second section deals with the engineering concepts, design strategies of the biological systems ranging from simple DNA/RNA fragments, switches and oscillators, molecular pathways to a complete synthetic cell will be described. Finally, the book will offer expert opinions in legal, safety, security and social issues to present a well-balanced information both for students and scientists.