Porous Silicon for Biomedical Applications, Second Edition, provides an updated guide to the diverse range of biomedical applications of porous silicon, from biosensing and imaging to tissue engineering and cancer therapy. Across biomedical disciplines, there is an ongoing search for biomaterials that are biocompatible, modifiable, structurally sound, and versatile. Porous silicon possesses a range of properties that make it ideal for a variety of biomedical applications, such as controllable geometry, tunable nanoporous structure, large pore volume/high specific surface area, and versatile surface chemistry. This book provides a fully updated and detailed overview of the range of biomedical applications for porous silicon. Part One offers the reader a helpful insight into the fundamentals and beneficial properties of porous silicon, including thermal properties and stabilization, photochemical and nonthermal chemical modification, protein modification, and biocompatibility. The book then builds on the systematic detailing of each biomedical application using porous silicon, from bioimaging and sensing to drug delivery and tissue engineering. This new edition also includes new chapters on in-vivo assessment of porous silicon, photodynamic and photothermal therapy, micro- and nanoneedles, Raman imaging, cancer immunotherapy, and more. With its acclaimed editor and international team of expert contributors, Porous Silicon for Biomedical Applications, Second Edition, is a technical resource and indispensable guide for all those involved in the research, development, and application of porous silicon and other biomaterials, while providing a comprehensive introduction for students and academics interested in this field.

Lignin-based Materials for Biomedical Applications: Preparation, Characterization, and Implementation explores the emerging area of lignin-based materials as a platform for advanced biomedical applications, guiding the reader from source through to implementation. The first part of the book introduces the basics of lignin, including extraction methods, chemical modifications, structure and composition, and properties that make lignin suitable for biomedical applications. In addition, structural characterization techniques are described in detail. The next chapters focus on the preparation of lignin-based materials for biomedical applications, presenting methodologies for lignin-based nanoparticles, hydrogels, aerogels, and nanofibers, and providing in-depth coverage of lignin-based materials with specific properties-including antioxidant properties, UV absorbing capability, antimicrobial properties, and colloidal particles with tailored properties-and applications, such as drug and gene delivery, and tissue engineering. Finally, future perspectives and possible new applications are considered. This is an essential reference for all those with an interest in lignin-based materials and their biomedical applications, including researchers and advanced students across bio-based polymers, polymer science, polymer chemistry, biomaterials, nanotechnology, materials science and engineering, drug delivery, and biomedical engineering, as well as industrial R&D and scientists involved with bio-based polymers, specifically for biomedical applications.

Nanotechnology for Oral Drug Delivery: From Concept to Applications discusses the current challenges of oral drug delivery, broadly revising the different physicochemical barriers faced by nanotechnolgy-based oral drug delivery systems, and highlighting the challenges of improving intestinal permeability and drug absorption. Oral delivery is the most widely used form of drug administration due to ease of ingestion, cost effectiveness, and versatility, by allowing for the accommodation of different types of drugs, having the highest patient compliance. In this book, a comprehensive overview of the most promising and up-to-date engineered and surface functionalized drug carrier systems, as well as opportunities for the development of novel and robust delivery platforms for oral drug administration are discussed. The relevance of controlling the physicochemical properties of the developed particle formulations, from size and shape to drug release profile are broadly reviewed. Advances in both in vitro and in vivo scenarios are discussed, focusing on the possibilities to study the biological-material interface. The industrial perspective on the production of nanotechnology-based oral drug delivery systems is also covered. Nanotechnology for Oral Drug Delivery: From Concept to Applications is essential reading for researchers, professors, advanced students and industry professionals working in the development, manufacturing and/or commercialization of nanotechnology-based systems for oral drug delivery, targeted drug delivery, controlled drug release, materials science and biomaterials, in vitro and in vivo testing of potential oral drug delivery technologies.

This resource, by a professor of ecology and environmental science, features the latest information on the global environmental crisis in the 20th century. Ideal for student research, it examines the main causes of environmental concern and the key players who raised the environmental consciousness of the public. Following a timeline of key events and a historical overview of the environmental crisis, topical essays examine each of the major areas of enviromental concern: our vanishing wilderness, pollution, overpopulation, and the long-term problem of how we can coexist with our environment without destroying it. Ready-reference features include biographical sketches, the text of key primary documents, a glossary, over 40 tables, charts and illustrations, and an annotated bibliography.

Clear explanations of the various aspects of the environmental crisis are accompanied by tables, charts, diagrams, and photographs to illustrate the scope and complexity of the problems. Biographical sketches of key environmentalists are useful for ready reference. The text of key primary documents include excerpts from important environmental legislation and treaties and declarations from environmental groups. No other work on this topic offers both analysis of a broad spectrum of environmental concerns and ready-reference materials suitable for high school and college student research.

This text explores the relationship between social movements, sexual citizenship and change in Southern Europe. Providing a comparative analysis about LGBT issues in Italy, Spain and Portugal, it discusses how activism can generate legal, political and cultural impact in post-dictatorial, Catholic and EU-focused countries.

"The present volume explores the concept of utopia in Latin America from the earliest accounts of the New World to current cultural production. The carefully selected essays in this volume represent the latest research on the topic by some of the most important Latin Americanists working in North American academia today. With an interdisciplinary approach, the texts included discuss the notion of a utopian impulse in literature, music, performance, cinema, visual arts, critical theory, cultural studies, and political science. Among the many questions the book grapples with are how the utopian impulse is reconfigured over time, especially in new cultural fields and situations, and how Latin American utopias should be contextualized in the so-called global era"--

This monograph provides a comprehensive study about how a dilute gas described by the Boltzmann equation responds under extreme nonequilibrium conditions. This response is basically characterized by nonlinear transport equations relating fluxes and hydrodynamic gradients through generalized transport coefficients that depend on the strength of the gradients. In addition, many interesting phenomena (e.g. chemical reactions or other processes with a high activation energy) are strongly influenced by the population of particles with an energy much larger than the thermal velocity, what motivates the analysis of high-degree velocity moments and the high energy tail of the distribution function.

The authors have chosen to focus on shear flows with simple geometries, both for single gases and for gas mixtures. This allows them to cover the subject in great detail. Some of the topics analyzed include:

-Non-Newtonian or rheological transport properties, such as the nonlinear shear viscosity and the viscometric functions.
-Asymptotic character of the Chapman-Enskog expansion.
-Divergence of high-degree velocity moments.
-Algebraic high energy tail of the distribution function.
-Shear-rate dependence of the nonequilibrium entropy.
-Long-wavelength instability of shear flows.
-Shear thickening in disparate-mass mixtures.
-Nonequilibrium phase transition in the tracer limit of a sheared binary mixture.
-Diffusion in a strongly sheared mixture.

The text can be read as a whole or can be used as a resource for selected topics from specific chapters.

Society cannot increase beyond its ability to acquire natural resources or to dispose safely of pollutants. One need not be an ecologist or environmental scientist to understand the dangers implicit in an uncontrolled degradation of the environment. Calculating how many people each individual nation should have and determining the means by which politically various populations will be controlled calls for difficult decisions. This book provides a concrete, easily understood, and realistic analysis of the scientific and legal dimensions of environmental stability. Miguel A. Santos outlines the current international ecological crises and defines them as the most serious threat to international world order and ecological stability.

The book is divided into five sections beginning with an examination of the ecological characteristics of human population and a discussion of population policies in developing and developed nations. This section is followed by the construction of an analytic framework for the interaction of society with the environment. Further chapters provide an overview of natural resources and pollution and the criteria for determining the earth's carrying capacity for humans. The final section considers the problems and prospects of international law and environmental protection. Although written for ecologists, environmental scientists, demographers, political scientists, economists, and lawyers, this book is not limited to them. Anyone interested in the relationship between the environment and society will find this book instructive and provocative.

Microfluidics for Pharmaceutical Applications: From Nano/Micro Systems Fabrication to Controlled Drug Delivery is a concept-orientated reference that features case studies on utilizing microfluidics for drug delivery applications. It is a valuable learning reference on microfluidics for drug delivery applications and assists practitioners developing novel drug delivery platforms using microfluidics. It explores advances in microfluidics for drug delivery applications from different perspectives, covering device fabrication, fluid dynamics, cutting-edge microfluidic technology in the global drug delivery industry, lab-on-chip nano/micro fabrication and drug encapsulation, cell encapsulation and delivery, and cell- drug interaction screening. These microfluidic platforms have revolutionized the drug delivery field, but also show great potential for industrial applications.

This book provides a thorough understanding of Short Sea Shipping (SSS) and its role in transport chains, presenting a revision of EU policies for SSS. Infrastructure and equipment required for the success of SSS are discussed, including critical features of modern roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) ships and terminals. Models are proposed for the evaluation of transportation demand in SSS, including the potential effects of external costs, and its results are used within the scope of methods for Ro-Ro ship and fleet sizing. A discussion of methods used to calculate such costs is provided, and a comparison of aggregated demand with and without internalisation of external costs is carried out, pointing towards solutions for 'greening' freight transportation. Applications of multi-criteria decision-making and simulation techniques to supply chains based on SSS are presented. The role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the promotion of SSS is also discussed. A number of case studies illustrate the different research methods and techniques. This book is a useful resource for students and researchers studying transportation, as well as policymakers and practitioners involved in this field and anyone with an interest in the promotion of environmentally sound transport solutions.

The potential of embedded systems ranges from the simplicity of sharing digital media to the coordination of a variety of complex joint actions carried out between collections of networked devices. The book explores the emerging use of embedded systems and wireless technologies from theoretical and practical applications and their applications in agriculture, environment, public health, domotics, and public transportation, among others.

In Manifesto for an Independent Revolutionary Art Andre Breton and Diego Rivera, under the effects of German fascism and Russian Stalinism in society, argued that art can only impact society and be revolutionary if it becomes independent of any social constructs. Almost six decades later, in the rise of what became known as "relational aesthetics", the field of multidisciplinarity is expanding and many artistic projects for social change claim to be multidisciplinarity. However, such projects show that we are still far from a broad discourse of multidisciplinarity. Multidisciplinarity takes a step towards a down-to-earth discussion of the relation between disciplinary discourses and grand narratives in three different projects, focusing mainly on its artistic, cultural and management aspects. Indeed, drawing from the eclectic construction of these three multidisciplinary projects, this volume serves to bridge the gap between the theoretical debates of disciplinary discourses and the harshness of everyday life in communities where projects for social change are being implemented. Presenting a panoptical view that places academic research side by side with daily life, Multidisciplinarity unveils the bigger picture of both projects and interdisciplinary discourses. This insightful volume will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as Project Management, Multidisciplinarity, Culture Studies and Organisational Studies.

In Manifesto for an Independent Revolutionary Art Andre Breton and Diego Rivera, under the effects of German fascism and Russian Stalinism in society, argued that art can only impact society and be revolutionary if it becomes independent of any social constructs. Almost six decades later, in the rise of what became known as "relational aesthetics", the field of multidisciplinarity is expanding and many artistic projects for social change claim to be multidisciplinarity. However, such projects show that we are still far from a broad discourse of multidisciplinarity. Multidisciplinarity takes a step towards a down-to-earth discussion of the relation between disciplinary discourses and grand narratives in three different projects, focusing mainly on its artistic, cultural and management aspects. Indeed, drawing from the eclectic construction of these three multidisciplinary projects, this volume serves to bridge the gap between the theoretical debates of disciplinary discourses and the harshness of everyday life in communities where projects for social change are being implemented. Presenting a panoptical view that places academic research side by side with daily life, Multidisciplinarity unveils the bigger picture of both projects and interdisciplinary discourses. This insightful volume will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as Project Management, Multidisciplinarity, Culture Studies and Organisational Studies.

This book provides a thorough understanding of Short Sea Shipping (SSS) and its role in transport chains, presenting a revision of EU policies for SSS. Infrastructure and equipment required for the success of SSS are discussed, including critical features of modern roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) ships and terminals. Models are proposed for the evaluation of transportation demand in SSS, including the potential effects of external costs, and its results are used within the scope of methods for Ro-Ro ship and fleet sizing. A discussion of methods used to calculate such costs is provided, and a comparison of aggregated demand with and without internalisation of external costs is carried out, pointing towards solutions for 'greening' freight transportation. Applications of multi-criteria decision-making and simulation techniques to supply chains based on SSS are presented. The role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the promotion of SSS is also discussed. A number of case studies illustrate the different research methods and techniques. This book is a useful resource for students and researchers studying transportation, as well as policymakers and practitioners involved in this field and anyone with an interest in the promotion of environmentally sound transport solutions.

This book investigates the notion of silence as both an oppressing instrument and a powerful tool of resistance under the lenses and practices of cultural production Taking a transdisciplinary and transcultural approach to the study of creative and cultural practices, the chapters ask how cultural production is dealing with surges of oppressive regimes, censorship, and fake news, and which cultural processes are implied in silencing as well in giving voice to, in erasing, and in producing small and grand narratives The book reaches beyond dominant instrumental views of contemporary cultural practice to understand culture not only as an expedient to conduct social policy, but also as a diagnostic tool and a vernacular space of giving voice to the many small narratives that make the world we live in Offering an introduction to an underrepresented area of cultural studies, this truly interdisciplinary volume will be of interest to scholars of cultural studies, cultural history, media studies, politics, visual studies, communication studies, history, and literature

Designed for the person who needs to learn algebra as a prerequisite for further study or for a refresher course before moving on, the book covers all of the basic algebra concepts such as variables, equations, quadratic equations, factoring algebraic expressions, exponents, roots, radicals, and more. It includes numerous step by step examples and practice exercises that help the reader to understand the topics in a "self-study" format, designed for those who are uncomfortable with mathematics. The companion disc includes self-correcting exercises and all the figures from the text. Instructor resources available for use in course adoptions.

Written as a hybrid between a research monograph and a textbook the first half of this book is concerned with basic concepts for the study of Banach algebras that, in a sense, are not too far from being commutative. Essentially, the algebra under consideration either has a sufficiently large center or is subject to a higher order commutator property (an algebra with a so-called polynomial identity or in short: Pl-algebra). In the second half of the book, a number of selected examples are used to demonstrate how this theory can be successfully applied to problems in operator theory and numerical analysis.

Distinguished by the consequent use of local principles (non-commutative Gelfand theories), PI-algebras, Mellin techniques and limit operator techniques, each one of the applications presented in chapters 4, 5 and 6 forms a theory that is up to modern standards and interesting in its own right.

Written in a way that can be worked through by the reader with fundamental knowledge of analysis, functional analysis and algebra, this book will be accessible to 4th year students of mathematics or physics whilst also being of interest to researchers in the areas of operator theory, numerical analysis, and the general theory of Banach algebras.

This book provides a quantitative and qualitative overview of the overall impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa’s (BRICS countries) capacity to re-shape global climate governance and explore areas for mutual cooperation. BRICS countries account for nearly 40% of the total world population and are thus intrinsic to the global efforts and results for Agenda 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement and beyond. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic does not at first appear to be directly related to BRICS’ policies to address climate change, but it has influenced the pace and nature of climate action due to the loss of human and financial capital. This book examines this correlation and raises awareness of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts and potential solutions on BRICS’ climate strategies. Drawing on case studies from each country, the authors use examples from urban governance, energy transitions strategy, foreign investment and more to illustrate how COVID-19 has negatively or positively impacted climate data and draw wider conclusions about the long-term climate policies that may be implemented. This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change, environmental politics and governance and global development studies.

The book covers the latest developments in biologically-inspired and derived nanomedicine for cancer therapy. The purpose of the book is to illustrate the significance of naturally-mimicking systems for enhancing the dose delivered to the tumor, to improve stability, and prolong the circulation time. Moreover, readers are presented with advanced materials such as adjuvants for immunostimulation in cancer vaccines. The book also provides a comprehensive overview of the current status of academic research. This is an ideal book for students, researchers, and professors working in nanotechnology, cancer, targeted drug delivery, controlled drug release, materials science, and biomaterials as well as companies developing cancer immunotherapy.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Games and Learning Alliance, GALA 2017, held in Lisbon, Portugal, in December 2017. The 16 revised regular papers presented together with 6 poster papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 45 submissions. The papers cover topics such as games in education and training; games for health and special children; augmented and virtual reality; methods and tools (for desing and development); and poster abstracts.

This book explores the relationship between social movements, sexual citizenship and change in Southern Europe. Providing a comparative analysis about LGBT issues in Italy, Spain and Portugal, it discusses how activism can generate legal, political and cultural impact in post-dictatorial, Catholic and EU-focused countries.

An exploration of the concept of utopia in Latin America from the earliest accounts of the New World to current cultural production, the carefully selected essays in this volume represent the latest research on the topic by some of the most important Latin Americanists working in North American academia today.