The success of any organization is largely dependent on positive feedback and repeat business from patrons. By utilizing acquired marketing data, business professionals can more accurately assess practices, services, and products that their customers find appealing. The Handbook of Research on Intelligent Techniques and Modeling Applications in Marketing Analytics features innovative research and implementation practices of analytics in marketing research. Highlighting various techniques in acquiring and deciphering marketing data, this publication is a pivotal reference for professionals, managers, market researchers, and practitioners interested in the observation and utilization of data on marketing trends to promote positive business practices.

This book reviews recent physicochemical and biophysical techniques applied in drug discovery research, and it outlines the latest advances in computational drug design. Divided into 10 chapters, the book discusses about the role of structural biology in drug discovery, and offers useful application cases of several biophysical and computational methods, including time-resolved fluorometry (TRF) with Foerster resonance energy transfer (FRET), X-Ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy, generative machine learning for inverse molecular design, quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM,ONIOM) and quantum molecular dynamics (QMT) methods. Particular attention is given to computational search techniques applied to peptide vaccines using novel mathematical descriptors and structure and ligand-based virtual screening techniques in drug discovery research. Given its scope, the book is a valuable resource for students, researchers and professionals from pharmaceutical industry interested in drug design and discovery.

Microbes are ubiquitous in nature. Among microbes, fungal communities play an important role in agriculture, the environment, and medicine. Vast fungal diversity has been found in plant systems. The fungi associated with any plant system are in the form of epiphytic, endophytic, and rhizospheric fungi. These associated fungi play important roles in plant growth, crop yield, and soil health. The rhizospheric fungi present in rhizospheric zones have a sufficient amount of nutrients released by plant root systems in the form of root exudates for growth, development, and activities of microbes. Endophytic fungi enter in host plants mainly through wounds that naturally occur as a result of plant growth, or develop through root hairs and at epidermal conjunctions. The phyllospheric fungi may survive or proliferate on leaves, depending on the extent of influences of material in leaf diffuseness or exudates. The diverse group of fungal communities is a key component of soil-plant systems, where they are engaged in an intense network of interactions in the rhizospheric, endophytic, and phyllospheric areas, and they have emerged as an important and promising tool for sustainable agriculture. These fungal communities help to promote plant growth directly or indirectly by mechanisms for plant growth-promoting (PGP) attributes. These PGP fungi can be used as biofertilizers, bioinoculants, and biocontrol agents in place of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in an environmentally and eco-friendly manner. This book covers the current knowledge of plant-associated fungi and their potential biotechnological applications in agriculture and allied sectors. This book should be useful to scientists, researchers, and students of microbiology, biotechnology, agriculture, molecular biology, environmental biology, and related subjects.

Microbes are ubiquitous in nature. Among microbes, fungal communities play an important role in agriculture, the environment, and medicine. Vast fungal diversity has been associated with plant systems, namely epiphytic fungi, endophytic fungi, and rhizospheric fungi. These fungi associated with plant systems play an important role in plant growth, crop yield, and soil health. Rhizospheric fungi, present in rhizospheric zones, get their nutrients from root exudates released by plant root systems, which help with their growth, development, and microbe activity. Endophytic fungi typically enter plant hosts through naturally occurring wounds that are the result of plant growth, through root hairs, or at epidermal conjunctions. Phyllospheric fungi may survive or proliferate on leaves depending on material influences in leaf diffuseness or exudates. The diverse nature of these fungal communities is a key component of soil-plant systems, where they are engaged in a network of interactions endophytically, phyllospherically, as well as in the rhizosphere, and thus have emerged as a promising tool for sustainable agriculture. These fungal communities promote plant growth directly and indirectly by using plant growth promoting (PGP) attributes. These PGP fungi can be used as biofertilizers and biocontrol agents in place of chemical fertilizers and pesticides for a more eco-friendly method of promoting sustainable agriculture and environments. This first volume of a two-volume set covers the biodiversity of plant-associated fungal communities and their role in plant growth promotion, the mitigation of abiotic stress, and soil fertility for sustainable agriculture. This book should be useful to those working in the biological sciences, especially for microbiologists, microbial biotechnologists, biochemists, and researchers and scientists of fungal biotechnology.

Value creation is a prime concern for any contemporary business. This can be accomplished through the incorporation of various techniques and processes, such as the integration of analytics to improve business functions. Applying Predictive Analytics within the Service Sector is a pivotal reference source for the latest innovative perspectives on the incorporation of analysis techniques to enhance business performance. Examining a wide range of relevant topics, such as alternative clustering, recommender systems, and social media tools, this book is ideally designed for researchers, academics, students, professionals, and practitioners seeking scholarly material on business improvement in the service industry.

The workforce is considered to be the lifeblood within many major corporations. The ability of management to effectively utilize the knowledge and skills of their workforce is essential in ensuring the success of their corporations. Harnessing Human Capital Analytics for Competitive Advantage is a critical scholarly publication that explores the influence that workforce knowledge and skills can have on the performance of corporations and how such skills can be used to promote the success of corporations. Featuring coverage on a wide range of topics including employee happiness, mind genomics, and e-commerce adoption, this book is geared toward managers, professionals, and practitioners seeking current research on the advantage of utilizing workforce knowledge and skills to promote corporate success.

This book reviews the current strategies and challenges for the treatment of bacterial, fungal, parasitic and viral infectious diseases in developing countries. Contributing authors present expert analysis on the transmission, epidemiology, bacteriology, pathogenesis and treatment of Neglected Tropical Bacterial Diseases such as Leprosy, Buruli ulcer, and Trachoma. Particular attention is also given to current antifungal agents, their spectrum of activity, mode of action, limitations, and current challenges in antifungal therapy. The authors explore the medicinal chemistry efforts that gave rise to currently launched drugs and new anti-HIV agents, and they also highlight the latest vaccine and drug developments in the clinical management of the Ebola Virus Disease, ignited by the 2014-2016 outbreak. This work has an interdisciplinary appeal and will engage scholars and professionals in the burden of communicable diseases.

This book shares experiences and knowledge on climate change impacts and adaptation, risk reduction strategies, communities’ responses, and best practices from different landscapes of India. It provides insights into climate change risk reduction in trans-disciplinary frameworks. The findings and discussions put forward in the chapters, largely based on micro-level case studies, provide an in-depth understanding of interactions among ecology, society, and economy under different conditions of changing climate. It contains critical discussion on both existing and required actions as adjustments to climate change impacts by different actors at diverse scales and contexts. The recommendations will be beneficial in climate change adaptation planning for India and other developing countries, where a large portion of the population directly depends on climate-sensitive sectors. The content of the book is interdisciplinary and it will be beneficial for scholars and practitioners from natural science, social science, policy, and governance across the continents.

The development of business intelligence has enhanced the visualization of data to inform and facilitate business management and strategizing. By implementing effective data-driven techniques, this allows for advance reporting tools to cater to company-specific issues and challenges. The Handbook of Research on Advanced Data Mining Techniques and Applications for Business Intelligence is a key resource on the latest advancements in business applications and the use of mining software solutions to achieve optimal decision-making and risk management results. Highlighting innovative studies on data warehousing, business activity monitoring, and text mining, this publication is an ideal reference source for research scholars, management faculty, and practitioners.

These conference proceedings provide a comprehensive overview of and in-depth technical information on all possible bioenergy resources (solid, liquid, and gaseous), including cutting-edge themes such as advanced fuels and biogas. The book includes current state-of-the-art topics ranging from feedstocks and cost-effective conversion processes to biofuels economic analysis and environmental policy, and features case studies and quizzes for each section derived from the implementation of actual hands-on biofuel projects to aid learning. It offers readers a starting point on this challenging and exciting path. The central concepts are defined and explained in the context of process applications under various topics. By focussing on the pertinent fundamental principles in the environment and energy sciences and by repeatedly emphasizing the importance of their correlation, it offers a strong foundation for future study and practice. Learning about fundamental properties and mechanisms on an ongoing basis is absolutely essential for long-term professional viability in a technically vibrant area such as nanotechnology. The book has been written for undergraduate and graduate students in chemical, energy and environment engineering. However, selected sections can provide the basis for courses in civil, mechanical or electrical engineering. It includes a self-contained presentation of the key concepts of energy resources, solar thermal and photovoltaic systems, nuclear energy, biomass conversion technology and agricultural-waste processing. Throughout it interweaves descriptive material on sustainable development, clean coal technology, green technology, solid-waste management and lifecycle assessments. It offers an introduction to these topics rather than comprehensive coverage of the themes and their in-depth fundamentals.

This book comprises selected papers from the International Conference on Civil Engineering Trends and Challenges for Sustainability (CTCS) 2019. The book presents latest research in several areas of civil engineering such as construction and structural engineering, geotechnical engineering, environmental engineering and sustainability, and geographical information systems. With a special emphasis on sustainable development, the book covers case studies and addresses key challenges in sustainability. The scope of the contents makes the book useful for students, researchers, and professionals interested in sustainable practices in civil engineering.

It is well known that the impacts of climate change are tangible and hence there can be no debate about the need for appropriate adaptation measures, on a priority basis. However, it is equally important to recognize the fact that adaptation measures actually represent a dynamic synthesis of interventions pertaining to multiple systems. These are particularly of water, soil characteristics, genotypic and phenotypic variations and their expressions, age-correlated biochemical changes aligned with planting schedules and favorable weather/climate conditions. Nutrients, occurrence and distribution of associated vegetation including crop mixes also influence productivity. The overarching aspect of farming practice wields significant influence on the outcome and hence it is important to be clear about the particular focus of the investigations being carried out and reported in a suitable manner. It is essential to recognize that scientific research in agriculture in India has always produced valuable results of direct relevance to her people. Importantly, preparedness to tackle disasters due to inclement weather system has prominently featured on the agenda. The recent focus on climate change and impacts has provided the necessary impetus to reorganize the framework of investigation to capture the specifics of such impacts. In this context, the importance of micro climate variations too viz-a-viz the larger scales of impacts cannot be overemphasized. It will be useful to also help characterize natural variations versus artificially induced variations, helping us understand the complexities of individual and synergistic impacts too. Obviously, the limits and limitations of models could determine the spread and depth of the outcomes of investigations. Empirical evidences to reinforce assumptions have to also be documented with utmost care; guided by an understanding of the limits of tolerance, limiting factors, and the precautionary principle especially in the public policy interface. The present volume therefore, showcases these strands with the fond hope that they will stimulate further thinking and enable appropriate action.

Agroforestry, the word coined in early seventies, has made its place in all the developed and the developing countries of the world and is now recognized as an important approach to ensuring food security and rebuilding resilient rural environments. India has been an all-time leader in agroforestry. The South and Southeast Asia region comprising India is often described as the cradle of agroforestry. Almost all forms of agroforestry systems exist across India in ecozones ranging from humid tropical lowlands to high-altitude and temperate biomes, and perhumid rainforest zones to parched drylands. The country ranks foremost among the community of nations not only in terms of this enormous diversity and long tradition of the practice of agroforestry, but also in fostering scientific developments in the subject. Agroforestry applies to private agricultural and forest lands and communities that also include highly erodible, flood-prone, economically marginal and environmentally sensitive lands. The typical situation is agricultural, where trees are added to create desired benefits. Agroforestry allows for the diversification of farm activities and makes better use of environmental resources. Owing to an increase in the population of human and cattle, there is increasing demand of food as well as fodder, particularly in developing countries like India. So far, there is no policy that deals with specifics in agroforestry in India. But, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research has been discussing on the scope of having a National Agroforestry Policy in appropriate platforms. However, evolving a policy requires good and reliable datasets from different corners of the country on the subject matter. This synthesis volume containing 13 chapters is an attempt to collate available information in a classified manner into different system ecologies, problems and solutions, and converging them into a policy support.

Scheduling in Distributed Computing Systems: Analysis, Design and Models intends to inculcate the innovative ideas for the scheduling aspect. Although the models in this book are designed for distributed systems, the same information is applicable for any type of system (i.e., where distributed processing is required). Scheduling in Distributed Computing Systems: Analysis, Design and Models will dramatically improve the design and management of the processes for industry professionals. This book deals exclusively with the scheduling aspect, which finds little space in other distributed operating system books. Scheduling in Distributed Computing Systems: Analysis, Design and Models is structured for a professional audience composed of researchers and practitioners in industry. This book is also suitable as a reference for graduate-level students in management sciences, and computer science for distributed computing system classes.

This edited book offers coverage towards SDG 15 in particular, but it provides for all the SDGs in general. The book is an inclusive comprehension on ecosystem restoration and sustainability including agricultural and ecosystem resilience, the role of biodiversity, climate change and water resources, hydrological modelling, extreme events, disaster risk and management, sustainable policy making on disaster management.  The world is facing diverse and severe challenges. Millions of people are suffering from the catastrophic effects of extreme disasters, climate emergencies, water and food insecurity, and the repercussions of COVID-19 pandemic. Ecosystems are essential players in people’s capacity to meet these challenges. Hence, managing them and protecting their resources in sustainable ways is crucial. The book ‘Ecosystem Restoration:  Towards Sustainable and Resilient Development’ provides comprehensive information on fundamentals, approaches and latest developments in the field of ecosystem restoration, resilience and sustainability. This book is of interest to teachers, researchers, climate change scientists, and valuable source of reference to the professionals and students in the relevant disciplines. Besides, the book serves as additional reading for graduate students of water, ecology, restoration forestry, soil science, and environmental sciences. National and international ecological policy makers, scientists and planners will also find this to be a useful read.

An intra-articular injection is a procedure used in the treatment of inflammatory joint conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, gout, tendinitis, bursitis, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and occasionally osteoarthritis. The new edition of this book has been fully revised to provide orthopaedic surgeons with the latest techniques and drugs used in intra-articular injections. Beginning with an overview of injection techniques, frequency of administration, indications and contraindications, the following chapters explain injections for different joints in the body, including elbow, shoulder, wrist, knee, hip and many more. A complete chapter covers the facial region. The third edition includes new chapters on acupuncture and yoga. Key points Fully revised, third edition covering latest techniques and drugs in intra-articular injections Covers injections in many different joints of the body Features new chapters on acupuncture and yoga Previous edition (9788180615375) published in 2005

The Handbook of Membrane Separations: Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Food, and Biotechnological Applications, Second Edition provides detailed information on membrane separation technologies from an international team of experts. The handbook fills an important gap in the current literature by providing a comprehensive discussion of membrane applications in the chemical, food, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries as well as in the treatment of toxic industrial effluents. This revised second edition has been updated and expanded with discussions of new membrane products and processes and novel applications in engineering, life sciences, and energy conversion. It also includes new chapters in the field of membrane science and technology covering recent advances in RO and UF, ionic liquids, nanotechnology, roles of membrane in power generation, updates on fuel cells, new membrane extraction configuration, and other important topics. The handbook is equally suited for the newcomer to the field as it is for process engineers and research scientists (membranologists/membrane experts) who are interested in obtaining more advanced information about specific applications. It provides readers with a comprehensive and well-balanced overview of the present state of membrane science and technology.

Advances in Hydrology and Climate Change: Historical Trends and New Approaches in Water Resources Management highlights recent trends in the water sector that employ a variety of different innovative management and conservation approaches. The volume provides an informative overview of the issues and challenges in water resources affected by climate change conditions, such as drought, flooding, glacier changes, and overbuilt-up urban areas. Focusing on surface and groundwater related issues and sustainable solutions, the chapters present a variety of methods, including morphometric assessment, parameter estimation, long-term trend analysis, sustainability indexes, storm water management models (SWMM), entropy-based measurement of long-term precipitation, etc. The volume focuses on providing a better understanding of climatic uncertainty through hydrometeorological data sets and their application in hydrological modeling. These analyses help to serve as the basis for the design of flood-control and water-usage management policies. The chapters discuss climatic variability that depends on several factors, i.e., its erratic distribution, topography, seasonal variation, land-use change, anthropogenic activities, etc., demonstrating the overall interconnection between different parameters of hydrological cycles to design modeling approaches that include using soft-computing applications, remote sensing and GIS-based techniques, artificial neural networks, and more. This book will be a standard reference work for disciplines in water resources, soil and water engineering, engineering hydrology, groundwater hydrology, climate change, agrometeorology, agriculture, ecology and environmental science, leading to a way forward for strategy formulation for combating hydrology and climate change.