Many natural products are known to have health-promoting pharmaceutical activities. For example, capsaicin, curcumin, epigallocatechin, resveratrol, and quercetin have been reported to possess anti-inflammatory activity. Additionally, bioactive agents such as flavonoids, alkaloids, and terpenoids have shown a protective effect against diseases such as cancer, liver diseases, cardiovascular diseases, neurological disorders, diabetes mellitus, and more. Pharmacological Benefits of Natural Agents compiles the beneficial effects of bioactive natural agents with reference to many disease conditions and considers the challenges and future directions for their use. Covering key topics such as cancer, pharmaceutical activities, bioactive compounds, and treatments, this reference work is ideal for medical professionals, pharmacists, biologists, policymakers, researchers, scholars, practitioners, academicians, instructors, and students.

In recent years, epidemiological studies have shown a significant increase of incidences regarding ulcerative colitis (UC) in most regions of the world. At present, a common therapeutic modality for inflammatory bowel disorders is the use of anti-inflammatory agents, including sulfasalazine and acetylsalicylic acid, steroid hormone, and other immunosuppressive agents. Most of these treatments are symptomatic and palliative because the etiology of the disease is not yet established. As a result of no proper drug available to treat UC, patients with UC are at a high risk of developing colitis-associated cancer (CAC). It is necessary to understand the genetic and molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of UC and CAC that lead to the path of new drug discoveries. Diagnostic and Treatment Methods for Ulcerative Colitis and Colitis-Associated Cancer provides innovative insights that describe the fundamental understanding of UC and CAC and the molecular mechanisms behind the etiology as well as modern diagnostic methods that are employed in UC and CAC. Current prevention and therapeutic strategies practiced in the pre-clinical level are also discussed. The content within this publication examines alternative medicine and dietary intervention and drug delivery techniques. It is designed for healthcare professionals, physicians, academicians, researchers, R&D organizations, and medical students involved in drug discovery and clinical and therapeutic research.

In today's modern society, to reduce the carbon dioxide gas emission from motor vehicles and to save mother nature, electric vehicles are becoming more practical. As more people begin to see the benefits of this technology, further study on the challenges and best practices is required. The Handbook of Research on Battery Management Systems and Routing Problems in Electric Vehicles focuses on the integration of renewable energy sources with the existing grid, introduces a power exchange scenario in the prevailing power market, considers the use of the electric vehicle market for creating cleaner and transformative energy, and optimizes the control variables with artificial intelligence techniques. Covering key topics such as artificial intelligence, smart grids, and sustainable development, this major reference work is ideal for government officials, industry professionals, policymakers, researchers, scholars, practitioners, academicians, instructors, and students.

The implementation of wireless sensor networks has wide-ranging applications for monitoring various physical and environmental settings. However, certain limitations with these technologies must be addressed in order to effectively utilize them. The Handbook of Research on Advanced Wireless Sensor Network Applications, Protocols, and Architectures is a pivotal reference source for the latest research on recent innovations and developments in the field of wireless sensors. Examining the advantages and challenges presented by the application of these networks in various areas, this book is ideally designed for academics, researchers, students, and IT developers.

This book examines the commercial role of various microbial polysaccharides and recent advances in their production. Offering an overview of the physiological role, biosynthetic pathways and regulatory mechanisms, it also explores the current challenges regarding bioprocessing for the production of polysaccharides.

The Meghaduta of Kalidasa, taken to be a lyrical gem on its discovery in the West, continues to be a classic. Contrary to the opinion in India which lauds this text as the culmination of a poetic use of words for their music in a conventional sense, the poem can now be taken to be a wonderful amalgamation of the use of the hard and the soft words in a use of diction and phraseology. It is, however, in the picturesque quality of his images apprehended in wonderful structural design that the poem comes to achieve its unequalled unity of effect. Born of the compelling impact of a single mood captured variously in both the sections of the poem, this work of art remains distinguished for ever for readers down the ages to the present. As simple prose translations of the poem fail to approximate its effect for obvious reasons, an attempt has been made here to apprehend something of the beauty of the poem in Sanskrit in a translation into English in vers libre. Such an attempt, it is hoped, comes half way to meet the expectations of the modern reader of poetry, who does not know Sanskrit in particular, to lead him to respond to one of the most beautiful poems ever written. It may augment further authentic response to a classic in our study of literature in the global context as well.

Nuclear isomers are the long-lived excited states of nuclei. Therefore, they constitute the meta-stable landscape of nuclei. The first isomer was probably identified as early as 1921. Since then, the number of isomers has been growing steadily picking up pace in recent times. Interest in nuclear isomers has grown in recent years for many reasons. The experimental capabilities to observe isomers have been expanding to cover a wider time scale. This has opened up new windows to observe and decipher the underlying nuclear structure and interactions. Further, the isomers are beginning to be seen as potential energy storage devices and nuclear clocks with a host of applications. Possible discovery of a gamma ray laser has also ignited many researches in this area. Isomers now cover the full nuclear landscape with structural peculiarities specific to each region of the nuclear chart. Exploring the nuclear isomers, therefore, provides a novel insight into the nuclear structure properties of that region. There could be many different reasons for the long lives of excited nuclear states, which lead to the classification of isomers. Isomers are broadly classified in to four classes: Spin isomers, shape isomers, fission isomers and K-isomers. Seniority isomers have also been identified which are often clubbed with the spin isomers. We discuss this classification and the underlying causes in detail. Many examples are considered to highlight the large variety of isomers. The range of half-lives covered by the isomers varies from billions of years to nano-seconds and even small. To understand this vast variation is a fascinating endeavor in itself. The angular momentum couplings, nuclear shapes, pairing etc. conspire together to give this vast range of half-lives. We go through these aspects in detail, highlighting the various selection rules at work. It is interesting that the nuclear shapes play an important role in many types of isomers. The spin isomers, which occur in spherical or, near-spherical nuclei, are generally confined to the magic numbers. Seniority isomers are largely found in semi-magic nuclei and should be explored in conjunction with the spin isomers. New developments in seniority and generalized seniority isomers are discussed in detail. As the nuclei deform; the nature of isomers changes. We take a close look into the decay properties of isomers in deformed nuclei, particularly the K isomers, the shape isomers and the fission isomers. While doing so, the theoretical and experimental developments of isomers are also addressed. A number of open questions are posed for possible new experiments and better understanding of the isomers.

This book presents selected papers from the International Conference on Renewable Energy Systems (ICRES 2020). It throws light over the state of the art of renewable energy sources and their technological advances. Renewable energy sources discussed in this book include solar, wind, biomass, fuel cells, hydropower , hydrogen, nuclear, and geothermal. This book comprehensively explains each of these sources, materials associated, technological development, economics and their impact on the environment. As the renewable energy sources are intermittent, they require specific power electronic converter to convert the generated power into useful form that can be used for utility. Hence, this book describes different forms of power converter such as AC-DC, DC-DC, DC-AC and AC-AC. Advanced power semiconductor devices, their gate drive and protection circuits, heat sink design and magnetic components for power converter are the additional topics included in this book. The topics covered in these proceedings will have a large impact among academicians, researchers, policy makers, scientists, practitioners and students in fields of electronics and electrical engineering, energy engineering, automotive engineering, and so on.

This book presents a comprehensive overview on origin, structure, properties, modification strategies and applications of the biopolymer lignin. It is organized into four themed parts. The first part focuses on the analysis and characterization of the second most abundant biopolymer. The following part is devoted to the biological aspects of lignin such as biosynthesis and degradation. In the third part, chemical modification strategies and the preparation of composites as well as nano- and microparticles are discussed.The final part addresses the industrial application of lignin and its derivatives, as well as lignin materials. The usage for synthesis of biofuels, fine chemicals and in agriculture and food industry is covered. This book is a comprehensive source for researchers, scientists and engineers working in the field of biopolymers as well as renewable materials and sources.

Sorghum is the most important cereal crop grown in the semi-arid tropics (SAT) of Africa, Asia, Australia and Americas for food, feed, fodder and fuel. It is the fifth most important cereal crop globally after rice, wheat, maize and barley, and plays a major role in global food security. Sorghum is consumed in different forms for various end-uses. Its grain is mostly used directly for food purposes. After the release of the proceedings of two international symposia in the form of books "Sorghum in Seventies" and "Sorghum in Eighties", global sorghum research and development have not been documented at one place. Of course, few books on sorghum have been released that focus on specific issues/research areas, but comprehensive review of all aspects of recent development in different areas of sorghum science has not been compiled in the form a single book. This book is intended to fill in a void to bridge the gap by documenting all aspects of recent research and development in sorghum encompassing all the progress made, milestones achieved across globe in genetic diversity assessment, crop improvement and production, strategies for high yield, biotic and abiotic stress resistance, grain and stover quality aspects, storage, nutrition, health and industrial applications, biotechnological applications to increase production, including regional and global policy perspectives and developmental needs. This book will be an institutional effort to compile all the latest information generated in research and development in sorghum across the globe at one place.

This book is a compilation of recent global measures to conserve bio-resources and manage biotic and abiotic stresses. It highlights emerging issues related to agriculture, abiotic and biotic stress factors, ethnic knowledge, climate change and global warming, as well as natural resources and their sustainable management. It also focuses on the consolidated efforts of scientists and academics engaged in addressing a number of issues related to resource management and combating stresses in order to protect the Earth. Crop production and productivity have been significantly improved, however, there have been no corresponding practical advances in sustainable agriculture.This book offers a wide range of affordable approaches to managing bio-resources with a focus on sustainability. Lastly, it describes research highlights and future areas of research.