Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

This book delves into microbial production and its implications for various industries and presents the latest advancements in the field of bioactive compound production by microorganisms. Divided into 16 chapters, the book covers a wide range of topics, starting with the emerging trends in microbial production techniques, followed by the potential of fungi and algae in producing bioactive compounds, and the applications of bioactive compounds in medicine, agriculture, and industry. Contributions from expert scientists emphasize the significance of metabolic engineering and modern analytical techniques for the extraction, purification, and structural characterization of microbial bioactive compounds. The authors also present alternative technologies and methodologies for the recovery and extraction of these compounds from microbial sources and highlight the health-promoting benefits of natural plant-derived bioactive compounds. Particular attention is given to nanocarriers and their potential for managing the delivery of bioactive compounds in therapeutic applications. The importance of actinomycetes and their bioactive potential in the agricultural sector is also discussed. In this book, readers will also find out about the importance of microbial community dynamics in Antarctica, their ecological potential, and their industrial application. The last chapter of the book offers an industrial perspective of microbial pigments and their applications. This book is a valuable resource for researchers, academics, and industry professionals seeking to understand and harness the potential of microbial bioactive compounds for sustainable development, industrial applications, and improved human well-being.

Advances in Nanosensors for Biological and Environmental Analysis presents the current state-of-art in nanosensors for biological and environmental analysis, also covering commercial aspects. Broadly, the book provides detailed information on the emergence of different types of nanomaterials as transduction platforms used in the development of nanosensors. These include carbon nanotubes, graphene, 2-D transition metal dichalcogenides, conducting polymers and metal organic frameworks. Additional topics include sections on the way nanosensors have inspired new product development in various types of biological and environmental applications that are currently available and on the horizon.

Trends of Applied Microbiology for a Sustainable Economy discusses the role of modern tools and next-generation technologies in applied microbial research, including recent trends and innovation in global biofertilizers. Agriculture has seen dramatic changes since the time of its inception. Starting with the domestication of wild plants to small-scale traditional farming and then large-scale, chemical-intensive agriculture. It is at a crossroads once again, putting a huge amount of pressure on available natural resources like soil, water and biodiversity which is bound to increase with the ever-growing human population. This book helps readers understand the challenges associated with these demographic changes.

Medical Device Regulations: A Complete Guide describes a brief review of various regulatory bodies of major developed and developing countries around the world. The book covers the registration procedures of medical devices for pharmaceutical regulatory organizations. Sections provide guidance on dealing with the ethical considerations of medical device development, compliance with patient confidentiality using information from medical devices, the interoperability between, and among devices outside of healthcare, and the dynamics of implementation of new devices to ensure patient safety. The author brings forth relevant issues, challenges and demonstrates how management can foster increased clinical and non-clinical relations to enhance patient outcomes and the bottom-line by demystifying the regulatory impact on operational requirements.

Phyto-pathogens are one of the dominating components which badly affect crop production. In light of the global food demand, sustainable agricultural plans utilizing agrochemicals became necessary. The role of beneficial microbes in the defense priming of host plants has been well documented. This book details new aspects of microbial-assisted plant protection and their role in agricultural production, economy, and environmental sustainability.

This book addresses a broad range of problems commonly encountered in the fields of financial analysis, logistics and supply chain management, such as the use of big data analytics in the banking sector. Divided into twenty chapters, some of the contemporary topics discussed in the book are co-operative/non-cooperative supply chain models for imperfect quality items with trade-credit financing; a non-dominated sorting water cycle algorithm for the cardinality constrained portfolio problem; and determining initial, basic and feasible solutions for transportation problems by means of the "supply demand reparation method" and "continuous allocation method." In addition, the book delves into a comparison study on exponential smoothing and the Arima model for fuel prices; optimal policy for Weibull distributed deteriorating items varying with ramp type demand rate and shortages; an inventory model with shortages and deterioration for three different demand rates; outlier labeling methods for medical data; a garbage disposal plant as a validated model of a fault-tolerant system; and the design of a "least cost ration formulation application for cattle"; a preservation technology model for deteriorating items with advertisement dependent demand and trade credit; a time series model for stock price forecasting in India; and asset pricing using capital market curves. The book offers a valuable asset for all researchers and industry practitioners working in these areas, giving them a feel for the latest developments and encouraging them to pursue further research in this direction.

This book provides essential insights into a range of newly developed numerical optimization techniques with a view to solving real-world problems. Many of these problems can be modeled as nonlinear optimization problems, but due to their complex nature, it is not always possible to solve them using conventional optimization theory. Accordingly, the book discusses the design and applications of non-conventional numerical optimization techniques, including the design of benchmark functions and the implementation of these techniques to solve real-world optimization problems. The book's twenty chapters examine various interesting research topics in this area, including: Pi fraction-based optimization of the Pantoja-Bretones-Martin (PBM) antenna benchmarks; benchmark function generators for single-objective robust optimization algorithms; convergence of gravitational search algorithms on linear and quadratic functions; and an algorithm for the multi-variant evolutionary synthesis of nonlinear models with real-valued chromosomes. Delivering on its promise to explore real-world scenarios, the book also addresses the seismic analysis of a multi-story building with optimized damper properties; the application of constrained spider monkey optimization to solve portfolio optimization problems; the effect of upper body motion on a bipedal robot's stability; an ant colony algorithm for routing alternate-fuel vehicles in multi-depot vehicle routing problems; enhanced fractal dimension-based feature extraction for thermal face recognition; and an artificial bee colony-based hyper-heuristic for the single machine order acceptance and scheduling problem. The book will benefit not only researchers, but also organizations active in such varied fields as Aerospace, Automotive, Biotechnology, Consumer Packaged Goods, Electronics, Finance, Business & Banking, Oil, Gas & Geosciences, and Pharma, to name a few.

This book presents the latest developments and breakthroughs in fuzzy theory and performance prediction of queuing and reliability models by using the stochastic modeling and optimization theory. The main focus is on analytics that use fuzzy logic, queuing and reliability theory for the performance prediction and optimal design of real-time engineering systems including call centers, telecommunication, manufacturing, service organizations, etc. For the day-to-day as well as industrial queuing situations and reliability prediction of machining parts embedded in computer, communication and manufacturing systems, the book assesses various measures of performance and effectiveness that can provide valuable insights and help arrive at the best decisions with regard to service and engineering systems. In twenty chapters, the book presents both theoretical developments and applications of the fuzzy logic, reliability and queuing models in a diverse range of scenarios. The topics discussed will be of interest to researchers, educators and undergraduate students in the fields of Engineering, Business Management, and the Mathematical Sciences.

The Opium Factory of Ghazipur has a history all its own. Like most other colonial enterprises, it was developed to further colonial mercantile and imperial interests. Ghazipore, as it was known in British India, was the headquarters of the Benaras opium agency, which included almost the whole of the then-United Provinces. Directed and driven by metropolitan capital, the opium factory's success signaled the rise of colonial India as a major exporter of raw opium. Nevertheless, the opium factory was not simply a site of production of "provision" opium; it was where metropolitan capital and imperial science and technology intertwined to ensure the vitality of a colonial establishment. Technology was not everything, however. Raising the standard of opium manufacturing required the services of the "opium chemist," who became vital to the efficacy of the entire operation. Colonial research focused on the extraction of alkaloids to meet the growing demand of medicinal opium and its imports to England during and after World War II. From a site of manufacture of crude raw opium, the factory evolved into a modern pharmaceutical concern that was totally redesigned and reequipped. Renamed the "Government Opium and Alkaloid Works," some elements of continuity render this 200-year old monument a legacy embodying a powerful narrative of how "opium made the world go round." This work is an attempt to revisit and uncover the many trajectories of the Ghazipur opium factory, which still remains a site of production in the twenty-first century.

Opium Consumption and Experience in India offers a "cultural biography" of opium in the subcontinent. It spans the Raj and India after independence. The book examines the "social lives" of opium in India, beginning as a commodity in the sixteenth century to its social transformation and singularization in the eighteenth century, and its decline from the mid-nineteenth century to obsolescence in the twentieth century to new "paths and diversions" in our own times. The book attempts to illuminate how opium came to occupy a central place in the "cultures of consumption" and also in the socio-economic and political life of a people. How did opium become embedded in a social ethos where it not only served as a social lubricant but soon morphed into a narco-identity for the people of India. The identification of India as a land of "great opium eaters" spawned the propaganda of a "civilizing mission" that ushered in a new era of material exploitation and political domination. This had a significant impact on the development and regulation of opium and its use.

Soft computing and nature-inspired computing both play a significant role in developing a better understanding to machine learning. When studied together, they can offer new perspectives on the learning process of machines. The Handbook of Research on Soft Computing and Nature-Inspired Algorithms is an essential source for the latest scholarly research on applications of nature-inspired computing and soft computational systems. Featuring comprehensive coverage on a range of topics and perspectives such as swarm intelligence, speech recognition, and electromagnetic problem solving, this publication is ideally designed for students, researchers, scholars, professionals, and practitioners seeking current research on the advanced workings of intelligence in computing systems.