SARS was the ?rst new plague of the twenty-?rst century. Within months, it spread worldwide from its "birthplace" in Guangdong Province, China, affecting over 8,000 people in 25 countries and territories across ?ve continents. SARS exposed the vulnerability of our modern globalised world to the spread of a new emerging infection. SARS (or a similar new emerging disease) could neither have spread so rapidly nor had such a great global impact even 50 years ago, and arguably, it was itself a product of our global inter-connectedness. Increasing af?uence and a demand for wild-game as exotic food led to the development of large trade of live animal and game animal markets where many species of wild and domestic animals were co-housed, providing the ideal opportunities for inter-species tra- mission of viruses and other microbes. Once such a virus jumped species and attacked humans, the increased human mobility allowed the virus the opportunity for rapid spread. An infected patient from Guangdong who stayed for one day at a hotel in Hong Kong led to the transmission of the disease to 16 other guests who travelled on to seed outbreaks of the disease in Toronto, Singapore, and Vietnam, as well as within Hong Kong itself. The virus exploited the practices used in modern intensive care of patients with severe respiratory disease and the weakness in infection control practices within our health care systems to cause outbreaks within hospitals, further amplifying the spread of the disease. Health-care itself has become a two-edged sword.

This book focuses on the adoption of new technologies led by information and communication technologies by SMEs in developing countries. It identifies several factors that augment competitiveness of firms in the era of globalization. Contrary to the general belief, these factors are not uniform across developing world. Based on the empirical evidence from firms located in Malaysia, India, Nigeria, Jamaica, and Costa Rica, the study concludes that firms cannot remain competitive without institutional support. Since firms operate in different institutional and economic environment, form of support varies from one country to another.

Using the findings from data analysis of fifty-one developing countries, this bookanalyses several national and international factors that have resulted in uneven development of the textiles and clothing industry inthe developing world. The findings are further substantiated by case studies of major players in this industry, such as India and China. While international trade rules have played a critical role in the growth of the textiles and clothing industry, country- and industry-specific policies and capacity building initiatives have also resulted in the present scenarioin several countries. There is no common recipe for all developing countries for sustaining market share in the domestic and international markets.Regional and local factors need to be taken into consideration while formulating policies for the industry.

Recent empirical evidence across countries shows a substantial and increasing return to IT investment. New technologies open up opportunities for small firms to expand their markets beyond national borders. This books looks specifically at ICT adoption and learning trajectories in developing countries; a context characterized by skill deficiencies and weak institutional support. The authors employ a systemic theoretical framework and a variety of research techniques to present firm-level evidence on learning in firms in an Internet-based production environment. This book is an invaluable addition to the literature on small firms and economic development.

SARS was the ?rst new plague of the twenty-?rst century. Within months, it spread worldwide from its "birthplace" in Guangdong Province, China, affecting over 8,000 people in 25 countries and territories across ?ve continents. SARS exposed the vulnerability of our modern globalised world to the spread of a new emerging infection. SARS (or a similar new emerging disease) could neither have spread so rapidly nor had such a great global impact even 50 years ago, and arguably, it was itself a product of our global inter-connectedness. Increasing af?uence and a demand for wild-game as exotic food led to the development of large trade of live animal and game animal markets where many species of wild and domestic animals were co-housed, providing the ideal opportunities for inter-species tra- mission of viruses and other microbes. Once such a virus jumped species and attacked humans, the increased human mobility allowed the virus the opportunity for rapid spread. An infected patient from Guangdong who stayed for one day at a hotel in Hong Kong led to the transmission of the disease to 16 other guests who travelled on to seed outbreaks of the disease in Toronto, Singapore, and Vietnam, as well as within Hong Kong itself. The virus exploited the practices used in modern intensive care of patients with severe respiratory disease and the weakness in infection control practices within our health care systems to cause outbreaks within hospitals, further amplifying the spread of the disease. Health-care itself has become a two-edged sword.

This books looks specifically at ICT adoption and learning trajectories in developing countries; a context characterized by skill deficiencies and weak institutional support. The authors employ a theoretical framework and research techniques to present firm-level evidence on learning in firms in an Internet-based production environment.

Those familiar with input-output analysis know well that compilation of input-output tables is a difficult statistical work. The very first input-output tables (e.g. such as those for the United States economy in 1919 and 1929 or for the Federal Republic of Germany in the fifties) were the results of applied economic research. But soon after, official statistical bodies, who understood that input-output tables consistent with national accounts can very much improve the quality of economic statistics, started systematic work in this field. It was also obvious that international exchange of experience can be useful. The two main internatio nal fora in which discussion of input-output compilation took place were the international input-out put conferences and United Nations bodies. Already at the First International Conference on Input-Output Techniques (Driebergen 1950) several authors analysed the relations between input-output tables and national accounts. The topic was also on the programme of the Second Conference (Varenna 1954). At the Third Conference (Geneva 1961) standardization of input-output statistics was a topic of a panel discussion of eight experts. The relevant papers, which are still of interest, can be found in published conference proceedings."

This book focuses on the adoption of new technologies led by information and communication technologies by SMEs in developing countries. It identifies several factors that augment competitiveness of firms in the era of globalization. Contrary to the general belief these factors are not uniform across developing world. Based on the empirical evidence from firms located in Malaysia, India, Nigeria, Jamaica, and Costa Rica, the study concludes that firms cannot remain competitive without institutional support. Since firms operate in different institutional and economic environment, form of support varies from one country to another.

​This book presents drug repurposing strategies to combat infectious diseases and cancer. It discusses key experimental and in silico approaches for modern drug repositioning, including signature matching, molecular docking, genome-wide associated studies, and network-based approaches aided by artificial intelligence. Further, the book presents various computational and experimental strategies for better understanding disease mechanisms and identify repurposed drug candidates for personalized pharmacotherapy. It also explores the databases for drug repositioning, summarizes the approaches taken for drug repositioning, and highlights and compares their characteristics and challenges. Towards the end, the book discusses challenges and limitations encountered in computational drug repositioning.