Human Microbiome Drug Targets: Modern Approaches in Disease Management presents fundamental information on the human microbiome, looking into the relationship between the microbiome and how it changes with specific diseases. Changes in the human microbiome can provide clues to the probable cause and effect of diseases or disorders, as well as the impact of therapy or intervention. Delving into the multifaceted roles of the microbiome in health and disease, as well as how it can be turned into something useful in the management and prevention of diseases and disorders, chapters discuss the role of the human microbiome in the pathophysiologic understanding of relevant diseases or disorders and their management. Explaining how a better understanding of the microbiome and its impact on health and disease can pave the way for future discoveries leading to better health outcomes the book will be of interest to drug developers, medicinal chemists, microbiologists, infectious disease specialists, biochemists and students.

A breathtaking romantic fantasy inspired by Beauty and the Beast about a girl who paints the future and a cursed dragon lord, bound by love and deception in a plot to bring down the gods. Fortune finds those who leap . . . A gifted art forger, Truyan Saigas has the unique ability to paint the future. But when her father is lost at sea, not even magic can heal her family, or save her two younger sisters from the dangerous consequences of her mother's gambling debts. Then Elang, a mysterious dragon lord, offers her a deal: in exchange for a fresh start for her mother and sisters, Tru must enter a marriage contract and join him in his desolate undersea palace. Once there, Tru will embark on her most dangerous forgery yet. To infiltrate the tyrannical Dragon King's inner circle and paint a future so treasonous, it could upend both the mortal and immortal realms . . .

Plants are vulnerable to pathogens including fungi, bacteria, and viruses, which cause critical problems and deficits. Crop protection by plant breeding delivers a promising solution with no obvious effect on human health or the local ecosystem. Crop improvement has been the most powerful approach for producing unique crop cultivars since domestication occurred, making possible the main innovations in feeding the globe and community development. Genome editing is one of the genetic devices that can be implemented, and disease resistance is frequently cited as the most encouraging application of CRISPR/Cas9 technology in agriculture. Nanobiotechnology has harnessed the power of genome editing to develop agricultural crops. Nanosized DNA or RNA nanotechnology approaches could contribute to raising the stability and performance of CRISPR guide RNAs. This book brings together the latest research in these areas. CRISPR and RNAi Systems: Nanobiotechnology Approaches to Plant Breeding and Protection presents a complete understanding of the RNAi and CRISPR/Cas9 techniques for controlling mycotoxins, fighting plant nematodes, and detecting plant pathogens. CRISPR/Cas genome editing enables efficient targeted modification in most crops, thus promising to accelerate crop improvement. CRISPR/Cas9 can be used for management of plant insects, and various plant pathogens. The book is an important reference source for both plant scientists and environmental scientists who want to understand how nano biotechnologically based approaches are being used to create more efficient plant protection and plant breeding systems.

Truyan Saigas didn't choose to become a con artist, but after her father is lost at sea, it’s up to her to support her mother and two younger sisters. A gifted art forger, Tru has the unique ability to paint the future, but even such magic is not enough to put her family back together again, or stave off the gangsters demanding payment in blood for her mother’s gambling debts.

Left with few options, Tru agrees to a marriage contract with a mysterious dragon lord. He offers a fresh start for her mother and sisters and elusive answers about her father's disappearance, but in exchange, she must join him in his desolate undersea palace. And she must assist him in a plot to infiltrate the tyrannical Dragon King's inner circle, painting a future so treasonous, it could upend both the mortal and immortal realms. . . .

In the chilly early spring, Ben and Grandpa are busy in the garden. Ben spots a fuzzy bumblebee in a cosy coat, just like him.    As spring turns to summer, Ben learns all about the lives of the bumblebees -- how they grow from eggs into hungry larvae, spin cocoons and finally emerge as bees -- and notices what he has in common with his buzzy friends. When Grandpa explains that bees carry pollen that helps juicy strawberries grow in their garden, Ben asks if they can help the bees in return.   The Bumblebee Garden is a charming, lyrical story that teaches young children about the life cycle of bees, and their importance to the balance of the natural world. The luminous illustrations will inspire readers to celebrate these remarkable, vital insects and help them thrive in their own gardens and nearby green spaces.

China is now considered a tech superpower in many areas. This book illustrates certain aspects and case studies of China's technological developments and further analyzes them under various areas like coal energy, housing, connectivity, digital and space technologies. Furthermore, it examines technological developments in the periphery of China, focusing especially on Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). This book does not pretend to be comprehensive in its coverage albeit surveys a spectrum of sectors in China and Hong Kong to get an idea of their developments. By peering into China through the mainland continental perspective and also looking into China from its periphery (e.g., 'Greater China' perspectives from HKSAR), this book provides readers with the broad contours of technological development in China through a multidisciplinary area studies perspective.

Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world up to the mid to late 20th century, but within less than half a century she emerged as an economic and cultural powerhouse. The US and World Report recently ranked Korea as 6th in global power. In terms of GNP and per capita income Korea became one of the most advanced countries in the world. This has been dubbed as the ‘Korean Miracle’. There may be several factors that could explain this outcome and this book argues that one of the most compelling reasons is the concept of speed in Korean society and its people, which is quite different from other countries. This take on speed can be considered from the perspective of anthropological and/or social DNA, tradition, cultural heritage. Therefore, this book names ‘K-speed’ as an unexpected factor which brought on the so-called ‘miraculous’ Korean economic growth. This book belongs to the field of economic development theory and applications. Written in an empirical and descriptive format, the book provides insights into economic and cultural development for students and scholars in international affairs, economics, politics, business, and Asian studies. Governments, international agencies and senior staff in large organizations will also find this book a useful reference.

Inclusive Disruption serves as a primary guide to help readers understand what financial technology is and how it has evolved to change the future financial landscape. The central ideas of fintech are explained in details, with topics ranging from distributed innovation, inclusive blockchain to decentralised inclusive technologies.The book also gathers the views of key opinion leaders and cutting-edge practitioners who are at the forefront of fintech development. Therefore, it not only presents useful insights about financial technology but also represents an invaluable source of knowledge for readers who are interested in fintech.

Circularity of Plastics: Sustainability, Emerging Materials, and Valorization of Waste Plastic takes an innovative, interdisciplinary approach to circularity and sustainability in plastics, with an emphasis on plastic waste and end-of-life treatment and options for recycling, re-use, valorization and development of biomass-based polymers. The book introduces key concepts of sustainable materials, the circular economy, and lifecycle assessment, and discusses challenges in the valorization of waste. Other sections cover the upcycling of waste plastic into new materials and fuels, with dedicated chapters exploring state-of-the-art techniques for conversion to new sustainable polymers, fuel, fine chemicals and carbon nanomaterials. Emerging technologies used to produce functional polymers from renewable feedstocks, including CO2, biomass, natural polymers, polylactic acid (PLA), and polyhydroxyalkanoate-based materials (PHAs) are then explored, with a final chapter focusing on applications of sustainable materials, challenges, and future perspectives. This is a valuable resource for researchers, scientists, engineers, R&D professionals, and advanced students from a range of disciplines and backgrounds, with an interest in sustainable materials, circularity in plastics, and polymer waste and valorization.

While many (East) Asians are becoming more confident in their own culture and ways of doing things, at the same time, they are open to the melding of east-west ways. Because of this form of cultural hybridization, it is useful to include the authors' multidisciplinary area studies training which decodes some of the cultural symbols and contextual language used in Asian negotiations. They do so keenly with globalization's impact in mind. Due to globalization, western styles of negotiations have constantly engaged closely with negotiations styles in Asia (including East Asia) and the cross-pollination of ideas between the two have resulted in hybridized negotiations styles in the contemporary setting.Distilled practitioner knowledge will be combined with literature review and theoretical readings to share with readers the intricacies as well as theoretician's conceptualizations of East Asian negotiation styles. The book is written from the sub-discipline of cross-cultural negotiating styles, adopting some sociological/anthropological perspectives, anecdotes and concepts to discuss this subject matter.This volume hopes to fill in the gap between theoretical and applied knowledge through the use of theoretical concepts that readers from the West and other English-language textbook readers are familiar with, while supplementing the concepts with practitioner-oriented case studies drawn from actual experiences. This prevents the publication from becoming a theory-heavy text.

Inclusive Disruption serves as a primary guide to help readers understand what financial technology is and how it has evolved to change the future financial landscape. The central ideas of fintech are explained in details, with topics ranging from distributed innovation, inclusive blockchain to decentralised inclusive technologies.The book also gathers the views of key opinion leaders and cutting-edge practitioners who are at the forefront of fintech development. Therefore, it not only presents useful insights about financial technology but also represents an invaluable source of knowledge for readers who are interested in fintech.

Not too long ago, the world was busy crafting a global future with unmitigated globalization and the relentless march of Industry 4.0. A black swan event then happened. An outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus surged worldwide and resulted in a global pandemic that devastated economies, eliminated the weak/infirmed/elderly/young, and then targeted the general population. It destroyed small and medium-sized enterprises and hastened the demise of sunset industries, resulting in record numbers of bankruptcies. Instead of succumbing to the despair of a worldwide cataclysmic event, a group of Asian scholars from multiple disciplines got together. This group of scholars put their different specializations to use and adopted an on-site, viewpoint perspective of how the pandemic affected their lives and also the lives of the communities in their studies to contribute to this volume.The volume is interdisciplinary by nature and a product of exceptional contributions from a multidisciplinary panel of scholars, ranging from anthropologists, sociologists, historians to economists. The interdisciplinary approach employed here allows one to look at and understand subject matter critically - COVID-19 and its recovery - not just through diverse analytical frameworks but also through broader, historical variations as well as technologies studies. There is no existing literature equivalent to this subject matter given the ongoing pandemic as it unfolds simultaneously across regions and even continents while exerting differential impacts on various sectors such as agriculture, religion, technology, etc. With the advantage of its interdisciplinary approaches examined in differing geographical locations in Asia, the volume makes a scholarly contribution to analyzing the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and the coping mechanisms adopted by humankind in various capacities to mitigate it.

Contemporary Issues in Mediation (CIIM) Volume 7 builds on the success of the past six volumes as a testament to a growing interest of authors and readers in the wide variety of issues related to mediation. With the entry into force of the Singapore Convention on Mediation in 2020, mediation is and will continue to be increasingly pertinent in the world of dispute resolution. Readers stand to benefit from a diverse range of topics selected for their high quality of research and novelty. CIIM Volume 7 explores the role of mediation in the post-pandemic era, providing interesting perspectives on issues ranging from victim-offender disputes in the community to the resolution of inter-state armed conflicts. Edited by Singapore's leading expert on mediation and negotiation and Chairman of Singapore International Mediation Institute, Professor Joel Lee; Country Manager (Singapore) for Lupl, Marcus Lim; and Managing Partner of CJ Liew & Co, Josephine Hadikusumo, CIIM is a unique and valuable addition to the growing body of mediation and dispute resolution literature.

The Finance module provides a significant underpinning to the Chartered Fintech Professional (CFtP) qualification. While the topics are familiar to professionals who are traditionally trained in Finance, these topics are required to appreciate the financial problems that technology can help solve. Without a clear appreciation of finance concepts and practice, any professional will have difficulties solving such problems the traditional way, let alone incorporating recent technological breakthroughs. In this module, we provide the basic concepts and knowledge that a fintech professional needs.This book covers the main concepts and theories in finance which include economics, financial statement analysis, financial management, and investment management. Finance for Fintech Professionals is a companion volume to the book on technology that covers fundamental concepts on data, artificial intelligence, and network. Together, these two books form the foundation for a good understanding of finance and fintech applications which will be covered in subsequent volumes.Bundle set: Global Fintech Institute-Chartered Fintech Professional Set I

Sustainable Biopolymer Composites: Biocompatibility, Self-healing, Modeling, Repair and Recyclability focuses on sustainable polymer composites also referred to as bio- composites. Vital aspects such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, repair and recyclability are discussed in detail. In addition, complexities like rapid and scalable processing, onsite repair, and minimal environmental effects are also covered along with the appropriateness of advanced polymer composites for structural applications in automotive, aviation and marine industries. This book will be an indispensable resource for scientists, engineers, physicists and chemists who are interested in the preparation, applications and repair analysis of bio-based composites and nano-composites for different types of applications. The composites repair process is extremely complex, hence it is essential to have a comprehensive understanding of damage mechanisms to apply the most suitable repair technique. Damage assessment using onsite inspection, e.g., NDT, THz techniques and the automated repair process for reliability and repeatability, are vital parameters when executing bonded composite repair. Furthermore, overall integrity and structural health monitoring of composites repair is also necessary.

How can non-windy places make use of wind power for electricity generation? Advanced Wind Turbines provides detailed information that is of great practical importance to wind turbine practitioners from small and congested city-states, where the lack of vast land and high wind speed render the conventional wind turbine less effective. It introduces the non-conventional Darrieus and Savonius wind turbines, as well as their hybrid version, covering basic concepts, computational modelling and recent advances in experimental optimization.What about those who prefer wind turbines in faraway oceans to take advantage of high wind speed, or who come from countries with a lack of shallow seabed? Floating offshore wind turbines are also discussed, and the dynamics of floating vis-à-vis grounded wind turbines are thoroughly expounded upon to aid practitioners in achieving more accurate performance modelling. This is a work of paramount usefulness for areas which have long wanted to jump on the renewable energy bandwagon, but have thus far been hampered by their natural geographical limitations.

As technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and blockchain have been applied to various areas in finance, there is an increasing demand for finance professionals with the skills and knowledge related to fintech. Knowledge of the technologies involved and finance concepts is crucial for the finance professional to understand the architecture of technologies as well as how they can be applied to solve various aspects of finance.This book covers the main concepts and theories of the technologies in fintech which consist of big data, data science, artificial intelligence, data structure and algorithm, computer network, network security, and Python programming. Fintech for Finance Professionals is a companion volume to the book on finance that covers the fundamental concepts in the field. Together, these two books form the foundation for a good understanding of finance and fintech applications which will be covered in subsequent volumes.Bundle set: Global Fintech Institute-Chartered Fintech Professional Set I

In the digital era, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and blockchain have revolutionized various ways of people's daily lives and brought many opportunities and challenges to the industries. With the increasing demand for talents in the fintech realm, this book serves as a good guide for practitioners who are seeking to understand the basics of fintech and applications of different technologies. This book covers important knowledge in statistics, quantitative methods, and financial innovation to lay the foundation for fintech. It is especially useful for people who are relatively new to this area and would like to become professionals in fintech.Bundle set: Global Fintech Institute-Chartered Fintech Professional Set I