The contributions in this volume were presented at a NATO Advanced Study Institute held in Erice, Italy, 4-19 July 2013. Many aspects of important research into nanophotonics, plasmonics, semiconductor materials and devices, instrumentation for bio sensing to name just a few, are covered in depth in this volume. The growing connection between optics and electronics, due to the increasing important role plaid by semiconductor materials and devices, find their expression in the term photonics, which also reflects the importance of the photon aspect of light in the description of the performance of several optical systems. Nano-structures have unique capabilities that allow the enhanced performance of processes of interest in optical and photonic devices. In particular these structures permit the nanoscale manipulation of photons, electrons and atoms; they represent a very hot topic of research and are relevant to many devices and applications.
The various subjects bridge over the disciplines of physics, biology and chemistry, making this volume of interest to people working in these fields. The emphasis is on the principles behind each technique and on examining the full potential of each technique."

The book gives a comprehensive introduction to nano-optics The book is of interest to physicists, biologists and chemists The book may suggest directions to doctoral thesis investigations This volume presents a considerable number of interrelated contributions dealing with the new scientific ability to shape and control matter and electromagnetic fields on a sub-wavelength scale. The topics range from the fundamental ones, such as photonic metamateriials, plasmonics and sub-wavelength resolution to the more applicative, such as detection of single molecules, tomography on a micro-chip, fluorescence spectroscopy of biological systems, coherent control of biomolecules, biosensing of single proteins, terahertz spectroscopy of nanoparticles, rare earth ion-doped nanoparticles, random lasing, and nanocoax array architecture. The various subjects bridge over the disciplines of physics, biology and chemistry, making this volume of interest to people working in these fields. The emphasis is on the principles behind each technique and on examining the full potential of each technique. The contributions that appear in this volume were presented at a NATO Advanced Study Institute that was held in Erice, Italy, 3-18 July, 2011. The pedagogical aspect of the Institute is reflected in the topics presented in this volume.

Intensive care is a rapidly changing area of medicine, and after four years from the 2nd edition the volume editors and authors have deemed necessary to update it. In the recent years, in fact, five new randomised controlled trials and five new meta-analyses demonstrate that selective decontamination of the digestive tract SDD] is an antimicrobial prophylaxis to prevent severe infections of not only lower airways but also of blood. Additionally, SDD has been shown to reduce inflammation including multiple organ failure and mortality. An intriguing observation is the evidence that SDD using parenteral and enteral antimicrobials reduces rather than increases antimicrobial resistance. Moreover, a new chapter on microcirculation had been added.

The volume will be an invaluable tool for all those requiring in depth knowledge in the ever expanding field of infection control.

This book brings together more closely researchers working in the two fields of quantum optics and nano-optics and provides a general overview of the main topics of interest in applied and fundamental research. The contributions cover, for example, single-photon emitters and emitters of entangled photon pairs based on epitaxially grown semiconductor quantum dots, nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond as single-photon emitters, coupled quantum bits based on trapped ions, integrated waveguide superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors, quantum nano-plasmonics, nanosensing, quantum aspects of biophotonics and quantum metamaterials. The articles span the bridge from pedagogical introductions on the fundamental principles to the current state-of-the-art, and are authored by pioneers and leaders in the field. Numerical simulations are presented as a powerful tool to gain insight into the physical behavior of nanophotonic systems and provide a critical complement to experimental investigations and design of devices.

Intensive care is a rapidly changing area of medicine, and after four years from the 2nd edition the volume editors and authors have deemed necessary to update it. In the recent years, in fact, five new randomised controlled trials and five new meta-analyses demonstrate that selective decontamination of the digestive tract [SDD] is an antimicrobial prophylaxis to prevent severe infections of not only lower airways but also of blood. Additionally, SDD has been shown to reduce inflammation including multiple organ failure and mortality. An intriguing observation is the evidence that SDD using parenteral and enteral antimicrobials reduces rather than increases antimicrobial resistance. Moreover, a new chapter on microcirculation had been added. The volume will be an invaluable tool for all those requiring in depth knowledge in the ever expanding field of infection control.

The contributions in this volume were presented at a NATO Advanced Study Institute held in Erice, Italy, 4-19 July 2013. Many aspects of important research into nanophotonics, plasmonics, semiconductor materials and devices, instrumentation for bio sensing to name just a few, are covered in depth in this volume. The growing connection between optics and electronics, due to the increasing important role plaid by semiconductor materials and devices, find their expression in the term photonics, which also reflects the importance of the photon aspect of light in the description of the performance of several optical systems. Nano-structures have unique capabilities that allow the enhanced performance of processes of interest in optical and photonic devices. In particular these structures permit the nanoscale manipulation of photons, electrons and atoms; they represent a very hot topic of research and are relevant to many devices and applications.
The various subjects bridge over the disciplines of physics, biology and chemistry, making this volume of interest to people working in these fields. The emphasis is on the principles behind each technique and on examining the full potential of each technique."

This volume presents a considerable number of interrelated contributions dealing with the new scientific ability to shape and control matter and electromagnetic fields on a sub-wavelength scale. The topics range from the fundamental ones, such as photonic metamateriials, plasmonics and sub-wavelength resolution to the more applicative, such as detection of single molecules, tomography on a micro-chip, fluorescence spectroscopy of biological systems, coherent control of biomolecules, biosensing of single proteins, terahertz spectroscopy of nanoparticles, rare earth ion-doped nanoparticles, random lasing, and nanocoax array architecture. The various subjects bridge over the disciplines of physics, biology and chemistry, making this volume of interest to people working in these fields. The emphasis is on the principles behind each technique and on examining the full potential of each technique. The contributions that appear in this volume were presented at a NATO Advanced Study Institute that was held in Erice, Italy, 3-18 July, 2011. The pedagogical aspect of the Institute is reflected in the topics presented in this volume.