Crop Production Technologies for Sustainable Use and Conservation:Physiological and Molecular Advances presents an abundance of research on important and new production technologies for the successful sustainable production of major crops. The volume covers most of the major crops used the production of food, sugar, and commercial fiber. With the focus on sustainability and conservation issues in crop production, the chapters present molecular and physiological research and innovations for increasing yield, quality, and safety while also taking into considering increasing demand, diminishing water and land resources, and the agricultural consequences of climate change on crop production. The major crops discussed include wheat, mungbean, cotton, jute, sugarcane, eggplant, Solanum (such as potatoes and tomatoes), peppers, okra, fruits such as apples and pears, and more. The chapters report on new developments and research on production techniques related to various fertilizers, biosystematics and molecular biology of various crops, and building resistance to climatic change, including drought tolerance, salinity stresses, and more.

Crop Production Technologies for Sustainable Use and Conservation:Physiological and Molecular Advances presents an abundance of research on important and new production technologies for the successful sustainable production of major crops. The volume covers most of the major crops used the production of food, sugar, and commercial fiber. With the focus on sustainability and conservation issues in crop production, the chapters present molecular and physiological research and innovations for increasing yield, quality, and safety while also taking into considering increasing demand, diminishing water and land resources, and the agricultural consequences of climate change on crop production. The major crops discussed include wheat, mungbean, cotton, jute, sugarcane, eggplant, Solanum (such as potatoes and tomatoes), peppers, okra, fruits such as apples and pears, and more. The chapters report on new developments and research on production techniques related to various fertilizers, biosystematics and molecular biology of various crops, and building resistance to climatic change, including drought tolerance, salinity stresses, and more.

This volume discusses how environmental pollutants are involved in the pathogenesis of neurological disorders, and covers specific mechanisms and risk factors, as well as the necessary strategies to reduce the adverse impacts of environmental pollutants on the human nervous system. With a collection of contributions from experts in environmental pollution, neurology and pharmaceutical chemistry, the book provides both an introduction to the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration, including the types and different classes of neurological disorders, and studies demonstrating the clear link between environmental contaminants (e.g. pesticides, smoking, mycotoxins, persistent organic pollutants (POP's), polychlorinated biphenyls, phthalates, nanomaterials) and the development of neurological disorders in vulnerable populations. The book fills in a gap in research on the topic by also covering state-of-the-art treatment strategies and mitigation measures for each type of pollutant. The book will be of interest to environmental scientists, pharmacologists, toxicologists, biochemists, biotechnologists, and food and drug regulatory organizations.

This book comprehensively reviews drug stability and chemical kinetics: how external factors can influence the stability of drugs, and the reaction rates that trigger these effects. Explaining the important theoretical concepts of drug stability and chemical kinetics, and providing numerous examples in the form of illustrations, tables and calculations, the book helps readers gain a better understanding of the rates of reactions, order of reactions, types of degradation and how to prevent it, as well as types of stability studies. It also offers insights into the importance of the rate at which the drug is degraded and/or decomposed under various external and internal conditions, including temperature, pH, humidity and light. This book is intended for researchers, PhD students and scientists working in the field of pharmacy, pharmacology, pharmaceutical chemistry, medicinal chemistry and biopharmaceutics.

Pharmaceutical Biotechnology in Drug Development summarizes key concepts and the latest developments of biotechnology applied to the development of biopharmaceuticals. Chapters present a comprehensive collection of introductory biotechnology technologies and their modern concepts and cover pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic behavior of biopharmaceuticals and modification techniques of amino acids and nucleic acid. Other sections focus on topics such as gene therapy, immunological preparations and nanoparticles which are the major contributions of pharmaceutical biotechnology. Final chapters discuss emerging techniques in the field of pharmaceutical biotechnology to meet current patient and health care demand. This book is an essential reference useful for pharmaceutical scientists, clinicians and academic researchers who want easy access to up-to-date practices of pharmaceutical biotechnology. Corporate researchers will also benefit from this book’s succinct and objective content structure.

Increase in world population, extreme weather conditions, decrease in fresh water supplies, and changes of dietary habits are major issues that affect global food security. We are expected to face the challenges of land use by 2050 because population will reach 9 billion while agricultural productivity losses are expected due to overuse of lands. How can we feed the next generations in a manner that respects our finite natural resources? Managing our resources in a sustainable way have only begun for selected crops. Much remains to be done to increase food yield. Cropping practices capable of sustainable production need to be elaborated, especially in fragile ecosystems. Typical applications will include the improvement and use of genetic resources; crop management and diversification; diffusion of improved varieties; development of cropping systems; sustainable cropping systems for areas prone to environmental degradation; use of agro-ecological data for crop production forecasting; and networks for regional coordination, and data exchange. The impetus behind this book is to bring attention to a cropping system that bears direct relevance to sustainable agriculture and food security. "Underutilized" crops are found in numerous agricultural ecosystems and often survive mainly in marginal areas. It is timely to review their status because, in recent decades, scientific and economic interests have emerged which focus on lesser-known cultivated species. Underutilized crops have a great potential to alleviate hunger directly, through increasing food production in challenging environments where major crops are severely limited. "Global Perspectives on Underutilized Crops" is therefore topical and highlights the unmet agricultural challenges that we face today. This book is an important resource for students and researchers of crop science and agricultural policy makers.

Increase in world population, extreme weather conditions, decrease in fresh water supplies, and changes of dietary habits are major issues that affect global food security. We are expected to face the challenges of land use by 2050 because population will reach 9 billion while agricultural productivity losses are expected due to overuse of lands. How can we feed the next generations in a manner that respects our finite natural resources? Managing our resources in a sustainable way have only begun for selected crops. Much remains to be done to increase food yield. Cropping practices capable of sustainable production need to be elaborated, especially in fragile ecosystems. Typical applications will include the improvement and use of genetic resources; crop management and diversification; diffusion of improved varieties; development of cropping systems; sustainable cropping systems for areas prone to environmental degradation; use of agro-ecological data for crop production forecasting; and networks for regional coordination, and data exchange. The impetus behind this book is to bring attention to a cropping system that bears direct relevance to sustainable agriculture and food security. "Underutilized" crops are found in numerous agricultural ecosystems and often survive mainly in marginal areas. It is timely to review their status because, in recent decades, scientific and economic interests have emerged which focus on lesser-known cultivated species. Underutilized crops have a great potential to alleviate hunger directly, through increasing food production in challenging environments where major crops are severely limited. "Global Perspectives on Underutilized Crops" is therefore topical and highlights the unmet agricultural challenges that we face today. This book is an important resource for students and researchers of crop science and agricultural policy makers.

Human demand for energy has grown multi-folds in recent years. This is the result of rapidly increasing human population, which, in turn, has resulted in increased organic (petroleum) and inorganic pollution on the biosphere. Due to this, we are now facing a number of challenges to sustain life on earth. For example, the increased organic and inorganic pollution in our environment is leading to loss of biodiversity, degradation of environment and thus ultimately causing food insecurity. In this situation, it is imperative to keep updated ourselves with advances on the effects of pollutants, tolerance mechanisms and the potential of different plants and microbes in removing these pollutants from the environment. For this purpose, we invited a number of scientists worldwide to review the current scenario of the problems, current development, and future prospects of the challenges and their solutions in an International Conference on ''Plants and Environmental Pollution'' held in KAYSERI, TURKEY from 6-11 July 2009. The output of this conference has been summarized in the form of this book.

Human demand for energy has grown multi-folds in recent years. This is the result of rapidly increasing human population, which, in turn, has resulted in increased organic (petroleum) and inorganic pollution on the biosphere. Due to this, we are now facing a number of challenges to sustain life on earth. For example, the increased organic and inorganic pollution in our environment is leading to loss of biodiversity, degradation of environment and thus ultimately causing food insecurity. In this situation, it is imperative to keep updated ourselves with advances on the effects of pollutants, tolerance mechanisms and the potential of different plants and microbes in removing these pollutants from the environment. For this purpose, we invited a number of scientists worldwide to review the current scenario of the problems, current development, and future prospects of the challenges and their solutions in an International Conference on ''Plants and Environmental Pollution'' held in KAYSERI, TURKEY from 6-11 July 2009. The output of this conference has been summarized in the form of this book.

Biochemistry of Drug Metabolizing Enzymes: Trends and Challenges is a complete and well-integrated reference on their mechanisms of action, their role in diseases, agents responsible for their deactivation, and their malfunction. Chapters explain the biochemistry of DMEs, including biochemical activation, functions, computational approaches, different contaminants on the action and function of DMEs, and describe the importance of DMEs in the drug development process. Conditions covered include metabolic diseases, cardiovascular diseases, neurological diseases, physiological diseases, xenobiotics and inflammatory responses, and their contribution in the malfunctioning of drug metabolizing enzymes. This book is the perfect resource for pharmacology and biochemistry researchers to understand the principles of DMEs. Researchers in the corporate environment will also benefit from the comprehensive list of diseases associated with malfunction of DMEs.

This volume discusses how environmental pollutants are involved in the pathogenesis of neurological disorders, and covers specific mechanisms and risk factors, as well as the necessary strategies to reduce the adverse impacts of environmental pollutants on the human nervous system. With a collection of contributions from experts in environmental pollution, neurology and pharmaceutical chemistry, the book provides both an introduction to the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration, including the types and different classes of neurological disorders, and studies demonstrating the clear link between environmental contaminants (e.g. pesticides, smoking, mycotoxins, persistent organic pollutants (POP's), polychlorinated biphenyls, phthalates, nanomaterials) and the development of neurological disorders in vulnerable populations. The book fills in a gap in research on the topic by also covering state-of-the-art treatment strategies and mitigation measures for each type of pollutant. The book will be of interest to environmental scientists, pharmacologists, toxicologists, biochemists, biotechnologists, and food and drug regulatory organizations.

Recent advances in the pharmaceutical sciences and biotechnology have facilitated the production, design, formulation and use of various types of pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals. This book provides detailed information on the background, basic principles, and components of techniques used for the analysis of pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals. Focusing on those analytical techniques that are most frequently used for pharmaceuticals, it classifies them into three major sections and 19 chapters, each of which discusses a respective technique in detail. Chiefly intended for graduate students in the pharmaceutical sciences, the book will familiarize them with the components, working principles and practical applications of these indispensable analytical techniques.

In the recent years, the looming food scarcity problem has highlighted plant sciences as an emerging discipline committed to devise new strategies for enhanced crop productivity. The major factors causing food scarcity are biotic and abiotic stresses such as plant pathogens, salinity, drought, flooding, nutrient deficiency or toxicity which substantially limit crop productivity world-wide. In this scenario, strategies should be adopted to achieve maximum productivity and economic crop returns. In this book we have mainly focused on physiological, biochemical, molecular and genetic bases of crop development and related approaches that can be used for crop improvement under environmental adversaries. In addition, the adverse effects of different biotic (diseases, pathogens etc.) and abiotic (salinity, drought, high temperatures, metals etc) stresses on crop development and the potential strategies to enhance crop productivity under stressful environments are also discussed.

The analysis of QoE is not an easy task, especially for multimedia services, because all the factors (technical and non-technical) that directly or indirectly influence the user-perceived quality have to be considered. This book describes different methods to investigate users' QoE from the viewpoint of technical and non-technical parameters using multimedia services. It discusses the subjective methods for both controlled and uncontrolled environments. Collected datasets are used to analyze users' profiles, which sheds light on key factors to help network service providers understand end-users' behavior and expectations. Important adaptive video streaming technologies are discussed that run on unmanaged networks to achieve certain QoS features. The authors present a scheduling method to allocate resources to the end-user based on users' QoE and optimizes the power efficiency of users' device for LTE-A. Lastly, two key aspects of 5G networks are presented: QoE using multimedia services (VoIP and video), and power-saving model for mobile device and virtual base station.

This paper investigates the impact of bank-specific, industry-specific, and macroeconomic variables on bank profitability before, during, and after the financial crisis of 2008. For this purpose, 73 UK commercial banks are selected on the basis of availability of required information. The empirical data for these banks are collected for the period from 2006 to 2012 from Bankscope and Data-stream databases. The regression and correlation analyses are performed on the data and concluded that bank size, capital ratio, loan, deposits, liquidity, and interest rate have positive impact on ROA and ROE while GDP and inflation rate have negative impact. The findings of this study can help UK banks, government, investors, policymakers, and shareholders for decision making and improving the performance of financial institutions in the future.

Horticulture is a unique science of cultivating fruits, vegetables or ornamental plants. In the growing industry of cut flowers with a wide types and varieties, the commercial value of Amaryllis proven itself as the most precious and demanding cut flower because of its unique characteristics such as easy to bring to bloom, management, long growing period. To obtain significant marketable growth and efficient flower production, growing media and irrigation interval are of paramount importance. To cater to the demand of cut flower lovers, producers, nursery growers, entrepreneurs, cut flower business entities, landscape managers and horticulture students this book provides an idea of how to get maximum growth and flower production on different growing media and irrigation intervals.Different parameters of the plant and its effects on growth, life span, leaf and flowers dimensions (diameter, length and height and production capacity per plant) are analyzed. Therefore the book is of special importance in cut flowers management for higher marketability and value addition. It also provides basic guidelines and management techniques resulting into a profitable business for the farmers.

Lady bird beetle is a Good predator of all species of Aphids.This book describe that four insecticides viz: Imidachloprid 20SL, Acetamaprid 20 SL, Emamectin 1.9 EC, Spinosad 240 SE were used against predatory lady bird beetle.Main objective of this experiment was to evaluate that insecticide, which showed less toxicity against lady bird beetle. Result showed that Imidachloprid 20SL showed less toxicity than that of other insectici

The objective of this study was to investigate the integration of stock market, foreign exchange market and money market in the context of Pakistan. The intra-country integration of these financial markets in the short and long-run are estimated using monthly data covering the period May 1994 to February 2011. To accomplish the objectives we use cointegration analysis and Vector Error Correction Method (VECM). The empirical results from both the techniques of cointegration i.e. the Engle-Granger and Johansen and Juselius (J-J), demonstrate that the Pakistani financial markets are cointegrated in the long-run. Results from VECM shows that in the short run, exchange rate and interest rate do not affect stock prices and similarly stock prices and interest rate do not affect exchange rate. However, exchange rate significantly affects interest rate in the short run. The findings based on impulse response functions and variance decomposition demonstrates that most of the variations in each market variable can be explained by its own lag. Thus, the Pakistani financial markets offer less opportunities of intra-country diversification of financial portfolio.

Urethral stricture is one of the most important causes of bladder outflow obstruction and responsible for significant morbidity. Urethral stricture is more common in men but rare in women. Acquired urethral strictures are mostly due to infection and trauma. Patients who have urethral strictures most often present with obstructing voiding symptoms or urinary tract infections such as prostatitis and epididymitis. Some patients also present with urinary retention.Urethral stricture is a potentially debilitating disease if treated inadequately.

Pakistan has vast population of dogs belonging to different breeds.Most of the dogs have no pedigree record which is a great threat to conservation of different breeds.No study on DNA fingerprinting of dogs has been conducted in Pakistan.DNA fingerprinting of dogs is necessary to overcome the problems like forensic cases, individual identity in case of fertilization by more than one male and ownership disputes.Microsatellite markers have been proved as an efficient tool for parentage testing and breed characterization of dogs. In this study, a panel of microsatellite markers was developed.Blood samples were taken from cephalic vein of two breeds of dogs(German shepherd and Labrador retriever). DNA was extracted and primers were optimized.Multiplex PCR was performed and genotyping was done for the PCR products on non denaturing polyacrylamide gel.These results were analyzed statistically.Almost all of the microsatellite markers showed significant variations in both breeds.Results of this study lead to development of a panel of microsatellite markers which can be used for parentage analysis and breed characterization of dog