Autoimmune myasthenia gravis (MG) is a classical autoimmune disease, for which the target antigen, nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, has been cloned, sequenced and biochemically characterized. Antibodies to acetylcholine receptors destroy acetylcholine receptor at the neuromuscular junction, thus leading to defective neuromuscular transmission, muscle fatigue, and weakness. In the last few years, rapid advances have been made in unraveling the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of MG, both in the animal model, experimental autoimmune MG (EAMG), and in human MG. Significant advances are being made in characterizing the cells and molecules involved in the autoimmune response to the acetylcholine receptor (AChR). These advances are leading to the development of specific methods of immunointervention in EAMG. Further understanding of the intricate involvement of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and non-MHC genes, T cell receptors (TCR), costimulator molecules, and specific cytokines in the afferent and efferent autoimmune response of AChR should pave the way to future antigen/clone-specific therapy of MG. This book is the outcome of the MG workshop proceedings in Mysore, India, 1998. The majority of the chapters in this book are contributed by world-renowned authors and their students. The book not only contains a timely review of specific topics, but also up-to-date findings. Immunologists and neurologists will find, in this volume, the latest in MG/EAMG cutting-edge research. Clinicians will be interested in the applications of the various immunointervention strategies into clinical trials in MG patients. Finally, students will not only be interested in reading the latest in EAMG/MG research, but will also find information to help them develop a future strategy to unravel the precise mechanism of disease. To summarize, in this book, the readers should find up-to-date information related to immunological mechanisms involved in MG pathogenesis and various modalities for possible approaches to immunointervention to treat MG.

For the first time ever in a social science work, obstetricians tell their own stories of training, practice, fear, and transformation in this the first of the 3-volume series The Anthropology of Obstetrics and Obstetricians: The Practice, Maintenance, and Reproduction of a Biomedical Profession. These stories range from those of abortion providers to those of maternal-fetal medicine specialists. Several chapters tell the stories of obstetricians who have made paradigm shifts from technocratic to humanistic practices, the benefits and joys of these paradigm shifts, and the ostracism, bullying, and outright persecution these humanistic obstetricians have suffered. This book is a must-read for students, social scientists, and all maternity care practitioners who seek to understand the ideologies and motives of individual obstetricians. 
An excerpt from Kathleen Hanlon-Lundberg’s chapter: Largely maligned in reproductive anthropological literature as callous—if not brutal—self-serving effectors of the over-medicalization of childbirth, most obstetricians whom I know and have worked with are devoted to providing respectful, individualized care to their patients.

For the first time ever in a social science work, obstetricians tell their own stories of training, practice, fear, and transformation in this the first of the 3-volume series The Anthropology of Obstetrics and Obstetricians: The Practice, Maintenance, and Reproduction of a Biomedical Profession. These stories range from those of abortion providers to those of maternal-fetal medicine specialists. Several chapters tell the stories of obstetricians who have made paradigm shifts from technocratic to humanistic practices, the benefits and joys of these paradigm shifts, and the ostracism, bullying, and outright persecution these humanistic obstetricians have suffered. This book is a must-read for students, social scientists, and all maternity care practitioners who seek to understand the ideologies and motives of individual obstetricians. 
An excerpt from Kathleen Hanlon-Lundberg’s chapter: Largely maligned in reproductive anthropological literature as callous—if not brutal—self-serving effectors of the over-medicalization of childbirth, most obstetricians whom I know and have worked with are devoted to providing respectful, individualized care to their patients.

Volume 2 in this landmark 3-volume series The Anthropology of Obstetrics and Obstetricians: The Practice, Maintenance, and Reproduction of a Biomedical Profession looks at cognition, risk, and responsibility in obstetrics. This volume contains social science analyses of Swiss, Chilean, Mexican, US, Greek, and Irish obstetrics and obstetricians, particularly around their reasons for the overuse of cesareans; a chapter on "4 Stages of Cognition" and a condition called "Substage," which describes how these concepts apply to obstetricians; and a chapter on why obstetricians fear home birth. This book is a must-read for students, social scientists, and all maternity care practitioners who seek to understand obstetricians' differing ideologies and motives for practicing as they do. An excerpt from Vania Smith-Oka and Lydia Dixon's chapter: For systemic changes to occur, we must understand doctors’ decision-making rationales and take their fear-based perspectives about risk and responsibility into account, while also paying attention to the concerns raised by scholars and activists.

The final volume in this landmark 3-volume series The Anthropology of Obstetrics and Obstetricians: The Practice, Maintenance, and Reproduction of a Biomedical Profession looks at the challenges, and even violence, that obstetricians face across the world. Part I of this volume addresses obstetric violence and systemic racial, ethnic, gendered, and socio-structural disparities in obstetricians’ practices in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Peru, and the US. Part II addresses decolonizing and humanizing obstetric training and practice in the UK, Russia, Brazil, New Zealand, and the US. Part 3 presents the ethnographic challenges that the chapter authors in Volumes II and III of this series faced in finding, surveying, interviewing, and observing obstetricians in various countries. This book is a must-read for students, social scientists, and all maternity care practitioners who seek to understand the diverse challenges that obstetricians must overcome. An excerpt: In our Series Overview in Volume 1, we asked the question, “Can a book create a field?” and answered that question with a resounding “Yes!” … For us, the official creation of the field of the Anthropology of Obstetrics and Obstetricians has taken not one, but the 3 volumes that constitute this Book Series.

Volume 2 in this landmark 3-volume series The Anthropology of Obstetrics and Obstetricians: The Practice, Maintenance, and Reproduction of a Biomedical Profession looks at cognition, risk, and responsibility in obstetrics. This volume contains social science analyses of Swiss, Chilean, Mexican, US, Greek, and Irish obstetrics and obstetricians, particularly around their reasons for the overuse of cesareans; a chapter on "4 Stages of Cognition" and a condition called "Substage," which describes how these concepts apply to obstetricians; and a chapter on why obstetricians fear home birth. This book is a must-read for students, social scientists, and all maternity care practitioners who seek to understand obstetricians' differing ideologies and motives for practicing as they do. An excerpt from Vania Smith-Oka and Lydia Dixon's chapter: For systemic changes to occur, we must understand doctors’ decision-making rationales and take their fear-based perspectives about risk and responsibility into account, while also paying attention to the concerns raised by scholars and activists.

Based on the Fourth International Conference on Quantum Communication, Measurement and Computing, this volume brings together scientists working in the interdisciplinary fields of quantum communication science and technology. Topics include quantum information theory, quantum computing, stochastic processes and filtering, and quantum measurement theory

In Asia, we are witnessing an era where the pendulum of power seems to be swaying towards the East with the rising strength of China and India and Singapore is at the 'crossroads' between these populous nations. Although Singapore may appear to be the most westernized country in Asia, she is nevertheless a multi-cultural Asian society. Having the most open economy in the world, Singapore is plugged into the global marketplace of education and learning. The development of human capital is used as a strategic economic driver to internationalize and transform education for sustainable competitive advantage. Singapore's education system, regarded as one of the consistently best performing in the world, offers a unique opportunity to explore issues where eastern and western culture, values, beliefs, learning and knowledge systems converge, clash, and at times diverge.This book is meant to extend our knowledge on the role of 'learning', often overlooked and taken for granted as the air that we breathe but which constantly transforms our lives and reshapes societies. It is the first book that deals with the dichotomy of 'east' and 'west' going beyond the traditional learning and education framework to other areas such as economic, socio-cultural, political, and technological dimensions that impact Singapore. It puts together key topical issues and explores the underbelly of how a small 'resourceless' independent city-state like Singapore stays ahead of the learning curve, even while facing increasingly intense global competition where the discovery and emergence of new systems for empowerment and independence and the resulting creation of new knowledge and modes of communication are challenging traditional boundaries between the virtual and real world.

Residue number systems (RNSs) and arithmetic are useful for several reasons. First, a great deal of computing now takes place in embedded processors, such as those found in mobile devices, for which high speed and low-power consumption are critical; the absence of carry propagation facilitates the realization of high-speed, low-power arithmetic. Second, computer chips are now getting to be so dense that full testing will no longer be possible; so fault tolerance and the general area of computational integrity have become more important. RNSs are extremely good for applications such as digital signal processing, communications engineering, computer security (cryptography), image processing, speech processing, and transforms, all of which are extremely important in computing today.This book provides an up-to-date account of RNSs and arithmetic. It covers the underlying mathematical concepts of RNSs; the conversion between conventional number systems and RNSs; the implementation of arithmetic operations; various related applications are also introduced. In addition, numerous detailed examples and analysis of different implementations are provided.

Based on the Fourth International Conference on Quantum Communication, Measurement and Computing, this volume brings together scientists working in the interdisciplinary fields of quantum communication science and technology. Topics include quantum information theory, quantum computing, stochastic processes and filtering, and quantum measurement theory

Autoimmune myasthenia gravis (MG) is a classical autoimmune disease, for which the target antigen, nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, has been cloned, sequenced and biochemically characterized. Antibodies to acetylcholine receptors destroy acetylcholine receptor at the neuromuscular junction, thus leading to defective neuromuscular transmission, muscle fatigue, and weakness. In the last few years, rapid advances have been made in unraveling the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of MG, both in the animal model, experimental autoimmune MG (EAMG), and in human MG. Significant advances are being made in characterizing the cells and molecules involved in the autoimmune response to the acetylcholine receptor (AChR). These advances are leading to the development of specific methods of immunointervention in EAMG. Further understanding of the intricate involvement of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and non-MHC genes, T cell receptors (TCR), costimulator molecules, and specific cytokines in the afferent and efferent autoimmune response of AChR should pave the way to future antigen/clone-specific therapy of MG. This book is the outcome of the MG workshop proceedings in Mysore, India, 1998. The majority of the chapters in this book are contributed by world-renowned authors and their students. The book not only contains a timely review of specific topics, but also up-to-date findings. Immunologists and neurologists will find, in this volume, the latest in MG/EAMG cutting-edge research. Clinicians will be interested in the applications of the various immunointervention strategies into clinical trials in MG patients. Finally, students will not only be interested in reading the latest in EAMG/MG research, but will also find information to help them develop a future strategy to unravel the precise mechanism of disease. To summarize, in this book, the readers should find up-to-date information related to immunological mechanisms involved in MG pathogenesis and various modalities for possible approaches to immunointervention to treat MG.

The open source JavaFX platform offers a Java-based approach to rich Internet application (RIA) developmentan alternative to Adobe Flash/Flex and Microsoft Silverlight. At over 100 million downloads, JavaFX is poised to be a significant player.

Written by a JavaFX engineer and developer, this book is one of the first on the JavaFX platform to give you the following: The fundamentals of JavaFX scripting on desktop and mobile platforms Examples of RIAs using JavaFX Graphics Media and animation using JavaFX

See how JavaFX gives you dynamic Java effects in your RIA development. What you'll learn How to use the JavaFX scripting language, beginning with a simple Hello, World application How to use JavaFX data types, operators, expressions, functions, sequences, bindings, triggers, and more How to work with the JavaFX classes, packages, exception handling, inheritance, and more How to use JavaFX Graphics How to work with JavaFX animation How to create a working RIA using JavaFX Who this book is for

This book is for Flash, Silverlight, and other RIA developers looking to use and integrate JavaFX in their Java RIA applications, whether it's for the desktop or mobile environments. This book is also for those new to RIA development. Table of Contents Introduction to RIA Introduction to JavaFX Data Types Operators and Expressions Functions Class Definitions Access Specifiers Inheritance Data Binding Sequences Triggers Introduction to JavaFX UI Elements Introduction to Animation

Work through interesting real-life business use cases to uncover valuable insights from unstructured text using AWS AI services Key Features Get to grips with AWS AI services for NLP and find out how to use them to gain strategic insights Run Python code to use Amazon Textract and Amazon Comprehend to accelerate business outcomes Understand how you can integrate human-in-the-loop for custom NLP use cases with Amazon A2I Book DescriptionNatural language processing (NLP) uses machine learning to extract information from unstructured data. This book will help you to move quickly from business questions to high-performance models in production. To start with, you'll understand the importance of NLP in today's business applications and learn the features of Amazon Comprehend and Amazon Textract to build NLP models using Python and Jupyter Notebooks. The book then shows you how to integrate AI in applications for accelerating business outcomes with just a few lines of code. Throughout the book, you'll cover use cases such as smart text search, setting up compliance and controls when processing confidential documents, real-time text analytics, and much more to understand various NLP scenarios. You'll deploy and monitor scalable NLP models in production for real-time and batch requirements. As you advance, you'll explore strategies for including humans in the loop for different purposes in a document processing workflow. Moreover, you'll learn best practices for auto-scaling your NLP inference for enterprise traffic. Whether you're new to ML or an experienced practitioner, by the end of this NLP book, you'll have the confidence to use AWS AI services to build powerful NLP applications. What you will learn Automate various NLP workflows on AWS to accelerate business outcomes Use Amazon Textract for text, tables, and handwriting recognition from images and PDF files Gain insights from unstructured text in the form of sentiment analysis, topic modeling, and more using Amazon Comprehend Set up end-to-end document processing pipelines to understand the role of humans in the loop Develop NLP-based intelligent search solutions with just a few lines of code Create both real-time and batch document processing pipelines using Python Who this book is forIf you're an NLP developer or data scientist looking to get started with AWS AI services to implement various NLP scenarios quickly, this book is for you. It will show you how easy it is to integrate AI in applications with just a few lines of code. A basic understanding of machine learning (ML) concepts is necessary to understand the concepts covered. Experience with Jupyter notebooks and Python will be helpful.