The book explores the phenomenon of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), the huge amplification of Raman signal from molecules in the proximity of a metallic nanostructured surface, allowing readers to gain an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms affecting the spectroscopic response of SERS-active systems for effective applications. SERS spectroscopy is an ultrasensitive analytical technique with great potential for applications in the field of biophysics and nanomedicine. As examples, the author presents the design of nanocolloid-based SERS-active substrates for molecular sensing and of a folate-based SERS-active nanosensor capable of selectively interacting with cancer cells, enabling cancer diagnostics and therapy at the single-cell level. The author also
This book discusses the problems and feasible remediation of fluoride contamination in groundwater. The book investigates applications of various carbons derived from bio-mass and bio-polymers. It also inquires into surface modified carbons that use inorganic ions to help remove excess fluoride ions in drinking water and wastewater effluents. The compliance of kinetic and isotherm models with fluoride sorption is covered, and the suggested mechanisms of defluoridation by surface modified carbon materials is described.
Surgery: A Case Based Clinical Review has proven to be the premiere resource to help prepare medical students for the surgical shelf exam and clinical wards. The second edition was conceived after listening to the feedback we received from students. We have added several new chapters and updated the others. This book continues to provide the reader with a comprehensive understanding of surgical diseases in one easy-to-use reference that combines multiple teaching formats. The book begins using a case based approach. The cases presented cover the diseases most commonly encountered on a surgical rotation. The cases are followed by a series of short questions and answers, designed to provide further understanding of the important aspects of the history, physical
Deep brain stimulation for the treatment of patients with Parkinson's disease was introduced in the 1990s. Initially performed only at academic centers, over the past decade it has become a widespread surgical procedure. A variety of surgical techniques are employed and innovations are introduced frequently. This book is an ideal source of information for the many practicing neurosurgeons who did not learn this surgery during their training but would now like to add it to their practice, as well as an excellent update on exciting new developments in surgery for Parkinson's disease.This book is designed to provide practicing neurosurgeons with current knowledge on the practical aspects of surgical treatment of patients with Parkinson's disease. It explains how to
This atlas provides comprehensive, step-by-step guidance on surgical management of the cleft lip, alveolus, and palate. The main treatment philosophy underlying the described approach is that children born with cleft deformity should be “cleftless” by the time they enter the first grade of primary school.
This book describes the various procedures, including surgery through the abdominal wall, through a transanal access or by the union of both, using an open, laparoscopic, or robotic approach. Worldwide pioneers for each technique are invited as authors and portray in step-by-step detail about each procedure. Of the 32 chapters, 23 are dedicated only for the surgical procedures. Each chapter is enriched by numerous figures, which complement the text, permitting the understanding of each surgical technique from its beginning until the last step. Eight additional chapters are dedicated to the clinical and anatomical aspects of rectal cancer.In the last decade there has been an impressive evolution in the treatment of patients with rectal cancer, with a focus not only on
This book examines state-of-the-art techniques for using recycled materials for structural concrete production, and explores the use of concrete with metallurgical slag, rheology of fresh recycled concrete, and life-cycle analysis of building materials. It reviews recent codes, guidelines and practices for using recycled materials in structural concrete application, and presents research recently carried out by the authors. Focusing on techniques that limit the environmental impacts of the concrete industry, the text explores the use of recycled components in the place of virgin aggregates and ordinary binders. Chapters focus on topics including processing procedures, mixture proportioning, mechanical properties, durability and structural applications. Providing a
This book presents an integrated approach to sustainably fulfilling energy requirements, considering various energy-usage sectors and applicable technologies in those sectors. It discusses smart cities, focusing on the design of urban transport systems and sources of energy for mobility. It also shares thoughts on individual consumption for ensuring the sustainability of energy resources and technologies for emission reductions for both mobility and stationary applications. For the latter, it examines case studies related to energy consumption in the manufacturing sector as well as domestic energy requirements. In addition it explores various distribution and policy aspects related to the power sector and sources of energy such as coal and biomass. This book will serve
This book focuses on the environmental components of sustainability, including aspects of resourcing and the environmental impacts of human societies. Marine and tropical forest ecosystems, food security and other natural resources, as well as technologies for the environmental control of societal impacts are examined. This volume is multi-disciplinary, but with a consistent focus on the natural environment. This 2-volume set discusses a wide range of topics concerning sustainability and human security in Asia, particularly South East Asia. The individual chapters have been contributed by authors from various fields, and due to the breadth of the material are separated into two thematic volumes. The set offers a valuable resource for professionals and researchers in
This book presents recent research in the field of nonconventional and renewable energy, and energy efficiency in the context of thermal power. It addresses energy-efficiency and environmental issues that are critical in the production of thermal power, and also examines various applications, especially air conditioning, internal combustion engines, and solar electric power plants.
Pattern recognition basically deals with the recognition of patterns, shapes, objects, things in images. Document image analysis was one of the very ?rst applications of pattern recognition and even of computing. But until the 1980s, research in this ?eld was mainly dealing with text-based documents, including OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and page layout analysis. Only a few people were looking at more speci?c documents such as music sheet, bank cheques or forms. The community of graphics recognition became visible in the late 1980s. Their speci?c interest was to recognize high-level objects represented by line drawings and graphics. The speci?c pattern recognition problems they had to deal with was raster-to-graphics conversion (i.e., recognizing graphical
The book discusses hidden symmetries in the Anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory (AdS/CFT) duality. This duality is a modern concept that asserts an exact duality between conformally invariant quantum field theories and string theories in higher dimensional Anti-de Sitter spaces, and in this way provides a completely new tool for the study of strongly coupled quantum field theories. In this setting, the book focuses on the Wilson loop, an important observable in four-dimensional maximally supersymmetric gauge theory. The dual string description using minimal surfaces enables a systematic study of the hidden symmetries of the loop. The book presents major findings, including the discovery of a master symmetry for strings in general symmetric spaces, its relation to
This book describes state-of-the-art borylation chemistry using copper(I) catalysis. Enantioselective reactions are included to afford a variety of functionalized, complex organoboronate esters, which will find wide application in asymmetric synthesis, drug discovery, and material science. Organoboron compounds are recognized as useful reagents in organic synthesis; therefore, great effort has been devoted to the development of a simple, mild, and efficient method for their preparation in the past several years. However, the synthesis of functionalized organoboron compounds remains a challenging issue because known reactions often require the use of highly reactive organometallic carbon nucleophiles. This book focuses on conceptually new, formal nucleophilic
This book explores the development of the first open-shell heavier tetrylidyne complexes featuring a tetrel-centered unpaired electron, and unprecedented metallatetrylidynes containing a multiply-bonded, linear-coordinated single heavier tetrel atom embedded between two metal centers. The chemistry of compounds featuring triple bonds of the heavier Group-14 elements Si-Pb with transition metals is a very challenging research area, which combines modern molecular main-group element with transition-metal chemistry, and is of fundamental importance for the understanding of chemical bonding. During the last 15 years, the research in this area has witnessed considerable progress in isolating a series of closed-shell tetrylidyne complexes. However, despite numerous attempts,
More than 70 years have elapsed since U. S. von Euler and I. H. Gaddum dis covered an unidentified depressor substance in the brain and gut. The effects of the powdery extracts were marked as 'P' on the kymograph tracings, and the nondescript name of 'substance P' still carries the breath of this adventurous period. In the 1960s, substance P returned in another disguise, staging as a hypothalamic peptide that causes copious salivary secretion (see chapter by F. Lembeck and I. Donnerer). This time, though, the mysterious substance was tracked down by S. E. Leeman and her collaborators as an undecapeptide, after it had eluded its identification for some 40 years. Substance P turned out to be the mammalian counterpart of a family of peptides which had been extracted from
In the present work, the target station of the accelerator-driven neutron source HBS is optimized in comprehensive parameter studies using the Monto-Carlo method. The dependence of the most important performance characteristics of such a system on the external parameters is investigated neglecting technical and mechanical limitations.In this way, qualitative and quantitative statements for all possible configurations and envisaged applications can be derived and should be considered in the detailed planning of such facilities. For this purpose, different scenarios are considered that place completely different requirements on the design of the target station.The central statements derived in this thesis can be transferred to any framework conditions, such as different
In the end, most of our patients-and also most of us clinicians- will die a cardiovascular death. During life, many will experience discomfort and disability caused by diseases of the heart and blood vessels. This book is intended to be a primer on these causes of m- bidity and mortality. This book is comprised of chapters from the sixth edition of the large reference book, Family Medicine: Principles and Practice. P- lishing chapters on selected topics provides volumes that are easy to carry in the pocket, are available at lower cost than large comp- hensive volumes, and that allow clinicians to select books on areas that meet their specific needs. This book on cardiovascular diseases includes the chapter on Hypertension, which afflicts approximately 60 million
Primary care physicians in the U.S. and abroad widely trust and use Dr. Robert Taylor's acclaimed "Family Medicine: Principles and Practice, 6/E". This derivative handbook capitalizes on that success to address clinical problems that pose diagnostic and therapeutic challenges for primary care physicians. Chapters cover the diagnosis of a multitude of difficult diseases and disorders, including diabetes mellitus, fatigue, and chronic pain. The etiology of the conditions is also highlighted to help physicians select the most effective therapeutic courses of treatment. Contributors to the text include some of the most prestigious names in the field.
This 2-volume book covers the state-of-the-art of the research and practices on eco-design. It covers the latest topics in the field: e.g. global eco-design management, big data in eco-design, social perspectives in eco-design; as well as emphasizing the developments in emerging economies such as Asian countries. Eco-design of products and product-related services are indispensable to realize the circular economy and to increase resource efficiencies of our society. Eco-design practices are necessary both in developed countries and developing countries. The book chapters are contributed by the worldwide authors, especially authors from East Asian countries, European countries, and Southeast Asian countries, and contains selected presentations at the EcoDesign2017
This book addresses various aspects of testicular autoimmunity. It has long been suspected that testicular autoimmunity could be one of the causes of idiopathic male infertility. However, it is very difficult to estimate the incidence of testicular autoimmunity in men, as most male patients first realize they are infertile when they start trying to conceive a child, and there is a possibility that their testes may already exhibit the end stage of testicular autoimmunity, in which lymphocytic inflammation and immunoglobulin deposition in their testes subsided long ago and only the spermatogenic disorder remains. Therefore, autopsy or biopsy for testicular tissues in men before the end stage of testicular autoimmunity and investigations using testicular autoimmunity
This book is not only a compilation of the knowledge and experiences of the best robotic surgeons around the world, but it has also incorporated the recent advances and updates in Gynaecological surgery. It is designed to provide a detailed guide to common robotic Gynaecologic procedures for the purpose of helping novice surgeons in their transition to robotic surgery and seasoned robotic surgeons to refine their surgical technique and expand their repertoire of robotic procedures. The descriptive, step-by-step, text is complimented by figures, intraoperative photographs and videos detailing the nuances of each procedure. Emphasis is placed on operative setup, instrument and equipment needs and surgical techniques for both the primary surgeon as well as the operative
This outstanding thesis characterises the aerodynamic flow around a container freight train; investigating how changing container loading configurations affect the magnitude of aerodynamic forces measured on a container. 1/25th scale moving-model freight train experiments were carried out at the University of Birmingham's TRAIN rig facility to investigate slipstream velocities and static pressure, as well as measuring, using a specifically designed on-board pressure monitoring system, the aerodynamic loads on containers. Results were compared with full scale data and assessed in terms European standards for trackside worker and passenger safety limits. Rail vehicle aerodynamic studies have tended to previously focus on high speed passenger trains in line with
Since the publication of "The coconut palm - A monograph" in 1960, considerable information has been accrued on the crop through work at research institutes, international organisations and development agencies. Although coconut cultivation is spread over 93 countries, providing employment and creating livelihood opportunities to 64 million families around the globe, smallholder coconut farmers are now facing numerous challenges. The wide gap between the potential and actual yield is a major concern, and as such it is necessary to disseminate knowledge in order to implement research findings. Coconut research in India, one of the leading coconut producing countries, is celebrating its centenary, making this an opportune time to review the research and development
This monograph summarizes the environmental issues concerning the channel and the floodplain of the Drava River. It describes the diverse forms of human impact (river regulation, damming and reservoirs, dredging etc.) and the environmental changes of hydrological regime, sediment transport, biodiversity etc. involved. The transboundary nature of the river is emphasized and the resulting problems are outlined. Special attention is devoted to the evolution and present condition of the floodplain (drainage pattern, oxbow lakes and their vegetation). The possible solutions to environmental problems are illustrated by a review of ongoing and planned rehabilitation measures. The book is amply illustrated with maps, cross/sections, diagrams and photographs. The international
