mdpi ag okt 2018 (17 Ergebnisse)

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This issue of Proceedings gathers papers presented at XOVETIC2018 (A Coruña, Spain, 27-28 September 2018), a conference with the main goal of bringing together young researchers working in big data, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, HPC (high-performance computing), cybersecurity, bioinformatics, natural language processing, 5G, and others areas from the field of ICT, and offering a platform to present the results of their research to a national audience in the north of Spain. This first edition aims to serve as the basis of this event, which will be consolidated over time and acquire international projection.The conference is co-funded by Xunta de Galicia and European Union. European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Vitamin C is synthesized by almost all animals. However, for humans, it is a vitamin that needs constant replenishment in the diet. While its role as an anti-oxidant and for preventing scurvy have been known for a long time, novel functions and unrecognized associations continue to be identified for this enigmatic molecule. In the past decade, new details have emerged regarding differences in its uptake by oral and intravenous modes. While vitamin C deficiency remains largely unknown and poorly addressed in many segments of the population, novel pharmacological roles for high-dose, intravenous vitamin C in many disease states have now been postulated and investigated. This has shifted its role in health and disease from the long-perceived notion as merely a vitamin and an anti-oxidant to a pleiotropic molecule with a broad anti-inflammatory, epigenetic, and anti-cancer profile. This Special Issue comprises original research papers and reviews on vitamin C metabolism and function that relate to the following topics: understanding its role in the modulation of inflammation and immunity, therapeutic applications and safety of pharmacological ascorbate in disease, and the emerging role of vitamin C as a pleiotropic modulator of critical care illness and cancer.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The development of kernel methods and hybrid evolutionary algorithms (HEAs) to support experts in energy forecasting is of great importance to improving the accuracy of the actions derived from an energy decision maker, and it is crucial that they are theoretically sound. In addition, more accurate or more precise energy demand forecasts are required when decisions are made in a competitive environment. Therefore, this is of special relevance in the Big Data era. These forecasts are usually based on a complex function combination. These models have resulted in over-reliance on the use of informal judgment and higher expense if lacking the ability to catch the data patterns. The novel applications of kernel methods and hybrid evolutionary algorithms can provide more satisfactory parameters in forecasting models.We aimed to attract researchers with an interest in the research areas described above. Specifically, we were interested in contributions towards the development of HEAs with kernel methods or with other novel methods (e.g., chaotic mapping mechanism, fuzzy theory, and quantum computing mechanism), which, with superior capabilities over the traditional optimization approaches, aim to overcome some embedded drawbacks and then apply these new HEAs to be hybridized with original forecasting models to significantly improve forecasting accuracy.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Prion diseases, or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), are a group of fatal and transmissible neurodegenerative disorders characterized by long incubation periods, misfolded prion protein (PrP) deposition, and usually spongiform vacuolation. These devastating diseases affect many mammals, with the best known examples being Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), fatal familial insomnia (FFI), or Kuru in humans; and scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, and chronic wasting disease (CWD) in cervids. Despite major achievements in research of TSEs, there are still many unresolved key issues that hamper the development of effective therapies. However, the last decade has been particularly prolific in advances in the prion field. Among others, prion propagation in vitro has been achieved, leading to new diagnostic methods; the basic architecture of infectious prions has been deciphered; new prion disease types have been described in humans and other animals; and prion disorders have emerged in places that had not previously reported the disorders, as is the case for CWD in Europe. This Special Issue will focus on the state of the art of our knowledge of PrPSc: on what we know about its structure and propagation, the basis of strains and transmission barriers, the mechanisms of PrPSc toxicity, the possible function of PrPSc's properly folded precursor, PrPC and its evolutionary history, and recent technical breakthroughs in diagnostics and therapy development among other key aspects of PrPSc prion biology.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Selective and quantitative detection of different kinds of biocomponents plays an important role in biomedical applications, clinical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, toxicology, regenerative medicine and drug delivery. Therefore, multidisciplinary area of magnetic biosensing have been extensively developed in recent years, aiming to create compact analytical devices for non-expensive and low time consuming analysis provided at the point of care by non-skilled personnel. Biological samples exhibit very low magnetic background, and thus highly sensitive measurements of magnetic labels or magnetic nanoparticles enriched units can be performed without further processing. A magnetic biosensor is a compact analytical device in which magnetic transducer converts a magnetic field variation into a change of frequency, current, voltage, etc. Different types of magnetic effects are capable of creating magnetic biosensors with extra high sensitivity. This book describes interesting examples of magnetic materials based biosensors, including the synthesis of model materials for biosensor development, new engineering solutions and theoretical contributions on the magnetic biosensor sensitivity. Book contains 13 research works representing international multidisciplinary teams from Austria, China, Germany, Greece, Iran, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Taiwan and United States of America. It can be useful for PHD students and researches working in the field of magnetic nanomaterials and biomedical applications.].

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Regenerative medicine is an emerging multidisciplinary field that aims to repair and restore the normal functions of tissues and organs damaged by aging, disease, injury, or congenital disorders. The basic concept of 'Nano/Micro-Assisted Regenerative Medicine' is to use advanced nano/micro-technologies, either alone or in combination with specific cells, such as stem cells, to replace, enhance, or regenerate damaged or diseased human tissues or organs. This book introduces promising applications of nano/micro-technologies, such as iron oxide nanoparticles, simvastatin-loaded porous microspheres, graphene-RGD nanoisland composites, bioreducible poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(amino ketal) micelles, reduced graphene oxide-coated biphasic calcium phosphate bone graft material, amorphous nano/micro polyphosphate, cilostazol ophthalmic nanodispersions, carbonic anhydrase-IX anchored albumin-paclitaxel nanoparticles, peptide liposome incorporated citron extracts, turmeric extract-loaded nanoemulsions, and inkjet-printed nanofibrous membrane, in different tissue engineering or cancer treatment applications. In addition, it provides strategies for the further development of this field.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This book is dedicated to the memory of Prof. Rick Speare, whose academic contribution included high-level research on zoonotic diseases and public health in general, of human and veterinarian medical interest, following the One Health approach. He dedicated much of his work to Aboriginal communities. In 2016, Rick was tragically killed in a car crash while driving to a seminar at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia. The book contains a total of 17 papers on communicable diseases in tropical environments, many of them published by Rick's former colleagues and co-researchers. Some papers contain material collected together with Rick, which for the first time is published here.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Accurate forecasting performance in the energy sector is a primary factor in the modern restructured power market, accomplished by any novel advanced hybrid techniques. Particularly in the Big Data era, forecasting models are always based on a complex function combination, and energy data are always complicated by factors such as seasonality, cyclicity, fluctuation, dynamic nonlinearity, and so on. To comprehensively address this issue, it is insufficient to concentrate only on simply hybridizing evolutionary algorithms with each other, or on hybridizing evolutionary algorithms with chaotic mapping, quantum computing, recurrent and seasonal mechanisms, and fuzzy inference theory in order to determine suitable parameters for an existing model. It is necessary to also consider hybridizing or combining two or more existing models (e.g., neuro-fuzzy model, BPNN-fuzzy model, seasonal support vector regression-chaotic quantum particle swarm optimization (SSVR-CQPSO), etc.). These advanced novel hybrid techniques can provide more satisfactory energy forecasting performances.This book aimed to attract researchers with an interest in the research areas described above. Specifically, we were interested in contributions towards recent developments, i.e., hybridizing or combining any advanced techniques in energy forecasting, with the superior capabilities over the traditional forecasting approaches, with the ability to overcome some embedded drawbacks, and with the very superiority to achieve significant improved forecasting accuracy.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - More accurate and precise energy demand forecasts are required when energy decisions are made in a competitive environment. Particularly in the Big Data era, forecasting models are always based on a complex function combination, and energy data are always complicated. Examples include seasonality, cyclicity, fluctuation, dynamic nonlinearity, and so on. These forecasting models have resulted in an over-reliance on the use of informal judgment and higher expenses when lacking the ability to determine data characteristics and patterns. The hybridization of optimization methods and superior evolutionary algorithms can provide important improvements via good parameter determinations in the optimization process, which is of great assistance to actions taken by energy decision-makers.This book aimed to attract researchers with an interest in the research areas described above. Specifically, it sought contributions to the development of any hybrid optimization methods (e.g., quadratic programming techniques, chaotic mapping, fuzzy inference theory, quantum computing, etc.) with advanced algorithms (e.g., genetic algorithms, ant colony optimization, particle swarm optimization algorithm, etc.) that have superior capabilities over the traditional optimization approaches to overcome some embedded drawbacks, and the application of these advanced hybrid approaches to significantly improve forecasting accuracy.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Plants interact with microbes in many different ways and on many different levels. The most obvious interaction results in plant disease, which can be a severe threat to the global food supply. Therefore, research strives to uncover the mechanisms of host plant invasion, learn about the weapons used by pathogenic microbes, and understand the defense strategies of the affected plants. On the other hand, many interactions with the plant are indeed beneficial for the plant, increasing its ability to recruit limiting nutrients from the soil, preventing the growth of more detrimental microbes, or making the plant more resistant to abiotic stresses. Plants also serve as habitats for microbes that may colonize apoplastic spaces within leaves, may live on plant surfaces, or may prosper in the immediate vicinity of plant organs (e.g., in the rhizosoil). In this book, one editorial, two review articles, and twelve original research articles highlight the newest research endeavors on plants interacting with beneficial microbes, having to cope with detrimental microbes, or hosting complete microbiomes. Together, these articles contribute to the knowledge essential for the development of strategies that will prepare our plants to withstand the increasingly harsh conditions they will be exposed to in the coming years of climate change.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The Mississippi River Delta is home to more than two million people and is a hub for energy, transportation, and petrochemical industry of national importance in the United States. It is also home to 40% of coastal wetlands in the contiguous United States, which provide natural habitats for hundreds of species of fish and wildlife, as well as for millions of migrating birds in North America each year. However, this delta has been losing land at a rapid speed and its existence is being seriously threatened. A number of factors have contributed to the current situation, including reduced riverine sediment supply, coastal land erosion, subsidence, and sea level rise. In an attempt to determine resilience of the Mississippi River Delta, this book collected 14 articles that present the latest assessments of the river delta in five aspects: 1) riverine processes and sediment availability, 2) sediment deposition and land creation, 3) wetland loss, saltwater intrusion and subsidence, 4) community resilience and planning, and 5) review and synthesis. This holistic approach to investigating a river delta as a coupled natural-human system can be applicable for assessing other populated and industrialized deltaic regions in the world.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The forming of metals through plastic deformation comprises a family of methods that produce components through the re-shaping of input stock, oftentimes with little waste. Therefore, forming is one of the most efficient and economical manufacturing process families available. A myriad of forming processes exist in this family. In conjunction with their countless existing successful applications and their relatively low energy requirements, these processes are an indispensable part of our future. However, despite the vast accumulated know-how, research challenges remain, be they related to the forming of new materials (e.g., for light-weight transportation applications), pushing the boundaries of what is doable, reducing the intermediate steps and/or scrap, or further enhancing the environmental friendliness. The purpose of this book is to collect expert views and contributions on the current state-of-the-art of plastic forming, thus highlighting contemporary challenges and offering ideas and solutions.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This volume features thirteen original chapters on the causes and consequences of gender segregation in scientific, technical, engineering, and mathematics ('STEM') occupations and fields of study. Although women have made great strides in equalizing access to labor markets and higher education, many STEM fields-particularly in the physical sciences and engineering-remain strongholds of gender segregation in the United States and other reputably gender-progressive societies. Policymakers, business leaders and activists have launched countless initiatives to diversify access to lucrative, high status occupations and ameliorate labor shortages that diminish innovation and competitiveness.Contributors to this volume apply diverse theoretical lenses and methodological approaches to understand the individual, interactional, organizational, and cultural dynamics that drive this segregation in the United States. Results show that the gender composition of scientific and technical fields varies a great deal over time and across organizational contexts and socio-demographic groups defined by race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality. But despite this variability, STEM work and STEM workers are widely presumed to be naturally and inevitably masculine. Research presented here reveals how these stereotypes combine with cultural beliefs about natural and fundamental differences between men and women to produce gendered aspirations and reinforce inequalities in the US scientific and technical workforce.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a wide band gap semiconductor with an energy gap of 3.37 eV at room temperature. It has been used considerably for its catalytic, electrical, optoelectronic, and photochemical properties. ZnO nanomaterials, such as quantum dots, nanorods, and nanowires, have been intensively investigated for their important properties. Many methods have been described in the literature for the production of ZnO nanostructures, such as laser ablation, hydrothermal methods, electrochemical deposition, sol-gel methods, chemical vapour deposition, molecular beam epitaxy, the common thermal evaporation method, and the soft chemical solution method. The present Special Issue is devoted to the synthesis and characterization of ZnO nanostructures with novel technological applications.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Chloroplasts are at the front line of many advancements in molecular biology, ranging from evolutionary biology to the mechanism of energy transduction, also including stress responses and programmed leaf death. In addition to the relevance of basic knowledge, advances are unveiling promising insights to improve plant productivity, disease resistance, and environmental control. The production of secondary metabolites and proteins by transformed chloroplasts adds further excitement to applied investigations on chloroplasts.The comparison of the sequences of the chloroplast DNA of different plants provides valuable information on gene content, reordering in the circular chloroplast DNA, and mutational genetic-derive, relevant to the evolution of the chloroplast. Increasing facilities for intense genome sequencing have prompted many laboratories to focus on the chloroplast DNA. Reflecting these efforts, more than half of the articles in this book deal with functional or evolutionary investigations based on sequence analyses of chloroplast DNA. Additional topics treated in the issue include post-transcriptional control, the processing of nuclear encoded preproteins of chloroplasts, the response of photosynthetic machinery to water deficit, turn-over of chloroplast proteins, mechanism of chloroplast division, and chloroplast movements.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The key importance of radar remote sensing for civil applications has been recognized for decades, and enormous scientific and technical developments have been carried out to further improve SAR sensors and SAR data processing.In recent years, SAR satellite constellations, consisting of two or more satellites, are becoming the 'new normal' in SAR remote sensing. The present availability of SAR sensor constellations, such as Cosmo SkyMed, TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X, and the new Copernicus sensors Sentinel-1A and 1B, supply a continuous stream of imagery with a unique short revisit cycle of only six days. Together with many more operational and planned SAR satellite systems, such as Geo-Fen 3 or NASA ISRO SAR (NISAR), this unprecedented amount of high-quality SAR data is suitable for a variety of applications, provided proper data processing methodology are applied.In 'Advances in SAR: Sensors, Methodologies, and Applications' advancements in the field of hardware, software, and applications are presented, covering a wide range of topics.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Modern robotic technologies have enabled robots to operate in a variety of unstructured and dynamically-changing environments, in addition to traditional structured environments. Robots have, thus, become an important element in our everyday lives. One key approach to develop such intelligent and autonomous robots is to draw inspiration from biological systems. Biological structure, mechanisms, and underlying principles have the potential to provide new ideas to support the improvement of conventional robotic designs and control. Such biological principles usually originate from animal or even plant models, for robots, which can sense, think, walk, swim, crawl, jump or even fly. Thus, it is believed that these bio-inspired methods are becoming increasingly important in the face of complex applications. Bio-inspired robotics is leading to the study of innovative structures and computing with sensory-motor coordination and learning to achieve intelligence, flexibility, stability, and adaptation for emergent robotic applications, such as manipulation, learning, and control. This Special Issue invites original papers of innovative ideas and concepts, new discoveries and improvements, and novel applications and business models relevant to the selected topics of ``Bio-Inspired Robotics''. Bio-Inspired Robotics is a broad topic and an ongoing expanding field. This Special Issue collates 30 papers that address some of the important challenges and opportunities in this broad and expanding field.