nova science publishers inc feb 2011 (269 results)

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - The high price of gasoline has been and continues to be a driving factor in consideration of energy policy proposals. Despite passage of the massive Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005, P.L. 109-58), and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (H.R. 6, P.L. 110-140), numerous other proposed initiatives remain under active consideration in the 110th Congress. Measures proposed include repeal of some tax benefits to domestic oil and gas producers contained in EPACT2005, provisions on price gouging, and reform of oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico. A large number of factors have combined to put pressure on gasoline prices, including increased world demand for crude oil and limited U.S. refinery capacity to supply gasoline. The war and continued violence in Iraq added uncertainty, and threats of supply disruption have added pressure, particularly to the commodity futures markets. Concern that speculation has added volatility and upward pressure has frequently been cited. This book tries to identify the apparent causes of the wild swings in this most visible of expenses.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - Proteobacteria are a major group (phylum) of bacteria. They include a wide variety of pathogens, such as Escherichia, Salmonella, Vibrio, Helicobacter, and many other notable genera. Others are free-living, and include many of the bacteria responsible for nitrogen fixation. This book presents current research from across the globe in the study of proteobacteria, including phylogeny and activity of proteobacteria in sediments from Lake Furnas; proteobacteria forming nitrogen-fixing symbiosis with higher plants; proteobacteria and the endosymbiotic origin of mitochondrion; and interpreting diversity of proteobacteria based on 16S rRNA gene copy number.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - As a platform for nanoscience and nanotechnology, nanorods have witnessed an explosion of interest in recent years because of the various types, advances in synthesis, and the novel thermal, optoelectronic, chemical and mechanical properties due to their unique one-dimensional geometry. Given many new functions and/or greatly enhanced performance promisingly offered by the semiconductor nanorods, as well as the demand for ever more compact and powerful systems, nanorods surpass the traditional films and emerge as a significant class of materials. This book reviews the main strategies to fabricate nanorod building blocks which are available to researchers, the unique properties offered by nanorods, and potential exciting applications in electrical and optoelectronic devices with our focus on light emitters.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - Vitamin A-storing cells in the liver exist in the space between parenchymal cells and liver sinusoidal endothelial cells of the hepatic lobule, and store 50-80% of vitamin A in the whole body as retinyl palmitate in lipid droplets in the cytoplasm. In physiological conditions, these cells play pivotal roles in the regulation of vitamin A homeostasis. In pathological conditions such as hepatic fibrosis or liver cirrhosis, hepatic stellate cells lose vitamin A, and synthesise a large amount of extracellular matrix components including collagen, proteoglycan, glycosaminoglycan, and adhesive glycoproteins. Morphology of these cells also changes from the star-shaped stellate cells to that of fibroblasts or myofibroblasts. This book discusses and presents research on vitamin A-storing cells.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - The polyelectrolyte complexes formed due to electrostatic attraction between the polymers, have improved properties when compared to hybrid CTS-g-GMA, which provides a wide range of applications in the biomedical field. All materials have been characterised by different analytical techniques such as infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal analysis (DSC and TGA), and the results were compared to the precursor materials (chitosan, X, HA, and CTS-g-GMA). Due to the HA nature, the film obtained from this reaction has been assessed for use as a patch for wound healing; whereas the properties showed by the hydrogels obtained from the reaction with X, make them very promising for applications in the treatment of recovery of spinal cord injuries. This book presents results which strongly support the future use of hydrogels as scaffolds for tissue engineering and recovering.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - Bananas are a major staple food for millions of people in the world, especially in tropical regions. At the end of 20th century, the export sector of bananas has shown a great dynamism and has undergone important structural changes because of the challenges associated with successive reforms of the European Union (EU), Banana Regime and World Trade Organization (WTO). Bananas are a valuable nutritional source of vitamin A, B6 and C. Bananas have important medicinal uses because they are used to treat gastric ulcer and diarrhoea and help to reduce stress and anxiety. Moreover, they are reckoned useful for cancer prevention and heart diseases. Bananas are a good source of energy and their high potassium content assist the brain for better functioning. This book presents and discusses the nutritional qualities and medical uses of bananas.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - This book utilises the first-difference panel regression analysis to assess the direct effect of urban slum prevalence or the proportion of the total population living in urban slum conditions on national level measures of infant mortality rates over the period 1990 to 2005. Utilising data on 81 less developed countries, the results illustrate increasing urban slum prevalence over the period is a robust predictor of increasing infant mortality rates. This effect obtains net the statistically significant influence of gross domestic product per capita, fertility rate, and female secondary school enrolment. The results confirm urban slum prevalence growth is an important contextual dynamic whereby the social production of infant mortality is enacted in the less developed countries.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - This book presents a comprehensive account of a new member of the family of the modal interpretations of quantum mechanics. According to the modal-Hamiltonian interpretation, the Hamiltonian of the quantum system plays a decisive role in the definition of systems and subsystems, and in the rule that selects the observables whose possible values become actual. This book begins by introducing the main interpretative postulates and by proving their Galilean invariance. Also discussed herein is an argument for the physical relevance of the interpretation.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - Professional economists believe that the development of basic industries in general and the steel industry in particular is the best beginning step in the process of economic development of underdeveloped countries. This book discusses these positions by using the Algerian experience with the steel industry as a case in point at particular times, as today tremendous change can be seen in Algeria and in the rest of the world as far as the role of the steel industry is concerned. The iron and steel industry has been known to create the necessary conditions for sustained capital formation at a rapid rate. In addition to the savings in foreign exchange (affected by the reduction of steel imports), the other beneficial effects in the establishment of a local steel industry are employment generation and skill formation.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - In this book, the development of optoelectronic devices for the measurement of physical magnitudes, such as electromagnetic radiation intensity with spatial resolution, acoustic signal spectrum, magnitudes of the displacement, and kinetics of chemical reactions are presented. The operation principle of given devices is based on the change in a state of electromagnetic wave polarisation upon the interaction with physical object while changing its mechanical and chemical characteristics.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - The twentieth century has witnessed phenomenal growth in silicon-based semiconductor technology. This revolution, however, will be dwarfed by photonics technology in the twenty-first century. In this respect, erbium (a rare-earth element of the lanthanide series ), will be to photonics technology what silicon is to semiconductor technology. In this book, spotlight shines on the novel usage of erbium in amplifying optical signals V, a much desired phenomenon implemented in optical communication systems. Due to various loss mechanisms, there is a gradual reduction in the power of light as it propagates through a communication channel, and to recover that, amplification of light becomes vital. Further, this remains very important in order for the information carried by the light to be discernible at the receiving end as there exists a minimum threshold power which the light must always possess.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - Magneto-structural studies on polynuclear complexes, aimed at understanding the structural and chemical factors that govern the exchange coupling between paramagnetic centers, are of continuing interest. One of the best illustrative examples corresponds to the di-¿-hydroxo-dicopper(II) complexes where the angle at the hydroxo bridge is the main factor governing the nature and magnitude of the intramolecular magnetic coupling. This book presents a systematic study of complex formation between gadolinium(III) and carboxylate-containing ligands which investigates the factors that govern the magnetic coupling in the digadolinium(III) units.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - Mycorrhiza is a mutualistic association between fungi and the roots of the vast majority of terrestrial plants. In natural ecosystems, the plant nutrient uptake from the soil takes place via the extraradical mycelia of these mycosimbionts. While most herbaceous plants and tropical trees form endomycorrhiza-type interactions, trees of boreal and temperate ecosystems are typically ectomycorrhizal (ECM). These species include the majority of ecologically and economically important trees and the fungal symbionts are predominantly filamentous basidiomycetes. The symbiotic phase in the life cycle of ECM basidiomycetes is the dikaryon. This book reviews studies on symbiotic relevant gene functions.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - Congress raised concerns about the possible vulnerability of U.S. coastal areas to tsunamis, and the adequacy of early warnings for coastal areas, after a strong underwater earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, on December 26, 2004. The earthquake generated a tsunami that devastated many coastal communities around the Northern Indian Ocean, causing approximately 170,000 known deaths. In December 2005, President Bush released an action plan for expanding the U.S. tsunami detection and early warning network, which was expected to cost millions of dollars and would include building the infrastructure and maintaining its operations. This book examines the forecasting capabilities and preparedness of the United States with respect to a tsunami disaster.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - Efforts to mitigate climate change have focused on reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the atmosphere. Some of these efforts centre on reducing CO2 emissions from deforestation, since deforestation releases about 17% of all annual anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is seen as a relatively low-cost target for emissions reduction. Policies aimed at reducing deforestation are central points of a strategy to decrease carbon emissions, reflected in pending legislation in Congress as well as in international discussions, such as the December 2009 negotiations in Copenhagen. This book discusses the linkages between forests and climate, describing the characteristics of the major forest biomes, with an overview of deforestation causes and impacts and approaches to reducing deforestation.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - For the thirty-four million people living in Sudan, environmental pollution is a major concern throughout the country; therefore industry, communities, local authorities and central government should adopt an integrated approach in order to deal with pollution issues. Most polluters pay little or no attention to the control and proper management of polluting effluents. This may reflect lack of enforceable legislation and/or the fear of spending money on the treatment of their effluent prior to discharge. Present resources must be strictly monitored and managed effectively if further deterioration is to be avoided. This book offers pertinent information regarding Sudan's water supply.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - The need to analyse a linear network is a recurring requirement in computer-aided network analysis. Not only are the majority of the network problems to be solved linear problems, but non-linear resistive and dynamic networks are usually solved by the analysis of a sequence of 'linearised' networks. The analysis of such networks can commonly be viewed as a two-stage process: equation formulation and linear solution. This book discusses an attractive formulation procedure that will not only change the solution strategy, but also the view of matrix reduction techniques.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - Chronic wounds, by definition, are those that remain in a chronic inflammatory state and therefore fail to follow normal patterns of the healing process. The chronic wounds present a challenge to physicians and patients alike because they are very difficult to heal, inflict a huge cost to society and impair the quality of life for millions of people. There are many factors that contribute to the development of chronic wounds. One of the most clinically significant impediments to wound healing is infections. Bacteria biofilm formation in wounds is the best unifying explanation for the failure of chronic wounds to heal. This book discusses how the formulation of effective and inexpensive products will be useful to resolve infected chronic wounds with biofilm-producing bacteria.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - This book is dedicated to the common theory creation problems of recognition systems. The proposed theory explores processes of recognition, quantitative descriptions and representations of that are possible. According to this theory, object properties (features) measurable and, consequently, their values can be represented on the real number axis by continuous or discrete successions. This book also discusses proceedings of pattern recognition, which can be considered dedicated to the creation of common mathematical theory of recognition processes.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - After compression of a system formed by a nanoporous media and a non-wetting liquid to the threshold pressure value, the liquid fills the pores of a porous media. In accordance with prevailing concepts, passage of the liquid from the bulk to the dispersed state can be described as a percolation-type transition. This process is typical of infiltration of macroscopic porous bodies with wetting liquids. The threshold type of infiltration was observed for non-wetting liquids and is scientifically detailed in this book.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is at present one of the most interesting technique for thin film deposition. In the PLD process a film is formed by ablating a solid target with energetic laser pulses and collecting the material of interest on a substrate placed a few cm from the target. According to its ability to carry the stoichiometry from the target to the substrate and to its relatively high growth rate (~0.1 nm/pulse), PLD is an attractive technique for compound thin film deposition. This technique offers the possibility of depositing thin films on room-temperature or low-temperature substrates, due to the high energy of the species forming the laser plasma plume expanding from the target to the substrate. This book reviews research on the depositon of c-BN films by using PLD, ion-assisted PLD and other laser-assisted procedures.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - A multi-professional research team comprising practitioners, academics, service-users and students has undertaken a major research project on pre and post-registration students engaged in Social Work, Midwifery and Emergency Care (Nursing and Paramedicine) professional degrees. This book explores students' perceptions of the tools and methods used to assess their practice and the impact these processes have had on their learning and professionalism during their journey through the programme. A four-year longitudinal study comprising annual interviews with 14 students has enabled their developing understanding and changing views to emerge, rather than just gaining a snapshot as in previous literature.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - This book examines three harvests of virgin olive oils (VOOs) from the Mediterranean basin which were analysed by 1H-NMR and 13C and 2H isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) to determine their geographical origin at the national, regional or PDO level. An increase in 13C/12C and 2H/1H ratios was observed in VOOs from northern to southern regions; VOOs produced in France and northern Italy presented higher values than those produced in Spain and Greece. This trend was also observed in VOOs from northern and southern Italy, and for those from southern Spain and the other Spanish regions.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - This book contains a thorough theoretical consideration of the process of proton channelling through carbon nanotubes. A brief summary of the theoretical and experimental results of studying ion channelling through nanotubes is first discussed. Then, the process of ion channelling is described briefly. After that, the crystal rainbow effect is introduced. A description how it was discovered, and present the theory of crystal rainbows, as the proper theory of ion channelling in crystals and nanotubes is provided. It is shown that the evolution of the angular distribution of channelled protons with the nanotube length can be divided in the cycles defined by the rainbow effect.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - This book reviews the biochemical pathways of ethanol and its metabolites in humans in the context of pregnancy. Special emphasis is devoted to the implications for foetal and neonatal development. The book also covers primary direct effects of ethanol as well as downstream effector pathways involving modulation of receptor and hormonal signalling, and the enzymatic status of the offspring. Special attention is given to the implications of maternal alcohol consumption for the nutritional status of compounds with recognised relevance for pregnancies, such as folate, unsaturated fatty acids and zinc.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - Eighty-nine percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2007, meaning that all household members had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. The remaining households (11.1 percent) were food insecure at least some time during the year because the household lacked money and other resources for food. Just over half of all food-insecure households participated in one or more of the three largest Federal food and nutrition assistance programs. This book provides statistics that guide planning for Federal, State and community food assistance programs. This book updates the national statistics on food security, household food spending, the use of Federal and community food and nutrition assistance by food-insecure households and the numbers of households using community food pantries and emergency kitchens. The household food security statistics presented in this book are based on a measure of food security calculated from responses to a series of questions about conditions and behaviours known to characterise households having difficulty meeting basic food needs.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - The ways we think about the world, about ourselves and our personal relations are largely determined by our cognitive schemes, cognitive styles. These cognitive schemes, cognitive styles appear in early childhood, and parents have a decisive role in the learning process. This book examines the parental influence on cognitive styles and through it, to the way of thinking and personal relations of mentally healthy individuals. Also discussed herein are the parental educational influences that impede the individual in adequate adaption to reality.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - The benefits of Clopidogrel on the treatment of acute coronary syndromes are well established. However, not all patients respond in the same way to Clopidogrel therapy, and there are patients who suffer major adverse cardiovascular events despite being on treatment, emerging the concept of Clopidogrel resistance. This book focuses on this topic, mainly in the definition, response assessment, clinical implications, patients' management and emerging therapies (prasugrel, cangrelor and ticagrelor).

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - Soybean seeds contain a large amount of protein (about 35%), and there is a significant correlation between the total amount of N accumulated in soybean plants and seed yield. Soybean utilises N from several sources, including mineralised soil organic matter, symbiotically fixed N, and N from fertiliser when applied. Soybean plants fix a large amount of N by root nodules symbiotically associated with soil bacteria called 'rhizobia'. However, sole N2 fixation is often insufficient to support the vigorous vegetative and reproductive growth of soybean plants. For the maximum yield of soybean, it is necessary to use both N2 fixation by root nodules and nitrogen absorption from roots. This book introduces the promotive effects of deep placement of slow release N fertilisers on growth, N2 fixation activity and seed yield of soybean cultivated in some rotated paddy fields of Niigata prefecture, Japan, including rotated paddy fields and upland fields.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - The temperature on the Earth has exceeded the trend by 0.6 degrees for the last three decades and by 0.74 degrees for the last century. In 50 years a condition of deep cold snap will occur, and new warming will begin only in the beginning of the XXII century. It is connected with the approach of the next 200-years global warming cycle. Thus, forecasts concerning the change of climate are relatively inconsistent. Measures on stabilisation of the climate appear extremely expansive. This book discusses one of the natural phenomena that previously have not been included in the scope of problems related to the greenhouse effect. In this work attention is drawn to the clusterisation of greenhouse gases occurring in the troposphere due to the rapid decrease of temperature commensurate with altitude increase.