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Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is still the most common cause of death among adults. Its prevalence is increasing in developing countries and despite all advances in both diagnostic tools and treatment modalities, it is still very common in the developed world. Obesity, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia and overuse of dietary salt play a pivotal role in increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality worldwide. Current clinical efforts are mainly focused on the diagnosis and treatment of myocardial infarction. In this book, we provide epidemiological data on myocardial infarction and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, current diagnostic biochemical tests and management strategies. A specific patient group, children, experiencing myocardial infarction are also addressed. Current advances in the management of myocardial infarction have decreased the morbidity and mortality from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and especially myocardial infarction; however, more can be achieved by the prevention of atherosclerotic processes via focusing on the early stages of the disease.

Low-temperature non-equilibrium gaseous discharges represent nearly ideal media for boosting plasma-based chemical reactions. In these discharges the energy of plasma electrons, after being received from the electromagnetic field, is transferred to the other degrees of freedom differently, ideally with only a small part going to the translational motion of heavy gas particles. This unique property enables the important application of non-equilibrium plasmas for greenhouse gas conversion. While the degree of discharge non-equilibrium often defines the energetic efficiency of conversion, other factors are also of a great importance, such as type of discharge, presence of plasma catalysis, etc. This book is focused on the recent achievements in optimization and understanding of non-equilibrium plasma for gas conversion via plasma modeling and experimental work.

Congenital Heart Disease is a general term for a range of birth defects that affect the normal workings of the heart. It is one of the most common types of birth defect occurring in 1% of live births and affects up to 9 in every 1,000 babies born in the United Kingdom. It was estimated that 34.3 million people had a congenital heart abnormality in 2013. Abnormalities can arise in 3-5% of off spring in cases of de novo family history. Congenital heart disease was responsible for 223,000 deaths in 2010. This short volume details the common birth defects affecting the structure and functioning of the heart concentrating on the genetic basis and epidemiology, as well as risk factors, diagnostic modalities and treatment options.

In recent years, scholars have focused more on the "dark sides of leadership." Both the negative and positive aspects of the relationship between leaders and followers are considered. But the relationship between leaders and followers is also influenced by the context in which the relationship occurs. Organizational aspects such as culture and structures are studied in relation to how negative leadership develops. Organizations, just like humans, are able to develop justifications for their actions, to self-aggrandize by claiming their exclusivity. In this book, the dark sides of organizational behaviors and leadership are considered from different aspects and contexts. The book contributes knowledge of how negative leadership develops, what part organizational structures play, and what the consequences are for the leader, the subordinates and the organization.

The limitation of the radio spectrum and the rapid growth of communication applications make optimal usage of radio resources essential. Cognitive radio (CR) is an attractive research area for 4G/5G wireless communication systems, which enables unlicensed users to access the spectrum. Delivering higher spectral efficiency, supporting the higher number of users, and achieving higher coverage and throughput are the main advantages of CR-based networks compared to conventional ones. The main goal of this book is to provide highlights of current research topics in the field of CR-based systems. The book consists of six chapters in three sections focusing on primary and secondary users, spectrum sensing, spectrum sharing, CR-based IoT, emulation attack, and interference alignment.

This book is proposed as both a general reading of the discipline for students in architecture and urban planning, and offers a variety of materials for professionals of local and international organizations. It brings together studies with new perspectives and relevant subjects from different geographical areas. The book gathers the contributions of international researchers and experts. It is divided into three parts and eight chapters: Part I, "Introduction to Housing Affairs," includes a chapter that discusses a general reading of housing as meaning and action in social, economic, and environmental city life. Part II, "Case Studies Upon Housing Policies," includes four chapters. It consists of many examples from different geographical areas and domains. Part III, "Housing Quality and Affordability," includes three chapters; housing quality, sustainability, and development are the main subjects for this part.

Smoking was and remains one of the most important public healthcare issues. It is estimated that every year six million people die as a result of tobacco consumption. Several diseases are caused or worsened by smoking: different cancer types, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases and others. In this book we describe the different toxic effects of smoke on the human body in active and in passive smokers. It is also well known that many people who smoke wish to quit, but they rarely succeed. Smoking prevention and cessation are of utmost importance, thus we also describe different strategies and aspects of these issues. We hope that this book will help readers to understand better the effects of smoking and learn about new ideas on how to effectively help other people to stop smoking.

The HIV epidemic has had a significant and profound impact on the world and health resources. Considerable progress has been made in understanding the risks and drivers of the epidemic. Antiretroviral drugs have relieved human suffering and prolonged life. However, access to quality management needs to scale up and be made universal. This book discusses critical issues related to the treatment of HIV infection and related co-infections and challenges in adherence and discordancy. New vaccine approaches discussed may provide the ultimate solution for eradication. Sharing knowledge from various experts in medical and basic sciences improves the quality of care for this persistent global threat. This book discusses emerging advances in HIV-AIDS management to support strategies for control and elimination.

The field of low-dimensional structures has been experiencing rapid development in both theoretical and experimental research. Phonons in Low Dimensional Structures is a collection of chapters related to the properties of solid-state structures dependent on lattice vibrations. The book is divided into two parts. In the first part, research topics such as interface phonons and polaron states, carrier-phonon non-equilibrium dynamics, directional projection of elastic waves in parallel array of N elastically coupled waveguides, collective dynamics for longitudinal and transverse phonon modes, and elastic properties for bulk metallic glasses are related to semiconductor devices and metallic glasses devices. The second part of the book contains, among others, topics related to superconductor, phononic crystal carbon nanotube devices such as phonon dispersion calculations using density functional theory for a range of superconducting materials, phononic crystal-based MEMS resonators, absorption of acoustic phonons in the hyper-sound regime in fluorine-modified carbon nanotubes and single-walled nanotubes, phonon transport in carbon nanotubes, quantization of phonon thermal conductance, and phonon Anderson localization.

Deep knowledge of the chemical composition, nutrients, physical properties, toxicology, and microbiological composition of food allows for the production of safe, high-quality foods. This knowledge is fundamental when producing, preserving, manipulating, and distributing food substances, especially to reduce the risks to consumer health. The full extent of the effects on the composition of foods treated by new technologies is still unknown and it must be considered to guarantee that food is produced safely. Descriptive Food Science gives an in-depth insight into this field. Section 1 focuses on the quality of various foods and Section 2 centers on how different technological treatments affect the quality of food.

Disinfection is a method used to destroy most microbial forms, especially vegetative pathogens, by using physical and chemical procedures such as chlorination, UV radiation, boiling, vapor, etc. Biotic surfaces such as skin and abiotic surfaces such as contaminated medical devices and kitchen equipment exposed to cross contamination must be disinfected. Especially, inadequate disinfection of water can be fatal and cause life-threatening outbreaks. For this reason, water must be disinfected adequately by appropriate methods. There are several factors that affect the efficacy of disinfection against pathogens, such as capacity of biofilm and spore formation, having antibiotic resistance, etc. It is hard to destroy bacterial biofilms, bacterial spores, and resistant microorganisms. Some bacterial spores and resistant microorganisms can withstand disinfectants, so adequate disinfection must be done by appropriate methods. The aim of this book is to summarize disinfection, disinfection methods, and chemical analysis of by-products by providing up-to-date topics.

This book offers a selection of papers in the field of fault detection and diagnosis, promoting new research results in the field, which come to join other publications in the literature. Authors from countries of four continents: United States of America, South Africa, China, India, Algeria and Croatia published worked examples and case studies resulting from their research in the field. Fault detection and diagnosis has a great importance in all industrial processes, to assure the monitoring, maintenance and repair of the complex processes, including all hardware, firmware and software. The book has four sections, determined by the application domain and the methods used: 1. Hybrid Computing Systems, 2. Power Systems, 3. Power Electronics and 4. Kalman Filtering. In the first section, the readers will find a technical report on fault diagnosis of hybrid computing systems, based on the chaotic-map method that uses the exponential divergence and wide Fourier properties of the trajectories, combined with memory allocations and assignments. In the second section, two chapters are included: one of them presents a study on preventive maintenance and fault detection for wind turbine generators using statistical models and the second chapter presents a technical report on fault diagnosis for turbo-generators, based on the mechanical-electrical intersectional characteristics. The third section contains a technical report that presents some techniques of detection and localization of open-circuit faults in a three-phase voltage source inverter fed induction motor. The fourth section presents a theoretical study on the application of distributed discrete-time linear Kalman filtering with decentralized structure of sensors in fault residual generation.

Human life relies on two basic supplies from nature: oxygen and food. Oxygen can be utilized directly, but food has to go through a process of digestion to become usable nutrients. The esophagus represents the beginning of this long journey. Because of its critical location, esophageal cancer is one of the deadliest malignancies in the world, and furthermore its incidence has been rising steadily year after year while other cancers are declining. It is predicted that by the year 2035 the esophageal cancer population will increase by 77.4% and become one of top global concerns. This book covers many aspects of esophageal cancer, through which we hope to raise the awareness of professionals as well as non-professionals about this disease.

Surface engineering has rapidly expanded in recent years as the demand for improved materials has increased. Surface engineering is a valuable tool for conceiving both surface and bulk properties, which cannot be achieved simultaneously either by the coating material or by the substrate material alone. The book is written on the current trends of surface engineering and relevant research. The applied and basic research as well as some worthy concepts of materials related to this area is explained clearly to understand the need for surface engineering in industrial applications. The different surface modification processes, properties, and their characterizations are discussed elaborately for future research and as a text book. Modification of surface properties by films or coatings is used in industrial applications. This is an area of interest to numerous fields: fabrication of parts, mechanics, transport, catalysis, energy, production, microelectronics, optoelectronics, the leisure industry, etc. The properties are considered for protection against corrosion, oxidation or wear, biocompatibility, wetting, adhesion, durability, catalytic activity, and toughness. The modern concept of engineering is discussed to ensure that the contributions of this subject minimize energy consumption. The book will be used as a state of the art for present and future researchers, industrial components design, and control.

The six chapters in this volume form a timely introduction to biofeedback research. The six authors describe how objective electrophysiological data provides useful data for assessment and therapy for physical therapists, psychologists and other healthcare professionals and their clients. The first chapter, "Biofeedback and neurofeedback in the treatment of migraine", is written by Ph.D. student Zivoder Ivana. The second chapter by Prof. Dumitrascu looks at pelvic floor rehabilitation and is titled "Factors predicting failure in anorectal biofeedback". The third chapter by Dr Liao Da-Vin is titled "Collaborative, social-networked posture training with posturing monitoring and biofeedback". It is a useful and timely description of the role of biofeedback to support rehabilitation therapy at home and describe how objective information of physiotherapy treatments could increase the quality of service and the consistency of treatment outcomes. The fourth chapter by Prof. Silva Hugo is titled "Bridging the clinic-home divide in muscular rehabilitation". It also covers the role of biofeedback to support rehabilitation therapy at home. The fifth chapter is written by Ph.D. student Grin-Yatsenko Vera and is titled "Effect of infra-low frequency neurofeedback on infra-slow-EEG-fluctuations". The sixth and final chapter in the volume, "Control systems of bionic limbs of the new generation and control systems with EMG signals of VR and games, toys" by M.A. Ivaniuk Natallia goes beyond the person and shows how biofeedback can be integrated in the behavior of a bionic hand.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a world-wide known disease affecting up to 4% of the population with increasing figures in developing countries. Life expectancy of patients affected by CKD is shortened compared to the overall population and only a minority of patients reach end stage renal disease (ESRD) with the need for dialysis or renal transplantation; death overtakes dialysis. In nine chapters, this book focuses on different aspects related to the pathophysiology and clinical aspects of CKD, providing interesting insights into new and old biomarkers, allowing us to increase diagnostic and prognostic meaningfulness. In addition, chapters deal with new developments in glomerulopathies, but also aspects of the "tubulocentric" shift will be beneficial for the open-minded reader. Nevertheless, new insights into chronic kidney disease (CKD) and acute kidney injury (AKI) are provided.

This book covers recent advances in the method used in testing, especially in the case of structural integrity that includes fatigue and fracture tests, vibrations test and surface engineering tests that are extremely crucial and widely used by engineers and industries. The book will provide you with information on how to apply the advanced formulation, advanced theory and advanced method of testing that are relevant to all engineering fields: mechanical, electrical, civil, materials and surface engineering. The topics are explained comprehensively, including the reliable test that one should perform in order to effectively investigate the strength and validation of the developed theory or model. I hope that the material is not too theoretical and that the reader finds the case study, formulation, testing method and the analysis helpful for tackling their own engineering and science based studies.