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This book collects chapters from a number of scientists all over the world, giving their contribution to the comprehension and clinical management of psychosis. The book adopts a perspective that respects the complexity of the human person and his/her relationships. It devotes a space both to the deepening of the more strictly biological aspects, the psychological aspects and the social aspects. Each section of the book (biological, psychological, social) reveals a deep connection with the themes of the other sections, showing the strength of this biopsychosocial interweaving. The relationship and the interweaving between these different areas is certainly a foundation of our existence and constitutes a law to which we cannot escape, so it is necessary that the biopsyosocial model is always considered in the interventions for the psychotic patient. This book also focuses on some specific and very innovative topics such as the importance of psychosocial factors and family factors, complementary approaches to psychosis managment, subclinical psychosis and relational aspects of psychosis.

In order to complete tissue regeneration, various cells (neuronal, skeletal and smooth) interact coordinately with each other. This book, Muscle Cell and Tissue - Current Status of Research Field, deals with current progress and perspectives in a variety of topics on the skeletal and smooth muscle, stem cells, regeneration, disease or therapeutics. Novel applications for cell and tissue engineering including cell therapy, tissue models and disease pathology modeling are introduced. This book also deals with the differentiation/de-differentiation process of vascular smooth muscle cells in health and disease. Furthermore, natural products to reverse metabolic syndromes are descriptively reviewed. These chapters can be interesting for graduate students, teachers, physicians, executives and researchers in the field of molecular biology and regenerative medicine.

Rheology is the science that studies the behavior of the flow of matter in a liquid state or soft solids under the application of stress or deformation to obtain a response to an applied force. In polymers, rheology is an important tool to understand behavior under processing conditions and to design equipment. Another application for rheology in the polymer field is to understand structure-property relationships by means of molecular weight, molecular weight distribution, stereochemistry, morphology, melt degradation, and performance under processing. This book covers the essential criteria for selecting the best test types for various applications and new developments, for accurately interpreting results, and for determining other areas where rheology and rheological phenomena may be useful in your work.

The prefrontal cortex reaches its greatest development in the human brain, making up nearly one third of the neocortex. Due to its remarkable evolution, the prefrontal cortex plays an important role in higher integrative functions such as information processing, thinking, understanding, attention, behavior, motivation, emotions, working memory, and analysis. This book brings together theoretical and technical research advances on the prefrontal cortex, from the basic explanations of the neuronal architecture of the prefrontal cortex and its anatomy, presenting it as a morphological substrate for many psychological conditions, through normal and altered connectivity and its manifestation in different behavior and identification of organizational levels inside the prefrontal cortex through different neuroimaging methods. It also provides an interdisciplinary view of the prefrontal cortex and its issues and discovers the main role of this part of brain in psychosocial, economic, and cultural adaptation.

The aim of Ecosystem Services and Global Ecology is to give an overview and report from the frontiers of research of this important and interesting multidisciplinary area. Ecosystem services as a concept plays a key role in solving global environmental and human ecological crises and associated other problems, especially today when the sixth major extinction event of the history of the biosphere is in progress, and humanity can easily become a victim of it. Human activity is rapidly transforming the surface of the Earth, its biosphere, atmosphere, soil, and water resources. Ecological processes happen over a long time scale, thus damage caused by human activity will be perceptible after decades or even centuries. We hope that our book will be interesting and useful for researchers, lecturers, students, and anyone interested in this field.

Thermomechanics is a scientific discipline which investigates the behavior of bodies under the action forces and heat input. Thermomechanical phenomena commonly occur in the human environment, from the action of solar radiation to the technological processes. The analysis of these phenomena often requires extensive interdisciplinary knowledge and the application of advanced mathematical apparatus. Thermo-mechanical phenomena are analyzed using analytical and numerical methods. The analytical solution offers a quicker assessment of the searched values and its dependence on the various parameters. Some problems can be solved only by numerical methods, of which the finite element method is commonly used. This book intends to present current trends and methods in solving thermomechanics problems.

Biopharmaceuticals are derived from biological sources, either live organisms or their active components; nowadays, they are mainly produced by biotechnologies. Biopharmaceuticals are extensively used in the treatment of various diseases such as cardiovascular, metabolic, neurological diseases, cancer, and others for which there are no available therapeutic methods. With the advance of science, biopharmaceuticals have revolutionized the treatment, prevention, and diagnosis of many patients with disabling and life-threatening diseases. Innovative biopharmaceuticals definitely improve the life quality of patients and enhance the effectiveness of the healthcare system. This book encompasses the discovery, production, application, and regulation of biopharmaceuticals to demonstrate their research achievement, prospects, and challenges. We expect the significance of biopharmaceuticals to be revealed and emphasized by this book.

Powder Technology comprehends several particulate solid systems, which must be controlled, from the nucleation stages to the final application of derivative materials. Powder characteristics depend on the synthesis method, which can be a simple solid-state reaction followed by attrition milling, mechanosynthesis, or chemical methods, such as the sol-gel method. Powder technology is an important interdisciplinary area, which can provide solutions to several application fields. The book Powder Technology contains several peer-reviewed chapters organized in two sections. Section 1 is focused on metal and composites powders and Section 2 contains chapters on non-metallic powders. I sincerely hope that the contents of this book will help in the dissemination of knowledge to researchers and students working with powder technology.

PID Control for Industrial Processes presents a clear, multidimensional representation of proportional - integral - derivative (PID) control for both students and specialists working in the area of PID control. It mainly focuses on the theory and application of PID control in industrial processes. It incorporates recent developments in PID control technology in industrial practice. Emphasis has been given to finding the best possible approach to develop a simple and optimal solution for industrial users. This book includes several chapters that cover a broad range of topics and priority has been given to subjects that cover real-world examples and case studies. The book is focused on approaches for controller tuning, i.e., method bases on open-loop plant tests and closed-loop experiments.

Tropical forests occupy only one-tenth of the world's land area but are home to more than half of the world's flora and fauna. They comprise extremely complex labyrinth of ecological interactions. The astounding richness and biodiversity of tropical forests are rapidly dwindling. There is a fear that the burgeoning human population and industrialization, where a majority of these tropical forests are found, may lead to the clearing or modification or may be a complete disappearance of the remaining tropical forests within few decades. This has severely altered the vital biogeochemical cycles of carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen, and so on and has led to the change in global climate and pristine natural ecosystems. Hence, there is an urgent need to protect, restore, conserve, and improve the forest resources before they are irrevocably lost. In this second edition of the book Tropical Forests, the chapters share the above issues and help in understanding, educating, and creating awareness on the role of "tropical forests" for the very survival of mankind, climate change, and the diversity of biota across the globe. This book will be of great use and could be useful to students, scientists, ecologists, population and conservation biologists, and forest managers across the globe.

We all know that the field of neuro-oncology is heterogeneous and under continuous development with the addition of new knowledge and information on a regular basis. The present book "Brain Tumor - An Update" is an attempt to share the personal experiences of experts who are involved in neuro-oncology-related research. Through this book, the authors share their experiences and provide details about the pathophysiology, neuroimaging approaches, and management options, and how to go about decision-making in patients with brain tumors. We hope that the valuable contributions from the authors shall facilitate understanding about brain tumors. I am grateful to all the authors who have contributed their tremendous expertise, and I would like to acknowledge the outstanding support of Ms. Danijela Sakic, Author Service Manager, IntechOpen Science, who collaborated tirelessly in crafting this book.

Alzheimer's disease was discovered over 100 years ago and still belongs to incurable neurological diseases; its pharmacotherapy is considered to be ineffective. This book presents contemporary views on the genetic, biochemical, and immunological determinants of this disease. This book also concerns the issue of Alzheimer's disease prevention through lifestyle and physical activity. Moreover, it describes the therapies used in Alzheimer's disease to slow the progression of the disease and delay its onset. Subsequently, the authors discuss experimental and clinical trials used now and in the near future. We hope that this book will help the readers to understand the complex mechanism leading to the development of Alzheimer's disease and indicate effective ways to prevent this disorder.

Immunotherapy is an innovative, leading and valuable approach to the treatment and control of many diseases. It can solve many problems of public health worldwide. Many people in numerous countries are suffering from a wide range of diseases (communicable and non-communicable) that can be cured or controlled by the immune system and immunotherapy. Some immunological diseases (i.e. allergic reactions and asthma, autoimmune disease, immunodeficiency disease, hypersensitivity reactions, etc.) have immune response pathophysiology and by controlling immune system mechanisms, these diseases can be controlled and cured. Immunoregulatory Aspects of Immunotherapy focuses on immune system mechanism, diagnosis, treatment and other related problems. The chapters have applicable and scientific data in immunotherapeutic approaches based on medical sciences, and would be of benefit to all researchers in immunology, allergy and asthma fields. The book discusses the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of patients who have dangerous diseases. We hope this book will be a new approach to the immunotherapy of diseases and will improve public health and wellbeing.

The book discusses the recent advances in basic and applied approaches including research on the genetics of insects, its application in resolving the consequences of world population growth, its impact on agriculture, and control strategies and their implications on the fast-depleting insect resources. The application of insects as a probable nutrient substitute along with the role of sex hormones among insects has been thoroughly discussed. The entire book basically contains five chapters spread over two sections: Section I mainly focuses on diversity, conservation and nutrition, while Section II is concerned with economic importance and up-to-date information on the role of peptides. The book is well illustrated with diagrams, graphical representations and flow charts for easy understanding the important information discussed in the book.

Freedoms in material choice based on combinatorial design, different directions of process optimization, and computational tools are a significant advantage of additive manufacturing technology. The combination of additive and information technologies enables rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing models on the design stage, thereby significantly accelerating the design cycle in mechanical engineering. Modern and high-demand powder bed fusion and directed energy deposition methods allow obtaining functional complex shapes and functionally graded structures. Until now, the experimental parametric analysis remains as the main method during AM optimization. Therefore, an additional goal of this book is to introduce readers to new modeling and material's optimization approaches in the rapidly changing world of additive manufacturing of high-performance metals and alloys.

Technological change is one of the greatest issues in the modern world. As the world faces societal challenges, e.g., climate challenges, aging problem, and energy security, technology will contribute to new or better solutions for those problems. New technologies take time to develop and mature; moreover, they tend to be born in the gaps of multiple technology fields; therefore, early detection of emerging technological concepts across multiple disciplines will be a very important issue. Our goal seeks to develop automated methods that aid in the systematic, continuous, and comprehensive assessment of technological emergence using one of the major foresight exercises, scientometrics. There is now a huge flood of scientific and technical information, especially scientific publications and patent information. Using the information patterns of emergence for technological concepts has been discovered and theories of technical emergence have been also developed in several years. We have been developing visualization tools in which thousands of technical areas have been interacted with each other and evolved in time. Several indicators of technical emergence have been improved by universities, international organizations, and funding agencies. This book intends to provide readers with a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art in scientometrics that focuses on the systematic, continuous, and comprehensive assessment of technological emergence.

The hippocampus is an important brain region, a true central hub for memory of various kinds and other processes. Neuropsychiatric disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, drug addiction, and schizophrenia are characterized by hippocampal alterations. The dentate gyrus of the hippocampus is a site exhibiting adult neurogenesis. This book covers the topic of the hippocampus from various perspectives. It discusses adult neurogenesis, effect of enriched environments on hippocampal plasticity, and long-term potentiation-associated gene expression. The book also addresses multiscale representations of complex environments and strategies in the hippocampus-dependent spatial tasks. Finally, insight into the hippocampus as a link between negative affect and relapse to psychostimulants is provided. The book collects evidence of various hippocampal functions in healthy and disordered brain.

Women with unmet need for family planning are those who are fecund but are not using any method of contraception, not wanting any more children, or wanting to delay the next pregnancy. This notion points to the gap between women?s reproductive intentions and their contraceptive behavior. The need for contraception remains too high. This circumstance is made worse by both a growing population and a shortage of family planning services. It is important that family planning is widely available and easily accessible. This book is intended as an aid to substance that all health workers interested in becoming more effective practitioners will consult on many occasions during their clinical practice. It provides views that the readers can test their experiences against. It presents sound and clear advice on some of the most practical guidance applicable to family planning.

Nano-bioimaging is a real-time observation method for the study of biological processes in subcellular structures and entire cells. This technique aims to interfere as little as possible with life processes using nanoscale materials and probes. In this method, nanoscale photon source is often used for imaging, and 3D structure of the observed specimen is studied in detail without physical interference. Over the last decade, further boost in bioimaging has led to increase the nano-bioimaging impact that includes many improvements in the data analysis method, image processing, and molecular imaging technology. However, to increase the usage of nano-bioimaging, several developments in the field of diagnosis accuracy, photobleaching prevention, and controlling of the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) must be achieved. The purpose of this book is to provide a perspective on the current status of nano-bioimaging technologies.

Reasoned and based on the difference between discovery and invention, according to the traditional conception, science can be distinguished between basic science and applied science. Nevertheless, we know that the sciences are inseparable. A century or more ago, Louis Pasteur said "there is no applied science, there are applications of science." With this assertion, he establishes the logic of complementarity between them. Science certainly goes beyond its own material application and brings us to issues that have intrigued humanity for a long time. During the many years that we have been working with techniques of material characterization, we observed that this complementarity was not always understood by the researchers. In line with the reasoning that the technique joined with science generates technology, the application of techniques that use x-ray and neutron sources seems to us of fundamental importance for the development of technology. In this way, we present in this book how the existing technology of material characterization can contribute to science and applied technology. The authors who contributed with this book sought to show the importance of applying the existing techniques in the development of their works.

Splines provide a significant tool for the design of computationally economical curves and surfaces for the construction of various objects like automobiles, ship hulls, airplane fuselages and wings, propeller blades, shoe insoles, bottles, etc. It also contributes in the description of geological, physical, statistical, and even medical phenomena. Spline methods have proven to be indispensable in a variety of modern industries, including computer vision, robotics, signal and image processing, visualization, textile, graphic designs, and even media. This book aims to provide a valuable source on splines and their applications. It focuses on collecting and disseminating information in various disciplines including computer-aided geometric design, computer graphics, data visualization, data fitting, power systems, clinical and epidemiologic studies, disease detection, regression curves, social media, and biological studies. The book is useful for researchers, scientists, practitioners, and many others who seek state-of-the-art techniques and applications using splines. It is also useful for undergraduate senior students as well as graduate students in the areas of computer science, engineering, health science, statistics, and mathematics. Each chapter also provides useful information on software developments and their extensions.

This book is a fruit of a collaborative work from several international scientists. It will be a useful resource for researchers, students, and clinicians. Each individual chapter could serve as a prescribed reading for postgraduate students and clinicians specializing in and practicing clinical pharmacology and toxicology, pharmacotherapy and pharmacotherapeutics, pharmacovigilance, and toxicovigilance, as well as those involved in clinical research, drug discovery, and development. Every chapter in this book discusses and provides illustrations on the theme discussed based on authors' understanding and experience while summarizing existing knowledge. In doing so, each chapter provides a new insight that would benefit a novice as well as a seasoned reader in understanding the pharmacokinetic mechanisms and risk factors involved in the occurrence of adverse effects of drugs.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder results due to loss of dopamine producing brain cells. Knowledge relating to PD condition has been known since 5000BC, however no effective therapeutic strategies are available till today. Therefore it is important for neurobiologists to work further by taking advantage of modern scientific methods and develop appropriate therapeutic strategies. Efforts in this direction are worthy as they will reduce the burden of PD among elderly, who are already burdened with age related systemic degenerative processes. This book is a humble effort in that progressive direction. It has chapters covering multiple aspects relating to etiology, pathophysiology of PD, available and futuristic therapeutics strategies. Therefore it will be of interest to common man, biomedical researchers and clinicians. This is one small step in a direction "to reduce the burden of neurological disease."

This book is dedicated toward space technology application in Earth studies based on the use of a variety of methods for satellite information classification and interpretation. Advantages of geospatial data use in a large-scale area of observation and monitoring as a source of decision-making stage have been demonstrated. The book describes navigation systems providing data estimation method and review of existing data in the literature relevant to remote sensing sensors delivering main information electromagnetic spectrum and a variety of sensor applications. This aspect is important when combining/integrating satellite data processing into the field measurements. Satellites and satellite data application for the study of Earth features have been demonstrated as the next step of geospatial data application. The use of different purposeful processing technology applications of satellite data is one of the vital aspects of space technology advances. The use of GNSS GPS technology in industry and MODIS images and data interpretation for agriculture purposes has been presented. It was the aim of the book to create an attractive environment by presenting space technology application in the wide areas of Earth study. For this purpose, some of the book chapters are dedicated toward space technology advances in climate monitoring, natural disaster factor detection, satellite data processing optimization, and GIS technology for meteorology information with the aim of agriculture developments.

The book 'Breast Cancer and Surgery' summarizes the treatment options from the onset of breast carcinogenesis to early-local advanced and metastatic breast cancer. Chemotherapy alternatives, drug resistance and local and surgical treatment preferences are extensively discussed and this information is especially directed at clinicians, researchers, and students. This book includes a comparison between different chemotherapy agents and targeted therapies with published phase II-III studies. The importance of palliative care and dietary supplements administered during the treatment course in reducing the comorbidity of patients is emphasized. Photodynamic treatments have been included in this book. A comprehensive and up-to-date information exchange that can be accessed through a single source is provided to all researchers interested in breast cancer.