Biovidenskab: generelle emner

This book on 'Secondary Agriculture' discusses the goal of doubling farmers' incomes. The term 'secondary' has a bearing on climate change adaptation and its mitigation, small farm viability and profitability, food security, nutrition, sustainable utilization of natural resources, and optimal usage of produce from primary agriculture and farm incomes. Promoting secondary agriculture has implications on attaining sustainable development goals, which aim to connect primary, secondary and tertiary sectors by using slack/idle factors of production, such as land and labour, contributing to primary agriculture production, capturing 'value' in primary agricultural activities, and generating additional income at the enterprise level. In context to same, the chapters of this book have been designed to promote secondary agriculture through low-cost skills and technology applications in agriculture and by upscaling knowledge via integrating primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of agriculture. The motivation behind this book is to address the challenges of biotic and abiotic stresses facing the farming community; to increase farmers income through low-cost skills and technology applications in agriculture; to upscale knowledge by integrating primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of agriculture.   The food processing sector in India is still in a nascent stage with only 8 per cent of the produce being processed as against 80-98 per cent in case of high-income countries (Government of India, 2008, 2010). The food processing sector is now receiving the boost with the annual growth of 13.2 per cent in registered food processing units during 2004-10 (Government of India, 2011). Against this backdrop, there is a strong need to strategically handle the situation in order to facilitate a self-sustainable and long-run growth of the sector, which is felt possible by focusing on Secondary Agriculture. Though not a panacea for all ailments of the primary sector, but it can definitely drive the growth.

This book brings together a selection of papers by George Gerstein, representing his long-term endeavor of making neuroscience into a more rigorous science inspired by physics, where he had his roots. Professor Gerstein was many years ahead of the field, consistently striving for quantitative analyses, mechanistic models, and conceptual clarity.  In doing so, he pioneered Computational Neuroscience, many years before the term itself was born.  The overarching goal of George Gerstein's research was to understand the functional organization of neuronal networks in the brain. The editors of this book have compiled a selection of George Gerstein's many seminal contributions to neuroscience--be they experimental, theoretical or computational--into a single, comprehensive volume .The aim is to provide readers with a fresh introduction of these various concepts in the original literature.  The volume is organized  in a series of chapters by subject, ordered in time, each one containing one or more of George Gerstein's papers.

Studies on South Asia are an emerging interdisciplinary field, this volume expands on the currently limited literature available on South Asia and focuses on the regions environmental, climatic and natural resource base by looking at case studies from Nepal, India and Bangladesh. The book contains twelve chapters which deal with various environmental challenges, such as the impacts of climate change on floods and droughts, population structure and regeneration dynamics of dominant  treeline species, environmental changes and rural livelihoods, and change analysis and impacts of hard coastal structures. Apart from the various thematic areas and diversity of geographical coverage, most of the studies also demonstrate the application of geospatial techniques for the collection of environmental data, and the use of GIS for spatial analysis of the data. The specific application of geospatial techniques and methods includes NDVI, NDWI, NDBI, SMI, SPOT-VGT NDVI, environmental flow, distribution and trend estimation of tropospheric formaldehyde, vegetation sensitivity to climate change, variability of tropospheric  ozone, and geo-environmental problems.The contributors are seasoned researchers currently engaged in  academic and research activities, and work at universities  in USA, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Japan.

"Economía Circular", es una obra que ofrece una visión completa de uno de los temas más importantes de nuestro tiempo. En sus páginas encontrará una perspectiva única sobre la historia del reciclaje, el cambio de un modelo lineal de producción a una economía circular, los esfuerzos globales, las leyes y lo que están haciendo las empresas, así como lo que los individuos pueden hacer.Este libro es imprescindible para cualquier persona interesada en el medio ambiente y la sostenibilidad, ya que ofrece una visión completa del ciclo de vida de los productos, desde su diseño y producción hasta su reciclaje y reutilización. La economía circular es una respuesta a los desafíos ambientales, sociales y económicos que enfrentamos hoy, y una forma innovadora y efectiva de abordar estos problemas.En "Economía Circular" encontrarás casos de estudio y ejemplos prácticos de empresas líderes que están implementando prácticas sostenibles y cómo estas iniciativas están beneficiando a sus negocios y al planeta. Además, aprenderá sobre las leyes y regulaciones que están impulsando el cambio hacia una economía circular y cómo los gobiernos y los ciudadanos pueden trabajar juntos para lograr una economía más verde.Este libro está diseñado para ser accesible a todos, independientemente de su nivel de conocimientos previos sobre el tema. Desde estudiantes y académicos hasta empresarios y activistas, este libro ofrece información esencial y práctica para todos los interesados en el futuro sostenible de nuestro planeta.En definitiva, "Economía Circular" es una obra de referencia imprescindible para todo aquel interesado en el medio ambiente y la sostenibilidad. Si está buscando una guía práctica y accesible sobre cómo podemos trabajar juntos para crear un futuro mejor, este libro es para usted.

Vegetation, soil and climate are the most important components of ecological systems. The book represents a compact synthesis of our current knowledge about the ecology of the Earth and is thus the basis for understanding the major interrelationships in a global perspective. In the first part, with a rich endowment of illustrations and photographic material, the well-introduced book deals with the essential processes and operations on the Earth's surface that lead to the formation of the vegetation cover with its distinctive zonation. In the second part, the individual vegetation zones as large-scale ecosystems (i.e. zonobiomes of the biosphere) are consistently described comparatively according to certain criteria. In a short and compact form, the main characteristics and structures as well as examples of ecosystem processes are discussed. The large-scale ecosystems are at the same time the basis and reference system for all anthropogenic changes that have drastically altered thevegetation in the last millennia, but especially in the 20th century.This book is a translation of the original German 1st edition Vegetation und Klima by Siegmar-W. Breckle and M. Daud Rafiqpoor, published by Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature in 2019. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation. Springer Nature works continuously to further the development of tools for the production of books and on the related technologies to support the authors.

This book covers the tremendous progress in the current understanding of the molecular physiology of voltage-gated calcium channels. This book includes unparalleled insights into structural features of calcium channels due to X-ray crystallography and cryo-EM, which in turn yielded critical information into how these channels function under normal and pathophysiological conditions, and how they interact with calcium channel therapeutics. The chapters investigate how, with the advent of high throughput genome sequencing, numerous mutations in various calcium channel genes have been identified in patients with neurological, cardiovascular, neuropsychiatric and other disorders. This is further complemented through a much larger in vivo toolkit such as knock-out and knock-in mice. The chapters further discuss the increased complexity of calcium channel physiology that arises from mRNA editing and splicing.  Finally, the book also provides an overview of the updated research on calcium channel inhibitors that can be used both in vivo and in vitro, and which may serve as a spring board for new calcium channel therapeutics for human disease. Voltage-Gated Calcium Channels is useful for academic researchers at all levels in neuroscience, biophysics, cell biology and drug discovery.

Over the last few decades, various techniques have been developed to alter the properties of plants and animals.  While the targeted transfer of recombinant DNA into crop plants remains a valuable tool to achieve a desirable breeding outcome, integration of transgenes into the host genome has been random, which in part, leads to reduced acceptance of GMOs by the general population in some parts of the world. Likewise, methods of induced mutagenesis, such as TILLING, have the disadvantage that many mutations are induced per plant, which has to be removed again by expensive backcrossing. Advances in genome sequencing have provided more and more information on differences between susceptible and resistant varieties, which can now be directly targeted and modified using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. By selecting specific gRNAs occurrence of off-target modifications are comparatively low. ZFNs and TALENs- based approaches required re-engineering a new set of assembled polypeptides for every new target site for each experiment. The difficulty in cloning and protein engineering prevented these tools from being broadly adopted by the scientific community.  Compared to these technologies, designing the CRISPR toolbox is much simpler and more flexible. CRISPR/Cas9 is versatile, less expensive and highly efficient. It has become the most widely used technology for genome editing in many organisms.Since its inception as a powerful genome-editing tool in late 2012, this breakthrough technology has completely changed how science is performed. The first few chapters in this book introduce the basic concept, design and implementation of CRISPR/Cas9 for different plant systems. They are followed by in-depth discussions on the legal and bio-safety issues accompanying commercialization and patenting of this emerging technology. Lastly, this book covers emerging areas of new tools and potential applications. We believe readers, novice and expert alike, will benefit from this all-in-one resource on genome editing for crop improvement.Chapter 17 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This new volume of the book series Advances in Anatomy, Embryology and Cell Biology provides a complete and exhaustive overview of the morphofunctional organization of the mammalian carotid body, a polymodal chemosensory organ responsible for the maintenance of blood gas homeostasis. The authors review the state of the art of the neurochemical anatomy of carotid body¿s cell populations with a special reference to their structural and neurochemical plasticity. The essential role of this organ in the generation, progression and maintenance of cardiorespiratory and metabolic diseases in humans and other mammals is presented. Finally, the book summarizes current knowledge on the stem cell niche in the mammalian carotid body and discusses its contribution to replacement cell therapy and other potential applications in translational research. This book represents an essential reading for physiologists, anatomists, cell, and developmental biologists, as wellas physicians, veterinarians, and biomedical researchers.

This book is a broad-based introduction to an increasingly important topic. The overview is easy because each chapter is structured uniformly: theory, methods, realization alternatives, methodical and practical advantages and disadvantages, and examples from industrial technology and medicine as well as research and development practice.Compared to the first edition ¿Biosignal Processing¿, the content of this book has been expanded by a sensor chapter (galvanic and capacitive sensors) and exemplary experimental data. Chapter 7: ¿Stochastic Processes¿ is also new with selected topics such as statistical analysis of time series, signal detection, and signal decomposition. Furthermore, various electronic measuring circuits and calculations have been adapted to the changed legal regulations and standards and some calculation errors have been corrected.The content is oriented to the sequence of the metrological and signal-analytical chain: neuron as a signal source¿sensor technology¿signal amplification and conditioning¿signal sampling and digitization¿methods of biosignal processing¿biostatistics and stochastic processes.The target groupsThe book is suitable for medical technology studies, research, and practice. You can inform yourself compactly across your professional boundaries about the neighbouring fields and topics at the interdisciplinary interface between medicine and technology.

Agriculture is often considered as one of the main threats to ecosystems. Unsustainable farming practices often result in habitat loss, inefficient use of water, soil degradation, pollution, genetic erosion, among other negative impacts on human life, including hunger, low food quality, reduced access to food resources, as well as the abandonment of rural areas. Nevertheless, when agriculture is practiced in a sustainable way, it can contribute to the preservation of many habitats, to the protection of watersheds, to the preservation and improvement of soil health.The use of sustainable and ecological practices is the key feature distinguishing traditional agriculture from intensive one. It may not provide very high yields, but ensures sustainable harvests over time, thanks to time-tested technologies and traditional know-hows and also represent examples of adaptation to harsh environmental conditions. Based on this approach, in 2002, FAO launched the concept of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) Programme, to identify and safeguard agricultural systems that are ensuring food and livelihood security, while maintaining magnificent landscapes, agricultural biodiversity, traditional knowledge, cultural and social values.This book presents 18 examples of these traditional agriculture systems around the world, with a special focus on Europe, Asia, Africa, Central and South America, as a result of the ¿GIAHS Building Capacity¿ project co-funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and carried out by the Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI) of the University of Florence (Italy).

This book addresses the various factors affecting fluvial systems, the processes governing them, system responses arising from human-nature interventions, and geospatial and geo-ecological modeling to understand system behaviour better and restore degraded ecosystems around the globe. Thanks to their hydrological and agro-ecological advantages, humans have settled along riverbanks since the dawn of civilization. Thus, the ancient "e;ecumene"e; (settlements) were located near major rivers worldwide. This legacy of river-based civilizations continues to this day in many forms. However, in the course of the 'Anthropocene' era, countless fluvial systems have been altered by human interventions in the form of large-scale dams and barrages, changes in land use and land cover, road-stream crossings, mining of sand and gravel, mushrooming of brickfield, expansion of modern agriculture, industrial growth, and urbanization. Thus, the present-day development pattern threatens fluvial systems, especially riverine morphology and ecosystems. In brief, human-induced morphological changes, water pollution, eutrophication, and related damages to aquatic organisms are the major threats to fluvial systems. Thus, maintaining the 'environmental flow' of the world's major rivers to preserve the proper functioning of riverine ecosystems and promote sustainable development is a global challenge.

This unique volume gives insight into the science of slaughter with in-depth discussion of neural communication and the welfare aspects of pre-slaughter handling and slaughter of livestock. The concepts of conscious perception, unconsciousness, stunning, slaughter and death are discussed to provide readers with an understanding of the different events that lead to the conversion of animals into carcasses and subsequently into meat. This accessible work is an excellent resource for learning about welfare issues of different techniques, as it includes historical aspects of religious and conventional slaughter with a focus on the developments around technologies. It comprises the advent of mechanical slaughter in the form of poleaxes to present day use of sophisticated stunning equipment.Moreover, the author covers key aspects of halal meat production and discusses the politics of religious slaughter with an emphasis on the increasing number of anti-halal movements across Europe, America and others. The slaughter of animals for consumption by people of faith is economically significant and has led to a race for market share by multinational retail enterprises. However, there are also ethical and political aspects of religious slaughter which have always divided opinion.The topic of this book provides an important link to the disciplines of animal welfare research, the meat industry and the food business. Scientists, students, as well as government agencies, veterinarians and professionals in food processing and slaughter technology manufacturing will find this an important account. Simplified summaries and practical notes make this reference highly readable.

This work focuses on the potential impact of climate change on soil erosion in a monsoon-dominated sub-tropical region. Water-induced soil erosion due to extreme rainfall during the monsoon period is a major problem worldwide, from different environmental and socio-economic perspectives. This study region covered (South Bengal) is one of the fertile agricultural belts that produces a good amount of produce and contributes to the country's GDP. However, the rate of agricultural output has decreased rapidly in recent times due to a decline in soil fertility.The monsoon-dominated sub-tropical region has unique characteristics in terms of seasonal temperature fluctuations and the availability of rainfall events. The sub-tropical region is densely populated, with the majority of the population relying on rain-fed agricultural production systems. The declining rate of agricultural production has also established that soil fertility is declining and soil erosion is increasing. Numerous studies show that soil erosion is the major cause of the region's rapidly increasing trend of land degradation. A homeostatic mechanism cannot replace soil erosion, and a gap arises between soil erosion and regolith formation. Extreme changes in land use and land cover, population growth and the lacking support for traditional agricultural practices and management practices can accelerate the rate of soil erosion and its associated reservoir sedimentation in most countries of the tropical and sub-tropical environment. Quantitative information with maximum possible accuracy through validation regarding soil loss can be an essential part of the appropriate and sustainable soil and water conservation planning. The precise aspects of modern day management strategies are soil erosion susceptibility mapping using empirical and semi-empirical models in a GIS platform or the use of probability statistics.The main objective of this work is to propose the most suitable development strategies considering the amount of soil erosion for the present and future periods. Extensive field research has been done to identify the support practice factor that the local stakeholders adopt in this region. 

This textbook offers a comprehensive and authoritative introduction to the latest analytical methods, tools and techniques used in the marine environment, bringing together the two fields of chemical oceanography and analytical chemistry. Divided into 11 chapters, the book starts with an overview of the main parameters of the marine carbon system, and it covers different sampling strategies used by the marine scientific community, and the different chemical analyses to measure trace metals, radionuclides and organic matter in the marine environment. Particular attention is given to the identification and quantification of marine persistent organic pollutants, emerging organic contaminants and microplastics. Readers will also find accessible explanations and real life examples of the application of remote sensing and in-situ sensing technologies to monitor the marine environment. The textbook finishes with a chapter on data treatment that outlines the relevant statistical approaches, uncertainty estimation and quality assurance of marine chemical measurements. This textbook provides both students and professionals alike with a transdisciplinary and comprehensive foundation for the chemical analysis of our oceans and seas.

Environmental contaminants are chemicals that accidentally or deliberately enter the environment, often, but not always, as a result of human activities. Some of these contaminants may have been manufactured for industrial use, and because they are very stable, they do not break down easily. If released to the environment, these contaminants may enter the food chain. Other environmental contaminants are naturally occurring chemicals, but industrial activity may increase their mobility or increase the amount available to circulate in the environment, allowing them to enter the food chain at higher levels than would otherwise occur. Environmental contaminants influence the physiological cell reactions at different and heterogeneous basics and lead to altering in normal cell function primarily at the molecular and biochemical level. Molecular responses to such common environmental stresses have been studied intensively over the last few years, in which there is an intricate network of signaling pathways controlling perception of these environmental stress signals, the generation of second messengers and signal transduction. Recent advances in many areas of plant and microbial research, including genotyping, make scientists optimistic that valuable solutions will be found to allow deployment/commercialization of strategies better able to tolerate these environmental stresses.Environmental remediation was historically viewed as an inherently sustainable activity, as it restores contamination; however, researchers and practitioners are increasingly recognizing that there can be substantial environmental footprints and socioeconomic costs associated with remediation. Sustainability is an imperative in the emerging green and sustainable remediation movement, which is reshaping the entire remediation industry.Understanding the significant roles of sustainable or eco-friendly approaches in mitigating environmental contaminants, the current subject has recently attracted the attention of scientists from across the globe. This comprehensive volume "e;Sustainable Management of Environmental Contaminants: Eco-friendly Remediation Approaches"e; highlights the various prospects involved in current scenario. The current volume comprises the chapters from diverse areas dealing with biotechnology, microbial technology, nanotechnology, molecular biology, green and sustainable remediation, etc. I am hopeful that this volume will furnish the requisite of all those who are working or have interest in the current topic.

This book highlights the uses for underutilized crops, presenting the state-of-the-art in terms of genome sequencing for over 30 crops, previously understudied and under-researched. In a changing climate and with significant pressure on the land, it is the ideal time to be discussing novel crops, with significant biotic and abiotic tolerances and/or rich nutrient profiles for consumers. Previously, the only species with sequenced genomes were high-profile internationally recognized crops, but in the current era genomes are being sequenced for dozens of crops, including those previously classified as underutilized, now being investigated. This book covers food crops, from fruits to tubers, and from grasses to legumes, as well as crops with non-food applications. Some of these crops have draft genomes, and others have polished genomes with extensive resequencing panels. Each chapter tells the story of an individual crop or crop group, written by experts, focusing on the genome data available, revealing more about crop domestication and genetic variation, and the current and future prospects given that this data is now becoming available. It also highlights how even small sequencing projects can provide draft genome sequences suitable for gene discovery, comparative genomics, and identification of molecular markers for understanding these crops further.

This book provides an overview on current trends and developments in precision nutrition and personalized health preservation, focussing on a field which is undergoing rapid change. Today, personalized strategies contrast generally accepted guidelines for specified groups and improved health and disease markers are shifting health care toward preventive strategies. At the same time, advances in food additives, nutraceuticals, functional, and medical foods are breaking down the traditional domains of health-related disciplines. This book aims to provide an overview on these processes, discusses arising problems, and provides an outlook on the future of personalized health care and the role of precision nutrition. It covers preliminary thoughts on what has been achieved and focusses on developments in the area of metabolic diseases, aging, and neurology. The book is intended as a primer in the field of precision nutrition and is aimed at researchers, clinicians, and students in health-related disciplines, who would like to get insights into current trends and developments in this area

This textbook provides an introduction to the mathematical models of population dynamics in mathematical biology. The focus of this book is on the biological meaning/translation of mathematical structures in mathematical models, rather than simply explaining mathematical details and literacies to analyze a model. In some recent usages of the mathematical model simply with computer numerical calculations, the model includes some inappropriate mathematical structure concerning the reasonability of modeling for the biological problem under investigation. For students and researchers who study or use mathematical models, it is important and helpful to understand what mathematical setup could be regarded as reasonable for the model with respect to the relation between the biological factors involved in the assumptions and the mathematical structure of the model.Topics covered in this book are; modeling with geometric progression, density effect in population dynamics, deriving continuous time models from discrete time models, basic modeling for birth-death stochastic processes, continuous time models, modeling interspecific reaction for the continuous time population dynamics model, competition and prey-predator dynamics, modeling for population dynamics with a heterogeneous structure of population, qualitative analysis on the discrete time dynamical system, necessary knowledge about fundamental mathematical theories to understand the dynamical nature of continuous time models. The book includes popular topics in ecology and mathematical biology, as well as classic theoretical topics.By understanding the biological meaning of modeling for simple models, readers will be able to derive a specific mathematical model for a biological problem by reasonable modeling. The contents of this book is made accessible for readers without strong Mathematical background.

This volume explores the latest techniques used to study the human brain towards understanding Alzheimer¿s Disease and related neurodegenerative disorders. Contributed to by world-renowned experts, the chapters in this book are divided into five parts. Part One discusses human post-mortem brain preparations including single-cell isolation and use of specialized imaging. Part Two talks about neural cellular models using primary and human induced pluripotent stem cells to model aspects of the human brain. Part Three details nucleic acid analyses including transcriptomic and somatic genomic changes, and Part Four discusses lipid analyses via mass spectrometry. Lastly, Part Five covers protein analyses, particularly Aß and Tau. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls.Cutting-edge and thorough, Alzheimer¿s Disease: Methods and Protocols is a valuable tool for all researchers who want to expand their knowledge and understanding of this disease and other related dementias.

In this groundbreaking work, LeConte explores the scientific evidence for evolution and its potential implications for religious belief. He argues that evolution is not inherently opposed to religious thought, but can instead enhance our understanding of the divine. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of science and religion.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Explore the fascinating natural features of Hudson's Strait and Bay through the keen observations of renowned naturalist Robert Bell. In this comprehensive account, Bell provides detailed information on the geology, zoology, and botany of the region, backed by his extensive fieldwork in 1885. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the natural history of this unique area of Canada.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Principal Poisonous Plants of Canada is an essential guide for anyone working with plants or animals in Canada. Authored by Faith Fyles, an expert in plant toxicology, this book provides detailed descriptions and illustrations of the most common poisonous plants found in Canada. With practical advice for identifying and avoiding these plants, as well as tips for treating poisoning in humans and animals, this book is a must-have for anyone working in agriculture or the natural sciences.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.