Books published by Nova Science Publishers Inc

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics collectively known as STEM are rapidly advancing fields in their own rights. As a book series, Current STEM aims to be a friendly forum for both academic researchers and industrial practitioners to present their work as book chapters. Hence, the chapters should be varied, and this is intended. Current STEM encompasses the type of work to encourage a generation of researcher-practitioners. The author hopes this inaugural volume will be a pleasure to a wide audience.

In this compilation, the authors begin by discussing the various theories on primitive soul-beliefs propounded by anthropologists and scholars of religion from the 19th century to the present day. While cultural evolutionism largely fell out of favor after the mid-20th century, theories on the origins of religious phenomena have made a recent comeback with the cognitive study of religion, which takes a largely evolutionary psychological approach to explaining beliefs in the supernatural. Next, the authors seek to understand Aristotles noetics within his psycho-physiological account of the human being. If its possible to argue for the embodied nature of the soul and of most of its affections, Aristotles claim about the separability of νοῦς from the body is notoriously puzzling. Lastly, this book discusses Goethes was familiar idea of a widely inhabited universe and the subject of the souls cosmic voyage, showing that Mans relation to the universe is strictly connected to Mans development at the microcosmic level.

Microgrids: Design, Applications and Control presents a comprehensive discussion on the modeling and analysis of microgrids. The authors discuss load modeling, renewable distributed generation insertion, local control strategies and a general load flow method designed for balanced and unbalanced microgrids capable of operating connected to the main grid. Two types of primary control are discussed in this book: conventional power control for a residential fuel cell, and virtual synchronous generator control for a battery. The proposed method enables surplus/shortage power in a transient microgrid to be effectively and autonomously interchanged among clusters without using any tertiary control. Later, the authors aim to devise a solution for optimal dispatch of the energy resources in a microgrid being used to continue supplying critical loads during power outages. The goal is to maximize the number of loads served subject to the operational and technical constrains of the microgrid. This compilation includes a novel optimal fractional order general type-2 fuzzy logic proportionalintegralderivative (FOGT2FPID) controller book for the load frequency control of Shipboard MGs. Later, the Load Frequency Control Model is considered for its propensity to stabilize the frequency of the system in the presence of Distributed Generation, two Electric Vehicles as energy storage, and intermittent load and wind power profiles as uncertainties. The authors analyze the details of Neuroscience Based Control approaches, human brain emotional learning and Hebb learning controllers. Next, a critical review of fundamental knowledge and theories underpinning the formation of Microgrids, as well as techniques and strategies that have been proposed in recent years for the purpose of maintaining their stability, are provided. Discussions of current trends and future work in Microgrid research will also be presented. Additionally, a comprehensive review of the current control technology is given with a discussion on challenges of microgrid controls. A networked system of systems approach is addressed to design a control for the islanded microgrid system consisting of distributed generation units and supplying a load.

The book opens with an examination of suicidality as a complex issue. Suicides may be prevented by addressing the mode of reporting in the media, by restricting access to means of suicide, and training health workers and primary care physicians to identify people at risk, assess and manage respective crises, and provide adequate follow-up care. This book discusses the rates of suicidal behavior in inmates, risk factors, and provides a review on how these aspects may differ by offender type (female, juvenile, violent, and sex offenders). An assessment of reasons for living is provided with the hope that it may bolster long-term risk evaluation and may contribute to the clinical tools available to therapists working with high-risk clients. Nurturing clients reasons for living may aid in stopping passive suicidal ideation. A study that used data from 2,386 7th through 12th grades who completed Wave I of Add Health is exhibited, suggesting that sex, grade point average, self-esteem, depression, optimism, sense of school belongingness, and closeness to both mothers and fathers effected students propensity for experiencing bullying and suicidality. As youth suicide is a significant public health problem that requires urgent attention, the concluding chapter describes emerging ideation-to-action models and their implications for school-based youth suicide prevention.

Are you a manager who wants to have a satisfied and happy team to work with? Are you training to become one? Are you a business coach or aiming to become one? Are you a management or business student trying hard to learn how to be successful in the field? Are you an academician, a researcher, or a psychologist? Or are you simply someone who wants or has to work with people and thus needs to know how to do so effectively? If you answer yes to at least one of these questions, then the presented publication is designed particularly for you. It contains essential information on what managerial coaching is, how it works, how it can help in social interactions, and how it can enhance the social intelligence of managers as well as their subordinates. The book further presents information on what social intelligence is, how it can be developed and measured, and how it can be enhanced not only by successful managerial coaching, but also corporate training. It includes the results of several research studies dedicated to these matters, and provides two complete methodologies for measurement of social intelligence (MESI Measuring Social Intelligence) and coaching (AC Assessment of Coaching) as effective managerial tools.

Environmental Change and Sustainability: Management, Challenges and Research Opportunities examines a variety of underlying conceptions regarding sustainability, providing a number of different views on its causes and effects. A general model is necessary to understand the complexity and aggregate all strings to realize the notion of sustainable management for measurement and comparison of developments and therefore to stabilize the ecological footprint on an appropriate level. Additionally, the authors conducted a multi-level research project in a German grammar school, intending to find out how much students in the age from 13-15 years know about the described issues (climate change and missing sustainability) and how motivated they are in order to support addressing them. This study proved that an early training on environment and sustainability issues helps to raise awareness for these issues, as well as fosters a sensitized mind-set in tomorrows decision makers. Another study sets out to assess whether there is a relationship between environmentally sustainable practices carried out by hotels and consumer-based brand equity dimensions, such as brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality, and brand associations. Quantitative research was performed, by way of a personal survey, to Spanish guests of three and four star hotels located in the Valencian region. The following chapter reviews extant theoretical and empirical research on the relationship between leadership and corporate social or environmental responsibility and suggests directions for further research on leadership and corporate environmental sustainability. Contemporary global businesses require leaders who can build sustainable businesses that benefit all the relevant stakeholders, indicating the necessity of an appropriate leadership model that highlights corporate environmental sustainability. Additionally, a new management tool for collection of used household batteries is presented in order to optimize the total costs and other environmental factors. The geographic information system (GIS) is used to provide spatial data management and service area analysis by methods implemented in the GIS network analysis extensions.

An Essential Guide to Cytogenetics explores the use of cytogenetic data for studies of frogs as well as the insights that hypotheses of phylogenetic relationships have added to this issue. The authors provide an overview of PcP190 satellite DNA, sex chromosome systems and B chromosomes found in Anura. This book also aim to establish the health effects of various activities and exposures by examining the levels of exposure and the biological effects resulting from the interaction between the organism and the chemical agent. Following this, a chapter is included which focuses on on the complex karyotype issues in myelodysplastic diseases, leukemias, lymphomas and multiple myelomas as the authors see them in daily practice in their center. The authors investigate hybridization, suggesting that the viability of a hybrid between species with a chromosomal discrepancy may offer important hypotheses to explain the morphological, molecular, and cytogenetic diversity of the genus. Trichorhinophalangeal syndrome is analyzed, suggesting that in cases of cytogenetically-invisible alterations, parental FISH analysis as well as aCGH should be considered as part of the clinical baseline testing.

Brain-Machine Interfaces: Uses and Developments reports on advances in the development of a speech prosthetic, building on previous data as well as the results of detecting phonemes, words and phrases during overt and covert speech. The following study aims to quantify and qualify the electroencephalographic (EEG) patterns of commonly used control tasks in BCI systems under different task states. The analysed control tasks were: left hand MI, right hand MI, and a relaxed but focused mental state. The original feasibility study within this manuscript aimed to evaluate the scope of applications for a novel neurorehabilitation intervention. Important observations from that initial study and considers possible applications of TLNS Technology in the future are examined. The closing opinion piece seeks to outline why the development of an electrode that does not encourage growth into the electrode tip is ill-advised, with the core reasons being rejection and less is more.

In this collection, the authors review novel findings strongly suggesting that YS110, a humanized monoclonal antibody with high affinity to the CD26 antigen, represents a promising novel therapy for refractory cancers, immune disorders and MERS-CoV infection. This book show that in vivo administration of YS110 inhibits tumor cell growth, migration and invasion, and enhances survival of mouse xenograft models inoculated with malignant mesothelioma (MPM), renal cell carcinoma, non-small-cell lung carcinoma, ovarian carcinoma or T-cell lymphoma via multiple mechanisms of action. Afterwards, several of the antibacterial resistance mechanisms employed by bacteria are discussed, especially those that can be targeted by novel antibacterial agents to combat resistant organisms. These mechanisms include alterations of cell wall or cell wall metabolites, mutations in antibiotic target, antibiotic deactivation by bacterial enzymes and biofilm formation. Later, the authors introduce AdRx as a treatment modality in musculo-skeletal pain, explain its rationale and techniques offering indications and contraindications for its usage. While AdRx takes its original theory from Eunice Inghams teaching and from followers of her teachings, this chapter confines the content to AdRx as standalone therapy in the context of musculo-skeletal pain. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is also introduced as a non-invasive monitoring method that allows continuous real-time monitoring of cerebral hemoglobin oxygen saturation in a small area of the frontal cortex. This monitoring tool is based on the principle that some biological materials are relatively permeable to near-infrared light. In a separate study, trans-synaptic tracing from the visually responsive sites in the superior colliculus to the retina were studied using attenuated pseudorabies virus. The results demonstrated the presence of synaptic connections between the transplant and the host retina that contribute to the visual improvement observed in the superior colliculus. Continuing, in 2015, a novel pathogenesis of Crohns disease (the Hruska Postulate) was published. The authors aim to take what is known about Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis, Crohns disease, and the Hruska Postulate and determine why Crohns disease is potentially curable. Several researchers have been trying to identify biomarkers that can be used for Crohns disease in clinical practice, however, further studies are required in order to validate most of their findings. The closing chapter introduces several diagnostic imaging techniques for kidney stone detection. A new imaging technique of C-arm tomosynthesis is described to generate volumetric information of the kidney to identify the size and location of kidney stones with limited amount of radiation dose.

Recycled Cooking Oil: Processing and Uses reviews the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), polyamides (PAs), polyurethanes (PUs) and epoxies, along with their potential use as a plasticizer or in composite development. Some recommendations are suggested to rationalize the use of SCO as a low-cost, yet valuable raw material for the production of biomaterials. The authors present the main environmental problems caused by the incorrect disposal of waste cooking oil and possible bioprocesses that can be used for pretreatment and recycling of oil. The following topics are addressed: introduction; incorrect disposal of waste cooking oil and environmental problems; pretreatment of waste oil with the use of microorganisms and the enzyme lipase; recycling of waste cooking oil through the production of biodiesel; and future prospects of waste oil pre-treatment and recycling. Additionally, the use of heterogenous catalysts for biodiesel production from waste cooking oil are reviewed, maintaining that waste cooking oil offers significant potential as an alternative lowcost biodiesel feedstock which could partly decrease the dependency on petroleum-based fuel. Biodiesel is explored as a waste cooking oil with untapped potential that can be utilized to produce various useful products. The challenges of finding more efficient separation of products, simpler processes, lower energy consumption, and continuous pilot plant trials for processes that are still in their infancies are examined. Special attention is paid to the development of acid catalysts that can be recovered and reused in the WCO esterification reactions. The authors hope that this work can significantly contribute to the improvement of this important research field.

In this collection, the authors investigate a variety of hazards that drilling operations may be exposed to. Some may be location dependent and some may be activity-dependent and each can pose a different level of risk. The key elements of the framework to assess risk are: a hierarchy of major contributors to risk in two or more levels; a quantification of primary hazard categories with measurable attributes; a graphical representation of risk to aide distinguishing critical hazards; a layered, filtering approach to remove the less important hazards; and a weighted-score method, which is based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach. Next, the authors seek to develop a multi-criteria decision-making method for the evaluation of railway restructuring models through reviews of practices, alternatives, and criteria of railway restructuring. The development of the tool was based on the combination of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methods. A paper is included which aims to present a new way of stakeholder assessment going beyond standard approaches, such as the Gardner Model and the Salience Model of Mitchell, Agle and Wood. The new approach is based on the Advanced Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Companies applying the method are placed in a position to design and implement their own stakeholder management without any reference to models presented in the literature. Later, an ICT oriented procurement model resulting from a partial re-engineering of the basic procurement process is proposed. This model was obtained by merging the traditional frameworks buygrid and buying centre to provide a consistent choice of procurement alternatives in a multiplicity of Web solutions. Following this, taking into account the suitability of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for evaluating electronic services or websites, the authors review on the evaluation experiments on e-government that are using the AHP theory. More specifically, the book presents evaluation experiments that use AHP, fuzzy AHP or their combination with other methods for e-government evaluation. The analytic hierarchy process method is employed in the closing chapter to reduce single parameter error and improve the accuracy of the prediction model, combined with the sensitivity and correlation of the characteristic parameters. The aging index of an actual case is assessed, and it is shown that the model is feasible and effective to provide a reference for optimizing maintenance cycle of polymer insulation in power distribution network.

Food, no matter of what kind, is a substance required for survival. Stripped of any cultural meanings, it is a primary means of biological nourishment and sustenance. But in a cultural context, the types of food, how they are eaten, what social rituals are involved in etiquette, and so on, take on a greater value. In other words, outside of a survival context, food is much more than substance for ensuring such survival. It constitutes a meaning system imbued with subtle unconscious cultural connotations of all kinds. We eat, first and foremost, to survive. But in a social ambiance, food takes on significance that transcends this biological function, affecting even our perceptions of edibility. In America, we do not normally eat insects, by and large, even though they would provide nourishment. We do not eat them because of the negative perceptions and emotions we have projected onto insects. In other cultures, insects are often considered to be a delicacy. Clearly, food tastes are cultural tastes. So, where does the fast food phenomenon fit into this line of reasoning, given that it seems to go against historically-based cultural systems of meaning? This book will attempt to answer this question by examining the origin, evolution and meanings of the fast food phenomenon, from its neurological and social meanings to its recreational ones. Does the contemporary penchant for fast food exist in the brain, or is it a fabrication of a consumerist culture gone insane, as the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy so eloquently and satirically emphasized? Much has been written about the phenomenon of fast food, given the importance of eating to health and cultural identity. The goal in this book is to go in a slightly different, but hopefully significant, direction; namely, to examine the meanings of fast food in relation to the birth and spread of mass consumerist society, and its role in future societies. Fast food originated in amusement and circus culture, but it soon spread to society via urbanization, the automobile, and the need for quick and easy solutions to almost everything, including the preparation and eating of food. The book argues that, in the end, we are what we have made ourselves to be. Fast food is of our own making, not something imposed cleverly by some master capitalist plan. We eat it because it is tasty and easily prepared. The cultural meanings of fast food might even be intertwined with an innate pleasure principle, into which fast foods seem to tap rather effectively. Above all else, fast food is a mirror of the contemporary worlds penchant for a quick-and-easy approach to virtually everything, for better or worse. Given its proliferation to all sectors and levels of society, fast food has changed the social paradigm of eating everywhere. The book will conclude by assessing what the implications of this paradigm for the future are.