Books published by Nova Science Publishers Inc

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a human disease characterised by loss of photoreceptor cells, especially rods, leading to visual disturbance and eventually blindness. Effective treatments for controlling RP remain unavailable. Infectious keratitis is a visual threatening eye condition of the cornea that can cause severe visual loss if not appropriately managed in a timely manner. Only 50% of the eyes will enjoy good visual recovery if antibiotic treatment is delayed. Causative pathogens include bacteria, virus, fungus, protozoa and parasites. A number of risk factors have been identified for microbial keratitis, including contact lens wear, recent ocular surgery or ocular trauma, ocular surface disease, dry eyes, eyelid deformities, corneal sensation impairment, chronic use of topical steroids and immunocompromised states. This book discusses the prevalence, symptoms and treatment options of eye disorders.

This book was drafted to provide an overview of restrictive housing in the American criminal justice system and propose recommendations for safely reducing the use of this practice.

Damage from hurricanes is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades because of the effects of climate change and coastal development. In turn, potential requests for federal relief and recovery efforts will increase as well. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the magnitude of the increases in hurricane damage and the associated amounts of federal aid if historical patterns hold. This book provides a detailed discussion on the implications of increased risk on the federal budget of hurricane damage in the upcoming years.

About 93 trains a day on average crossed into the continental United States from Canada and Mexico in 2014, according to U.S. Department of Transportation''s (DOT) Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). Trains enter and leave the United States through 30 port of entries (POEs) -- 23 on the northern border and 7 on the southern border. Although international freight rail plays an important role in U.S. economic and trade interests, the movement of rail through U.S. communities at the border can result in blocked highway-rail grade crossings and vehicle traffic congestion. This book describes the factors that affect the movement of freight rail and the actions taken by federal agencies and others to expedite freight rail in selected POEs; and examines what is known about the impacts of freight rail operations on highway-rail grade crossings in POE communities. Moreover, the book addresses recent changes in U.S. rail and truck freight flows and the extent to which related traffic congestion is reported to impact communities; and the extent to which DOTs efforts to implement Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) address freight-related traffic congestion in communities.

The issue of whether or not to allow video cameras into the courtroom has been discussed and debated by Members of Congress, the legal community, journalists, and the public since the introduction of newsreel films in the early 20th century. Technological advances have shifted some of the considerations in this ongoing dialogue, as newsreel cameras gave way to television cameras and Internet video. Increasingly, new technology makes video recording less disruptive, accessible to more people, and able to be distributed quickly, if not instantaneously. Most state courts, and several international supreme courts, allow video cameras to record and televise, or otherwise broadcast, their proceedings under certain circumstances. This book is not intended to provide a legal analysis of court cases relevant to the use of video cameras in federal courtrooms. This book provides information about the current judicial policies and attitudes related to video camera use in the U.S. Supreme Court, federal circuit courts, and federal district courts; summaries of the major debates and considerations for policymakers on the subject of courtroom cameras, including the appropriateness of congressional action, standards for public and media access to the courts, and potential effects on courtroom proceedings; descriptions of the four legislative proposals currently before the 114th Congress, including the Cameras in the Courtroom Act (H.R. 94 and S. 780), the Sunshine in the Courtroom Act (H.R. 917 and S. 783), the Transparency in Government Act (H.R. 1381), and the Eyes on the Courts Act (H.R. 3723); and complementary policy measures that might accomplish similar objectives.

This book presents original results on the leading edge of cancer research. Chapter One reviews the most recent advances in the management, analyses the best possible treatment in each scenario, and discusses the future research direction on brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer. Chapter Two discusses the positive effects of microscopic complete resection on controlling the local recurrence of a single brain metastasis. Chapter Three encapsulates the trends of the computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) development for the estimation of tumor malignancy. Chapter Four examines dendritic cells cross talk with cytomegalovirus pp65-specific cytotoxic T cells, Vγ 9γ δ T cells, and invariant NKT cells in patients with glioblastoma multiforme. Chapter Five addresses CD8+ T cell activation and regulation in the skin, paying special attention to what it is known about CD8+ T cell activity and its link with SCC development. Chapter Six discusses knowledge of the molecular basis of anti-cancer drug resistance and the mechanisms through which triterpenoids modulate ABC transporter-mediated multi drug resistance. Chapter Seven reviews cancer and heparan sulfate alterations. Chapter Eight focuses on Ganoderma lucidum targeting apoptosis. Chapter Nine examines the integrated model of cAMP-dependent DNA expression which reveals an inverse relationship between cancer and neurodegeneration. Chapter Ten studies the prognosis of male breast cancer.

This latest volume includes contributions on the latest advances in energy research. Chapter One discusses stability assessment using direct methods. Chapter Two focuses on the geopolitical implications of the energy reserves in the Caspian Basin. Chapter Three reviews an investigation into the effect of various parameters on the evaporator performance. Chapter Four helps to understand the vapour compression cycle in which heat is absorbed from a low temperature region and released in a high temperature region. Chapter Five examines static voltage stability enhancements by incorporating voltage-sourced based converters in continuation power flow.

Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) is the world famous synthetic organochlorine broad-spectrum insecticide used in the control of mosquito vectors of malaria and insect pests of agriculture in developing countries, due to its low cost and high efficiency. This book discusses properties, uses and toxicity of DDT. Chapter One reports the empty-orbital electronic structure and experimental data of dissociative electron attachment (DEA) to the gas-phase molecules DDT and its principal metabolite DDE, which possesses good electron-withdrawing abilities. Chapter Two reviews the past, present and future of DDT and pyrethroid resistance in Aedes aegypti (L.) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse). Chapter Three studies the photocatalytic selective oxidation of DDT.

Polyoxometalates (abbreviated as POMs), also known as early-transition metal-oxygen anion clusters, is a large and rapidly growing series of inorganic compounds. POMs can be generally divided into two subclasses: isopolyoxometalates(IPOMs) and heteropolyoxometalates (HPOMs). The former refers to a class of isopoly compounds which contain the skeletal transition metal cations and oxide ions of the same metal element. In contrast, the latter one, known as heteropoly compounds (HPCs) as well, contains both heteroatom and coordination atoms. This book reviews properties of POMs, their structure and also their synthesis.

A new approach to the theory of sound scattering, diffraction and propagation in slightly compressible media containing moving inhomogeneities is presented. The main concept of this approach lies in enriching the acoustic properties of the media by the consideration of the inhomogeneities motion together with the contribution of media flow generated by them. Both factors are conventionally ignored in classic wave scattering theory. Inhomogeneous media are usually presented as continuous with supposed local statistical properties distribution while structural specifics and motion of medium components are ignored being excused by their extremely small Mach numbers. However, this approximation is valid for electromagnetic wave scattering only. The analogy between sound and electromagnetic wave propagation in inhomogeneous moving media fails in acoustics of media with moving inhomogeneities. The presented conclusions are based on analytical solutions of sound scattering problems for the Lighthill equation related to a body moving in ideal or viscous media with an arbitrary relationship between sound wavelength and body dimension. The contribution of the ambient flow around moving scatterer to total sound scattering is shown to be at least comparable to the scatterer body motion contribution. Under certain conditions, such as for small moving particles in viscous media, the particle body contribution to scattering as a whole could be safely ignored with respect to the ambient flow contribution. As a result the classic Rayleigh law is to be modified and a few fundamental relationships substituting it are derived. The obtained results are important for a wide range of acoustic problems arising in moving inhomogeneous media, from sound scattering in atmosphere or ocean to sound decay in colloid particle solutions. The consideration of the contribution of the ambient flow to the sound diffraction by a large moving body is shown to be necessary as well. This is why a lot of known diffraction problems, for example such that are used for underwater acoustic system efficiency evaluation should be revised. A few examples of our results are: sound decay predictions in atmospheric precipitation, in turbulent media and in colloid solution of suspended particles involved in Brownian motion. Moreover, some experimental data that were unexplained up to this point are now clarified in light of this new theory. At the same time, we show the necessity of performing additional experiments based on theory predictions.

Women make up almost half of the nation''s workforce, yet research shows that they continue to hold a lower percentage of corporate board seats compared to men. Research highlights advantages to gender diverse boards, and some countries have taken steps to increase board gender diversity. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires companies to disclose certain information on board diversity. This book examines the representation of women on boards of U.S. publicly-traded companies and factors that may affect it; and selected stakeholders views on strategies for increasing representation of women on corporate boards. Furthermore, this book discusses women in combat, and includes a discussion of the impact of women in Congress as well as historical information.

This book provides readers with the latest developments in materials science research. Chapter One reports studies using acid leaching, use of microwaves, impregnation, funcionalization, and other possibilities that allow consideration of metakaolin as a good precursor to solid catalysts. Chapter Two discusses supramolecular adhesive complexes of stimuli-responsive polymers. Chapter Three reviews the preparation of biomedical materials from polyacrylonitirle and applications of it in various fields. Chapter Four gives an overview on the recent theoretical and experimental advances concerning plasmonic excitations in thin slabs of topological insulators. Chapter Five focuses on atmospheric plasmadynamic systems for thermal spray technologies. Chapter Six discusses optical monitoring and control of powder technologies thermal processes.

This book discusses the influences, treatment options and health effects of substance abuse. Chapter One examines the phenomenon of alcoholism and alcoholic psychoses in Russia from the late Soviet to post-Soviet period. Chapter Two studies the validity and reliability of alcohol use data collected via the Amazons Mechanical Turk (MTurk), a commonly used tool for social science research. Chapter Three assesses and compares certain parameters of sexual functioning in patients with alcohol dependence syndrome. Chapter Four summarizes the results of two double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot studies conducted in order to evaluate the efficacy of mirtazapine for the treatment of persons with comorbid major depressive disorder and alcohol use disorder (MDD/AUD). Chapter Five presents a re-offense prevention program which specifically addresses the participants social network composition. Chapter Six reviews the epidemiology of the hepatitis B virus infection among non-injecting drug users. Chapter Seven discusses the macro- and micro-level factors that influence the emergence and sustainability of recovery high schools (RHS) and conclude that both grassroots advocates and policy-makers must consider the myriad ecological forces and their influence on the development of particular recovery support programs.

This current book provides up-to-date research on the management, assessment and current challenges of coastal zones. Chapter One reviews the Coastal Area Management Programme (CAMP) of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP). Chapter Two introduces atypical example accounting for a comparative analysis between wetlands in Lebanon with different hydrology and aquifer characteristics. Chapter Three emphasizes a need for more careful monitoring of mosquito vector abundance and disease transmission in coastal zones and incorporating recent findings into coastal planning and management programs. Chapter Four aims to account for procedures taken by coastal, insular, and archipelagic states when claiming the extension of its oceanic limits.

Heavy metals are persistent in the environment and their elevated emission during longer periods of time can cause contamination of the environment. They are emitted in all environmental media, but can also be easily transported between them due to the atmospheric deposition, water runoff, etc., and thus accumulate in the environment or penetrate the food chains. The main routes of human exposure to heavy metals are through ingestion, inhalation or via dermal contact. Hence, there is a need for better understanding of absorption, distribution and deposition of heavy metals in the human body. This information is of a crucial importance for the evaluation of heavy metal potential health implications. In this book, Chapter One provides an overview of the heavy metal health hazards, presented as a consequence of heavy metal pollution, their availability and cycling between different media in the environment. Chapter Two comprehensively discusses the roles and harmful effects of heavy metals on human health, as well as the sources and techniques of removing heavy metals from the environment. Chapter Three explores the mechanisms of mercury cardiovascular toxicity, with a particular emphasis on its effects toward endothelial cells. Chapter Four focuses on the effects of exposure to soil contaminated by metals. Chapter Five examines antimicrobial functionalized textiles. Chapter Six discusses thallium poisoning. Chapter Seven provides a review of heavy metal pollution, human exposure and public health implications in Nigeria.