Books published by Nova Science Publishers Inc

This book provides a broad discussion on recent research advances in gold nanomaterials. Since their use in glass staining during the Gothic and Renaissance period, gold nanomaterials have recently been more extensively studied and used in different fields, including applications in biomedical and energy domains. Although the scope of research in gold nanomaterials is enormous, this book provides for the first time a practical overview that condenses this immense amount of information into a single volume. While there are a number of excellent books on the market covering various types of nanomaterials, there are very few monographs to date that specifically focus on the broad research areas on gold nanomaterials. This book attempts to capture the recent developments in gold nanomaterials research through nine chapters in four broad sections; these sections are divided by the synthesis of gold nanomaterials, biological applications, sensing, and energy applications of gold nanomaterials. Many of the chapters contain introductions to the basic physical and chemical principles of the subject area. The authors hope that this book will serve as a good introduction to people just entering the field, and also for practitioners and experts seeking information in other subfields of gold nanomaterials.

As the military draws down its forces, many veterans will enter the civilian workforce and may seek educational and training opportunities to further their transition into civilian jobs. Because pursuing a higher education degree may not be the best path for some veterans, the Post-9/11 GI Bill on-the-job training (OJT) and apprenticeship programs provide alternative opportunities. This book examines how selected veterans and employers used the programs and how widely they have been used; to what extent the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and states have taken steps to inform veterans and employers about these programs; what challenges, if any, veterans and employers have faced in using them; and to what extent VA has assessed the performance of its programs.

Sexual assault is a crime that devastates victims and has a far-reaching negative impact for The Department of Defense (DOD) because it undermines DODs core values, degrades mission readiness, and raises financial costs. DOD developed its strategy to prevent sexual assault using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) framework for effective sexual-violence prevention strategies, but DOD does not link activities to desired outcomes or fully identify risk and protective factors. This book addresses the extent to which DOD developed an effective prevention strategy; implemented activities department-wide and at military installations related to the departments effort to prevent sexual assault; and developed performance measures to determine the effectiveness of its efforts to prevent sexual assault in the military.

About 14 percent of the more than 400,000 children in foster care nationwide lived in congregate care at the end of fiscal year 2013, according to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) data. This book examines how selected states have reduced their use of congregate care; and some challenges with reducing congregate care placements, and efforts HHS has taken to help states reduce congregate care.

In August 2007, asset-backed securities (ABS), particularly those backed by subprime mortgages, suddenly became illiquid and fell sharply in value as an unprecedented housing boom turned into a housing bust. Losses on the many ABS held by financial firms depleted their capital. Uncertainty about future losses on illiquid and complex assets led to firms having reduced access to private liquidity, sometimes catastrophically. In September 2008, the financial crisis reached panic proportions, with some large financial firms failing or having the government step in to prevent their failure. Initially, the government approach was largely ad hoc, addressing the problems at individual institutions on a case-by-case basis. The panic in September 2008 convinced policy makers that a system-wide approach was needed, and Congress created the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in October 2008. In addition to TARP, the Treasury, Federal Reserve (Fed) and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) implemented broad lending and guarantee programs. The primary goal of the various interventions was to end the financial panic and restore normalcy to financial markets, rather than to make a profit for taxpayers. This book presents how much the programs ultimately cost (or benefited) the taxpayers based on straightforward cash accounting as reported by the various agencies. This book describes the various actions by the Federal Reserve to stabilise the financial markets and how those actions are likely to affect the federal budget in coming years. The book also presents estimates of the risk-adjusted (or fair-value) subsidies that the Federal Reserve provided to financial institutions through its emergency programs.

The appointment of a Supreme Court Justice is an event of major significance in American politics. Each appointment is of consequence because of the enormous judicial power the Supreme Court exercises as the highest appellate court in the federal judiciary. Appointments are usually infrequent, as a vacancy on the nine-member Court may occur only once or twice, or never at all, during a particular Presidents years in office. Under the Constitution, Justices on the Supreme Court receive what can amount to lifetime appointments which, by constitutional design, helps ensure the Courts independence from the President and Congress. This book reviews the appointment process of Supreme Court nominees.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. In approximately half of the patients with newly diagnosed CAD, the first presentation is either acute myocardial infarction or sudden cardiac death. This book provides current research on the characteristics, management and long-term outcomes of coronary artery disease. Chapter One begins with an overview of biological characteristics, clinical classification, and spasms of arterial grafts and antispastic management in coronary artery bypass grafting surgery. Chapter Two discusses coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the current era, and highlights relative strengths and weaknesses of each approach. It also discusses various risk-stratification scoring systems, and consider both procedures in the context of different demographic populations, including advanced age, gender, acute coronary syndromes, previous CABG, renal failure, diabetes mellitus and left main involvement. Chapter Three focuses on contribution facts and fables of gender disparities in cardiovascular diseases. Chapter Four examines the role of multi-detector computed tomography in the detection of subclinical coronary atherosclerosis in patients without known CAD.

Casein, one of the major proteins found in milk sources, can be associated with many health benefits. This book discusses the properties, functions and health implications of casein. Chapter One reviews the scientific evidence around health promoting effects of casein hydrolysates and (bioactive) peptides thereof from an infant nutrition perspective. Chapter Two studies the physicochemical and functional properties of native and trypsin-treated caprine casein micelles. Chapter Three focuses on the molecular characteristics of caseins from equid and from human milk compared also to those of bovine milk. Chapter Four discusses molecular properties of caseins and allergenicity. The last chapter compares and discusses food regulations of different nations with an important winemaking tradition.

This book discusses the processes, influences and performance of learning and memory. Chapter One reviews the growing evidences indicating the importance of iron overload onto learning and memory behavior of the brain. Chapter Two explains the issue of what adult age of acquisition (AoA) estimates really measure. Chapter Three describes the various forms of structural and functional neuronal plasticity that occur in the hippocampus and their role in hippocampal-dependent learning and memory.

This book offers a review of current theoretical and research perspectives regarding neuroticism and its impact on job performance and health outcomes. The aim is continuing to stimulate the reflection on neuroticism at both theoretical and intervention levels. The volume presents researches and perspectives about neuroticism with a focus on organisational contexts, addressed to widen the horizon regarding neuroticism and its associations in job performance and health outcomes. Concerning the research in organisational contexts, neuroticism is considered in relation to job satisfaction, workaholism, organisational and emotional intelligence, health risks, prevention in organisations, and promotion of workers strengths in the first part of the volume. In the second part, they are reflections relative to: physiological correlates of neuroticism, relations between neuroticism and extraversion in different contexts, associations of neuroticism with innovative and adaptive outcomes (for example, flourishing and Intrapreneurial Self-Capital, and career outcomes), and concluding with the importance of continuing to study neuroticism in a cross cultural perspective. The hope is that this book can really help to enhance the study of neuroticism, its characteristics, and the impact it possesses on job performance and health outcomes. The volume constitutes an aid to the valorisation and protection of human resources. Its goal is giving a real contribution to favor both the performance and well-being of workers, promoting organisational productivity, business success, well-being and healthy environments in organisations.

Nova Science Publishers, New York, U.S.A has now released Personalized Medicine (Beyond PET Biomarkers), which is an extension of the authors recently published book Progress in PET Radiopharmaceuticals: Quality Control and Theranostics. In addition to recently-developed clinically-significant PET-RPs as biomarkers, this book describes various other emerging biotechnologies including: genomic medicine, nanotechnology, novel molecular biomarkers, and noninvasive imaging biotechnologies for early theranostics and personalised patient care, with minimum or no adverse effects. New therapeutic interventions including gene and cell therapies, pharmacogenomics, next generation sequencing, genome-wide association studies, proteomics, metabolomics, bioinformatics, systems biology complementing areas of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, human investigations and clinical trials, pharmacovigilance, pharmacoepidemiology, and population pharmacology are some of the most significant disciplines of predictive, precision, and personalised medicine (PM) as described in this book. More specifically, different sub-specialties of omics biotechnology including: genomic, proteomic, glycomic, lipidomic, metabolomics, metalomic, and microRNA biomarkers are described to accomplish early and personalised theranostics of chronic illnesses with currently limited therapeutic options and success. Recent advances in nanotechnology and novel biomarkers to accomplish personalised theranostics of chronic diseases including, but not limited to: cancer, fetal alcohol syndrome, Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease, vascular dementia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and multiple sclerosis. Usually, nanoparticles (NPs) are trapped in the reticuloendothelial system (RES) comprising the lungs, liver, and spleen. To prevent their entry into the RES system and enhance drug targeting, stealth property of polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a covalent linker is utilised. However, pegylation may reduce the biological activity of the antibody or other labile molecule attached to NPs. Therefore, positively-charged chitosans and negatively charged alginates have been developed. Liposomal encapsulated Doxorubicin (Adriamycin) was approved in the early seventies for the treatment of breast cancer. In addition, enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) property of newly synthesised micro vessels of a hyper proliferating tumor is utilised to selectively invade the cancer stem cells is intricately described. Various noninvasive in-vivo imaging technologies including computerised tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) along with magnetic-resonance spectroscopic (MRS) capability, single photon emission tomography (SPECT), positron emission tomography (PET), ultra sound alone or as hybrid images to obtain precise 5D anatomical landmarks, regional physiology, and biochemistry of the human body organs at cellular, molecular, and genetic level in health and disease are described. The book also describes in-vitro methods to acquire images of tissues and cells in culture employing digital infrared imaging, digital fluorescence microscopic, confocal microscopic, and fluorescence resonance transfer (FRET) resonance imaging for detecting apoptosis and/or necrosis at the cellular, molecular and genetic level. This timely-released manuscript will attract basic scientists, researchers, and physicians interested in further developing the emerging concept of personalised medicine (PM), and will serve as a textbook for Masters, M.D., and Ph. D students, and a reference book for doctors, professors, basic researchers, scientists, and general public. The author has explained recently-discovered novel biomarkers for the personalised diagnosis and treatment of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and other chronic inflammatory diseases such as asthma, COPD, cystic fibrosis, migraine, and rheumatoid arthritis to accomplish the long quested goal of evidence-based personalised theranostics (EBPT). Recently-discovered disease-specific biomarkers can be successfully employed alone or in combination for the personalised treatment of chronic multidrug-resistant illnesses. Particularly, progressive neurodegenerative diseases such as fetal alcohol syndrome, Parkinsons disease, drug addiction, Alzheimers disease, vascular dementia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and demyelinating relapse and remission multiple sclerosis (RRMS) are described in detail because personalised treatment of these devastating diseases is currently a significant challenge. There are several other chronic drug resistant pro-inflammatory and infectious diseases, which could not be covered in sufficient detail owing to the lack of expertise, time, and limited space allocated to write this dedicated and clinically significant book. The author apologises to the entire global scientific community for his own ignorance, and humbly requests readers to go through the books interesting and most recent contents to enhance their basic knowledge regarding personalised medicine beyond PET biomarkers, which is one of the most demanding disciplines of modern medicine.

As the use of online technologies and digital engagement by consumers has expanded, the amount of consumer data that flows throughout the economy has increased. The analysis of this information can guide the development of products and services but concerns have been raised about whether certain uses of big data analytics may harm consumers. This book discusses the benefits and risks created by the use of big data analytics, the application of equal opportunity and consumer protection laws to big data, considerations for business and policy considerations raised by big data research. The book also discusses big data and differential pricing.

The U.S. market for pet medications is growing, and is in a state of transition. Although many pet owners continue to purchase their pet medications directly from veterinarians, this traditional distribution model has been challenged by the entry and expansion of retail businesses (both online and brick-and-mortar) that sell pet medications, as well as changes in the business practices of pet medication manufacturers, distributors, veterinarians, and retailers. This book provides an overview of the pet medications industry then examines prescription portability (prescriptions that can be filled by someone other than a veterinarian). The book also looks at distribution practices and the topic of generics. Recommendations on potential policy choices are made and areas that could benefit from additional study are identified.

Sex trafficking is a state crime. Nevertheless, it is also a federal crime when it involves conducting the activities of a sex trafficking enterprise in a way that affects interstate or foreign commerce or that involves travel in interstate or foreign commerce. Section 1591 of Title 18 of the United States Code outlaws the activities of sex trafficking enterprise that affects interstate or foreign commerce, including patronising such an enterprise. The Mann Act outlaws sex trafficking activities that involve travel in interstate or foreign commerce. This book provides an overview of sex trafficking. It focuses on the sex trafficking of children in the United States and reviews the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act.

Federal agencies issue thousands of regulations each year under delegated authority from Congress. Over the past 70 years, Congress and various Presidents have created a set of procedures agencies must follow to issue these regulations, some of which contain requirements for the calculation and consideration of costs, benefits, and other economic effects of regulations. In recent years, many Members of Congress have expressed an interest in various regulatory reform efforts that would change the current set of rulemaking requirements, including requirements to estimate costs and benefits of regulations. As part of this debate, it has become common for supporters of regulatory reform to comment on the total cost of federal regulation. This book discusses methods of estimating the total cost of federal regulations. Furthermore, the book serves to inform the congressional debate over rulemaking by analysing different ways to measure federal rulemaking activity; describes the existing requirements for cost-benefit and other types of analysis in the federal rulemaking process; and discusses options for changing the current set of analytical requirements.

U. S. critical infrastructures, such as financial institutions, commercial buildings, and energy production and transmission facilities, are systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, vital to the nations security, economy, and public health and safety. To secure these systems and assets, federal policy and the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) establish responsibilities for federal agencies designated as Sector-specific agencies (SSAs), including leading, facilitating, or supporting the security and resilience programs and associated activities of their designated critical infrastructure sectors. The objectives of this book are to determine the extent to which SSAs have identified the significance of cyber risks to their respective sectors networks and industrial control systems; taken actions to mitigate cyber risks within their respective sectors; collaborated across sectors to improve cybersecurity; and established performance metrics to monitor improvements in their respective sectors.

The World Health Organization projects climate change will adversely affect health significantly over the next several decades. Some health effects of climate change are already being felt in the United States, according to assessments by the National Research Council, U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), and others. Since the federal government is the nations largest purchaser of health care services, federal health care expenditures could increase in future years due to climate-related impacts. This book addresses federal activities to enhance understanding about the risks climate change poses to public health; federal resources used by selected states and localities to address these risks; and challenges states and localities face and actions federal agencies could take to mitigate them. This book also provides a suggested sequence of steps that health departments can undertake to assess such health vulnerabilities associated with climate change.

The chapters in this volume present the latest developments in medicine and biology. Chapter One reviews the medicinal uses of Astragalus, clinical trials, its effects on human health, and the potential side-effects resulting from its use as complementary and alternative medicine. In Chapter Two, links between pharmacological activities and structural traits (including aglycone type, substitution types, positions and levels) are statistically highlighted by means of comparison between active and non-evaluated saponins. Chapter Three explores the underlying pleura anatomy and physiology, pathogenesis and etiology of pleurisy, including identification, assessment and management of the condition. Chapter Four discusses grading and classification of dysplasia and dermatoscopic findings. Chapter Five studies a unifying biological concept for atypical melanocytic lesions. Chapter Six reviews general ethical aspects of neonatal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), including cultural and contextual factors of importance for CPR performance. Chapter Seven examines histhopathological complications in new-onset diabetes mellitus after kidney transplantation. The final chapter discusses the point of care critical ultrasound in emergency care medicine.

This book provides readers with the latest developments in neuroscience research. Chapter One discusses clinical exploration and manipulation of the neural networks and structural lesions of the human brain. Chapter Two studies the role of theta and gamma oscillations in working memory capacity. Chapter Three examines the potential usage of plastic clips in cerebrovascular neurosurgery. Chapter Four reviews avulsion-induced motoneuron death and discusses different strategies to facilitate survival of motoneurons following spinal root avulsion. Chapter Five discusses spatial patterns of phosphorylated TDP-43-immunoreactive cellular inclusions in familial and sporadic frontotemporal labor degeneration with TDP-43 proteinopathy. Chapter Six reviews neuropathological aspects of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. Chapter Seven identifies the frequency, clinical symptoms, urodynamic findings, putrative underlying pathology, and management of meningitis‒retention syndrome (MRS). Chapter Eight provides an update on clinical features, lesion topography, and prognosis of pure motor monoparesis (PMM) due to ischemic stroke. The final chapter discusses strokes associated with nephrotic syndrome.

The authors'' of this latest volume discuss recent advances in chemistry research. Chapter One reviews the role of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for the analysis of carbonated beverages in both beverage quality and safety control. Chapter Two determines the effect of the agitation speed on the mass transfer coefficient of the water phase in a stirred cell. Chapter Three provides a vapour-liquid equilibrium investigation of the ethanol-cyclohexane system. Chapter Four implements the quantitative structureproperty relationship (QSPR) strategy to predict the freezing point of pure chemical compounds. Chapter Five studies the effects of kinetic inhibitors including L-Tyrosine (4-hydroxyphenylalanine), Poly Vinyl Pyrrolidone (PVP) and Polyethylene oxide (PEO) on methane hydrate formation rate. Chapter Six provides a better understanding of the crystal metals impacting secondary alphatic amine aerosol formation in the atmosphere. Chapter Seven discusses the thermodynamic properties and structures of gaseous borates. Chapter Eight reports the study of monovacancy resistivity of some dilute alloys of the different groups of the periodic table on the basis of well-known single parametric model potential formalism. The final chapter has the objective to develop new plasmono-resonance NPs of noble metals (gold and its alloy with silver) stabilised and functionalised with a MA copolymer, as well as to study a possibility of application of obtained organo-mineral colloids containing or containing no specific enzyme in catalysis for the selective aerobic oxidation of glucose to gluconic acid.

This book provides current research on the fundamentals, clinical perspectives and challenges of forensic medicine. Chapter One reviews recent literature about the technologies that can be used to predict Externally Visible Characteristics through Forensic DNA Phenotyping (FDP). Chapter Two examines energy dispersive X-ray fluorescent spectrometry (EDX) for multi-element analysis. Chapter Three reviews the legal doctrine of informed consent in Italy. Chapter Four describes the Italian situation about the evaluation of dental damage, focusing attention on the renewals of treatment and the cases worthy of compensation. An original position about the quantification of permanent biological damage of the teeth used as prosthetic abutments is also presented.

The regulation of insider trading prohibits insiders from using inside information in securities transactions, and the central goal of the regulator is to preclude non-public information from circulating in the stock markets. The goal of legislation against insider trading is the same as that of legislation against market manipulation, making certain the integrity of EU financial markets and so boosting investor confidence in those markets. Market manipulation and insider trading are interrelated and based on circulation of information, and so cyberspace & e-logistics of information could be the key to neutralising people from taking advantage of their privilege to govern information within a company. Insider trading moves prices because outsiders decode information from the trade itself. Insider trading increases capital costs for the reason that insider trading raises the cost to market-makers in a companys securities relative to other companies, decreasing the anticipated return to uninformed shareholders. Corporate insiders are clearly informed about their own firms. The insiders outperformance derives from either their analytical skill or the handling of superior information about their companies when trading. Insiders benefit from unexpected losses on top of gains and so have a perverse incentive to trigger the company to under-perform if insider trading is permitted. Securities are vital, not only as investment vehicles, but also as devices for corporate control. A peaceful European Revolution should bring forward European nations and the USE/European Federation, which can deal with insider trading, criminal law, and other political/economical components in a harmonious way while avoiding any conflict among the various jurisdictions taking place in the present EU.

Focusing on the themes of conflict, communication, and globalisation, this book provides interdisciplinary studies of modern and contemporary Asia and highlights the latest developments in Asian Studies. Beginning with a discussion on the role of communications, the book offers theoretical and methodological considerations on dealing with conflict and communication. It then explores selfother relationships through an investigation of the ethical structure of responsibility in the context of globalisation. In the following chapters, contributors from China, Germany, Ireland, Japan and South Korea provide a clear grasp of conflicts and communications within and beyond Asia from political, economic and cultural perspectives. They offer insight on a wide range of topics including the Sino-Japanese conflict, the political and ideological struggles between the two Koreas, Asian countries responses to the economic crisis, the World Fair and globalisation, the development of NBA culture in China, and Sino-Western comparison on mother-in-lawdaughter-in-law dynamic. The book concludes that Asias rise should present more opportunities than conflicts and threats, and that it will eventually lead to the emergence of a multipolar world.

Interestingly, vegetables and fruits represent different medicinal effects for age-related diseases such as hypertension, different types of cancers, myocardial infarct, diabetes, and many others. Numerous medicinal plants have been used as traditional medicines (folk medicines) in many counties. Each chapter of Volume 6 describes the components and the health effects of nutritional fruits and vegetables.. These include: the tropical fruit baobab (Adansonia digitata), followed by food enriched with antioxidative phytocomponents, which promotes vision protection, phytochemicals and biological activity with black sesame seed pigment, clinical effects of bilberries (Vaccinium myrtillus) on eyestrain, and improved electrochemical measurements of antioxidants such as flavonoids and anthocyanins in human health. These chapters will provide more advanced information to researchers studying new pharmaceutical drug designs.