Books published by Springer Verlag, Singapore

This volume presents select papers presented at the 7th International Conference on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics. A strong emphasis is placed on connecting academic research and field practice, with many examples, case studies, best practices, and discussions on performance based design.

The book provides an introduction to the basics of fungi, discussing various types ranging from edible mushrooms to Neurospora - a model system for genetics and epigenetics.

Each chapter is selfcontained, but also includes cross talk with other chapters to offer an integrated view of plant life and allow readers to appreciate and admire the functioning of plant life from within and without.The book is a tribute by the Editor to his students, colleagues and co-workers and to those in whose labs he has worked.

This book offers an overview of salt stress, which has a devastating effect on the yields of various agricultural crops around the globe. It is a valuable resource for students, teachers and researchers and anyone interested in agronomy, ecology, stress physiology, environmental science, crop science and molecular biology.

This book focuses on prehistoric East Asian maritime cultures that pre-dated the Maritime Silk Road, the "Four Seas" and "Four Oceans" navigation system recorded in historical documents of ancient China.

Scientists are now exploring a variety of approaches to the sustainable production of agronomic crops, including varietal development, soil management, nutrient and water management, pest management, etc.

Thanks to their unique properties, chitosan and chitosan-based materials have numerous applications in the field of biomedicine, especially in drug delivery. This book examines biomedical applications of functional chitosan, exploring the various functions and applications in the development of chitosan-based biomaterials.

In closing, the two chapters of Section III describe potential antifungal leads and drug candidates based on phytochemicals and coumarin scaffold.

The application of drug delivery is a valuable, cost-effective lifecycle management resource. By endowing drugs with new and innovative therapeutic benefits, drug delivery systems extend products¿ profitable lifecycle, giving pharmaceutical companies competitive and financial advantages, and providing patients with improved medications. Formulation development is now being used to create new dosage forms for existing products, which not only reduces the time and expense involved in new drug development, but also helps with regard to patent protection and bypassing existing patents. Today¿s culture demands convenience, a major factor determining adherence to drug therapy. Over the past few years, patient convenience-oriented research in the field of drug delivery has yielded a range of innovative drug-delivery options. As a result, various drug-delivery systems, including medicated chewing gums, oral dispersible tablets, medicated lozenges and lollipops, have now hit the marketand are very popular. These dosage forms offer a highly convenient way to dose medications, not only for special population groups with swallowing difficulties, such as children and the elderly, but for the general populace as well. This book provides valuable insights into a number of formulation design approaches that are currently being used, or could be used, to provide new benefits from existing drug molecules.

Attaining sustainable agricultural production while preserving environmental quality, agro-ecosystem functions and biodiversity represents a major challenge for current agricultural practices; further, the traditional use of chemical inputs (fertilizers, pesticides, nutrients etc.) poses serious threats to crop productivity, soil fertility and the nutritional value of farm produce. Given these risks, managing pests and diseases, maintaining agro-ecosystem health, and avoiding health issues for humans and animals have now become key priorities. The use of PGPR as biofertilizers, plant growth promoters, biopesticides, and soil and plant health managers has attracted considerable attention among researchers, agriculturists, farmers, policymakers and consumers alike.Using PGPR as bioinoculants can help meet the expected demand for global agricultural productivity to feed the world¿s booming population, which is predicted to reach roughly 9 billion by 2050. However, to provideeffective bioinoculants, PGPR strains must be safe for the environment, offer considerable plant growth promotion and biocontrol potential, be compatible with useful soil rhizobacteria, and be able to withstand various biotic and abiotic stresses. Accordingly, the book also highlights the need for better strains of PGPR to complement increasing agro-productivity.

The book comprehensively discusses the mechanisms of pathogenesis and drug resistance; current diagnostics landscape of four key human pathogens; bacterial, fungal, protozoans and viral which are the causes of major infectious diseases. It also assesses the emerging technologies for the detection and quantification of these pathogens. Further, it discusses the novel opportunities to fight against these infectious diseases and to identify pertinent drug targets with novel methodologies. It also reviews the current and future insights into the control, elimination, and eradication of these infectious diseases.Importantly, the book discusses the epidemiological characteristics and various challenges in combating Ebola and Influenza diseases. Finally, the book highlights the growing role of nanotechnology and bioinformatics resources for combating the infectious diseases.In summary, the book provides the mechanistic insight of the pathogenicity, drug-resistance,therapeutic strategies and identification of the novel drug targets of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Plasmodium, Candida, Hepatitis C and emerging viral infections.