mdpi ag jun 2018 (32 Ergebnisse)

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Over the last ten years a fresh air has been blowing in the field of molecular magnetism with the re-introduction of lanthanides ions as spin carriers in magnetic molecules. The strong magnetic moment and huge magnetic anisotropy of lanthanide ions has enabled significant breakthroughs in magnetic blocking temperature and related phenomena. The chemical versatility of these ions is also a strong asset as easy substitution among the lanthanides series enables isotropic, anisotropic or solid-solutions of magnetic molecules. Additionally, their outstanding luminescent properties are key features in rationalizing the single-molecule magnet (SMM) behavior and paving the way toward production of multifunctional materials. In this book, selected examples of research on molecular magnetism of lanthanides complexes and networks are presented illustrating the current dynamism of this research field.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Neuroscience, as a field, has only recently expanded to consider how the nervous system might be influenced by interaction with other bodily systems. The psychology curriculum never, for instance, included courses on nutrition. Although we learn about the body as if it is segregated into systems (cardiovascular, immune, digestive, etc.), these systems are not truly separate. If the aphorism, you are what you eat, is literally true: then you-your personality, thoughts, feelings, etc.-are, at least partly, a product of your diet. Such recognitions have spawned the new subdiscipline, nutritional neuroscience: the study of the role of diet on neurochemistry, neurobiology, cognition and behavior. This collection explores this exciting new area.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - All over the world, there is a huge and ever-increasing interest in the development and application of optical and spectroscopic techniques to characterize fluids in engineering and science. The large number of review articles that are frequently published in these areas is evidence of this. Recent examples have focused on applications of optical diagnostics to gas phase environments, liquids, and multiphase systems. A key feature of such light-based methods is that they are usually non-intrusive, and hence they do not notably affect the system under investigation. As a consequence, optical techniques have been developed for many decades and represent the gold standard in many fields. The list of individual techniques utilizing absorption, refraction, diffraction and scattering effects is long and so is the list of the parameters that can be determined. The latter includes macroscopic properties such as temperature, chemical composition, thermophysical quantities, and flow velocity, but molecular information, e.g., about isomerism and intermolecular interactions, can also be obtained. This Special Issue entitled 'Optics and Spectroscopy for Fluid Characterization' aims to demonstrate the breadth of the field in terms of methodology, as well as applications.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Plant medicines are the original medicines that humans have always used. Many people continue to use plant medicines today including teas, coffee, chocolate, ginger, and other medicines. Traditional medicine is based on plant medicines and is the primary form of medicine for many people throughout the world. The current volume discusses traditional medicines and presents various plant medicines that could be tested in clinical trials. Modern medicine continues to use many drugs that are derived from plants. The current work has much to teach modern medicine about the treatment of several diseases. Traditional healers have used plant medicines to treat psychiatric and other conditions that modern medicine struggles with. Safety issues are always a concern with plant medicines, especially allergies to plant medicines. Clinical trials must be conducted with plant medicines to help bring these traditional treatments into use by modern medicine.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The desired properties of surface components include the improvement of different properties, such as aesthetic appearance, oxidation resistance, wear resistance, mechanical properties, electronic or electrical properties, thermal insulation, wear, triboemission and corrosion resistance through barriers. These properties can be enhanced using different methods, such as by adding a coating. Nevertheless, the bulk of the material or substrate cannot be considered independent of the surface treatment. Metal cutting is one of the general machining methods used to achieve high accuracy and productivity for metal parts.The topics of the book 'Manufacturing and Surface Engineering' include the full range of surface engineering aspects, i.e., surface integrity, contact mechanics, friction and wear, coatings and surface treatments, multiscale tribology, computational methods, and optimization techniques applied in surface engineering.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Phenolic compounds, also called polyphenols, constitute a diverse group of secondary metabolites that exist in plants and their fruits. This important group of compounds contributes to organoleptic characteristics, such as color, taste, astringency and bitterness of fruit beverages. In addition, these compounds have gained considerable interest due to research suggesting their many health benefits especially as antioxidants.Thus, the objective of this Special Issue is to publish a compilation of original research and review papers that cover different aspects of phenolic compounds in fruit beverages, such as fruit composition, varieties and factors that could affect their phenolic composition, analytical methods for phenolic identification and quantification, impact of fruit beverages technologies on phenolics, role of phenolics in the sensorial analysis of fruit beverages and the biological activities and the health benefits of fruit beverages polyphenolics.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - We live in an era of traumatic discourse. The wound (trauma is the Greek word for 'wound') speaks multiple languages. Often the trauma registered is political-the trauma of war in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and other nations and the concomitant European migrant crisis. Literature and films about Vietnam, the 'Dirty War' in Argentina, 9/11, and, perhaps above all, the Holocaust, abound. We encounter memoirs of survivors, and now memoirs of the children of survivors. Furthermore, the recent series of brutal and unjust actions toward unarmed blacks by white law officers is generating a new discourse of the long-standing trauma of race relations in the United States.Autobiographical and other narratives of family trauma are also flourishing. Memoirs by the dozen seek to come to terms with childhood and youthful experiences scarred by radical alienation between family members, extreme poverty, addictions of all kinds, child and spousal abuse, child molestation and parent-child incest, sibling incest, divorce, suicide, and murder.The eleven articles in this Special Issue employ a variety of interpretive approaches to traumas such as these as depicted in literature and film. The cultures of ancient Greece, Germany, Argentina, the United States, France, and Chile are represented.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This book holds key papers from the fifth conference and community workshop of the International Polar Tourism Research Network (IPTRN), held in the village of Raufarhöfn (population 160) in Northeast Iceland at the end of August 2016. In total, 40 papers were presented at the conference which explored how expectations towards tourism development in peripheral places can be managed to contribute to the cultural well-being of peripheral communities and enhance the protection of the environment. The seven papers contained herein, in addition to the editorial, can roughly be grouped into two categories. The first set of four papers deals with methods and key assets for developing sustainable tourism operations in the Polar Regions. The second set of three papers deals more with the implications of different means of access to the more remote parts of the Polar Regions.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Over the past two decades, there has been increased attention in the research of nanofluid due to its widely expanded domain in many industrial and technological applications. Major advances in the modeling of key topics such as nanofluid, MHD, heat transfer, convection, porous media, Newtonian/non-Newtonian fluids have been made and finally published in the special issue on recent developments in nanofluids for Applied Sciences. The present attempt is to edit the special issue in a book form. Although, this book is not a formal textbook even than it will definitely be useful for research students and university teachers in overcoming the difficulties occurring in the said topic while dealing with the nonlinear governing equations. On one side the real world problems in mathematics, physics, biomechanics, engineering and other disciplines of sciences are mostly described by the set of nonlinear equations whereas on the other hand, it is often more difficult to get an analytic solution or even a numerical one. This book has successfully handled this challenging job with latest techniques. In addition the findings of the simulation are logically realistic and meet the standard of sufficient scientific value.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Rare earth elements (REE) are critical to our modern way of life, although potential primary and secondary sources of these elements and the economics of the REE sector remain somewhat poorly understood. This Special Issue focuses on furthering our understanding of the criticality and potential sources of rare earth elements as well as the economics of the REE sector. The papers in this Special Issue provide further insight into the full life cycle of REE, information that is vital to ensuring the existence of sustainable sources of these critical elements into the future.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Demyelinating disorders are chronic autoimmune disorders characterized by inflammation, demyelination, axonal degeneration, and neuronal loss. They have complex pathophysiology and diverse clinical presentations. The etiology of these disorders lies in the interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Due to the complexity in pathophysiology and presentation, diagnosis and treatment can be challenging. Advanced technology, including modern imaging techniques, as well as optical coherence tomography (OCT), enrich our understanding of the disease process, improve diagnostic accuracy, and may guide treatment decisions.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Global urbanization creates challenges towards sustainability and human well-being. Urban areas are dependent on the ecosystems beyond the city limits but also benefit from the internal urban green places. An understanding of the importance of urban ecosystem services means that urban greenery can be designedly maintained or even expanded. As cities are expected to grow at a rapid rate in the coming decades, it is important that the ecosystem perspective is understood and valued by city planners and political decision-makers. This special issue highlights some aspects related to urban sprawl dynamics and urban ecosystem management. Observations and studies presented in ten papers show that urbanization affects essential ecological, economic, and social landscape functions, whose importance is often undervalued in cities worldwide.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - An ageing population is a major challenge for every country in the world arising from the declining fertility rate and increasing life expectancy. A longevity risk (the adverse outcome of people living longer than expected) exacerbated by declining equity returns coupled with the record low interest rate environments has significant implications for societies and manifests as a systematic risk for providers of retirement income products. The aim of this special issue is to highlight advances in quantitative modelling of risks related to ageing population problems. It is aimed at practitioners and regulators in insurance, banking and pension industries; academic researchers; and advanced graduate students in the area.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The Cointegrated VAR model allows the user to study both long-run and short-run effects in the same model. It describes an economic system where variables have been pushed away from long-run equilibria by exogenous shocks (the pushing forces) and where short-run adjustments forces pull them back toward long-run equilibria (the pulling forces). In this model framework, basic assumptions underlying an economic theory model can be translated into testable hypotheses of the order of integration and cointegration of key variables and their relationships. While the latter used to be I(1), macroeconomic and financial data have recently shown a tendency for puzzling long and persistent swings around long-run equilibrium values typical of self-reinforcing feed-back mechanisms. Such persistent fluctuations are frequently indistinguishable from I(2) data, pointing to the need for new econometric solutions. In this book, many of our most distinguished scholars in the field of cointegration offer a variety of solutions to these problems by formulating new models, tests, and asymptotics more suitable for an I(2) world. Several of the papers apply these cointegration techniques to a variety of empirical problems, thereby showing how to obtain valuable information about some of the mechanisms that have generated the recent crises.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - For the last seven years, Membranes has provided an outstanding platform for the publication of articles at the forefront of research in the areas of membrane fabrication, characterization and application. This Special Issue, entitled 'Seven Years of Membranes: Feature Paper 2017,' celebrates this achievement. The articles included in this Special Issue, written by prominent researchers in the field, provide an authoritative and up-to-date account of the advances in membrane science and technology. They describe new methods for the fabrication of organic, inorganic and mixed matrix membranes and their utilization in improving the efficiency of membrane-based separation processes, such as membrane distillation, nanofiltration, ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, and gas permeation. A number of articles are focused on water treatment, which, because of its significance to sustainable development, is one of the main areas of membrane research and application. These articles report novel techniques for the clean-up of contaminated waters, and the desalination of industrial effluents, brackish water and seawater.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - It is widely known that water is becoming a scarce, precious resource for an increasing number of people. In the near future, access to quality water will be even harder for an ever growing population in a scenario characterized by environment degradation and climate change. To reduce the consequences of these threats, it is mandatory to implement efficient water management measures. This is a difficult task because adequate water management must consider administrative (socio-economic and political) actions and technological and scientific advances, as well.This book provides an updated picture of relevant studies regarding water management around the world. The manuscripts presented here cover the three main aspects of a well-designed water management strategy mentioned above, including administrative (risk assessment, education, water use and conservation) and technological and scientific aspects (domestic and industrial water treatment, emergent pollutants, sorption, precipitation, among others). Thus, the book is highly recommended to teachers, researchers, technicians and managers dealing with water management in any of their varied components.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient that contributes to the proper functioning of over 300 enzymes and multiple biochemical and structural processes in the body. Zinc functions in the regulation of an extensive variety of genes, such as those involved in nucleic acid metabolism, cell signalling, apoptosis, and plays an integral role in immune system functioning. Even a mild Zn deficiency can profoundly affect growth and development, as well as impede immune differentiation and maturation. Zinc is widely distributed in foods, however, it was demonstrated that dietary constituents, such as phytate, polyphenols, and the intestinal microbiome, affect its dietary bioavailability and intestinal absorption. Regulation of zinc metabolism is achieved through a balance of absorption and excretion and involves adaptive mechanisms. The aim of this Special Issue is to explore dietary approaches that aim to improve Zn bioavailability and absorption, biomarkers of status, and the effect of Zn status on the intestinal microbiome.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Precision Medicine, understood as 'the emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person' is currently one of the most talked about themes in biomedicine and great efforts are being made internationally to turn this concept into a reality. As the concept of Precision Medicine spreads, so too does that of 'Precision Nutrition', which would have to take individual variability into account when recommending personalized diets. Although huge progress has been made over recent years in research into the genotype in inter-individual responses to diet, proving that this heterogeneity does indeed exist, we still do not have top level scientific evidence to make the eagerly-awaited personalized dietary recommendations, either from the prevention or treatment of different diseases point of view. It is, therefore, essential to gather more information from studies which, from the nutrigenetic point of view, analyze gene-diet interactions in the different intermediate and final phenotypes of diseases. The ideal situation would be to have results available from randomized and controlled clinical trials. Results on gene-diet interactions obtained from large cohorts, and other types of studies with replication in independent samples, are also of great importance. Similarly, if nutrigenetic findings are accompanied by more mechanistic evidence, integrating other omics, this would be of particular interest. Lastly, another topic of interest is to share strategies for implementing genome-based nutritional interventions. Therefore, this Special Issue of Nutrients, 'Nutrigenetics', will focus on providing evidence of the inter-individual genetic effects of diet in determining diseases phenotypes. We are looking forward to receiving many submissions from outstanding experts on these topics. Experimental papers, meta-analyses, up-to-date review articles, and commentaries are all welcome.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Remote sensing and GIS play critical roles in water resource and flood inundation mapping and risk management. Remote sensing provides data sources for mapping water resources (snow and glaciers, water bodies, soil moisture and groundwater), measuring hydrological fluxes (ET, precipitation and river discharge), and monitoring drought and flooding inundation, while GIS provides the best tools for water resources, drought and flooding risk management and for setting up hydrologic models, inputting data processing and output analyses and visualizations. This Special Issue Book presents the best practices, cutting-edge technologies and applications of remote sensing, GIS and hydrologic models for water resources mapping, satellite rainfall measurements, runoff simulation, water body and flood inundation mapping and risk management. The latest technologies applied include 3D model analysis and visualization of glaciers, UAV video image classification for turf grass mapping and irrigation planning, ground penetration radar for soil moisture estimates, TRMM and GPM satellite rainfall measurements, storm hyetograph analysis, rainfall runoff and urban flooding simulation, satellite radar and optical image classification for urban water bodies and flooding inundation. The application of these technologies is expected to greatly relieve the pressures on water resources and assist in better mitigating and adapting to the impact of drought and flooding.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Nucleation is the key event in mineralisation, but a general molecular understanding of phase separation mechanisms is still missing, despite more than 100 years of research in this field. In recent years, many studies have highlighted the occurrence of precursors and intermediates, which seem to challenge the assumptions underlying classical theories of nucleation and growth. This is especially true for the field of biomineralisation, where bio-inspired strategies take advantage of the special properties of the precursors and intermediates for the generation of advanced materials. All of this has led to the development of 'non-classical' frameworks, which, however, often lack quantitative expressions for the evaluation and prediction of phase separation, growth and ripening processes, and are under considerable debate. It is thus evident that there is a crucial need for research into the early stages of mineral nucleation and growth, designed for the testing, refinement, and expansion of the different existing notions. This Special Issue of Minerals aims to bring together corresponding studies from all these areas, dealing with precursors and intermediates in mineralisation with the hope that it may contribute to the achievement of a better understanding of nucleation precursors and intermediates, and their target-oriented use in materials chemistry.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Proteoglycans (PGs) are glycoconjugates in which a protein or peptide core is substituted with polysaccharide chains known as glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). The GAG sidechains carry a significant proportion of the functionality of PGs, interacting with many proteins to form structural units in the extracellular matrix and to modulate the transport and signalling of small proteins acting as morphogens, growth factors and cytokines. Purified GAGs such as heparin and hyaluronan are in common use as therapeutic agents, with many more PG-based natural products, synthetic and semi-synthetic mimetics on the way; in addition, potential therapeutic strategies involving PG/GAG biosynthesis and degradation as targets are currently in development.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Presenting very high surface-to-volume ratio, relatively simple processability and low cost, graphene and graphene-related materials were soon identified as promising nanofillers for polymer matrixes. Reports have shown notorious property enhancements for graphene-polymer composites (GPC) at very low filler loadings. Uses of GPC in varied fields, such as energy, electronics, catalysis, separation and purification, biomedicine, aerospace, tribology, etc., have been demonstrated and, in some cases, put into industrial practice. However, challenges still exist. Platelet agglomeration within the polymer matrix is often seen to hinder performance improvements. Poor interfacial adhesion between filler and matrix is also a limiting factor in many systems, demanding for tuning the surface chemistry to promote physical or chemical interactions with the polymer chains. The range of routes for fabrication of graphene-related materials, leading to different morphologies, oxidation states, and degrees of platelet exfoliation, have an impact on the final properties of the composites that has not yet been fully addressed. Some argue that the potential of graphene, and its advantages in relation to other nanofillers, has not yet been clearly demonstrated for polymer composites. This Special Issue provides a state of the art view on the different facets of graphene-polymer composite materials, showing that this area of research is thriving and relevant advancements are still to be expected.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Carbohydrate metabolism is a fundamental aspect of health and a crucial function in a variety of species, including humans. A primary disfunction in major global diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, is dysregulation of thecarbohydrate metabolism. Furthermore, certain disease outcomes may be impacted by the amount and type of dietary carbohydrates consumed. Finally, carbohydrate obtainability is essential for optimal performance and endurance during sporting events. This book collates articles that either describe original research, or review the scientific literature on the topic of carbohydrate metabolism in health and disease. .

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Malignant tumors develop distant metastases, e.g., small clusters of cells that detach from the primitive site and colonize distant organs and tissues. Unlike the primary masses, metastases are often difficult to fully eradicate by surgery ablation and are almost always the primary object of chemo- and/or immune-therapies. The presence of metastases at tumor diagnosis is responsible for the unfavorable prognosis and of relapses even after initially successful tumor therapies. The lack of success of chemo- and immune-therapy approaches depends on many factors among which, the inadequate capacity of the anti-tumor drugs of reaching appropriate concentrations in the organs and tissues involved in the metastatic growth is a major concern. Another factor is the complexity of the metastasis biology and of their molecular behavior, evidencing a population of tumor cells with a genetic compartment different from that of the tumor of origin. The involvement of host cells and factors recruited by the metastatic cells and committed to support the metastatic growth is also an event crucial for the lack of success of the anti-tumor therapy. The knowledge of the molecular biology of metastases is mandatory to support the search for chemical agents to treat the metastatic determinants and to control of the neoplastic disease. This Special Issue on 'Chemical and Molecular Approach to Tumor Metastases' will explore the impact of biology, molecular medicine and chemistry on all aspects related to tumor metastases from the biological and molecular aspects of the metastatic growth, including the relationships between the metastatic cells and the host environment, and the search for druggable determinants useful for the chemical analysis of agents selectively active against tumor metastases. With the combination of invited reviews and original papers from prominent scientists working on all aspects of molecular medicine and cancer therapy, such as, but not limited to: drug delivery, genomics, chemoprevention, drug discovery, we aim to sample recent progress in molecular and chemical aspects of therapy of malignant tumors. Clinical success studies and evidences of novel compounds are particularly welcome.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Investigating the microbiome is on the frontier of science. It has the potential to resolve many issues in the realms of energy, food, human health, the environment, and biotechnology. Scientists are trying to understand, in a fundamental way, how microbes influence each other and how they organize into interaction networks. These are the keys to predicting and engineering community function and properties of the microbiome. In this regard, mathematical modeling and computational analysis play an increasing role. This book is a collection of contributions from lead scientists in the field. It provides innovative approaches and fresh perspectives for modeling environmental communities and engineered microbial consortia. Reading this book will give researchers a solid look at cutting-edge science in microbial community modeling, and at the remaining challenges such modeling poses.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Vitamin C is a pivotal water soluble electron donor in nature and an essential nutrient in man. Despite its many years as a research focus, new and increasingly regulatory functions of vitamin C in human health are continually being unravelled. This improved mechanistic insight is starting to provide rationales explaining the extensive epidemiological literature that, for decades, has consistently shown strong associations between poor vitamin C status and increased morbidity and mortality. In this Special Issue, we include original research and literature reviews by experts in the field outlining the roles of vitamin C in early, daily and late life, as well as the roles of deficiency in cardiovascular disease, inflammation and cancer.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a nondestructive technique that can be used to characterize a wide variety of systems. Sustained development of both methodology and instrumentation have allowed NMR to evolve as a powerful technology, with applications in pure sciences, medicine, drug development, and important branches of industry. NMR provides precise structural information down to each atom and bond in a molecule, and is the only method for the determination of structures of molecules in a solution. This book compiles a series of articles describing the application of NMR in a variety of interesting scientific challenges. The articles illustrate the versatility and flexibility of NMR.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The cyclic nucleotides 3',5'-adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and 3',5'-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) play important roles in the control of cardiovascular function under physiological and pathological conditions. In this book, which is a reprint of a Special Issue of the Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease entitled 'Cyclic Nucleotide Signaling and the Cardiovascular System', internationally recognized experts give an overview of this vibrant scientific field. The first series of articles deal with the localization and function of membrane-bound and soluble adenylate cyclases, followed by articles on the roles of phosphodiesterase isoforms in the heart. Cyclic nucleotide signaling takes place in nanodomains and the A-kinase anchor proteins (AKAPS) are essential for the compartmentalized assembly of signaling proteins into functional complexes. Reviews on the role of AKAP proteins in the physiology and pathophysiology of the heart are also included in this book. Cyclic nucleotides act through effector proteins and articles on EPAC and POPDC proteins inform the reader of recent developments on these topics. A major advancement in our understanding of cyclic nucleotide signaling came through the use of genetically encoded cAMP sensor molecules, and a series of articles review the current insight that these reporter molecules have provided. The final set of articles in this book deals with the association of the cyclic nucleotide pathway and cardiovascular disease as well as the development of novel therapeutic approaches.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Determinations of the indentation hardness properties of crystals have expanded to cover the full characterizations of their important elastic, plastic and cracking behaviors, particularly as accomplished with the increased measuring capabilities of nanoindentation hardness testing. No crystal structure of any bonding type is either too soft or too hard to prevent measurement with a suitable probing indenter. The current Special Issue is devoted to surveying the topic with emphasis given in a collection of reports to: (1) the diversity of crystals being tested; (2) the variety of measuring techniques; and (3) the wealth of information being obtained.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - It is time consuming and costly to detect new molecules of some special proteins. These special proteins include cytokines, enzymes, cell-penetrating peptides, anticancer peptides, cancer lectins, G-protein-coupled receptors, etc. Researchers often employ computer programs to list some candidates, and to validate the candidates with molecular experiments. These computer programs are key to possible savings on wet experiment costs. Software results with high false positive will lead to high costs in the validation process.In this Special Issue, we focus on these computer program approaches and algorithms. Some 'golden features' from protein primary sequences have been proposed for these problems, such as Chou's PseAAC (pseudo amino acid composition). PseAAC has been tried on nearly all kinds of protein identification, together with SVM (support vector machines, a type of classifier). However, I prefer special features, and classification methods should be proposed for special protein molecules. 'Golden features' cannot work well on all kinds of proteins. I hope that submissions will focus on a type of special protein molecule, collect related data sets, obtain better prediction performance (especially low false positives), and develop user-friendly software tools or web servers.