mdpi ag nov 2015 (5 Ergebnisse)

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Volume 2 'Issues in Child Welfare' is primarily concerned with how best to respond to maltreatment 'within' the family and hence has a range of papers which are much more concerned with the area of policy and practice more traditionally framed in terms of 'child welfare' and social work with children and families. It also includes a paper on how to respond to child maltreatment and neglect in a large hospital context.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The mechanical behavior of biomedical materials and biological tissues are important for their proper function. This holds true, not only for biomaterials and tissues whose main function is structural such as skeletal tissues and their synthetic substitutes, but also for other tissues and biomaterials. Moreover, there is an intimate relationship between mechanics and biology at different spatial and temporal scales. It is therefore important to study the mechanical behavior of both synthetic and livingbiomaterials. This Special Issue aims to serve as a forum for communicating the latest findings and trends in the study of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Climate change will bring about significant changes to the capacity of, and the demand on, water resources. The resulting changes include increasing climate variability that is expected to affect hydrologic conditions. The effects of climate variability on various meteorological variables have been extensively observed in many regions around the world. Atmospheric circulation, topography, land use and other regional features modify global changes to produce unique patterns of change at the regional scale. As the future changes to these water resources cannot be measured in the present, hydrological models are critical in the planning required to adapt our water resource management strategies to future climate conditions. Such models include catchment runoff models, reservoir management models, flood prediction models, groundwater recharge and flow models, and crop water balance models. In water-scarce regions such as Australia, urban water systems are particularly vulnerable to rapid population growth and climate change. In the presence of climate change induced uncertainty, urban water systems need to be more resilient and multi-sourced. Decreasing volumetric rainfall trends have an effect on reservoir yield and operation practices. Severe intensity rainfall events can cause failure of drainage system capacity and subsequent urban flood inundation problems. Policy makers, end users and leading researchers need to work together to develop a consistent approach to interpreting the effects of climate variability and change on water resources. This Special Edition includes papers by international experts who have investigated climate change impacts on a variety of systems including irrigation and water markets, land use changes and vegetation growth, lake water levels and quality and sea level rises. These investigations have been conducted in many regions of the world including the USA, China, East Africa, Australia, Taiwan and the Sultanate of Oman.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The field of reprogramming somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) has moved very quickly, from bench to bedside in just eight years since its first discovery. The best example of this is the RIKEN clinical trial this year in Japan, which will use iPSC derived retinal pigmented epithelial (RPE) cells to treat macular degeneration (MD). This is the first human disease to be tested for regeneration and repair by iPSC-derived cells and others will follow in the near future. Currently, there is an intense worldwide research effort to bring stem cell technology to the clinic for application to treat human diseases and pathologies. Human tissue diseases (including those of the lung, heart, brain, spinal cord, and muscles) drive organ bioengineering to the forefront of technology concerning cell replacement therapy. Given the critical mass of research and translational work being performed, iPSCs may very well be the cell type of choice for regenerative medicine in the future. Also, basic science questions, such as efficient differentiation protocols to the correct cell type for regenerating human tissues, the immune response of iPSC replacement therapy and genetic stability of iPSC-derived cells, are currently being investigated for future clinical applications.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - After decades of being largely the preserve of countries in volcanic regions, the use of geothermal energy-for both heat and power applications-is now expanding worldwide. This reflects its excellent low-carbon credentials and its ability to offer baseload and dispatchable output - rare amongst the mainstream renewables. Yet uptake of geothermal still lags behind that of solar and wind, principally because of (i) uncertainties over resource availability in poorly-explored reservoirs and (ii) the concentration of full-lifetime costs into early-stage capital expenditure (capex). Recent advances in reservoir characterization techniques are beginning to narrow the bounds of exploration uncertainty, both by improving estimates of reservoir geometry and properties, and by providing pre-drilling estimates of temperature at depth. Advances in drilling technologies and management have potential to significantly lower initial capex, while operating expenditure is being further reduced by more effective reservoir management - supported by robust mathematical models - and increasingly efficient energy conversion systems (flash, binary and combined-heat-and-power). Advances in characterization and modelling are also improving management of shallow low-enthalpy resources that can only be exploited using heat-pump technology. Taken together with increased public appreciation of the benefits of geothermal, the technology is finally ready to take its place as a mainstream renewable technology, This book draws together some of the latest developments in concepts and technology that are enabling the growing realisation of the global potential of geothermal energy in all its manifestations.After decades of being largely the preserve of countries in volcanic regions, the use of geothermal energy-for both heat and power applications-is now expanding worldwide. This reflects its excellent low-carbon credentials and its ability to offer baseload and dispatchable output - rare amongst the mainstream renewables. Yet uptake of geothermal still lags behind that of solar and wind, principally because of (i) uncertainties over resource availability in poorly-explored reservoirs and (ii) the concentration of full-lifetime costs into early-stage capital expenditure (capex). Recent advances in reservoir characterization techniques are beginning to narrow the bounds of exploration uncertainty, both by improving estimates of reservoir geometry and properties, and by providing pre-drilling estimates of temperature at depth. Advances in drilling technologies and management have potential to significantly lower initial capex, while operating expenditure is being further reduced by more effective reservoir management - supported by robust mathematical models - and increasingly efficient energy conversion systems (flash, binary and combined-heat-and-power). Advances in characterization and modelling are also improving management of shallow low-enthalpy resources that can only be exploited using heat-pump technology. Taken together with increased public appreciation of the benefits of geothermal, the technology is finally ready to take its place as a mainstream renewable technology, This book draws together some of the latest developments in concepts and technology that are enabling the growing realisation of the global potential of geothermal energy in all its manifestations.