Identification of Pathogenic Fungi

Identification of a physical system deals with the problem of identifying its mathematical model using the measured input and output data. As the physical system is generally complex, nonlinear, and its input–output data is corrupted noise, there are fundamental theoretical and practical issues that need to be considered. Identification of Physical Systems addresses this need, presenting a systematic, unified approach to the problem of physical system identification and its practical applications. Starting with a least-squares method, the authors develop various schemes to address the issues of accuracy, variation in the operating regimes, closed loop, and interconnected subsystems. Also presented is a non-parametric signal or data-based scheme to identify a means to provide a quick macroscopic picture of the system to complement the precise microscopic picture given by the parametric model-based scheme. Finally, a sequential integration of totally different schemes, such as non-parametric, Kalman filter, and parametric model, is developed to meet the speed and accuracy requirement of mission-critical systems. Key features: Provides a clear understanding of theoretical and practical issues in identification and its applications, enabling the reader to grasp a clear understanding of the theory and apply it to practical problems Offers a self-contained guide by including the background necessary to understand this interdisciplinary subject Includes case studies for the application of identification on physical laboratory scale systems, as well as number of illustrative examples throughout the book Identification of Physical Systems is a comprehensive reference for researchers and practitioners working in this field and is also a useful source of information for graduate students in electrical, computer, biomedical, chemical, and mechanical engineering.

Although there are many texts that provide quality information for the identification of fungi, researchers and technologists rarely have time to read the text. Most are rushed for time and seek morphological information that helps guide them to the identification of fungi. The Atlas of Clinically Important Fungi provides readers with an alphabetical list of fungi as well as listing the division of fungi by both sporulation and morphology. The characteristic traits for a particular fungus are displayed through a series of images, with the fungi appearing as they did in the author's lab on the day(s) that testing was performed. For this reason, numerous (6-20) color photographs are included so that technologists will have sufficient reference photos for identifying the various morphologies of a single organism. Organism photographs begin with the macroscopic colony views followed by the microscopic views. Also included for some microorganisms, are clinical pathology photographs demonstrating how the organism appears in human tissues. A collection of literature citations are also provided to enable further reading. This user-friendly fungi atlas provides a resource for those seeking information in the field of medical mycology, specifically with regards to identifying an organism using the parameters of culture morphology.

A multidisciplinary approach to understanding the fundamentals of mass spectrometry for bacterial analysis From chemotaxonomy to characterization of targeted proteins, Identification of Microorganisms by Mass Spectrometry provides an overview of both well-established and cutting-edge mass spectrometry techniques for identifying microorganisms. A vital tool for microbiologists, health professionals, and analytical chemists, the text is designed to help scientists select the most effective techniques for use in biomedical, biochemical, pharmaceutical, and bioterror defense applications. Since microbiological applications of mass spectrometry require a basic understanding of both microbiology and analytical chemistry, the editors have incorporated material from both disciplines so that readers from either field will come to understand the necessary principles of the other. Featuring contributions from some of the most recognized experts in both fields, this volume provides specific examples of fundamental methods as well as approaches developed in the last decade, including: * Metastable atom bombardment pyrolysis mass spectrometry * Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI) * MALDI time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) of intact bacteria * High-resolution Fourier transform mass spectrometry (FTMS) * Electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry Identification of Microorganisms by Mass Spectrometry represents the most comprehensive and up-to-date work on the topic currently available. It is liberally illustrated with figures and tables and covers every aspect of spectrometric identification of microorganisms, including experimental procedures, various means of sample preparation, data analysis, and interpretation of complex mass spectral data.

Regardless of its size or nature, every industry generates waste and is responsible for imple-menting the practices of pollution prevention and waste minimization in its day-to-day operations. Whether it's dirty water or toxic wastes, industrial pollution is all the same in one way: it reduces a business's profitability. Identification of Cleaner Production Improvement Opportunities urges environmental, health, and safety department managers, industrial environmental consultants, and personnel across all chemical engineering industries to employ a forward-thinking and tested technology of process improvements that will reduce waste generation, reduce the resources requirements to manufacture a product, and, most important to the life of a business, increase revenues. This new publication consists of the following five sections: * Section I: The relationships among cleaner production, waste, cleaner production analyses, and their business values * Section II: How to develop a cleaner production program * Section III: The data requirements and data analyses for the opportunity identification step * Section IV: The opportunity identification step * Section V: How to assess and rank the best ideas Industry expert and chair of AIChE's Environmental Division, Kenneth Mulholland introduces methodology in this manual that has been used to identify process improvement opportunities for more than fifty processes, including pharmaceutical intermediates, elastomer monomers and polymers, polyester intermediates and polymers, batch processes such as agricultural products and paints, chlorofluoro-hydrocarbon and chlorocarbon processes, and specialty chemicals and waste water treatment facilities. With no product changes or new technology necessary, these process improvements have produced a 200 percent internal rate of return and reduced waste generation by 40 percent to 50 percent.

The Novartis Foundation Series is a popular collection of the proceedings from Novartis Foundation Symposia, in which groups of leading scientists from a range of topics across biology, chemistry and medicine assembled to present papers and discuss results. The Novartis Foundation, originally known as the Ciba Foundation, is well known to scientists and clinicians around the world.

This newly updated edition covers a wide range of topics relevant to fungal biology, appealing to academia and industry Fungi are extremely important microorganisms in relation to human and animal wellbeing, the environment, and in industry. The latest edition of the highly successful Fungi: Biology and Applications teaches the basic information required to understand the place of fungi in the world while adding three new chapters that take the study of fungi to the next level. Due to the number of recent developments in fungal biology, expert author Kevin Kavanagh found it necessary to not only update the book as a whole, but to also provide new chapters covering Fungi as Food, Fungi and the Immune Response, and Fungi in the Environment. Proteomics and genomics are revolutionizing our understanding of fungi and their interaction with the environment and/or the host. Antifungal drug resistance is emerging as a major problem in the treatment of fungal infections. New fungal pathogens of plants are emerging as problems in temperate parts of the world due to the effect of climate change. Fungi: Biology and Applications, Third Edition offers in-depth chapter coverage of these new developments and more—ultimately exposing readers to a wider range of topics than any other existing book on the subject. Includes three new chapters, which widen the scope of fungi biology for readers Takes account of recent developments in a wide range of areas including proteomics and genomics, antifungal drug resistance, medical mycology, physiology, genetics, and plant pathology Provides extra reading at the end of each chapter to facilitate the learning process Fungi: Biology and Applications is designed for undergraduate students, researchers, and those working with fungi for the first time (postgraduates, industrial scientists).

Electrical Engineering System Identification A Frequency Domain Approach How does one model a linear dynamic system from noisy data? This book presents a general approach to this problem, with both practical examples and theoretical discussions that give the reader a sound understanding of the subject and of the pitfalls that might occur on the road from raw data to validated model. The emphasis is on robust methods that can be used with a minimum of user interaction. Readers in many fields of engineering will gain knowledge about: * Choice of experimental setup and experiment design * Automatic characterization of disturbing noise * Generation of a good plant model * Detection, qualification, and quantification of nonlinear distortions * Identification of continuous- and discrete-time models * Improved model validation tools and from the theoretical side about: * System identification * Interrelations between time- and frequency-domain approaches * Stochastic properties of the estimators * Stochastic analysis System Identification: A Frequency Domain Approach is written for practicing engineers and scientists who do not want to delve into mathematical details of proofs. Also, it is written for researchers who wish to learn more about the theoretical aspects of the proofs. Several of the introductory chapters are suitable for undergraduates. Each chapter begins with an abstract and ends with exercises, and examples are given throughout.

Fungi: Biology and Applications is a comprehensive, balanced introduction of the biology, biotechnological applications and medical significance of fungi. With no prior knowledge of the subject assumed, the opening chapters offer a broad overview of the basics of fungal biology, in particular the physiology and genetics of fungi. Later chapters move on to include more detailed coverage of topics such as proteomics, bioinformatics, heterologous protein expression, medical mycology, anti-fungal drug development and function, fungal biotechnology and fungal pathogens of economically important plants. Carefully structured, each chapter contains self-assessment exercises with answers included at the end of the book to enhance student understanding. * A comprehensive treatment of the medical and economic importance of fungi to everyday life * Chapters include revision sections and problems to reinforce key concepts * Invaluable for undergraduates taking a first course on fungal biology or mycology. * also of interest to those working within the field looking for an up-to-date introduction.

Blind identification consists of estimating a multi-dimensional system only through the use of its output, and source separation, the blind estimation of the inverse of the system. Estimation is generally carried out using different statistics of the output. The authors of this book consider the blind identification and source separation problem in the complex-domain, where the available statistical properties are richer and include non-circularity of the sources – underlying components. They define identifiability conditions and present state-of-the-art algorithms that are based on algebraic methods as well as iterative algorithms based on maximum likelihood theory. Contents 1. Mathematical Preliminaries. 2. Estimation by Joint Diagonalization. 3. Maximum Likelihood ICA. About the Authors Eric Moreau is Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Toulon, France. His research interests concern statistical signal processing, high order statistics and matrix/tensor decompositions with applications to data analysis, telecommunications and radar. T?lay Adali is Professor of Electrical Engineering and Director of the Machine Learning for Signal Processing Laboratory at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA. Her research interests concern statistical and adaptive signal processing, with an emphasis on nonlinear and complex-valued signal processing, and applications in biomedical data analysis and communications. Blind identification consists of estimating a multidimensional system through the use of only its output. Source separation is concerned with the blind estimation of the inverse of the system. The estimation is generally performed by using different statistics of the outputs. The authors consider the blind estimation of a multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) system that mixes a number of underlying signals of interest called sources. They also consider the case of direct estimation of the inverse system for the purpose of source separation. They then describe the estimation theory associated with the identifiability conditions and dedicated algebraic algorithms. The algorithms depend critically on (statistical and/or time frequency) properties of complex sources that will be precisely described.

A comprehensive guide to the identification, assessment, and treatment of child sexual abuse The field of child sexual abuse has experienced an explosion of research, literature, and enhanced treatment methods over the last thirty years. Representing the latest refinements of thought in this field, Handbook of Child Sexual Abuse: Identification, Assessment, and Treatment combines the most current research with a wealth of clinical experience. The contributing authors, many of whom are pioneers in their respective specialties, include researchers and clinicians, forensic interviewers and law enforcement professionals, caseworkers and victim advocates, all of whom do the work of helping children who have been sexually victimized. Offering a snapshot of the state of the field as it stands today, Handbook of Child Sexual Abuse explores a variety of issues related to child sexual abuse, from identification, assessment, and treatment methods to models for implementation and prevention, including: The impact of sexual abuse on the developing brain The potential implications of early sexual victimization Navigating the complexities of multidisciplinary teams Forensic interviewing and clinical assessment Treatment options for children who have traumagenic symptoms as a response to their sexual victimization Treating children with sexual behavior problems and adolescents who engage in illegal sexual behavior Secondary trauma and vicarious traumatization Cultural considerations and prevention efforts Edited by a leader in the field of child therapy, this important reference equips helping professionals on the front lines in the battle against child sexual abuse—not merely with state-of-the-art knowledge—but also with a renewed vision for the importance of their role in the shaping of our culture and the healing of victimized children.