This open access book describes marked advances in imaging technology that have enabled the visualization of phenomena in ways formerly believed to be completely impossible. These technologies have made major contributions to the elucidation of the pathology of diseases as well as to their diagnosis and therapy. The volume presents various studies from molecular imaging to clinical imaging. It…
This open access book introduces the function, implementation and governance of green infrastructure in Japan and other countries where lands are geologically fragile and climatologically susceptible to climate change. It proposes green infrastructure as an adaptation strategy for climate change and biodiversity conservation. In the face of climate change, dams, levees and floodways built as…
This book integrates diversified methodologies of area studies, regional economic development, regional science, and related fields to draw up a strategy for forming the “regional food industrial cluster” in Northeast Asia. This is done by assigning “innovation” to a core concept, with the basic problem of food security as the horizontal axis and the areas of Northeast Asia as the verti…
This book proposes immunogenomics, or immunopharmacogenomics, as the next-generation big science to uncover the role that the immune system plays in the pathogenesis of many diseases, by summarizing the importance of the deep sequencing of T-cell and B-cell receptors. Immunogenomics/immunopharmacogenomics, a genetic characterization of the immune system made possible by next-generation sequenci…
This book focuses on the fundamental concept of and current endeavors in “urban mining” among those who are interested in both metal resources and ecology. Systems for recycling and reusing precious metals and rare-earth minerals contained in used and discarded electronics are introduced in this book. The target audience is not academic researchers in the resource management and ecology fie…
This book summarizes recent advances in understanding the functions of plant and algal lipids in photosynthesis, in development and signaling, and in industrial applications. As readers will discover, biochemistry, enzymology and analytical chemistry, as well as gene knock-out studies have all contributed to our rapidly increasing understanding of the functions of lipids. In the past few decade…
This book provides a detailed overview of the current understanding of the metabolic system of starch biosynthesis and degradation in plants. The focus is on new topics regarding the functional interaction between multiple enzymes and the initiation process of starch biosynthesis, which are essential for further understanding of related metabolic features. The book also explains and discusses t…
Rapid progress of research in recent years on the biosynthesis, degradation, and structure of starch produced in photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic tissues from a variety of plant species and in algae, including land plants and green algae (Chloroplastida), red algae (Rhodophyceae), and cyanobacteria, lead us to understand the whole scope of the specific metabolic systems in plants. At t…