While contemporaries and historians alike hailed the establishment of Buffalo National Park in Wainwright, Alberta as a wildlife saving effort, the political climate of the early twentieth century worked against its efforts to stem the decline of the plains buffalo in North America. However, the branch charged with operating the park, the Canadian Parks Branch, was never sufficiently funded and…
This timely review volume summarizes the state-of-the-art developments in nature-inspired algorithms and applications with the emphasis on swarm intelligence and bio-inspired computation. Topics include the analysis and overview of swarm intelligence and evolutionary computation, hybrid metaheuristic algorithms, bat algorithm, discrete cuckoo search, firefly algorithm, particle swarm optimizati…
This volume explores recent advances in the use of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) and adult stem cells (ASCs) in basic and clinical applications. The chapters discuss use of PSCs for drug screening, genome editing, modeling of kidney, motor neuron diseases, and diabetes as well as their application in cancer; ASCs are discussed in the contexts of banking of umbilical cord stem cells, use of mu…
Canada is regularly presented as a country where liberalism has ensured freedom and equality for all. Yet with the expansion of settlers into the First Nations territories that became southern Alberta and BC, liberalism proved to be an exclusionary rather than inclusionary force. Between 1877 and 1927, government officials, police officers, church representatives, ordinary settlers, and many ot…
Public spending on infrastructure plays an important role in promoting economic growth and poverty alleviation. Empirical studies unequivocally show that under-investment in infrastructure limit economic growth. At the same time, numerous other studies have shown that investment in infrastructure can be a highly effective tool in fighting poverty reduction1. In that context, the financing of in…
This volume is dedicated to Professor Okyay Kaynak to commemorate his life time impactful research and scholarly achievements and outstanding services to profession. The 21 invited chapters have been written by leading researchers who, in the past, have had association with Professor Kaynak as either his students and associates or colleagues and collaborators. The focal theme of the volume is t…
This book offers a collection of recent contributions and emerging ideas in the areas of robust statistics presented at the International Conference on Robust Statistics 2015 (ICORS 2015) held in Kolkata during 12–16 January, 2015. The book explores the applicability of robust methods in other non-traditional areas which includes the use of new techniques such as skew and mixture of skew dist…
Until recently, it was thought that the adult brain is modifiable only during early stages of ontogenesis. However, neurophysiological and neuroimaging studies now indicate that the mature human brain is, under certain conditions, capable of substantial neuroplastic changes. Neuroplasticity reflects the ability of the human brain to alter the pattern of neural activation in response to previous…
This book is a comprehensive resource on the current understanding of retinoblastoma. It addresses all the essential aspects of retinoblastoma and its management, including: its molecular biology and genetics, management by focal treatment, intraarterial and intravitreal chemotherapy, electroretinogram monitoring of treatment, pharmacokinetic studies, high-risk features, treatment of metastatic…
This comprehensive reference text is based on the master’s courses delivered by Prof. Jacques Robert to graduate students at the University of Bordeaux, France. It includes a large number of colour schemas and figures that have been improved year after year for educational purposes. Signalling pathways are described individually and in depth, but without ignoring the multiplicity of interconn…