Lixin Zhang – författare

A fresh examination of the past successes of natural products as medicines and their new future from both conventional and new technologies. High-performance liquid chromatography profiling, combinatorial synthesis, genomics, proteomics, DNA shuffling, bioinformatics, and genetic manipulation all now make it possible to rapidly evaluate the activities of extracts as well as purified components derived from microbes, plants, and marine organisms. The authors apply these methods to new natural product drug discoveries, to microbial diversity, to specific groups of products (Chinese herbal drugs, antitumor drugs from microbes and plants, terpenoids, and arsenic compounds), and to specific sources (the sea, rainforest, and endophytes). These new opportunities show how research and development trends in the pharmaceutical industry can advance to include both synthetic compounds and natural products, and how this paradigm shift can be more productive and efficacious.

A fresh examination of the past successes of natural products as medicines and their new future from both conventional and new technologies.

This book advances a new evaluation theory—Network-Informed Complex Evaluation—and presents a corresponding conceptual framework, methodological approaches, and applications of social network analysis for assessing complex health programs. Its primary purpose is to provide a structured, theory-driven integration of social network analysis into program evaluation, particularly within healthcare and public health. Rather than an introductory guide to social network analysis, this book demonstrates how network thinking can be systematically embedded within evaluation theory and practice.Programs advancing health equity operate within dynamic, interconnected systems shaped by social, structural, and institutional forces. While various evaluation methods are available, there remains a critical need for innovative approaches capable of capturing these dynamics. Social network analysis has increasingly been applied to address such complexity; however, its application remains limited due to the lack of unified conceptual and methodological guidance. To meaningfully inform the evaluation of complex health programs, social network analysis must be conceptually grounded, methodologically rigorous, and aligned with multilevel social-ecological systems. This book addresses this gap by offering an accessible blueprint for integrating network-informed approaches into evaluation practice. It provides step-by-step guidance to help practitioners design and implement network-informed evaluations across individual, organizational, and system levels. Topics covered include:Foundations of Network-Informed Complex Evaluation TheoryContext Assessment in Networked SystemsDeveloping Program Theory Through a Network-Informed LensEvaluation Design and Knowledge Production in Networked ContextsImplementing Network-Informed Complex Evaluation in PracticeNetwork-Informed Complex Evaluation is an essential resource for evaluation practitioners, public health professionals, intervention implementers, and researchers. It is primarily intended for evaluators seeking to integrate network analysis into the assessment of complex programs, particularly in healthcare and public health contexts. The book is also relevant to practitioners and researchers in other fields who aim to incorporate network-informed approaches into the evaluation of complex programs. It also serves as a supplementary text for graduate and professional courses in program evaluation, public health, social work, and related disciplines.

Photosynthesis is the process by which plants, algae and certain species of bacteria transform solar energy into chemical energy in the form of organic molecules. In fact, all life on the planet ultimately depends on photosynthetic energy conversion. The book provides a compressive and state-of-the-art of very recent progress on photosynthesis research. The topics span from atom to intact plants, from femtosecond reactions to season long production, from physics to agronomy. The book is to offer advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and research specialists the most recent advances in the all aspects of photosynthesis research. The book is intended to offer researchers detailed information on the most recent advances in all aspects of photosynthesis research.  Tingyun Kuang is a professor at Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Academician of CAS; Congming Lu is a professor at Institute of Botany, CAS; Lixin Zhang is a professor at Institute of Botany, CAS and the Chief Scientist in the National Basic Research Program of China on photosynthesis.