eChapters

Human communication rarely depends on a single information modality. People simultaneously interpret language, images, sounds, gestures and contextual signals to understand their surroundings. Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs) seek to reproduce this capability by integrating text, vision and speech within unified computational frameworks. This chapter introduces the evolution and technological foundations of multimodal intelligence and explains how different data modalities can be aligned through shared representations. It examines the architectural components, training paradigms and evaluation methods used to develop multimodal systems. Applications are discussed across healthcare, autonomous systems, education, accessibility, conversational interfaces and intelligent assistants. For example, healthcare applications can combine electronic health records, spoken clinical interactions and medical images to provide richer contextual understanding. Similarly, autonomous vehicles can integrate visual road information, spoken instructions and textual navigation data. The chapter also considers challenges involving multimodal alignment, computational requirements, data quality, hallucination, interpretability and safety. It concludes by highlighting future research toward more natural, context-aware and human-centered AI systems capable of seeing, listening, reasoning and communicating

Large Language Models have moved beyond experimental research environments and now support conversational agents, coding assistants, recommendation systems and intelligent decision-making applications. However, delivering these services to millions of users requires extremely low latency, high throughput, scalability, security and cost efficiency. This chapter examines the engineering principles required for real-time LLM inference and large-scale deployment. It decomposes end-to-end latency into model execution, network and queuing components and discusses techniques for optimizing each stage. Model-level approaches such as quantization, knowledge distillation, LoRA, QLoRA and speculative decoding are examined for reducing computational requirements while maintaining model quality. At the infrastructure level, tensor and sequence parallelism, GPU and TPU acceleration, efficient batching, autoscaling and cloud-native deployment strategies are considered. Key-value caching and speculative decoding are discussed as important methods for reducing response time in interactive applications. The chapter also addresses privacy, confidential computing, real-time PII protection, energy consumption and monitoring of model performance. Practical deployment examples demonstrate how these techniques can support responsive, secure and efficient AI services at production scale.

The rapid growth of Large Language Models has demonstrated that increasing model size, training data and computational resources can significantly improve performance. This chapter examines the theoretical and empirical foundations of scaling laws and their relationship with optimization strategies used to train and deploy increasingly capable LLMs. It discusses the major scaling dimensions of model parameters, dataset size and computational budget and explains how predictable relationships between these factors influence model development. The chapter considers the foundational work on scaling laws and the subsequent movement toward compute-optimal training approaches. It also examines distributed training, advanced optimization algorithms, memory optimization, data curation, quantization, pruning and efficient inference. Particular attention is given to Mixture-of-Experts architectures, efficient attention mechanisms and inference-aware scaling. The interaction between scaling laws and optimization is presented as a synergistic process in which scaling principles guide resource allocation while optimization techniques improve computational efficiency. The chapter concludes by discussing emerging capabilities, sustainability, hardware requirements and responsible scaling of future foundation models.

Glanders is a contagious, acute or chronic, usually fatal anthropo zoonotic disease of Equidae caused by Burkholderia mallei and characterized by serial development of ulcerating nodules that are most commonly found in the upper respiratory tract, lungs, and skin. The first recorded description of glanders is from the third century from Aristotle. In 1664, glanders was recognized as a contagious disease and in 1830, it's zoonotic potential was suspected. In the late 1800's, the Mallein test (1891) was developed for diagnosis of glanders. By 1910, the U.S., Canada and Great Britain all implemented glanders controlprograms. B. mallei was eradicated from the United States in 1929.

Etiology: It is caused by Burkholderia mallei. It is a straight or slightly bent Gm - non-spore forming, non-motile rod. The organisms in old culture appear as pleomorphic. The organisms can grow in ordinary media but addition of defribinated horse blood or glycerol accelerate the growth. Colonies have hop like odour and slime consistency. The organisms are readily destroyed by direct sunlight and most of the disinfectants. They can survive for 20 days in water and 6 weeks in contaminated stable. This organism is closely related to the agent of melioidosis, Burkholderia pseudomallei.

Susceptible hosts: The most susceptible hosts are horses, mules and donkeys. Infections can also occur in dogs, cats, goats and camels; cats may be particularly susceptible. Hamsters and guinea pigs can be infected in the laboratory. It is an occupational /professional hazard to human being. Laboratory samples are highly infectious to humans. Infection have been observed in sheep and goats. Guinea pigs, rabbits and field mice may be infected fatally. Cattle and pigs are absolutely resistant.

Geographic Distribution: Glanders is seen in some Middle Eastern countries, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, parts of China and Mongolia, and Africa. Sporadic cases are also seen in South America. Sporadic cases of glanders were identified between 1985-86 to 1990-91 from the states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. Since reemergence of glanders in July - August 2006 in and around Pune and Panchgani area of Maharastra, several cases have been reported among equines of different states viz., Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab. During the year 2006-07, National Research Centre on Equines, Hissar tested 4395 samples and 97 were detected positive and B. mallei was isolated from 8 of these cases.

Nitrogen is an essential plant nutrient and plays a particularly important role in intensively cultivated irrigated systems. This chapter examines nitrogen management in irrigated soils, where assured water availability and intensive cropping can increase nitrogen demand and create significant nutrient losses. The chapter begins with the functions of nitrogen and the forms in which nitrogen occurs in soil, including inorganic and organic forms. Mineralization and immobilization processes are discussed, along with factors affecting nitrogen mineralization and nitrogen transformations under waterlogged conditions. Major pathways of nitrogen loss, particularly volatilization, denitrification and leaching, are examined because they directly influence nitrogen-use efficiency and environmental quality. The chapter discusses different nitrogen fertilizers, including ammonium sulphate, ammonium chloride, ammonium nitrate and slow-release fertilizers. Nitrification inhibitors and strategies for efficient fertilizer use are also considered. Special attention is given to leaching of urea-N, nitrogen-use efficiency and nitrogen balance in the plant–soil system. The chapter therefore emphasizes balanced nitrogen management for sustaining productivity while reducing nutrient losses

Crop improvement is essential for developing horticultural varieties with superior yield, quality, resistance, and adaptation. This chapter introduces conventional breeding methods such as selection, hybridization, backcrossing, and mutation breeding, along with modern approaches involving molecular markers and biotechnology. Important breeding objectives include disease and pest resistance, abiotic stress tolerance, improved nutritional quality, shelf life, fruit characteristics, and market preference. Modern techniques such as marker-assisted selection, genomic approaches, and genome editing can accelerate the development of improved cultivars. The chapter connects traditional genetic principles with contemporary breeding technologies and explains how integrated breeding strategies can address changing production environments, consumer requirements, and emerging horticultural challenges.

2.1 Audio-Visual Aids Classification

Audio-visual aids are tools that combine auditory and visual stimuli to facilitate learning and improve comprehension. They can make abstract ideas more concrete and understandable. Here's a classification of some commonly used audio-visual aids:

• Audio Aids

• Tape recorders: are tools for teaching that playback sound or music.
• Radio: Programmes can serve as educational resources and audio learning aids.
• Podcasts are digital audio programs or episodes with a focus on learning.

Introduction Papaya fruit is listed under the family Caricaceae. This family has total four genera all over the world. There are about four species found in India under the Carica L. genus. Carica papaya L. is one of the species among them and it is most widely cultivated and very well-known species in India (Kumar and Devi, 2017). It has a thin, little shiny, and green-colored peel which turns into orange colored after ripening. The size of the fruit varies from 5.5 to 5.9 cm in terms of diameter. Papaya has several industrial applications in food processing, pharmaceutical as well as cosmetic industries. According to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2013), India, Indonesia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Nigeria, and Mexico are the countries that produce the largest number of papayas in the world, India being the largest producer (4457.1 tonnes) followed by Brazil (1859.3 tonnes) in the year 2011.

Abstract

Global consumption of wheat during 2021/2022 marketing year reached to 787.4 million metric tons (https://www.statista.com/aboutus/our-researchcommitment/1239/m-shahbandeh). It shows about 4.4 million metric tons increase from the previous year. With the increase in population a significant increase in wheat production is needed to feed 9.7 billion mouths by 2050. A very limited effort can be directed to increase area under wheat production. Diseases and pests of wheat cause significant reduction (>30%) in production and 11-15% of total post-harvest losses of food grains were reported in India, which equates to about 20 million tonne (Basavaraja et al. 2007) and more than AUD10 million per year (Singh 2010). Thus, saving wheat from diseases can significantly contribute to the 2050 food security goal.

Abstract

The natural color of foods is due primarily to carotenoids, anthocyanins, betanin and chlorophylls, either as inherent food constituents or as food or feed additives. These compounds have drawn considerable attention in recent years, not because of their coloring properties, but due to their potential health-promoting effects. Their occurrence and levels in foods, along with the factors that influence the composition, have been widely investigated. Processing effects have been actively studied. In spite of the intense search for plant and microbial sources and efforts to increase yield, few natural food color additives have reached the market. Developing new colors for the food industry is challenging, as colorants need to be compatible with a food flavors, safety, and nutritional value, and which ultimately have a minimal impact on the price of the product. In addition, food colorants should preferably be natural rather than synthetic compounds. Micro-organisms already produce industrially useful natural colorants such as carotenoids and anthocyanins. Microbial food colorants can be produced at scale at relatively low costs. This chapter highlights the significance of color in the food industry, why there is a need to shift to natural food colors compared to synthetic ones and how using microbial pigments as food colorants, instead of colors from other natural sources, is a preferable option.

Background

GMPK is a large professional services partnership firm comprising over 155,000 professionals with presence in more than 156 countries, providing Audit, Tax & Advisory services to some leading companies and governments around the world. In India, the company has two entities with a total of approximately 20000 employees and partners.

For the last four years, GMPK has ranked as an 'Ideal Employer' on a global index of the world's most attractive employers. The index is based on the opinions of close to 130,000 students from renowned academic institutions across many economies, including the United States, China, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and India. GMPK provides its employees with award-winning diversity initiatives and a formal mentoring program.

1 Analysis of Cream

 Sample Preparation

Warm the cream sample to 40 - 50oC if the sample is very viscous. Then pour from one vessel to another 3 to 4 times to mix well. Sample should be tested daily and always within three days after collection since enzymatic deterioration of the cream will cause low tests.

1.1 Determination of Fat Content in Cream

 1.1.1 Gerber Method

 Introduction

Sulphuric acid is added to cream in order to dissolve the protein and other solids and create heat which liquefy and de-emulsify the fat. Iso-amyl alcohol is added to aid the separation of fat. Upon centrifugation, fat being lighter will be separated on top of solution in the cream butyrometer.

Enzymes (biological catalyst) can be defined as a substance which initiates or fastens the reaction rate, without being consumed during the reaction. Enzymes function as a catalyst in various biological processes taking place in all life forms. Although enzyme synthesis takes place inside living cells, they can even function as a catalyst in the in vitro processes, which makes it suitable for many industrial applications. For product formation in any chemical reaction, reactants or substrates has to overcome the transition state.

Abstract

In biocatalysis, isolated enzymes, enzyme mixtures, immobilized enzymes or microbes (enzymes that are still present within the living cells) are used to perform chemical transformation of organic compounds into novel compounds. Both in academia and across chemical and pharmaceutical industry, biocatalysts are used as isolated preparations or in whole cell format or as recombinant proteins produced in alternate host cells. Biocatalysts catalyze novel small molecule transformations that are usually difficult or impossible using traditional synthetic organic chemistry. Biocatalysts exhibit high chemoselectivity, regioselectivity, diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivity towards their substrates. As a result, the use of biocatalysts during chemoenzymatic synthesis minimizes the issues of unwanted side-reactions such as decomposition, isomerization, racemization and rearrangement. The process of biocatalysis has become an important tool in the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and enantiopure compounds. Biocatalysis offers a more sustainable, efficient, and less polluting methods for the production of APIs and advanced pharmaceutical intermediates. Biocatalysts have received tremendous attention in pharmaceutical industry because they typically catalyze reactions under mild conditions, so they do not consume much energy or emit much greenhouse gas. Biocatalysts are currently employed for the development of products in different fields, such as pharmaceuticals or intermediates of their production (e.g., antibiotics, statins, and enantiopure building blocks), fine chemicals (e.g., amino acids and vitamins), and food ingredients (e.g., sweeteners, lipids, and nutraceuticals). However, it would be helpful for the pharmaceutical industry to take advantage of developments in biochemistry, molecular cloning, random and site-directed mutagenesis, advanced tools for enzyme discovery, enzyme-directed evolution, high-throughput laboratory evolution techniques for biocatalyst optimization, immobilization, and fermentation technology to gain access to a new class of biocatalysts (enzymes), cells and other microbes.

Abstract

Fruits like orange (citrus sinensis), mango (mangifera indica), banana (musa paradisiaca), guava (psidium guajava) and pomegranate (punica granatum) contain numerous vitamins, minerals, fibre. These fruits also contain phytochemicals, antioxidant and bioactive compounds including alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, saponin, terpenoids, which enhance the nutritional value and reduce the free radicals and oxidative stress in human body. These fruits also show the anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-arthritic, anti-obesity, anti- diabetic, anti-proliferative, anti-hypertensive properties and are very effective against the pathogenic bacteria, which causes the harmful disease in human body. The chapter provides the production data of these fruits in different countries, their bioactive compounds and their utilization in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries.

Abstract

Water is very essential nutrient and total of only 3% pure water is present on earth. Some natural, anthropogenic and human activities discharge wastes, containing heavy metals into the different water resources and ultimately destroying the ecosystem. Numbers of methods are used for water purification like conventional (includes physical and chemical) and biological. Conventional methods are expensive, generate large quantities of sludge and inefficient at low concentrations of metal. Biological method includes biosorption and bioaccumulation, are ecofriendly and economic and have advantages over conventional methods. Biosorbent material includes microbial biomass, agro-wastes, and industrial by-products are used to treat heavy metal from liquid samples. Actually these biosorbent have number of functional groups on their surfaces which help in binding of metal from aqueous solution. In this article, biosorption of zinc, arsenic and copper are described through lactic acid bacteria that are not harmful, nonsporulating, fastidious, fermentative and generally regarded as safe. Many of these species are probiotic and producing exopolysaccharides and biofilms. It has great resistance to survive in gut environment and efficiency to biosorb metal from gut. It has some significant characteristics that represent a useful tool for decontamination of food and beverages from heavy metals. Biosorption mechanism and factors behind the process make these strains competent of removing these heavy metals.

Bone marrow and lymph node aspiration are useful diagnostic procedures for evaluating haematological and lymphoreticular disorders. This chapter introduces practical techniques for obtaining aspirates and emphasizes appropriate selection of anatomical sites and safe sample collection. Bone marrow examination can provide information about cellular production and abnormalities involving erythroid, myeloid and other cell lines. Lymph node aspirates assist in evaluating enlargement, inflammation, infection and neoplastic processes. Proper preparation, sample handling and cytological evaluation are essential for reliable interpretation. The chapter provides practical guidance for incorporating aspirate findings with clinical examination and laboratory investigations to support a comprehensive diagnostic assessment.

Business Plan

A business plan is a comprehensive document that outlines the goals, strategies, and operational details of a business. It serves as a roadmap for the entrepreneur and communicates the business’s value proposition to potential investors, partners, and stakeholders. A well-structured business plan includes sections on executive summary, company description, market analysis, competitive analysis, marketing and sales strategies, organizational structure, product/service description, financial projections, and funding requirements. Creating a business plan not only helps entrepreneurs clarify their vision and goals but also demonstrates a solid understanding of the market and a clear plan for achieving success.

Introduction

In an era defined by unprecedented connectivity and shared global challenges, the assurance of food security emerges as a cornerstone of human welfare and societal stability. At its core, the concept of global food security embodies a delicate equilibrium—wherein the abundant availability, accessibility, utilization, and consistency of nutritious sustenance are assured for all. Yet, this equilibrium remains precariously fragile amidst a confluence of modern predicaments. The imperatives of nourishment transcend mere sustenance; they intertwine with the fabric of public health, economic fortitude, and societal harmony. The imperious need to address food security issues stems from the stark realities it imposes: a profound impact on individual health, the stifling of economic prosperity, and the potential for social unrest. 

Challenge: High Initial Investment

1. Solution: Government subsidies and financial assistance prograAms can be introduced to incentivize farmers to adopt drone technology. Additionally, academia and researchers can collaborate with drone manufacturers to develop affordable and cost-effective drone solutions tailored to the needs of small-scale farmers.
2. Contribution:
   1. Government: Implement subsidy programs and financial incentives.
   2. Academia and Researchers: Conduct studies to identify cost-effective drone technologies.
   3. Industry and Startups: Develop budget-friendly drone models suitable for agricultural applications.