Böcker utgivna av Mdpi AG

Modern financial management is largely about risk management, which is increasingly data-driven. The problem is how to extract information from the data overload. It is here that advanced statistical and machine learning techniques can help. Accordingly, finance, statistics, and data analytics go hand in hand. The purpose of this book is to bring the state-of-art research in these three areas to the fore and especially research that juxtaposes these three.

"Sámi Religion: Religious Identities, Practices, and Dynamics" explores expressions of ''''Sámi religion'''' in contemporary cultures, the role it plays in identity politics and heritagization processes, and the ways the past and present are entangled. In recent years, attitudes towards ''''Sámi religion'''' have changed both within religious, cultural, political, and educational contexts as a consequence of what can be called the ''''Indigenous turn''''. Contemporary, indigenous religion is approached as a something that adds value by a range of diverse actors and for a variety of reasons. In this Special Issue, we take account of emic categories and connections, focusing on which notions of ''''Sámi religion'''' are used today by religious entrepreneurs and others who share and promote these types of spiritual beliefs, and how Sámi religion is taking shape on a plenitude of arenas in contemporary society.

Electric power systems are headed for a true changing of the guard, due to the urgent need for achieving sustainable energy delivery. Fortunately, the development of new technologies is driving the transition of power systems toward a carbon-free paradigm while maintaining the current standards of quality, efficiency, and resilience. The introduction of HVDC and FACTS in the 20th century, taking advantage of dramatic improvements in power electronics and control, gave rise to unprecedented levels of flexibility and speed of response in comparison with traditional electromechanical devices. This flexibility is nowadays required more than ever in order to solve a puzzle with pieces that do not always fit perfectly. This Special Issue aims to address the role that FACTS and HVDC systems can play in helping electric power systems face the challenges of the near future.

The field of design and health, formerly known as the domain of healthcare design professionals, has now reached a turning point with the proliferation of a plethora of non-invasive wearable technologies, to provide the objective and near-real-time measurement of the impact of many features of the built environment on aspects of health, wellbeing and performance. In turn, new materials and the Internet of Things are allowing the development of smart buildings, which can interact with occupants to optimize their health, wellbeing, performance and overall experience. Companies that have previously focused on positioning themselves as "green" are now turning to positioning themselves in the marketplace as both green and healthy. This Special Issue will include articles that address new cutting edge technologies and materials at the interface between design and health, and review some of the latest findings related to studies which use these technologies. This SI will also suggest exciting future directions for the field. It will include articles which focus on the objective data gathered to document the effects of the built environment on health. Importantly, it will focus on the use of innovative methods of measurement, such as state-of-the-art wearable and environmental sensors, quantifying some aspects of health, such as stress and relaxation responses, activity, posture, sleep quality, cognitive performance and wellbeing outcomes. It will also examine the impacts of different elements of the built environment on these health and wellbeing outcomes. The published articles will focus on the design interventions informed by these measurements, along with innovative integrated building materials that can shape the design of built environments for better health, productivity, and performance. It will also address the return on investment (ROI) of such design interventions. This Special Issue will provide both the foundational knowledge and fundamentals for characterizing human health and wellbeing in the built environment, as well as the emerging trends and design methods for innovations in this field.

This Special Issue will deal with pathophysiological as well as the phenomenological signs of insomnia. For example, Is ''hyperarousal'' outdated? What is the difference between acute and chronic insomnia? What sleep disorders are linked to traumatic brain injuries? How is social facial recognition impacted by insomnia? What factors are linked to socioeconomic factors and alcohol consumption in the face of insomnia? We aim to set forward new thinking about insomnia research, including unchartered territories needing to be explored. Reviews, meta-analyses, and new experimental research are welcome in this Issue.

In recent years, technological breakthroughs have greatly enhanced our ability to understand the complex world of molecular biology. Rapid developments in genomic profiling techniques, such as high-throughput sequencing, have brought new opportunities and challenges to the fields of computational biology and bioinformatics. Furthermore, by combining genomic profiling techniques with other experimental techniques, many powerful approaches (e.g., RNA-Seq, Chips-Seq, single-cell assays, and Hi-C) have been developed in order to help explore complex biological systems. As a result of the increasing availability of genomic datasets, in terms of both volume and variety, the analysis of such data has become a critical challenge as well as a topic of great interest. Therefore, statistical methods that address the problems associated with these newly developed techniques are in high demand. This book includes a number of studies that highlight the state-of-the-art statistical methods for the analysis of genomic data and explore future directions for improvement.

The aim of this Special Issue is to immerse the reader in the latest green metallurgy technology. The production process in traditional metallurgical industry uses large amounts of fossil fuels, which consume energy and emit CO2 intensively, facing enormous challenges in energy and the environment. The industry is in urgent need of advanced techniques for replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy, and decreasing energy consumption and CO2 emission. Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy, energy recovery, and advanced technology will lead to the development of the green metallurgical industry. In addition, the strengthening mechanisms and smelting processes of non-quenched and tempered steel for automobiles and high-nitrogen steel smelting technology will allow us to master the mechanism of green metallurgy production and decrease fossil fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions from the metallurgy process. The Special Issue mainly focuses on six selected topics, such as biomass energy and solar energy as replacements for fossil fuels, resource utilization of metallurgical slag, low-carbon smelting technology in steel, CO2 resource utilization, strengthening mechanisms and smelting processes of non-quenched and tempered steel for automobiles, high-nitrogen steel smelting technology, achieving green metallurgy production. The latest green metallurgy technology could provide the next direction for steel and iron production.

It is well known that the roles and consequences of symmetry in mathematics and related sciences are very important. In this reprint, we aim to establish some theoretical results (and their applications) in the fields of mathematical and functional analyses, in which the concept of symmetry plays an essential role. In particular, we aim to investigate various problems in areas such as optimization problems, polynomial approximation on unbounded subsets, moment problems, variational inequalities, evolutionary problems, dynamical systems, generalized convexity, partial differential equations, and special spaces of self-adjoint operators. Some of these areas of research are strongly intercorrelated.

Violence is a multifaceted phenomenon that infiltrates various cultures and systems, necessitating a comprehensive understanding to enhance prevention and intervention strategies. This Special Issue reprint includes systematic and scoping reviews on diverse forms of violence, aiming for improved characterization. It highlights the growing focus of research on the urgent need for specific preventive measures against both traditional and emerging forms of violence. Additionally, the issue encompasses empirical, quantitative, and qualitative research aimed at deepening insights into the dynamics unique to various expressions of violence. These include offline (e.g., dating violence, sexual harassment, gender-based violence, and intimate partner violence) and online violence (e.g., cyber interpersonal violence), across different social and cultural contexts and among various population groups, including minorities and vulnerable groups (e.g., elderly women). By enriching our understanding of violence and emphasizing the need for a comprehensive strategy to address it across different contexts and populations, these contributions aim to support the creation of safer, more inclusive societies through informed research and policymaking.

This reprint is a collection of papers published in the Special Issue "Soft Magnetic Materials and Their Application". The aim of this Special Issue was to present the latest achievements in the synthesis, fundamentals, characterization, and applications of soft magnetic materials, including soft ferrites, alloys, and composites, together with their processing technology, characterization, and applications in electronics, motors, wave absorbing, sensors, communications, etc. Seventeen papers are published in this Special Issue. For convenience of reading, these papers can be divided into four categories according to the contents of their studies: I. Soft Ferrite Materials; II. Soft Magnetic Alloys and Composites; III. Characterization of Soft Magnetic Materials; and IV. Applications of Soft Magnetic Materials.

Trace contaminants in food both cause food-borne diseases and seriously threaten health in humans. Accurate, sensitive, and effective analytical strategies are necessary to ensure food safety. Metal-based, carbon-based, or other nanomaterials have been used in various analytical strategies to improve food safety. Significant progress has been made in the purification of complex food matrices, analysis of new signals, and performance of existing methods. These emerging technologies based on nanomaterials give full play to the advantages of nanomaterials and improve the accuracy, sensitivity, time consumption, and convenience of food safety testing to varying degrees. This reprint aims to summarize the latest research results on emerging technologies for food safety testing based on various nanomaterials, in order to promote the further development of food-safety-analysis-related technologies.

Magnetron sputtering technology is one of the most popular PVD methods used in the industry. Its importance is predicted to increase due to the current developments in research centers engaged in that particular domain. Developments are due to the modifications introduced into the sputtering technology itself (e.g., the use of innovative plasma sources, innovative technical means for influencing the state of the magnetron plasma, innovative approaches to the plasma's state and its control) and the production of new coating materials with functional properties that enable them to meet the needs of the modern industry. This reprint aims to present a collection of ideas describing recent advances in thin-film manufacturing technology, focusing on the influence of magnetron sputtering modification on the film synthesis conditions, parameters, and properties of the films that are produced.

The aim of this reprint is to immerse the readers in the latest advancement of nanomaterials for chemical engineering. The superior properties of nanomaterials are helping greatly to improve and even revolutionize the development of various technology- and industry-based sectors. Nonetheless, many challenges are still present in this area, which provide fascinating yet challenging research topics. This is a reprint of the Special Issue "Nanomaterials for Chemical Engineering (Volume II)". It collects 15 original research articles and 1 comprehensive review paper by excellent scientists from relevant fields covering the topics of nanomaterials synthesis and characterization, the engineering of nanomaterials into composites with novel properties, the development of functional nanomaterials for applications in catalysis and pollutant treatment, the evaluation of the durability and environmental friendliness of the nanomaterials, etc. Moreover, this reprint is at the forefront of global scientific research by including studies on the application of machine learning in the field of nanomaterials for chemical engineering.

Intelligent medicine and health care are flourishing due to the integration of interdisciplinary factors, including artificial intelligence, electrophysiology, signal processing, medical imaging, complex theory, electronics, and clinics. We are entering an era in which multidimensional and big data play important roles in developing applications for medicine and health care. There are many state-of-the-art technologies and applications that address advanced data analysis and learning, embedded artificial intelligence, clinical decision support, ubiquitous patient monitoring, and rehabilitation. This Special Issue collected 10 recent studies on emerging interdisciplinary methods, techniques, and systems for intelligent medicine and health care.

Eating disorders (EDs) are psychological conditions that have a significant impact on physical health (e.g., gastrointestinal, renal, and cardiovascular) and psychological well-being (e.g., relationships with others, personal growth, and autonomy). The most common eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. These three conditions cause clinical impairment in different areas of functioning and share an excessive focus on weight and body image, leading to dangerous eating styles that affect the body's ability to obtain adequate nutrition. Behavioral addictions (BAs) are non-substance-related addictions characterized by an individual's incapacity to resist impulses toward rewarding stimuli despite the adverse consequences. Aside from gambling and gaming disorders (the two most frequent conditions within the spectrum of BAs), other maladaptive and uncontrolled behaviors include compulsive sexual behaviors, compulsive buying, and kleptomania. The etiology of EDs and BAs comprises a complex network of biological, psychological, and contextual social factors. The onset of these conditions is usually during school age and adolescence; the progression of these disorders occurs throughout the lifespan. Diverse phenotypes have been identified according to ED and BA subtypes, and it has been observed that the physio-pathological mechanisms underlying each behavioral profile can play a role in the treatment outcomes.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to cover the areas of sustainable education, education for sustainable development, and sustainability in education to understand the distinction amongst them. We also aimed to see if a connecting point could be found where these topics could become nuptial to play a sustainable role in the development of education and society, as well as beyond.

This Reprint focuses on recent studies on the seismic performance evaluation and improvement of infrastructures, including buildings and bridges. The development and application of base isolators and dampers to enhance the seismic resilience of structures is of particular interest. In addition, multi-hazard assessment considering earthquakes and other hazards such as fire and pedestrian-induced vibration is another interest. The adopted research techniques include the traditional finite element method, experimental tests, and the up-to-date machine learning-based approach.

Governments, organizations, and schools around the world are committed to providing a safe and friendly learning environment for students. However, bullying, truancy, violence, discrimination, and addiction are still common in schools around the world due to students' maladaptive and deviant behaviors. While educators have focused on such issues over the past few decades, with the boom in internet use, the impact of adverse events in schools has expanded from offline to online, and this has become a globally important public health issue. In addition, adverse events continue to occur, even as educators work to intervene and prevent these events. Due to these issues, it is necessary to continue to explore the causes and effects of these maladaptive and deviant behaviors and the effectiveness of interventions over time. These findings will help governments, organizations, educators, and communities worldwide to address and prevent the occurrence of maladaptive and deviant behaviors in schools. Therefore, our journal presents a Special Issue on this topic. In this Special Issue, 18 articles have been included, covering editorials, research papers, systematic literature reviews, commentary articles, and more. We believe that this Special Issue reprint will contribute to understanding the reasons behind and counseling strategies for improving maladaptive and deviant behaviors in schools.

Psycho-educational assessments, such as intelligence tests, cognitive test batteries and behavioral measures, serve as invaluable tools for school psychologists and educators. They provide profound insights into children's learning and behavioral profiles, enhancing our understanding of their academic and cognitive capacities. This reprint of the Special Issue titled "Psycho-Educational Assessments: Theory and Practice" includes a collection of sixteen articles that delve into the different facets of psycho-educational assessments. Each article serves as a testament to our remarkable journey in understanding and enhancing the psycho-educational assessment landscape, from exploring the efficacy of psycho-educational assessments in diagnosing a range of learning difficulties to different statistical techniques for analyzing psycho-educational constructs, such as local structural equation models and multidimensional scaling. As the editor of this Special Issue, I anticipate that the articles showcased herein will serve as catalysts for meaningful discourse, igniting innovative ideas and enriching the ongoing evolution of psycho-educational assessment.

Viral vectors are gene transfer tools assembled from the backbones of naturally occurring viruses. These replication-incompetent vehicles transfer assigned payloads into eukaryotic cells. Numerous viral vector systems that influence cells or tissues have been used to perform basic and preclinical research. Some virus-derived vectors found their way into clinical practice.

Agricultural engineering and sustainable development are intrinsically linked, and all fields of agricultural engineering have great potential to improve global sustainability, from the development and use of innovative machinery to the latest application of digital and precision farming solutions. This reprint, "Innovations in Agricultural Engineering and Mechanization for Sustainable Agriculture, Forestry, and Food Production", is a collection of cutting-edge research and advances in the field of agricultural engineering and mechanization, offering new perspectives and practical tools for navigating the complex realities of our time. The volume delves into a wide range of topics, showcasing the originality of researchers from around the world. From the application of bio-based inputs and efficient distribution to advances in precision agriculture, robotics, and resource-saving technologies, the chapters within paint a comprehensive picture of the evolving landscape of sustainable food production.

The third volume of this Special Issue includes ten contributions (eight research and two review papers) from across the world, focused on very interesting research topics. These studies are as follows: Numerical Simulation and Experimental Validation of Thermal Break Strips' Improvement in Facade LSF Walls; Embodied vs. Operational Energy and Carbon in Retail Building Shells: A Case Study in Portugal; Evaluation of Heated Window System to Enhance Indoor Thermal Comfort and Reduce Heating Demands Based on Simulation Analysis in South Korea; Thermal Performance of Lightweight Steel Framed Facade Walls Using Thermal Break Strips and ETICS: A Parametric Study; Application of Machine Learning to Assist a Moisture Durability Tool; Energy Design Synthesis: Algorithmic Generation of Building Shape Configurations; Simplified Guidelines for Retrofitting Scenarios in the European Countries; Thermophysical Parameters and Hygrothermal Simulation of Aerogel-Based Fibre-Enhanced Thermal Insulating Renders Applied on Exterior Walls; Energy Efficiency of Tall Buildings: A Global Snapshot of Innovative Design; and, finally, Advanced Active and Passive Methods in Residential Energy Efficiency.

Mathematical models constitute a fundamental tool for the understanding of physical phenomena, biological systems, and finance and engineering. In addition to theoretical aspects, simulations play a primary role in applications because they allow for the prediction of the behavior of quantities of interest. The aim of this reprint is to present original research of the contributing authors, providing the reader with a sample of actual investigation in the field of applied mathematics.

This Special Issue of Fractal and Fractional entitled "Fractional Order Systems with Application to Electrical Power Engineering" showcases the latest research in fractional-order system applications for power engineering. Highlighting fractional calculus's role in modeling, design, analysis, and control, this Special Issue focuses on power electronics, electric motor drives, power systems, and more. Fractional calculus, known for modeling complex dynamic behaviors with higher precision than traditional methods, introduces memory properties and historical dependence, enhancing design flexibility. Covering a range of topics from modeling and simulation to robust control strategies and energy efficiency, this Special Issue places a special emphasis on frequency and voltage control, along with stability in fractional-order energy systems. It addresses the integration of power converters, power quality, and reliability, offering insights into improving performance and resilience in energy systems. Targeted at professionals in electrical and power engineering, this collection enriches the academic and practical discourse, providing solutions to contemporary challenges in system design and optimization. It stands as a significant contribution to advancing fractional-order systems, underscoring their importance in energy system efficiency and stability.

The identification of vulnerability characteristics and assessing the performance of existing structures with regard to earthquakes are essential steps in reducing the losses and enhancing the resilience of societies and cities. In the past, most of the initial work on structural assessment was based only on the visual inspection of buildings, NDT methods, and engineering judgement. The last decade, however, has seen a growth in the technological development of various tools that are able to greatly support the prediction of structural safety. The mentioned topics are greatly expressed in pre- and post- earthquake assessments, reconstructions, and renovations of buildings and cities. Case studies of real examples represent a bridge between practice and research. They provide a method for research in which the complexity of the process and outcome of the results contribute to a valuable database for all techniques in preserving the existing building stock. This Collection aims to compile original and high-quality papers and case studies that address the assessment, monitoring, reconstruction, maintenance, and preservation of existing structures.

Recent global events have underscored the critical need for advancing research on buildings and fortifying their resilience against the escalating threat of natural hazards. One paramount task in this pursuit is the rapid and precise assessment of existing buildings' vulnerability to natural hazard activities-a crucial endeavor that demands simplicity, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. The dispersion of big data and the complexity of conducting a detailed construction analysis can hinder the expeditious identification of vulnerable structures, especially in the face of a large-scale mitigation campaign. This Special Issue focuses on the development and application of modern computational techniques in the assessment of a building's vulnerability to natural hazards. This collection explores innovative methods, such as artificial neural networks and fuzzy logicmachine learning, which have demonstrated unparalleled efficiency in dealing with big data and capturing non-linear relationships among various parameters affecting a building's resilience against earthquakes, floods, and other natural disasters. The articles within this Special Issue delved into the practical implementation of these soft computational techniques, offering insights into their reliability and applicability. By bridging the gap between traditional construction analysis and the urgency of identifying vulnerable buildings, this Special Issue aims to pave the way for a fast and reliable methodology that aligns with the demands of our dynamic urban landscapes.

Many advanced control methods have been proposed in the past to improve the operation of buildings. This reprint collected publications dealing with advanced control solutions implemented in existing buildings to improve their performance. Moreover, it gathers promising methodologies to facilitate the adoption of advanced control solutions in the building control industry. It includes virtual sensing for indoor air pollutants, novel models to predict indoor air temperature as well as building heating and cooling loads; and model-based controls, predictive controls, and predictive maintenance algorithms to optimize setpoint tracking and the operation of building heating and cooling systems.