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Food choice, acceptance, preference, and consumption are affected by many factors, including both intrinsic and extrinsic factors and cues. Emotions are becoming a critical component in designing products that meet consumers' needs and expectations. Emotional profiles may effectively differentiate products with similar sensory characteristics and hedonic ratings; hence, they may provide additional information that goes beyond traditional hedonic ratings. In addition to the sensory quality of food, food-evoked emotion has been reported to be critical in predicting a consumer's food preference, acceptance, and food choice, which are, in turn, critical in developing novel products. Appropriate health benefit information has also been reported to impact emotion, purchase decisions, and food choices. Human senses and cues play an instrumental role in food choice and intake, emotion, and product acceptance; hence, understanding their roles and importance is critical. This Special Issue includes both original and cutting-edge research and comprehensive reviews contributing to a deeper understanding of food-evoked emotion, food choice, preference, acceptance, and consumption. The editor hopes that the readers will find this Special Issue insightful and interesting. The work presented in this Special Issue inspired and encouraged future exploration of multidisciplinary research collaboration which would lead to a better understanding of the complex relationship among emotion, acceptance, preference, choice, and consumption of food.

With the implementation of relevant strategies such as the Western Development, major national infrastructure construction is being carried out at an unprecedented speed in China. The failure mechanism and mechanical behavior of rock masses in high-stress environments are extremely complex and diverse. They have a significant impact on the design, evaluation, and operation of deep rock mass engineering. This research topic aims to highlight the influence of high stress on the failure behaviors and mechanical properties of brittle rock under high stress. The seepage characteristics, failure mechanism and mechanical properties of rock mass at various sizes, e.g., micro-, meso-, macro and engineering sizes, under statics dynamics, seepage and high-temperature conditions were investigated. Additionally, CT scanning technology, low-field nuclear magnetic resonance, scanning electron microscopy, physical experiments, numerical simulations, the back analysis method and other methods were applied. The failure process, failure characteristics, instability mechanism and deformation behavior of rock mass (engineering) were comprehensively compared and analyzed. By reading this reprint, one can gain a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of rock brittle failure behavior under high-stress conditions. It is of great significance to perform a stability evaluation of rock engineering practices, such as underground excavation, shale gas production, and deep tunnel transportation.

Biodegradable polymers are polymeric materials that self-destruct as a result of natural microbiological and chemical processes. Such materials have widespread applications.First of all, biodegradable materials are used in the field of biomedicine, including for the controlled delivery of drugs and the creation of implants for tissue engineering. The range of scaffolds used for in situ tissue engineering includes hydrogels, aerogels, films, nanoparticles, monolithic, fibrous, microporous, and 3D-printed scaffolds. Biodegradable materials may function at the time of implantation or perform the intended function and be integrated with the host after implantation.Other applications, such as those for environmental protection (packaging materials with controlled degradation rates) and agriculture, are also relevant. Edible and/or biodegradable packages formed from multiple compounds (composite materials) are being developed to exploit the functional properties of constituent materials and overcome their respective disadvantages.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease, currently affecting more than 10 million people worldwide. There is currently no identified treatment and only symptomatic relief can be offered. The disease has clinical and pathological definitions through its cardinal motor manifestations and substantia nigra neuronal loss associated with intraneuronal Lewy bodies, respectively. The molecular mechanisms that lead to neurodegeneration remain elusive. It is becoming increasingly apparent that genetic factors contribute to its complex pathogenesis, with 90 loci from genome-wide association studies and many monogenic causes unraveled in the past years. The knowledge acquired from their protein products revealed pathways of neurodegeneration that Mendelian and sporadic Parkinsonism may share. These pathways include synaptic, lysosomal, mitochondrial, and immune-mediated mechanisms of pathogenesis. This Special Issue, "Parkinson's Disease: Genetics and Pathogenesis", collected 12 high-quality papers, including 7 original research articles and 5 reviews, that seek to deepen the knowledge of multiple aspects related to Parkinsonism.

Quantum chaos, or wave chaos, has relatively recently received a revival, with much interest and attention in many branches of physics, theoretical, experimental and computational. It encompasses a broad range of topics, from various few-body and many-body dynamical systems to nano and mesoscopic systems, condensed matter physics, molecular and atomic physics, quantum field theories, high-energy physics, string theories and even cosmology. It is also relevant in many other wave systems, namely electromagnetic waves, acoustic waves, elastic waves, water surface waves, seismic waves and gravitational waves. This Special Issue contains 36 original research papers and 2 review papers by many pioneers and leaders in quantum chaos and classical chaos, and by several authors of the younger generation. The contents clearly reflect the importance and broadness of this scientific field, offering new contributions to progress in almost all of the abovementioned topics. We are thus witnessing fundamental progress in understanding quantum few-body as well as many-body systems, from the dynamical aspects to statistical aspects, which also involves issues in the statistical physics of quantum systems, both in equilibrium as well as in nonequilibrium states. The richness of the scientific content of this unique Special Issue underlines the important contributions by Professor Giulio Casati over more than five decades, thereby honoring him on the occasion of his 80th birthday and thanking him for his fundamental work on classical and quantum chaos and much more.

The world population is increasing significantly, and is expected to reach almost 10 billion in the year 2050. At the same time, observed climate change is accelerating and strongly affecting agricultural production. These aspects, as well as the latest socioeconomic limitations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, bring new challenges to modern agriculture and the need to have high production efficiency combined with a high quality of obtained products in accordance with the principles of sustainable production. This applies to both crop and livestock production, as well as the other domains related to food production.To meet these challenges, advanced digital innovation techniques are more and more frequently being used, including those based on machine learning, artificial neural networks, the Internet of things (IoT), and big data. They are widely applied in solving various optimization tasks in the agri-food production processes in the context of the increasing use of precision and digital farming technologies on the path from Agriculture 3.0 to 5.0.The publications in this Special Issue include original research, research concepts, communications, and reviews related to digital innovation in the agri-food sector.

This reprint focused on solutions that aim to increase the economic, environmental and social sustainability of companies or institutions that base their activity on processes. Processes are particularly affected by lapses in task sequencing, logistical problems between posts, operations or agents involved, lack of efficiency, problems that may affect work performance in the short, medium or long term, etc. These are essentially constant concerns of Industrial Management, for which it is urgent to find solutions capable not of solving a specific problem, but models that can be applied in a broader way in situations that are proven to be similar.

The reprint collects several articles discussing pathophysiology, risk stratification, control and management of hypertension. Two research articles also evaluated the role of hypertension in the pandemic era of the severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 infection.

In recent years, important progress has been made in the field of molecular biology concerning atherogenesis. However, there are still gaps in current knowledge regarding its underlying pathogenesis. Moreover, various diseases, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease/steatohepatitis, diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, dyslipidemia, and metabolic syndrome, are tightly connected with atherosclerosis, sharing, at least in part, common molecular pathogenetic mechanisms.Although cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) still remain the leading cause of death globally, lifestyle modification interventions, as well as pharmacological therapies (e.g., anti-hypertensive, lipid-lowering drugs) and advances in cardiovascular surgery, have led to a reduction in CVD mortality.This reprint of a Special Issue aims to provide new data and discuss recent advances in the field of atherosclerosis and atherosclerosis-related diseases. An improved understanding of the common pathophysiological processes that result in cardio-metabolic diseases will help in the identification of effective prevention strategies and the development of innovative therapeutic targets which can be introduced in routine clinical practice.

This reprint MDPI edition comprises papers drawn from the Special Issue entitled "Analytical and Computational Methods in Differential Equations, Special Functions, Transmutations and Integral Transforms".This Special Issue includes research papers which cover a wide range of topics in classical, computational and applied mathematics: differential equations, especially concerning singular solutions and coefficients; transmutation theory with all kinds of its applications; integral transforms and special functions theory; classical and advanced inequalities; and numerical methods for all the abovementioned problems.

Cancer remains one of the most challenging diseases from an epidemiologic, clinical and therapeutic perspective. The rhythm of changes in various aspects of oncological diseases, the molecular characterization of new subtypes of classical primary-type tumors, new pathways in carcinogenesis and new classes of therapeutical agents make it very difficult to follow all relevant findings in this research field. Most significantly, what remains are each of our personal clinical observations and experiences. We all know the level of trust required in these matters, but we remain doctors who treat real-life patients, not those selected for clinical trials.This Special Issue of Medicina was proposed in order to facilitate the presentation of the research or institutional experience of colleagues who are involved in treating cancer patients or are in the fundamental research field. Their clinical experience and research represent a very precious tool for each and every one of us.

Cholesterol is indispensable for a proper functionality of human cells. A high blood cholesterol concentration is associated with development of cardiovascular disease. Dietary cholesterol intake and endogenous synthesis are the input fluxes of the whole body cholesterol pool. In the liver, cholesterol homeostasis is controlled via regulation of a large set of interactive fluxes: lipoprotein metabolism, cholesterol synthesis, bile acid formation and biliary cholesterol secretion. The small intestine determines the degree of absorption of cholesterol and the secretion of cholesterol-containing chylomicron particles. Many of these processes as well as the role of the food matrix in dietary cholesterol handling are only partially understood. Dietary means of lowering blood cholesterol involves extreme low cholesterol intake and increased intake of fiber and phytosterols. However, these processes initiate increased cholesterol synthesis. Pharmacological cholesterol lowering is essential to reduce the risk for cardiovascular disease.

The world population is increasing significantly, and is expected to reach almost 10 billion in the year 2050. At the same time, observed climate change is accelerating and strongly affecting agricultural production. These aspects, as well as the latest socioeconomic limitations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, bring new challenges to modern agriculture and the need to have high production efficiency combined with a high quality of obtained products in accordance with the principles of sustainable production. This applies to both crop and livestock production, as well as the other domains related to food production.To meet these challenges, advanced digital innovation techniques are more and more frequently being used, including those based on machine learning, artificial neural networks, the Internet of things (IoT), and big data. They are widely applied in solving various optimization tasks in the agri-food production processes in the context of the increasing use of precision and digital farming technologies on the path from Agriculture 3.0 to 5.0.The publications in this Special Issue include original research, research concepts, communications, and reviews related to digital innovation in the agri-food sector.

The common threat of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) constantly holds a dominant position among the leading causes of global mortality. These diseases are everywhere and, combined with many risks, make studying heart problems both challenging and very important. This reprint contains many interesting topics, such as the diagnostic and treatment methods of left main coronary artery (LMCA) disease and the exploration of cardiovascular implications of other diseases. It includes many hot topics related to the cardiovascular disease.

Atmospheric dispersion and chemical transport models (CTMs) are a key tool in both atmospheric chemistry and environmental sciences. From urban air pollution modeling to ozone depletion, these models give us a picture, at different scales, of the distribution of species concentrations and pollutant deposition rates, among other relevant quantities. These models help us to interpret observational data which, in some cases, are sparse and incomplete. The papers included in this Special Issue, "Atmospheric Dispersion and Chemistry Models: Advances and Applications", published between 2022 and 2023, cover several developments and applications related to atmospheric dispersion and chemistry models. These studies highlight the potential benefits of using such models for many scientific and technical applications in atmospheric chemistry and environmental sciences, involving, for example, the characterization of aerosols and chemical species in the atmosphere, and risk analyses and decision making for potential pollutant releases, nuclear accidents, and climate change.

This collection of papers presents a systematic and representative vision of the current status of the art on magneto-rheological fluids (MRFs), including their classical and novel applications. Each topic is presented with a rich and updated bibliography, helping readers to further deepen their knowledge of the matter. This reprint presents international contributions from researchers in many countries in Europe and Asia. The Editors are senior researchers at the Italian Aerospace Research Centre and the University of Naples Federico II in Italy, and at the Polymer Competence Center in Leoben, Austria.

Over the past decade, imaging of arthropathies, including both non-inflammatory and inflammatory arthritis, has evolved rapidly. This reprint presents the new frontiers of "Diagnostic Imaging in Arthritis". It includes many topics, such as Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Gout, and Hip Arthroplasty.

"Vascular Inflammation: From Target Molecules to Therapeutic Approaches" aims to highlight the latest advances in vascular inflammation research. This Special Issue brought together experts to explore new target molecules, biomarkers, and innovative therapeutic strategies.Key Topics: Pathophysiology of Vascular Inflammation: the impact of COVID-19; Emerging Biomarkers and Target Molecules: exploring microRNA, PCSK9, and APE1/Ref-1; Understanding Vasculitis: the study of coronary vasculitis, lupus vasculitis, and Kawasaki disease; Learning about cutting-edge strategies: the study of targeted drug delivery.Our Special Issue comprises a collection of nine review articles and five research papers, uncovering novel biomarkers and therapeutic target proteins.

Sliding mode is a robust nonlinear control technique which has applications in various dynamical systems. The publications in this reprint show the application of sliding mode control in the fields of robotics, electric drives, power converters and energy conversion systems.

The scope of "Laser Processing and Multi-Energy Field Manufacturing of High-Performance Materials" is the processing mechanism, machining quality, material property evolution, and material preparation of lasers and other energy fields. This reprint summarizes recent advances in the fields of laser processing and multi-energy field composite manufacturing. It covers a variety of topics, including laser cladding, laser coating, laser-based directed energy deposition, laser cutting, laser grooving, laser drilling, electric discharge machining, ultrasonic burnishing, and ultrasonic-vibration-assisted pressing process methods. The effects of lasers, vibrations, electricity, and other energies on the properties and processing techniques of various high-performance materials, such as medium-entropy alloys, refractory high-entropy alloys, high-temperature alloy Inconel 718, carbon-fiber-reinforced composites, ceramic-based composites, diamond materials, aluminum alloys, and hard alloys, are fully analyzed and discussed.This reprint aims to showcase the latest achievements in the fields of laser processing and multi-energy field composite manufacturing; solicit the most important discoveries; highlight the challenges of processing mechanisms, theories, and technologies; and provide a basis for researchers to anticipate future development trends.

Field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology represents a potential alternative to classical CPUs and GPUs in the post-Moore era from edge computing to data centers. FPGAs offer performance improvements when compared with traditional processing architectures due to their spatial computation capability and energy efficiency. In recent years, FPGA technologies have evolved in the form of tools, design methodologies, and architectural features. These technologies have enabled or boosted novel application domains. This reprint aims to present how advances in FPGA-based technologies have made it possible for multiple application domain. As the number of applications requiring high performance and flexibility continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more and more applications in the future.

Over the last few years, many smartphones have been equipped with Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology, allowing people to use their own devices for positioning and location services. After the release of the Android Nougat (version 7) operating system, raw GNSS measurements (i.e., pseudorange, carrier-phase, Doppler shift, and carrier-to-noise density ratio (C/N0) observations) from smartphones and tablets became accessible, which opened the door to precise positioning capabilities in consumer devices. Many studies have since been conducted, as precise location information will lead to many new smartphone applications in the near future. While the progress has been encouraging, a number of limiting factors must be overcome in order to support real-world applications, including poor antenna quality, the difficulty of carrier phase ambiguity resolution, and low availability and integrity in operational environments. The contributions from academia and industry included in this reprint discuss innovative ideas and algorithms and present experimental results for precise positioning with Android smartphones.

Due to the increasing importance of considering the socio-environmental issues in recent decades, most of today's critical systems should pursue sustainability-related objectives while meeting operational goals. Furthermore, sociotechnical systems working with complex operations represent dynamic complexity, relative ignorance, and intractability, which entail interactive and dependent social elements and organizational and human activities. Considering the influence of and the relationship between operational concerns such as risk, reliability, and resilience and strategic concerns such as sustainability helps managers and policy-makers make more reliable and efficient decisions in a wide range of engineering and management systems. This reprint tries to extend the available knowledge on the extent and quality of such interactions and discusses how one can ensure that reliability and resilience are maintained over dynamic conditions to achieve a sustainable operation. Under these conditions, most existing engineering and management systems in various industries (e.g., food, mining, and construction) should be required to undergo adaptive improvements to become more resilient to potential future typical or extraordinary circumstances. This reprint also sheds light on the challenges and future directions which the research community should focus on and introduces various approaches and applications to develop more sustainable and resilient solutions in both engineering and management systems.

The reprint delves into the fascinating world of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarm systems and their intelligent coordination. This comprehensive collection of research papers explores advancements in UAV swarm systems, such as intelligent perception and cognition, swarm navigation and localization, autonomous decision and planning, cooperative guidance and control, and swarm intelligence. UAV swarm systems have gained significant attention in recent years due to their potential for revolutionizing various domains, including surveillance, search and rescue, environmental monitoring, and disaster response. Intelligent perception and cognition play a crucial role in enabling UAV swarm systems to perceive and understand their environment. Swarm navigation and localization techniques ensure precise positioning and effective movement coordination within the swarm. Autonomous decision and planning algorithms empower UAV swarm systems to make intelligent choices in real-time. Cooperative guidance and control strategies facilitate seamless collaboration among individual UAVs within the swarm. Swarm intelligence, inspired by the collective behavior of social insects, offers valuable insights into designing robust and scalable UAV swarm systems.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are recognized as very useful tools to replace, help, or assist humans in various tasks, such as inspection and monitoring, surveillance, search and rescue, exploration, logistics and transportation, etc. Practical uses for such missions in both civilian and defense contexts have experienced a significant growth as a result of recent technological progresses. Nevertheless, some challenges and open issues regarding ensuring a full operational use of UAVs remain unanswered.This reprint aims to present recent advances in technologies and algorithms to improve the levels of autonomy, reliability, and safety of UAVs. Different topics are addressed, covering vehicle design and characterization (aerodynamics, flight dynamics, design optimization, communications), algorithms for autonomy (guidance and control, path planning, machine learning, computer vision, perception), traffic and risk management (unmanned traffic management, reliability, risk assessment). Open issues related to new missions such as precision agriculture or telecommunication relays are also considered.

The area of intelligent multimedia involves the real-time computer processing and understanding of perceptual input from speech, textual and visual sources. The present reprint contains the 13 articles accepted and published in the Special Issue "Advanced Mathematical Methods in Intelligent Multimedia: Security and Applications" of the MDPI journal "Mathematics", which cover a wide range of topics connected to the theory, security, and applications of these methods. These topics include, among others, elements from privacy computation, game theory-based models, cloud computing, big data, location privacy, artificial intelligence, reputation system, differential privacy, reversible data hiding, blockchain, etc.It is hoped that the reprint will be interesting and useful for those working in the area of intelligent multimedia, security systems and privacy methods, as well as for those with the proper mathematical background who are willing to become familiar with recent advances of secure mathematics, which has nowadays entered into almost all sectors of human life and activity.

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are promising techniques that can be used for various environmental applications. Currently, AOPs are receiving extensive interest from many researchers mainly due to their non-selective behaviour, their potential for pollutant oxidation, and the lack of solid waste formation in the majority of them. However, there are some knowledge gaps in the scientific literature, such as the efficiency and applicability of AOPs for real environmental water and/or wastewater matrices, the effectiveness of AOPs for toxicity reduction, the influence of environmental conditions and constituents on AOPs, cost of studied treatment methods, etc. This reprint presents original research papers and reviews focused on various environmental applications of AOPs, including comprehensive reviews on specific AOP technologies, focusing on their applications in specific sectors, such as industrial, agricultural, and municipal wastewater. A dedicated chapter is focused on the application of AOPs for toxicity reduction. The application of AOPs for the removal of organic pollutants such as Contaminants of Emerging Concern, pesticides, or dyes from water matrices of diverse origin is featured in the present reprint as specific chapters. Also, two chapters are dedicated to the innovative application of AOPs in the field of greenhouse gas reduction.

The reclamation of biomass wastes from different industries represents a clean and sustainable way to make full use of bio-resources and avoid potential environmental risks due to the improper disposal of biomasses. Among different forms of reutilizations, the rational conversion of biomasses into value-add, carbon-based nanomaterials can potentially be applied in the fields of environmental remediation, energy conversion and storage, and medical care, which arouses great research interests from both the scientific and industrial communities. The unique compositions and tissue structures of biomasses grant these carbon-based nanomaterials their outstanding features, such as high surface area, well-developed porous texture, and active heteroatom doping sites. Meanwhile, the abundant resources of biomasses further endow these materials with the feasibility for potential large-scale application. Recently, many research efforts have been devoted to preparing carbon-based materials with various strategies to regulate their thermal, adsorptive, and catalytic performances to promote their potential applications. This collection, entitled "Synthesis and Application of Biomass-Derived Carbon-Based Nanomaterials", consists of eight original articles and two reviews recently published in Nanomaterials; the aim is to highlight research progress on current issues related to photothermal conversion, environmental protection, clean energy storage, and catalytic application.

We are delighted to announce the release of a highly anticipated Special Issue of our esteemed journal, which focuses on exploring the profound impact of LED (Light-Emitting Diode) spectra on the growth and quality of plants. This collection of pioneering research articles presents an in-depth examination of the interactions between LED light and plant physiology, shedding light on the future of sustainable agriculture and horticulture.Within this Special Issue, leading experts and scientists from around the globe delve into the intricate relationship between LED spectra and various aspects of plant development. By meticulously investigating the effects of different wavelengths, intensities, and combinations of LED light on diverse plant species, this compilation promises to revolutionize our understanding of photosynthetic processes and optimize cultivation practices.The articles presented in this Special Issue encompass a wide range of disciplines, including plant physiology, biochemistry, genetics, and biotechnology. They provide captivating insights into the ways in which LED spectra influence plant growth, biomass accumulation, photosynthesis, morphogenesis, flowering, fruiting, secondary metabolite production, and overall crop quality.

Since the time I met Dr. Soldati, we have never stopped investigating LUS (lung ultrasound) vertical artifacts and the latter have slowly revealed their physical nature. Acoustic traps exist in pathological conditions that trap part of the energy of US pulses and gradually return it over time. Ultrasound scanners interpret what comes next as echoes of more distant structures, and this simple fact explains the nature of vertical signs: they are the visible representation of acoustic energy emitted from isolated, non-aerated spaces located beneath the pleura. In short, a vertical sign is a bit like the signature of an acoustic trap that generates it, similar to footprints left by animals in the woods-we just have to learn to recognize these signs. When we began our collaboration, lung ultrasound was a tool with limited application by pulmonary physicians. Today, the application of LUS is widespread, and medical and nonmedical doctors are collaborating to provide scientific answers to many questions that still arise when observing the aforementioned phenomenon. We must never get tired of reiterating the importance of collaboration between medical and nonmedical doctors in the development of new diagnostic devices.