Böcker utgivna av Mdpi AG

Learn the transformative power of nature in cities with the new reprint 'Urban Ecosystem Services III'. Following two precedent Special Issues on urban ecosystem services, the editors recognised the necessity for additional research contributing to the literature on sustainable urban green development. As a response, this reprint comprises twelve chapters, including an editorial, ten original articles, and a review, selected from the Special Issue on Urban Ecosystem Services III by Land. Ideal for urban planners, architects, landscape architects, and decision-makers, this reprint provides new findings on ecosystem services in urban environments. The editors, Dr Russo and Dr Cirella, are worldwide experts in sustainable and green cities. They have dedicated their expertise to exploring the synergy between nature and cities. This reprint is meant to guide you through the path to greener, healthier, and resilient urban environments through the benefits of ecosystem services.

The Special Issue reprint addresses aspects relevant to the identification of severe clinical conditions requiring sub-intensive/intensive treatment of the acute phase and higher attention being paid to fragile cancer patients in the post-COVID period.

In light of the escalating challenge posed by water scarcity, membrane technology has been extensively harnessed in wastewater treatment and recycling, owing to its distinctive advantages. This reprint focuses on cutting-edge advancements and forthcoming prospects in membrane technologies applied to wastewater treatment and recycling. It encompasses membrane fabrication and modification, the utilization of membrane bioreactors in wastewater treatment, the dynamics of water transport during membrane filtration, the elucidation of membrane fouling mechanisms, strategies for mitigating fouling, and various other pertinent topics.

Zoonoses represent up to 60% of infectious diseases and 75% of new diseases in humans. They can cause considerable economic losses each year, as recently illustrated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Several factors, such as intensive agricultural and livestock practices, human population growth, and international travel, are known to contribute to the emergence of zoonotic diseases. This Special Issue will cover the topic of One Health and its application in the prevention and control of emerging diseases. The One Health concept recognizes that the health of humans, animals, vectors, and their ecosystems are closely interconnected. To better understand and respond to zoonotic and emerging diseases, there is a need for coordinated, collaborative, multidisciplinary, and cross-sectoral approaches including human health, veterinary health, and environmental health.In this Special Issue, we invited colleagues to submit original research articles and scientific reviews to assemble a collection of papers highlighting advancements in our understanding of all aspects related to the surveillance and control of zoonotic disease, including (but not limited to) 1) the development of new diagnostic tools, 2) outbreak investigation and surveillance program for emerging pathogens (including One Health approaches), and 3) understanding of the mechanisms of pathogen emergence.

Inflammation refers to the defensive response of living tissue with a vascular system to inflammatory factors and local damage. When your body activates the immune system, it releases inflammatory cells. These cells attack infection from external pathogens, such as bacteria and viruses. Inflammation is a protective mechanism for the body. However, in relation to disease, certain factors can activate inflammatory responses, such as bad diet, sedentary lifestyles, environmental factors, etc. Ongoing inflammation or chronic inflammation can lead to tissue damage and the development of diseases. In this Special Issue papers are presented in relation to the links between inflammation and disease.

Structures subjected to human activities, strong wind, heavy machines, and adjacent traffic may experience excessive vibration, causing so-called serviceability problems. The ever-increasing living standards of a structure's occupants lead to higher demands on the structural serviceability. To prevent unpleasant structural vibration, in recent years, researchers and engineers have been paying increasing attention to vibration serviceability from various perspectives, including load models, calculation methods, and evaluation.This reprint brought together the most recent research regarding the above-mentioned problem, to support the increasing needs of both academia and industry, including experimental testing, numerical calculation, design strategies, serviceability assessments, and their engineering applications.

The role of oxidative stress and antioxidants in the field of human toxicology is increasingly gaining attention. Intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) can impact differentiating cells, e.g., normal stem and precancerous cells, and elevated ROS levels can also cause damage to biomolecules. Both foreign (xenobiotics, e.g., natural antioxidants and toxicants such as quinones) and endogenous substances and metals (e.g., iron) affect ROS levels and play roles in disease development. "Oxidative Stress in Human Toxicology" consists of twelve papers (nine original articles and three reviews) written by an international board of authors where exposure to xenobiotics is a common denominator. The reprint covers recent developments in the field of oxidative stress related to human toxicology with suggestions of novel mechanisms of action and hypotheses based on findings in clinical (human), in vivo (animal), in vitro (cell culture), and in chemico studies.

This Special Issue reprint focuses on innovations in glaucoma surgery. Glaucoma surgery continues to represent a real challenge both in terms of ensuring safety and efficacy, and particularly the balance between the two. Significant technological advances have led to innovative surgeries, which in turn have been rapidly introduced into clinical practice. Novel devices able to lower intraocular pressure are exhibiting promising results, but it remains unclear whether they can replace current 'standard' surgeries, such as trabeculectomy or glaucoma drainage devices. Moreover, even these standard procedures are being continuously modified in various ways in the search of enhanced safety-efficacy outcomes.

This reprint focuses on some of the changing treatment options for patients with colorectal pathologies. This includes changes in treatment concepts, the use of advanced technologies, as well as the clinical outcomes for different patients.

Animal and clinical studies have extensively reported the therapeutic efficacy of botulinum neurotoxins in many diseases characterized by excessive muscle contractions. The therapeutic effects of botulinum neurotoxins originate from their elective action as inhibitors of cholinergic transmission, this fact has given extraordinary support to the clinical use of botulinum neurotoxins in pathologies such as dystonia, torticollis, blepharospasm, and many others originating from hypercholinergic dysfunctions. Today, the list of human pathologies in which treatment with botulinum neurotoxins produces favorable results is constantly growing. This reprint presents a collection of research into new therapeutic applications of botulinum neurotoxins. Review and research articles discussing animal models, clinical studies, case reports, and off-label indications are presented. The goal of this reprint is to provide an updated framework regarding the development of new applications of botulinum neurotoxins to enable their future clinical use.

This reprint, organized with the recent publications of the Special Issue Antimicrobial and Anti-infective Activity of Natural Products in the journal Antibiotics, is a collection of the recent advances in the discovery of new antimicrobial compounds from natural products, mechanisms of action of pure compounds, in silico evidence of antimicrobial activity, synergistic associations with antibiotics, compounds with antiviral activity or capable of neutralizing bacterial resistance to antibiotics, as well as in vivo studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of compounds.

Rheumatic diseases are a heterogeneous group of chronic conditions that affect the joints, bones, muscles, and connective tissues. They are caused by the dysregulation of the immune system, which can lead to a wide range of clinical manifestations, including pain, stiffness, inflammation, and disability.This Special Issue highlights the latest advances in rheumatic disease research and clinical practice. It also provides a comprehensive overview of our knowledge in this area and offers insights for the future.We hope that this Special Issue will stimulate more research and innovation in the field of rheumatic diseases and help to improve the lives of patients affected by these conditions.

The decarbonization of the utility grid, market integration, consumer empowerment, and technical innovations will all be are key objectives in international energy policy in the coming decades. Grid integration constraints are limiting the deployment potential of renewable energy sources. Therefore, while renewable energy sources are essential to reaching these key objectives, energy storage is the enabler that facilitates the integration of renewable energy sources in a cost-effective and flexible manner. The diversification of RES generation and integration of energy storage into modern power systems are also leading to the formation of the island microgrids and microgrid clusters/communities required to develop more reliable and sustainable electricity networks. This Special Issue represents a snapshot of the ongoing research related to the integration of energy storage systems into microgrids and modern electricity distribution networks. The 10 papers published in this Special Issue cover a wide range of topics, including sizing strategies, AC/DC microgrids, renewable energy communities, and ancillary services under high-variable RES penetrations.

Recent randomized trials using spine extension traction methods in conjunction with various conventional physiotherapeutic methods have demonstrated that patients with cervical, thoracic, and lumbo-pelvic sagittal plane abnormality-induced symptoms achieve greater long-term health outcomes versus patients who only receive conventional treatments that do not improve spinal alignment. In fact, although all patient groups showed initial symptomatic relief, the groups not receiving spine extension traction methods to improve sagittal plane alignment do not typically show structural improvements in their spine. Furthermore, the conventional treatment (non-spine corrective) only groups had regression of their symptoms back to pre-study values as early as 3 months following the cessation of treatment. In contrast, patient groups receiving the spine extension traction to improve physiologic lordosis, reduce hyper-kyphosis, and reduce anterior head translation posture maintained their structural realignments, maintained symptomatic improvements, and also had a number of positive health measures continue to improve after the cessation of treatments for up to 2 years. High-quality evidence points to spine corrective methods offering superior long-term outcomes for treating patients with various craniocervical, thoracic, and lumbosacral disorders. The economic impact, health benefits, and generalized awareness of the posture and spine deformities along with newer sagittal spine rehabilitation treatments demands continued attention from clinicians and researchers alike and this is the purpose of this collection of publications.

In this reprint, the mechanical properties and material removal behaviors of brittle crystals and ceramics are evaluated using the nanoindentation and scratch tests. Some advanced processing technologies oforf brittle crystals, ceramics, and composite materials are proposed, such as precision grinding, rotary ultrasonic milling and drilling, continuous polishing, thermal-controlled fracture cutting, laser processing, abrasive flow machining, and the additive manufacturing process. In addition, the relationship between the critical cutting depth and the maximum undeformed chip thickness on the removal mode of brittle materials is analyzed. The theoretical models of grinding force and surface generation are developed by considering the brittle-to-ductile transition, arc-shaped effect, and synchronous vibration of the wheel. These advanced theoretical models and processing methods effectively improve the surface integrity of the workpiece and machining efficiency, and reduced the cutting force and tool wear.

Heterogeneous catalysis, exploiting photo- and electrochemical reactions, has expanded rapidly in recent decades, having undergone various developments, especially from both energetic and environmental points of view. Photocatalysis plays a pivotal role in such applications as water splitting and air/water remediation. Electrocatalysis can be found in a large array of research fields, including the development of electroanalytical sensors, wastewater treatment, and energy conversion devices (e.g., batteries, fuel and solar cells, etc.). Therefore, the fine control of the synthetic procedures, together with extensive physicochemical characterisations of the tailor-made catalytic nanomaterials, are of fundamental importance to achieving the desired results. The present book will include recent enhancements in oxide/metal nanoparticles for photocatalytic and electrocatalytic applications, especially in the fields of pollutants abatement and energy conversion.

This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Gels (ISSN 2310-2861). This reprint focuses on the modification of hydrogels and their applications in biomedical engineering, aiming to provide a reference for scholars in related fields. It mainly involves the applications of hydrogels in biomedical fields such as phantoms, wound healing, skin, cartilage, muscle, and drug loading. We believe this reprint can provide a valuable reference for scientific and technological workers in the fields of materials science, tissue engineering, biological manufacturing, biomedical engineering, and so on.

Reciprocating internal combustion engines (RICEs) are the most robust and efficient machines to cover ground and marine transport demands. Worldwide road transport and off-road power needs will continue being successfully satisfied by this type of thermofluid machines in the short- to mid-term. Alternatives are still immature to both effectively deal with global warming and offer the performance expected by customers. Governmental regulations are wisely limiting more and more greenhouse gases (CO2) and any harmful emissions; forcing engineering and scientific communities to push the efficiency and to reduce the pollution from RICEs, until they are eventually limited to below the background. This scenario has offered exciting opportunities in the last few years to engineers and researchers to investigate new ideas and technologies. The second revolution of the RICEs is here: Direct injection, multi-reactivity fuels, gases aftertreatment, and turbocharging are presently the baseline to further progress. These techniques are offering an extraordinarily high level of control of emissions in any operative condition. A change in paradigms is surprising the engineers with figures of efficiency overcoming the limits day after day. This book compiles a selection of research papers discussing critical aspects related to the new generation of RICEs.

In celebration of the 70th anniversary of the University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB), this Special Issue presents the electrical and mechanical engineering research of the USTB, with the aim of providing timely solutions to emerging scientific and technical challenges in key power electronics and mechanical engineering at the frontier of modern industrial development. High-quality original technical papers and advanced review papers are included herein. This Special Issue contains thirteen articles. Twelve of them are research articles and one is a review. Topics for the Special Issue include the following: Metallurgical electrochemical technology and equipment; Engineering vehicle design and development; Intelligent mechanical engineering and control; Safety monitoring of new energy vehicles; Vehicle dynamics and optimization; Intelligent vehicle cooperative control; Hydrogen energy and utilization of key technologies; Modern electronic materials and industrial applications; Advanced lightweight materials and design; Application of artificial intelligence and big data analysis in modern industry.

This issue focuses on DNA barcoding of aquatic life from temperate regions to the tropics. It includes studies discovering an unknown diversity, describing new species with integrative taxonomy, and studies on phylogenies.It also contains applications to species of interest for fisheries, aquaculture, bioindicators, invasive exotics, and new insights for controlling the latter. It comprises proposals for new-generation sequencing and automation methods of DNA barcoding for biomonitoring and conservation, and has some implications for fisheries derived from these methods' use. Other promising applications include identifying all life stages, from larvae to adults, from fish to invertebrates such as the chironomids, and applying the baselines created in the analyses of gut contents for some predators.Finally, a global review of the advances of studies on DNA barcoding of aquatic organisms is included, highlighting the need to promote and continue the efforts of these studies.

This reprint provides insight into the recent advances in systems and processes in the field of sensors and robotics and their applicability in agricultural environments within the concept of digitizing agriculture with the aim of maximizing the efficiency and sustainability of crop and livestock production. Special focus is given to the areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning for the development of applications and tools to support farmers and farm managers in making timely and informed decisions for both crop and livestock management. Unmanned aerial and ground systems are gaining popularity. In this reprint, emphasis is given to the application of autonomous systems and robotics in agriculture for the automated performance of different tasks such as field scouting, soil sampling and analysis, and crop harvesting, among others. The interaction between machines and humans in agricultural environments is also discussed.

This reprint focuses on clinical research on urothelial carcinoma (UC). Currently, UC represents the most common type of epithelial tumor diagnosed in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia. Although around 70-75% of newly diagnosed UC manifests as non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, it can also involve the renal pelvis, ureter, and urethra. UC is a multifocal process, with tobacco smoking being the most relevant risk factor in developed countries. Patients with UC of the upper urinary tract have a 30% to 50% chance of developing cancer of the bladder, while patients with bladder cancer have a 2% to 3% chance of developing cancer of the upper urinary tract. UC represents a clinical and social challenge because of its incidence, post-treatment recurrence rate, and prognosis. In recent years, the poor diagnostic accuracy of available diagnostic tools such as urine cytology, white cystoscopy, and conventional imaging modalities has emphasized the urgent need for advancement in clinical guidance for UC. Moreover, novel treatment approaches, both medical and surgical, have significantly impacted the management of these patients. At the same time, the quality of life of these patients has gained growing interest.

This Special Issue contains 12 papers; in general, it covers the issues of sustainable fisheries governance, dispute settlement, IUU fishing, BBNJ Agreement, and high-seas fishing. In particular, some regional practices are also provided, including the EU's Common Fishery Policy, and case studies in the North Sea, Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean, in order to develop seafood-exporting countries. Interestingly, Chinese practice concerning the sustainable development of marine fisheries, China's fishery legal system, and the marine fishery economy are also evaluated. Special attention has been put on Chinese practice, including the sustainable development of Chinese marine fisheries, and methods to solve the practical problems are also explored. It is also suggested to increase the coordination between the marine environment quality and marine fishery economy quality by upgrading the marine fishery industry, modernising marine fisheries, linking the environmental governance of marine and land areas, and strengthening the ecological construction of the marine environment. Above all, this Special Issue contains an abundance of little-known factual material, refreshing arguments and viewpoints that will, in turn, trigger wider scholarship discussion. This volume is undoubtedly helpful to scholars in their research on international and national fishery governance, in particular, in the context of global practice.

This book focuses on the modelling and the design process of gas bearings, on the experimental validation of such models, and on their applications. In particular, recent developments about foil bearings, aerostatic bearings, porous bearings, and non-contact precision positioning systems are shown.

electrocardiogram; deep metric learning; k-nearest neighbors classifier; premature ventricular contraction; dimensionality reduction; classifications; Laplacian eigenmaps; locality preserving projections; compressed sensing; convolutional neural network; EEG; epileptic seizure detection; RISC-V; ultra-low-power; sepsis; atrial fibrillation; prediction; heart rate variability; feature extraction; random forest; annotations; myoelectric prosthesis; sEMG; grasp phases analysis; grasp classification; machine learning; electronic nose; liver dysfunction; cirrhosis; semiconductor metal oxide gas sensor; vagus nerve; intraneural; decoding; intrafascicular; recording; carbon nanotube; artificial intelligence; lens-free shadow imaging technique; cell-line analysis; cell signal enhancement; deep learning; compressed sensing; ECG signal; reconstruction dictionaries; projection matrices; signal classifications; osteopenia; sarcopenia; XAI; SHAP; IMU; gait analysis; artificial intelligence; sensors; convolutional neural networks; Parkinson's disease; biomedical monitoring; accelerometer; pressure sensor; disease management; electromyography; correlation; high blood pressure; hypertension; photoplethysmography; electrocardiography; calibration; classification models; machine learning; deep learning; COVID-19; ECG trace image; transfer learning; Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN); feature selection; sympathetic activity (SNA); skin sympathetic nerve activity (SKNA); electrodes; electrocardiogram (ECG); cardiac time interval; dynamic time warping; fiducial point detection; heart failure; seismocardiography; wearable electroencephalography; motor imagery; motor execution; beta rebound; brain-machine interface; feature extraction; EEG classification; n/a

In many semi- and arid regions, water does not flow from the middle of spring to early fall, leading to the development of vegetation patches with irregular distribution on channel beds and banks. These vegetation patches influence the characteristics of flow in rivers and streams. The presence of vegetation patches on channel beds and banks can be either submerged or emergent. The height of an emergent vegetation patch exceeds water depth, while the height of a submerged vegetation patch is less than the water depth. Vegetation patches on both channel beds and the banks of natural rivers play a significant role in many aspects of the environment, including water quality, sediment transport and bank stability.The aim of this Special Issue was to bring together research results that improve our understanding of fluvial hydraulics in vegetated channels, including the effects of submerged and emergent vegetation on velocity distribution, validation of the logarithmic law, Reynolds stress, turbulence intensities and bursting events for different aspect ratios (the ratio of width to flow depth) over flat gravel beds and 2D and 3D bedforms. The results showed that the determination of key hydraulic parameters such as the roughness coefficient and drag coefficient is influenced by vegetation arrangements and variation in bedforms.

Contributions explore the influence of Christianity on the development of science and appraise contemporary approaches to integrating Christianity and science. Topics covered range from the Big Bang to the Panda's Thumb.

This Special Issue of Nutrients, entitled "Dietary Proteins and Muscle in Aging People", welcomes the submission of manuscripts either reporting original research or reviewing the scientific literature. Manuscripts should focus on the mechanisms linking dietary protein with muscle quality and quantity. Articles presenting results from clinical trials testing protein interventions on muscle mass and function are welcome. The Special Issue aims at including articles spanning different disciplines to explore the topic of interest. Reports from basic to clinical and population research are suitable. Articles adopting a longitudinal approach or reporting data from life-long interventions/observations in the exploration of the theme will be given special consideration.Potential topics include, but are not limited to: Description of patterns of dietary protein consumption across life Influence of dietary protein intake on the functional status of older people Preclinical and clinical studies describing the mechanisms through which protein intake modifies muscle mass and function Protein/amino acid supplementation interventions against sarcopenia, cachexia, or disease conditions associated with muscle wasting in old age Disease-specific alterations modifying the effects of dietary protein intake on skeletal muscles Effects of the interactions of dietary protein intake and gut microbiota on skeletal muscles]

Crystal structures are a source of information on geometries of speciesthat form networks in solids, in addition to providing information on thenature of interactions that occur between them. Hydrogen bonding is oneof the most important interactions responsible for the arrangements ofmolecules and ions in crystals. For this reason, this special issue collectsnew, interesting, and important findings and ideas on the role of thehydrogen bond in crystals.The contributions of this issue may be classified into three groups: thefirst concerns new crystal structures where interesting arrangements ofspecies are described; the second group considers crystal structures andtheir observed phenomena; and the last group is strongly related to adiscussion on theoretical results, where often hydrogen bond interactionsare compared with other interactions (halogen bond, pnicogen bond,carbon bond, etc.).Despite the fact that the last group of articles concerns the results ofcalculations, it is strongly associated with experiment since the results arecompared with experimental observations. Besides other interestingphenomena, the hydrogen bond interactions are well described in thetheoretical work.

This Special Issue is related to the "2020 International Conference on Biotechnology and Food Science (BFS 2020)" which was held in Guangzhou, China, 18-20 December 2020.BFS 2020 provided an enabling platform for innovative academics, engineers, and industrial experts in the field of biotechnology and food science to exchange new ideas and present research results.Symposium participants, as well as all researchers working in the field, were cordially invited to contribute original research papers or reviews to this Special Issue of the Journal of Fungi.