Böcker utgivna av Mdpi AG

The clinical spectrum of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is highly heterogeneous, ranging from mild disease, which can be limited to skin and joint involvement, to life-threatening conditions with renal impairment, severe cytopenias, central nervous system disease, and thromboembolic events. Apart from the host genetics, several environmental factors, such as sunlight, infections, drugs, and probably hormonal factors, can trigger the onset of symptoms related to SLE. Despite significant advances in our understanding of the pathophysiology and optimization of medical care, patients with SLE still have significant rates of premature mortality and many patients experience severe disease with increased risk of sustaining organ damage and having a reduced health-related quality of life. The development of effective drugs that can induce remission or low disease activity, the unanimous use of definitions of remission and low or high disease activity, flare, and response to therapy, the identification of non-invasive biomarkers of disease activity and long-term outcomes, and the implementation of SLE patients' perspectives as an integral part of the clinical assessment constitute only a few of the many unmet needs in the field of SLE.

The book starts with the editors' preface summarizing the contributions of each of the following thirteen articles dealing with chemical and pharmacological aspects of the molecular modulators of the oxidative stress in regard to various therapeutic approaches in cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and diabetes. The seven articles present data from original research studies enlightening the roles and mechanisms of action of small molecular weight compounds (natural and synthetic; ascorbic acid/vitamin C, deferoxamine, N-acetylcysteine, MitoVitE, α-tocopherol, trolox, and ezetimibe) or proteins (SIRT3) in modulation of oxidative stress. In the six review papers, the authors present and discuss the possible therapeutic potential of novel approaches and compounds that are promising and deserve further investigation, in modulation of oxidative stress.

In view of the urgent need for carbon emission reduction, this Special Issue would like to collect research to share new ideas, innovations, trends, and experiences concerning the related issues of carbon tax, carbon trading, carbon offset, and other related methods of carbon emission reduction.

Liquid crystals (LCs) were discovered more than a century ago, and were, for a long time, treated as a physical curiosity, until the development of flat panel screens and display devices caused a revolution in the information display industry, and in fact in society. There would be no mobile phones without liquid crystals, no flat screen TVs or computer monitors, no virtual reality, just to name a few of the applications that have changed our whole world of vision and perception. All of these inventions are based on liquid crystals that are formed through a change in temperature, thermotropic LCs. However, there is another form of liquid crystals, described even earlier, yet much less talked about; the lyotropic liquid crystals that occur through the change of concentration of some molecules in a solvent. These are found in abundance in nature, making up the cell membranes, and are used extensively in the food, detergents and cosmetics industries. In this collection of articles by experts in their respective research areas, we bring together some of the most recent and innovative aspects of lyotropic liquid crystals, which we believe will drive future research and set novel trends in this field.

This collected volume consists of high-quality research covering a wide range of topics related to energy economics and politics in developed countries. The papers are informative on how to encourage sustainable development and facilitate financing technology development, transfer, and applications to mitigate climate change. Air pollution, environmental regulations, green energy, energy certificates, transmission rights, and power generation are among the energy-related topic analyzed by the contributions included in this Special Issue.

In June 2019, the International Symposium on Atomic Structure and Oscillator Strengths for Fusion and Astrophysical Plasma Research (ASOS) held the 13th edition of this series. ASOS originated at the University of Lund, Sweden in 1983, and this was the first time that it was held outside of Europe and the Americas. The meeting participants were a mixed international group from Europe, the Americas and Asia. This book represents a flavor of presentations made by internationally renowned experts, in a variety of fields relevant to the ASOS community. The book contains a special contribution entitled "Charlotte Froese Fischer-Her Work and Her Impact", written and presented by Professor Alan Hibbert of The Queen's University Belfast. The ASOS timing was chosen to overlap with Charlotte's 90th birthday and a significant part of the meeting was a tribute to her work. The meeting ended with a hope to meet all the participants again in Paris in 2022.

Systemic sclerosis (scleroderma) is an incurable connective tissue disease with an unclear etiology characterized by vasculopathy, dysregulation of the immune response, and progressive tissue fibrosis affecting the skin, lungs, digestive tract, heart, and kidneys. The collection of six original research manuscripts and five review articles included in this book highlights the most recent advances in this field and provides further elucidation of the pathogenesis, natural disease course, and treatment of this challenging disease.

Coral reefs are acknowledged for the beauty of their organisms, which has made this natural ecosystem one of the most appreciated on Earth. It is believed to be the richest in terms of species diversity and species interactions, at least in theory since there is yet much documentation work to be done. Indeed, the paradox is that of the estimated one million species living in this ecosystem globally, only 10% of them have been described. To date, most of the coral reef studies have focused on the most peculiar and fabulous groups, such as corals and fishes, although most of the diversity is usually represented by small, colored, camouflaged, hidden, and crypto organisms from all kingdoms of life. The mystery of their diversity, ecology, biology, and importance in the functioning of coral reefs motivate many scientists to dive, all around the world, in order to discover, name, and appreciate such a fascinating, but unfortunately overlooked, component of nature. This book is a very nice illustration of the charm of the coral-associated fauna.

Biomaterials are an integral component of tissue engineering, and their development is crucial to the progress of new and efficient approaches in the regenerative medicine of bone, cartilage, tendons and ligaments, skin, soft-tissue wounds, cardiac muscle, vascular tissues, and neural tissues.Polymer-based biomaterials are extensively studied in the field of tissue engineering due to their biocompatible and biodegradable properties. This Special Issue is devoted to recent developments of synthetic and/or natural biomaterial scaffolds, hydrogels, polypeptides, polymer-based composites, and composites based on polymers and inorganic materials, such as bioactive ceramics and glasses. New technologies (e.g., bioprinting, additive manufacturing, etc.) used to form biomaterials for tissue engineering of three-dimensional (3D) constructs are of particular interest.

Advanced materials for energy and environmental applications (such as rapid heating, anti-fouling/anti-virus surface, chemical sensor, textile/stretchable sensor, fuel cell, and lithium-ion batteries) have been extensively investigated in the academic and industrial fields. The advent of cabon-based nano-materials (carbon nanotubes, graphene, and carbon black) and inonganic nano-materials (Ag wire/particles, Cu mesh, and transition metal dichalcogenide) has accelerated research interest in energy and environmental applications. This book is focused on the emerging concept and improvement of energy and environmental basic research, as well as in the characterization and analysis of novel energy and environmental base materials. The contents of the book are as below: - Theoretical and experimental studies on advanced conducting nanocomposites; - Electrical properties of nanocomposites under various conditions (dynamic mode, aspect ratio, alignment, and contents) and its applications; - Advanced material for energy applications; - Analysis and materials for environmental applications.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are inevitable by-products of aerobic cells. A delicate balance between ROS production and antioxidant defences is essential to assure cell function. This requirement is also true for the spermatozoon, the male gamete, with the unique goal of carrying and delivering the paternal genome into the oocyte. Oxidative stress promotes damage in lipids, proteins and DNA of spermatozoa, and this oxidative damage is associated with infertility. The ROS-dependent damage could occur at different stages of the production and maturation of the sperm. On the other hand, low and controlled levels of ROS are necessary to trigger and regulate sperm function. When ejaculated, spermatozoa are incapable of fertilizing the egg. They must reside in the oviduct of the female genital tract to undergo a yet to be understood the biochemical process called capacitation. Once capacitated, the spermatozoon undergoes the exocytotic event called acrosome reaction and fertilize the oocyte. ROS regulate the different molecular mechanisms such as sperm motility, capacitation and acrosome reaction to assure fertilization. This Special Issue includes original research and reviews of literature concerning the role of reactive oxygen species in male reproduction, particularly the role of antioxidants in the regulation of male fertility as well as basic and clinical studies using antioxidant-based strategies for the treatment of male infertility.

Global health, conceived as a discipline, aims to train, research and respond to problems of a transboundary nature, in order to improve health and health equity at the global level. The current worldwide situation is ruled by globalization, and therefore the concept of global health involves not only health-related issues, but also those related to the environment and climate change. Therefore, in this Special Issue, the problems related to global health have been addressed from a bibliometric approach in four main areas: environmental issues, diseases, health, education and society.

Transition metal-catalyzed reactions play a key role in many transformations of synthetic organic chemistry. For most of these reactions, noble metals, for example, palladium, have been used as catalysts. Over the last two decades, more and more first row transition metals have been applied as catalysts for organic reactions, with iron taking the center stage. The driving forces behind this development are not only the high costs for the noble metals but also their toxicity. Iron is the most abundant transition metal in the Earth's crust, and thus, it is considerably cheaper than the precious noble metals. Moreover, iron compounds are involved in many biological processes, and thus, iron exhibits a low toxicity. Because of this low toxicity, iron-catalyzed reactions are important for an environmentally benign sustainable chemistry. However, iron catalysts are not only investigated to replace noble metals; they offer many applications in synthesis beyond those of classical noble metal catalysts. Several articles of the present book emphasize the complementarity of iron-catalyzed reactions as compared to reactions catalyzed by noble metals. The book shows intriguing recent developments and the current standing of iron-catalyzed reactions as well as applications to organic synthesis.

In total, ten papers are included in this reprint. New advances in optoelectronic materials have been reported for crystals, electrodes, and bonding materials. Zakrzewski et al. analyzed photothermal piezoelectric spectroscopy of Cd1¿xBexTe, showing potential in X-ray and ¿-ray detectors. Han et al. investigated characteristics of a copper foil three-electrode planar spark gap high-voltage switch integrated with EFI. Ding et al. showed a way to improve electrochemical migration resistance of nanosilver paste as a bonding material. New advances have been reported for LEDs and photonic crystal waveguides. Bai et al. proposed a new method for the measurement of adhesive force between a single ¿LED and the substrate. Zhang et al. analyzed strain relaxation effect on the peak wavelength of blue micro-LEDs. Shi et al. proposed an all-dielectric terahertz photonic crystal waveguide operating in 6G terahertz communication window. New applications of optoelectronic materials and devices have also been reported for piezoelectric sensors, crystal materials, SAR, and OCT. Wang et al. established a collision model of wheat grains impacting a force plate with a piezoelectric sensor. He et al. demonstrated application of a BaGa4Se7 crystal in a tunable and compact mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator with a repetition rate of up to 250 Hz. Wang et al. proposed a new feature learning method for the automatic target recognition of SAR images. Shi et al. reviewed the quantitative assessment methods used for early enamel caries with OCT.

The challenges in identifying effective therapies for CNS tumors continue to be daunting. Potentially effective targeted therapies must be able to penetrate the blood-brain barrier to reach the tumor and, in sufficient concentrations, to result in meaningful treatment responses. Moreover, molecular targets must be key drivers in the growth and progression of CNS tumors. Numerous potentially efficacious therapies have failed in randomized clinical trials due to other factors, including subclonal genetic intratumoral heterogeneity (particularly within malignant gliomas), epigenetic heterogeneity, and failure to target important factors involved in the tumor microenvironment. Developing effective targeted therapies requires a thorough fundamental understanding of the genetic and epigenetic factors driving tumor progression, the interactions between CNS tumor cells and the tumor microenvironment, and the key mechanisms of tumor treatment resistance.In this Special Issue, experts in the field of CNS tumors will highlight the most promising molecular targets in the development of treatments for patients with CNS tumors.

Mycotoxins contamination is a continuing global problem that severely affects animal health and performance, and further threatens food safety. The industry's common aspiration is to eliminate feed mycotoxins contamination and control their hazards. In recent years, animal mycotoxicosis has occurred frequently all over the world, which has brought huge economic losses to the agriculture industry. The potential damage caused by mycotoxins-induced decreased disease resistance in animals and food safety problems in human health is incalculable. There is a long way to go to prevent mycotoxins hazards. Biodegradation is a promising strategy to eliminate mycotoxins as it can transform mycotoxins into nontoxic or less toxic metabolites under mild conditions, retaining the sensory quality and nutritional value of agricultural commodities. Moreover, animals have a certain ability to detoxify mycotoxins, and some bioactive substances, such as lipoic acid, sporoderm-broken spores of Ganoderma lucidum, and quercetin, can improve the detoxification ability of animals to reduce the toxic effects of mycotoxins. This reprint aimed to gather contributions of original research or reviews related to novel strategies for biodegradation and detoxification of mycotoxins. Topics of interest will include novel mycotoxin-degrading microorganisms and enzymes, fermentation technology to reduce the mycotoxin content in cereal products, studies on alleviating the mycotoxicosis of livestock by the addition of bioactive substances or mycotoxin biodegradation agents, and any preliminary research that promotes progress in this field.

Research performed on robotic applications has significantly expanded in the last decade, and currently, robotic systems are being utilized for many purposes. To achieve this generalized application of robots, researchers have endeavoured to study a wide variety of methods and algorithms in order to properly employ robotic systems in many real-life scenarios. At present, many types of robotic platforms are being employed in various applications, e.g., dual-arm robots, parallel robots, mobile robots, humanoid robots, aerial robots, underwater robots, and micro/nano robots. Moreover, some theoretical tools are specially being used to obtain correct robot performance, e.g., machine learning, artificial intelligence, multi-agent systems, and control and planning theory. The purpose of this reprint is to exhibit the current state of robotic applications. In particular, in addition to introducing novel theories and methods, this reprint is particularly focused on the application of robotic systems in real-life situations. Thus, the presentation of experimental results makes evident the feasibility and usefulness of robotic systems in practical cases. Obviously, this reprint does not intend to exhaustively demonstrate all the current existing robotic applications but rather give an overview of them, revealing the high level of activity in this area. This reprint contains an Editorial, together with 30 contributions in total from countries all around the world, addressing a broad range of robotic applications.

It is widely accepted that antioxidants can help in disease prevention by effectively quenching free radicals or inhibiting damage caused by oxidative stress. However, the final fate of antioxidants in the gut, how antioxidant metabolites affect gut microbiota, and how gut microbiota affect the metabolism of antioxidants are not fully understood. This Special Issue collected the latest research findings and review articles, bringing together current research and critical thinking on the fate of phytochemical antioxidants in the gut and the role antioxidant gut metabolites play in reducing oxidative stress in various gut and metabolic diseases. Both in vitro and in vivo studies relating to any of the following topics will be considered: fate of antioxidants in the gut; antioxidative activities of phytochemicals in the digestive system; molecular mechanisms of phytochemical antioxidants in maintaining gut health; and interactions of antioxidant metabolites and gut microbiota.

In the context of the food industry, "Innovative Food Products and Processing" refers to the creation and application of cutting-edge techniques, technologies, and approaches. This vibrant industry covers a broad range of topics, with the aim of enhancing food quality, safety, sustainability, and the consumer experience.This Special Issue, entitled "Innovative Food Products and Processing" provides readers with a wide range of topics and applications in food science and technology, such as the use of food chemistry, biochemistry, fermentation, and microbiology, as well as new contemporary processing and preservation technologies and techniques for effective waste management and green technology for the food processing industry."Innovative Food Products and Processing" is an excellent resource for food science researchers, food scientists, biochemists, nutritionists, and students. This publication's wide range of topics provides a complete overview of the most recent breakthroughs, cutting-edge technologies, and emerging trends in the food industry.

This Proceedings reprint is focused on the latest developments in the topics of imaging technology, advanced manufacturing, and medical diagnosis. The evolving interdisciplinary research between the three topics is discussed.

This Special Issue aimed to collate recent works regarding the planning and control of energy systems. In particular, this Special Issue focuses on microgrids. This kind of system enables optimal integration of renewable energy sources, electric vehicles, energy storage, and demand-side management strategies, thus proposing a valuable framework through which to implement the decarbonization of the electricity sector.Special attention is given to those works devoted to systems with high penetration of renewables and advanced demand response strategies. Literature reviews are also included in this Special Issue, and some real-life experiences are described and analyzed.

The increasing concern regarding environmental issues has led to the adoption of stringent regulations worldwide to facilitate the urgent move towards green mobility and sustainable transportation. In this regard, electrified powertrains are bound to replace conventional thermal engines to reduce greenhouse gases and pollutant emissions. The synergy between the internal combustion engine and the electric unit in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) significantly reduces fuel consumption and emissions while maintaining high vehicle performance and driving comfort. Moreover, unlike pure electric vehicles, the hybrid electric powertrain fulfills even the most demanding energetic requirements, ranging from light- and heavy-duty vehicles to agricultural machinery, vessels, and aircraft, thus becoming the optimal sustainable solution in the short term. Nonetheless, the full potential of HEVs can only be exploited using a multidisciplinary approach to design the mechanical and electrical equipment and implement the optimal energy management strategy. This Special Issue, "Frontiers in Hybrid Vehicles Powertrain", provides a broad perspective on the current challenges and research trends of the hybrid electric powertrain collecting nine peer-reviewed papers dealing with the main mechanical, electrical, controls, and energetic issues of HEVs.

Gallium nitride and related semiconductor materials enable a wide range of novel devices, some of which already improve our everyday life. Driven by vast consumer markets, the research and development of nitride semiconductor devices underwent tremendous growth worldwide. The Special Issue on "Recent Advances in III-Nitride Semiconductors" provides a forum for research monographs and professional titles in this area. The Special Issue presents the joint effort of 16 leading research groups, covering subjects including: the growth of GaN-based materials and micro/nanostructures; characterization of the materials and heterostructures; GaN-based novel devices, including emission, detection and power devices; application and integration of other wide-bandgap materials and novel devices in novel electronics and photonics.

The boundaries of sports journalism continue to expand as non-traditional actors emerge and proliferate in the digital environment. This outstanding and vital specialist area within the news industry faces increasing pressure from adjacent fields. Amateur sports enthusiasts (bloggers, streamers or influencers) and team media for sports organizations adopt many of the roles and tasks historically attributed to sports journalism and engage in activities that may be perceived and regarded as journalistic by audiences.The arrival of new actors around the journalistic field, the heavy use of social media and its impact on sports consumption patterns, the search for new business models for news organizations, and the disrupting technology that is being explored and applied in sports coverage all require new conceptual approaches to better understand the sports news industry in the digital age.All of these considerations led eighteen authors from nine countries (Greece, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Australia, Ireland, and Sweden) to publish their research contributions and broaden the discussion in this MDPI reprint about the current trends in the sports media landscape and the most pressing challenges that sports journalists need to face in the years to come.

In the construction sector, as in many others, the continuous development of materials, design concepts, and tools for numerical analysis offers new challenges and scenarios to the research and professional communities. For example, the application of building and infrastructure materials and load-bearing components that are particularly sensitive to severe environmental or operational conditions can require specific and even complex methods of analysis, as well as specific performance indicators for their structural verification and assessment. In this regard, especially in recent years, both the building and infrastructure fields have been able to take advantage of increasing technological and productive innovation, which generally takes the form of novel analysis techniques and tools in support of design.This Topical Collection includes original research contributions that are focused on the latest advancements in and development of innovative techniques and solutions for structural analysis, when applied to building and infrastructural constructions. The collection is thus of interest for a multitude of stakeholders, such as academics, structural and construction engineers, architects and other professionals that are involved in the building and infrastructure field.

This reprint includes 14 articles in Biomedical Data Science in honor of Professor Philip Bourne. Contributed by world-renowned experts, these articles cover a broad range of topics in machine learning, biophysics, bioinformatics, and systems biology.

Climate-change-induced extreme temperatures significantly impact crop production worldwide. Therefore, this Special Issue highlights several genetics, genomics, agronomic and physiological interventions in developing temperature-resilient plants.

"Advances in Transboundary Aquifer Assessment" features studies of transboundary aquifers, particularly at the border shared by Mexico and the United States, a semi-arid to arid region experiencing significant population growth and changing climate conditions. Aquifer assessment in a transboundary setting requires the cooperation of multiple jurisdictions, sometimes with different languages and cultures. The papers in this Special Issue represent a broad array of investigations of complex physical aquifer systems and related institutional settings, including identification and prioritization of needs and strategies for sustainable groundwater development and use; characterization of the physical framework of the aquifer, stressors on the aquifer system, and how those stressors influence the availability of groundwater in terms of its quantity and quality; and the incorporation of stakeholder input and prioritization directly into the process of aquifer assessment and model building.

Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data analytics, and deep learning have received widespread attention in recent years and have shown great potential for application in many industrial fields. In power systems, AI and related technologies are also being used as new powerful tools that are gradually replacing the traditional techniques of feature modeling, performance control, and fault diagnosis, with better results. This reprint consists of 10 articles, all of which are authored by experts in the related fields, reporting the results of the latest research on the application of AI techniques in power systems, focusing on several novel and fascinating approaches to power system modeling and control, state estimation, performance diagnosis and prognosis.

The extraction of active ingredients from vegetable matter is one of the most attractive research fields in the literature. A perspective that promotes this large interest is the possibility of identifying eco-friendly and innovative processes, active products, and materials. However, care must be taken in selecting process arrangements and extraction conditions to minimize the co-extraction of undesired compounds. The analysis of the composition of the extracted compounds by chromatography, mass spectrometry and related techniques, is a relevant step in determining the performance of the extraction process and the purity of the extracted compounds to be used for pharmaceutical applications.This reprint includes 10 Research papers, 1 Communication, and 1 Review, and reports innovative extraction techniques and advanced analytical methods used for the recovery and the identification of high-added value compounds from vegetable matter.