Bücher veröffentlicht von Mdpi AG

This reprint combines 11 quality review and research articles on active and intelligent food packaging polymers. We anticipate that the contributions gathered within this Special Issue not only reflect the current state of the field but also serve as a catalyst for future advancements. Together, we aim to unravel the intricacies of active and intelligent food packaging, paving the way for a safer, more sustainable, and technologically enriched future in the realm of food preservation.

The 3D analysis of human movement aims to objectively and quantitatively assess motor functions and alterations. It is a valuable method for sport scientists, coaches, and clinicians to evaluate sport performance, common movements, and alterations. The feasibility of 3D analysis is increasing because it can be adopted both in a laboratory setting or directly in the field, in static or dynamic conditions, and for physiological or pathological movements. This evaluation technique can be adopted for many people, including children, adolescents, adults, and older people, whether they are sedentary or athletes and whether they are healthy or motor-impaired people.

Land degradation, exacerbated by climate change and rapid urbanization, poses significant threats to socio-economic development. There is an urgent need to explore land degradation and its associated ecosystem responses and the suitable pathways for sustainable development in urban and rural regions. This reprint comprises a collection of 16 articles, featuring 1 review article and 15 research articles. There are some key practical experiences and scientific findings to support the ecosystem change response to land degradation, through either theoretical works or empirical research, identifying the characteristics and solutions for sustainable development. Key scientific issues addressed include land use and land cover change, ecological impacts of urbanization, mechanisms of land degradation on ecosystems, and coordinated social, economic, and ecological development. This reprint encouraged scholars to share the latest advancements in the research framework, datasets, methods, and case studies for assessing land degradation and associated ecosystem responses. We expect this reprint will inspire broader reflection and discussion within academic community regarding the theories and practices concerning land degradation and associated ecosystem responses. It could be a valuable reference for exploring potential solutions towards achieving land degradation neutrality and promoting regional sustainable development.

Cybersecurity attacks are increasing in sophistication and intensity and are known to have a disruptive effect on organizations and society. This reprint contains a range of papers that address various issues relating to the problem, and insights are provided into how cybersecurity awareness can be increased and how organizations can be made less vulnerable to attacks. The solutions put forward will help staff to utilize technology better and devise methodological approaches that when operationalized, help defend the organization's networks and computer systems from cyber-attacks.

As the global population and demand for food steadily increase, the maintenance and enhancement of soil productivity to ensure food security is becoming an important issue at the global level as global warming continues to progress. Soil carbon acts as a global carbon sink, playing a crucial role in soil fertility maintenance. Soil carbon is a complex product resulting from various microbial processes; it is a fragile entity, vulnerable to inappropriate human activity and global climate change. Soil microbes that utilize carbon efficiently may help to reduce carbon losses and increase carbon storage.This Special Issue highlights the current understanding of the dynamics of soil carbon and the microbial processes in agricultural ecosystems from the molecular level to the regional and global scales. The topics of interest in this Special Issue include carbon dynamics in plant-soil systems, the carbon balance, approaches to managing soil carbon maintenance and carbon sequestration, and related microbial processes in agricultural ecosystems.

This reprint contains articles published as part of the Special Issue of "Sustainable Tourism: Ways to Counteract the Negative Effects of Overtourism at Tourist Attractions and Destinations" in the journal Sustainability in the "Tourism, Culture, and Heritage" section. It contains 13 articles presenting research on various aspects of overtourism: the attitudes of city dwellers towards overtourism, e.g., Krakow and Wroc¿aw; the effects of tourism development in regions of natural value, e.g., the Tatra National Park; and areas adjacent to tourist routes. It looked at night-time tourism and the sharing economy, as well as how business models can be used to manage sustainable tourism. The phenomenon of overtourism in Tunisia, Brazil, and South Korea is described. The articles published in 2020 are very popular. They have been viewed by several thousand researchers and have been cited 300 times by other authors.

Helicobacter pylori is one of the most common infections in the world, affecting roughly half of all humans. Although it is not an infection that causes death immediately after infection, it is one of the largest emerging infectious diseases in the history of humankind, causing a wide variety of diseases and, in the long term, serious complications such as stomach cancer. This Reprint contains empirical studies and reviews regarding the diagnosis, treatment, complications, and management of H. pylori infection, including new diagnostic methods, effective eradication regimens, the management of gastric cancer, and other topics.

In this Special Issue, we have gathered high-level research papers from all over the world. We would like to thank all researchers for their commitment to the field. From diagnostic ultrasound of different fetal conditions to advanced cardiovascular imaging leading to fetal MRI and from serum markers and biomarkers in maternal and fetal conditions to new modalities in fetal therapy, this Special Issue covers a large scale view of the present spectrum of modern perinatal medicine. Again, a warm thank you to all contributors.

Implementing sustainable development is central to achieving global reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating anthropogenic environmental impacts. As defined by the UN 2030 Agenda and its associated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), sustainable development requires a holistic, interdisciplinary approach, which is not without its challenges. Indeed, studies tracking global progress toward meeting the 2030 SDG targets emphasize the importance of implementing sustainable solutions, with several SDG targets described as 'off track.' Therefore, there is an urgent need to address the challenges of an interdisciplinary, unified, and practical approach to sustainable implementation. In this context, this Reprint brings together 15 selected papers presented during the 2022 SDEWES Conference. These papers cover a broad range of topics, from circular governance models to education related to sustainable practices, as well as the impacts of current legislative frameworks targeting energy efficiency, built environment energy performance, bio-based industrial applications, transport and sustainable energy services, and production, supply, and infrastructure maintenance strategies. This Reprint provides an interdisciplinary and holistic perspective on sustainable development solutions, with several papers highlighting the interrelations between various fields and aspects of sustainability.

This reprint includes 23 research articles and 1 review accepted and published by MDPI in the Special Issue entitled "Recent Advances and Applications in Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM)", comprising 7 articles in Economies, 6 articles in Mathematics, 10 articles in Sustainability and 1 article in Data. The covered topics include the impacts of COVID-19 and climate change on food security or the tourism sector, the critical factors affecting the implementation of corporate governance, consumers' perspectives and behaviors toward corporate social responsibility, consumers' ethnocentrism and country of origin, the differentiation strategy and export performance in emerging countries, the influence of agricultural development on alleviating rural poverty, leadership and employee performance, the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and business performance, the role of commitment in an extended theory of planned behavior, major shifts in sustainable consumer behavior, an empirical evaluation of customers' adoption of drone food delivery services, European citizens' happiness, the mediation of corporate social responsibility between information and communication technologies adoption and SMEs performance, students' satisfaction about blended learning, etc. This reprint is expected to benefit those working in the area of PLS-SEM, regardless of their field of study (economics, finance, marketing, education, etc.). Applications involving higher-order constructs, mediating variables, multigroup analysis, and the latest advances in applied methodology are detailed in this reprint.

In the orthopedic surgical field, knee surgeries, including articular cartilage repair procedures, meniscus surgery, ligament reconstruction surgery, osteotomy surgery, and partial/total knee arthroplasty surgery, have made great advances over the last few decades.This Special Issue highlights and focuses on the surgical concepts and techniques, decision-making processes, perioperative management protocols, and clinical outcomes of the recent various advanced knee surgery procedures.

We are very excited to introduce this Special Issue of Nutrients, "Advances in Legumes for Human Nutrition". Recently, legumes have contributed to a sustainable and increased food supply for the rapidly growing global population due to climate change. Legume seeds that are intact or milled into flour offer a complex array of macro- and micronutrients and phytochemicals for human nutrition. Additionally, they can be fractionated into their component proteins, starches, lipids and dietary fibre as health- and techno-functional food ingredients. These ingredients are in great demand by the food industry, for example, in the manufacture of vegetarian and vegan dairy products and meat analogues with good nutritional profiles. However, the issues, such as micronutrient availability, antinutrients and allergenicity, still require solutions for the maximum uptake of legumes by humans. We invited manuscripts that address any aspect of this broad topic, including the impact of innovative food technologies on the nutritional value of legumes and those focusing on nutritional properties of seeds from underutilised members of the Fabaceae (Leguminosae) family.

In this Special Issue, our aim was to collect studies on clinical pharmacology and pharmacy of antimicrobial agents from both human and veterinary medicine as the complex problem of AMR requires actions taken within the One Health approach that involve both fields. Studies covered here are about new or optimized usage of already authorized antimicrobials, as well as discoveries about new agents, new combinations of drugs, and drug repositioning. Pharmacodynamic, pharmacokinetic, and toxicological aspects of individual and combinational drug use are areas covered in this Special Issue.

This reprint discussed the role of retinal and optic nerve imaging in addition to its application in ophthalmic diseases and clinical medicine. It includes some high-quality articles containing original research results as well as review articles of exceptional merit.

The global transition toward a renewable energy-centric energy matrix represents a focal point of interest for the international community in the pursuit of mitigating environmental pollution and combating climate change. This reprint advocates for the proposition of technologically advanced solutions, emphasizing heightened efficiency, superior energy integration, and cost-effectiveness. Such advancements are poised to accelerate the widespread adoption of renewable energies, thereby propelling collective endeavors towards sustainable development. Within the intricate framework of energy systems, energy storage stands as a cornerstone, providing indispensable attributes such as continuity, stability, and security of service. The seamless integration of energy storage systems into renewable energy technologies emerges as a pivotal imperative. This strategic integration addresses the challenge of intermittency, ensuring prolonged utilization of renewable sources and contributing significantly to the decarbonization of both centralized and distributed electrification systems. This reprint amalgamates pioneering research, offering a scholarly foundation that will propel the sustainable development of energy storage integration. Positioned as a valuable resource, it informs decision-making processes in both the public and private sectors, steering them towards a more resilient and environmentally conscious energy landscape.

With the continuous improvement of people's living standards, the concern for food nutrition and safety has gradually increased. Consumers increasingly need to replace synthetic food additives with natural components extracted from food. Polysaccharides, starch, protein, pectin, and fibre are major types of biopolymer components in foods. They not only provide people with energy and nutrition, but are also used in food processing as natural additives due to their gelling, emulsifying, and film-forming properties, etc. They are characterised by high biocompatibility, low cost, and ease of access. Some natural components isolated from raw food materials have some drawbacks, such as low solubility and instability under certain conditions, which limit their application in food processing. Currently, many researchers are focusing on the modification, food technology, and future industry of polysaccharides, starch, protein, etc. These studies help to obtain the changed physicochemical and enhanced functional properties of these components, and further promote their high-value utilization in the food field. This Special Issue brings together 34 articles regarding the latest advances in the properties of polysaccharides, starch, protein, pectin, and fibre in food processing, from the improvements of the physical properties of major food components and biological activity studies to their applications in food preservation.

Partial differential equations are indispensable for modeling various phenomena and processes, such as those in physics, biology, finance, and engineering. Finding solutions to partial differential equations using qualitative theories or quantitative methods, as well as the application of such investigations to real-world problems, has drawn a large amount of interest from researchers.This reprint encompasses all the articles that were accepted and published in this Special Issue titled "Applications of Partial Differential Equations ". We hope that these accepted and published papers will be impactful and motivate future research on partial differential equations for solving complex problems in various fields, disciplines, and applications.

Biomaterials are natural or artificial materials used to manufacture implants to replace lost or diseased biological structures in order to restore form and function. Biomaterials that require long-term service, such as orthopedic implants, need good physical and chemical stability, such as stainless steel and titanium alloys. The application of metal in biomedicine is becoming more and more common, but due to its various limitations, it is often necessary to modify its surface to obtain better performance and better clinical application. There are many technologies for the surface modification of medical metals, such as laser surface modification, chemical treatment, plasma surface modification, etc., and these technologies are still being developed to meet market demand. This reprint will provide important contributions related to the announced topics, focusing on biomedical metals and the surface modification technologies of biomedical metals.

The reprint "Comprehensive Research in Earthquake Forecasting and Seismic Hazard Assessment" is a collection of articles dealing with various aspects of the physics of seismic processes, earthquake forecasting, and the search for their precursors. All published articles can be roughly divided into three unequal groups according to the number of articles presented. The first group includes theoretical and methodological articles. The second group includes articles confirming one or another model of seismicity behaviour in anticipation of a strong earthquake. Finally, the third and most numerous group of articles consists of those analysing the results of long-term observations of the behaviour of various geophysical fields. We are confident that each of these articles will find an interested reader, and that the collection as a whole deserves the attention of representatives of the scientific community concerned with the problem of earthquake forecasting and the search for their precursors.

The SI "Health and Preventive Strategies in Order to Protect Pregnancy" of Women represented a successful example of mixing competencies and expertise in order to guarantee the best health status during pregnancy, which is one of the most important times in a woman's life. At the end of the SI, 12 articles were published, including 10 original manuscripts, 1 systematic review, and 1 protocol of a study.

Natura is a polysemic Latin word that has accompanied the historical development of the West for centuries, spreading around much of the globe with colonialism and imperialism. It has been adopted in numerous languages. Our relationship with nature has become a highly charged issue at least since the "ecological turn" around 1970. It is as much about the relationship of humans to the environment as it is about the relationship of humans to each other.In the course of these debates, research has intensified in various disciplines: history, anthropology, philosophy, literature, ecology, etc. The nine contributions gathered in this volume deal with the dimension of perception and its long-term development from the Middle Ages to the present time. They trace in detail how images of nature were adopted, modified, and transmitted for specific purposes in specific situations. The introduction to the volume provides an overview and brings the contributions together.

I am grateful to all the authors who contributed to this Special Issue and the referees for reviewing the manuscripts. Finally, I give my thanks to Ms. Alisa Si and all the editorial staff of Nanomaterials for their support during the publication of this Special Issue.

Molecular toxicology is a field that investigates the interactions between chemical or biological molecules and organisms at the molecular level. In this Special Issue, we focus on the toxic effects and mechanisms of action of chemical and biological molecules, will be of great interest of readers in molecular toxicology and applied pharmacology.

Diabetes mellitus is a serious and life-threatening disease that causes complications and doubles the risk of premature death. Different aspects related to the progression of DM have been addressed in this reprint, such as obstructive sleep apnea due to hypoxia implications, microvascular and macrovascular complications, elevated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and cholesterol, and different oral processes.

Land use is the projection of human activities in space, and it has become an important insight into the transformation and reconstruction of human society and economy. Rural land use in China is undergoing rapid transformation driven by the rapid development of science and technology. Effectively grasping the change and transformation process of rural land use and its internal mechanism provides an important reference for revealing the inherent laws of China's rural development. Rural land use is closely related to the rural vitalization strategy and urban-rural integration in the new era. An in-depth study of China's rural land use and policy reform provides the basis of knowledge for formulating and optimizing urban-rural relations. This Special Issue focuses on the changes, effects, and regulation of rural land use in China, focusing on its main contradictions and solutions, building a cooperative network and sharing platform for rural land use research from a multidisciplinary perspective, and further deepening the theoretical innovation and practical application of rural land use research. We invited scholars from various disciplines to contribute to the Special Issue, especially with papers on the subjects of theoretical innovation, technological innovation, and practical innovation in this field.

This reprint concerns topics on chemical, functional, and technological features of wheats to obtain wheat-based foods improved in phytochemicals. Genetic materials, from landraces to ancient and modern wheat varieties, characterized for their content of bioactive compounds, were exploited to produce superior staple foods. The study of other species allowed to identify functional ingredients, in wholemeals or in their by-products, useful in the enrichment of formulations for various cereal-based products. Further, in the optic of circular economy, it is of great interest the extraction of bioactive components from food processing waste belonging to the other crops to functionalize final products.

This Special Issue focuses on treating the associated comorbidities and complications of cerebral palsy. Increased prescription of technology means that we are treating some comorbidities of cerebral palsy earlier or even pre-emptively. Increased life expectancy, compared with 20 years ago, means that we are also seeing even later complications of cerebral palsy. However, increased access to intensive medical care at home, non-invasive ventilation, and total parenteral nutrition now exist. There is also greater engagement with the perspectives and expectations of parents/carers and children. As society begins to discuss mental health more openly, we are also starting to recognise the significant two-way associations between disability and mental health. Ethical consultation may be warranted when harm with treatment exceeds the benefit. As we prepare children with cerebral palsy for adulthood, there is more thought and discussion around issues such as pain, mental health, quality of life, independence, and participation. Researchers in the field of cerebral palsy have contributed original articles and reviews which help build our evidence base to guide shared decision making.

Fast, non-destructive detection technology and equipment for food quality and safety is a powerful technical support tool to ensure the development of food industry informatization and intelligence, with the advantages of fast speed, convenient operation, and easy online inspection. During the past two decades, such technologies have found numerous successful applications for food and agricultural product detection and processing. Owing to improvements in the manufacturing of photoelectric sensor pieces and progress in artificial intelligence and software algorithms, fast non-destructive detection technologies are able to provide more accurate, reliable, and stable solutions for food quality and safety detection and processing. They are closely integrated with the Internet of Things and intelligent manufacturing, promoting a new wave of innovation in intelligent manufacturing in the food industry. The application of new sensing technology and equipment in the fast, non-destructive detection of food has always been at the forefront of scientific and technological research. This Special Issue aims to focus on the latest research progress of this application and jointly discuss the focus of development of this research direction.

The reprint will help young readers discover systematic research and reviews of the various topics in the field of microfluidic-based biosensing. This reprint contains empirical studies and systematic reviews regarding the use of microfluidic technology in biosensing and its applications in point-of-care system development.

This Special Issue is committed to focusing on highly relevant state-of-the-art advances in the monitoring, diagnosis, and optimisation of water systems, aiming to provide a broad spectrum of reference methods and techniques specially focused on water cycle applications, including fault detection (namely, leak localisation to reduce the loss of water due to leaks, which may account for up to 65 % of the total water depending on the network) or water quality modelling in Water Distribution Networks (WDNs), as well as different methodologies applied to water sanitation. Here, there is growing interest in the adaptation and use of technologies related to the circular economy that promote environmental sustainability, in which resource recovery is a key issue for industrial and environmental processes and shows a wide spectrum of study possibilities, especially in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). This is mainly related to sludge treatment processes such as biogas generation via the substrate co-digestion process, which can be an alternative source for thermal and electrical energy production, as well as a source of renewable natural gas. Hence, all the contributions in this Special Issue have an impact on the advances in the monitoring, diagnosis and optimisation of water systems and, overall, cover a wide and complete sector of knowledge within this area.