Bücher veröffentlicht von Mdpi AG

This book is composed of 6 papers. The first paper reports a novel technique for the selective emitter formation by controlling the surface morphology of Si wafers. Selective emitter (SE) technology has attracted renewed attention in the Si solar cell industry to achieve an improved conversion efficiency of passivated-emitter rear-contact (PERC) cells. In the second paper, the temperature dependence of the parameters was compared through the PERC of the industrial-scale solar cells. As a result of their analysis, PERC cells showed different temperature dependence for the fill factor loss as temperatures rose. The third paper reports the effects of carrier selective front contact layer and defect state of hydrogenated amorphous silicon passivation layer/n-type crystalline silicon interface. The results demonstrated the effects of band offset determined by band bending at the interface of the passivation layer and carrier selective front contact layer. In addition, the nc-SiOx: H CSFC layer not only reduces parasitic absorption loss but also has a tunneling effect and field-effect passivation. The fourth paper reports excimer laser annealing of hydrogenated amorphous silicon film for TOPCon solar cell application. This paper analyzes the crystallization of a-Si:H via excimer laser annealing (ELA) and compared this process with conventional thermal annealing. The fifth paper reports the contact mechanism between Ag-Al and Si and the change in contact resistance (Rc) by varying the firing profile. Rc was measured by varying the belt speed and peak temperature of the fast-firing furnace. The sixth paper reports a silicon tandem heterojunction solar cell based on a ZnO/Cu2O subcell and a c-Si bottom subcell using electro-optical numerical modeling. The buffer layer affinity and mobility together with a low conduction band offset for the heterojunction are discussed, as well as spectral properties of the device model.

Photoacoustic (or optoacoustic) imaging, including photoacoustic tomography (PAT) and photoacoustic microscopy (PAM), is an emerging imaging modality with great clinical potential. PAI''s deep tissue penetration and fine spatial resolution also hold great promise for visualizing physiology and pathology at the molecular level. PAI combines optical contrast with ultrasonic resolution, and is capable of imaging at depths of up to 7 cm with a real-time scalable spatial resolution of 10 to 500 ┬╡m. PAI has demonstrated applications in brain imaging and cancer imaging, such as breast cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer etc. This Special Issue focuses on the novel technological developments and pre-clinical and clinical biomedical applications of PAI. Topics include but are not limited to: brain imaging; cancer imaging; image reconstruction; quantitative imaging; light source and delivery for PAI; photoacoustic detectors; nanoparticles designed for PAI; photoacoustic molecular imaging; photoacoustic spectroscopy.

Modern holographic techniques have been successfully applied in many important areas, such as 3-D inspection, 3-D microscopy, metrology, and profilometry, augmented reality, and industrial informatics. This Special Issue covers selected pieces of cutting-edge research works, ranging from low-level acquisition, to high-level analysis, processing, and manipulation of holographic information. The Special Issue also serves as a comprehensive review of existing state-of-the-art techniques in 3-D imaging and 3-D display, as well as broad insights into the future development of these disciplines. The Special Issue contains 25 papers in the field of holography, 3-D imaging, and 3-D display. All the papers underwent substantial peer review under the guidelines of Applied Sciences.

In recent years, people have tended to adjust the degree of order/disorder to explore new materials. The degree of order/disorder can be measured by entropy, and it can be divided into two parts: topological disordering and chemical disordering. The former mainly refers to order in the spatial configuration, e.g., amorphous alloys which show short-range ordering but without long-range ordering, while the latter mainly refers to the order in the chemical occupancy, that is to say, the components can replace each other, and typical representatives are high-entropy alloy (HEAs). HEAs, in sharp contrast to traditional alloys based on one or two principal elements, have one striking characteristic: their unusually high entropy of mixing. They have not received much noticed until the review paper entitled "Microstructure and Properties of High-Entropy Alloys" was published in 2014 in the journal of Progress in Materials Science. Numerous reports have shown they exhibit five recognized performance characteristics, namely, strength-plasticity trade-off breaking, irradiation tolerance, corrosion resistance, high-impact toughness within a wider temperature range, and high thermal stability. So far, the development of HEAs has gone through three main stages: 1. Quinary equal-atomic single-phase solid solution alloys; 2. Quaternary or quinary non-equal-atomic multiphase alloys; 3. Medium-entropy alloys, high-entropy fibers, high-entropy films, lightweight HEAs, etc. Nowadays, more in-depth research on high-entropy alloys is urgently needed.

The application of analytical chemistry to the food sector allows the determination of the chemical composition of foods and the properties of their constituents, contributing to the definition of their nutritional and commodity value. Furthermore, it is possible to study the chemical modifications that food constituents undergo as a result of the treatments they undergo (food technology). Food analysis, therefore, allows us not only to determine the quality of a product or its nutritional value, but also to reveal adulterations and identify the presence of xenobiotic substances potentially harmful to human health. Furthermore, some foods, especially those of plant origin, contain numerous substances with beneficial effects on health. While these functional compounds can be obtained from a correct diet, they can also be extracted from food matrices for the formulation of nutraceutical products or added to foods by technological or biotechnological means for the production of functional foods. On the other hand, the enormous growth of the food industry over the last 50 years has broadened the field of application of analytical chemistry to encompass not only food but also food technology, which is fundamental for increasing the production of all types of food.

The study of the acoustic and vibrational characteristics of musical instruments in terms of their mechanical behavior, sound emission, and characteristics started thousands of years ago, and among the physicists and mathematicians that addressed this matter, we should at least recognize Leonardo da Vinci, with his experimental water organ, and Ernst Chladni, who discovered nodal patterns on rigid surfaces such as soundboards. The growing awareness of our intangible cultural heritage and the need to better understand our roots in the field of music have contributed to increasing the efforts to extend our knowledge in this field, defining new physical parameters, extending the analysis to other musical instruments, and developing new methods to synthesize sound from musical instruments using a simple keyboard.

A key aspect of cyber-physical systems (CPS) is their potential for integrating information technologies with embedded control systems and physical systems to form new or improved functionalities. CPS thus draws upon advances in many areas. This positioning provides unprecedented opportunities for innovation, both within and across existing domains. However, at the same time, it is commonly understood that we are already stretching the limits of existing methodologies. In embarking towards CPS with such unprecedented capabilities, it becomes essential to improve our understanding of CPS complexity and how we can deal with it. Complexity has many facets, including complexity of the CPS itself, of the environments in which the CPS acts, and in terms of the organizations and supporting tools that develop, operate, and maintain CPS. This book is a result of a journal Special Issue, with the objective of providing a forum for researchers and practitioners to exchange their latest achievements and to identify critical issues, challenges, opportunities, and future directions for how to deal with the complexity of future CPS. The contributions include 10 papers on the following topics: (I) Systems and Societal Aspects Related to CPS and Their Complexity; (II) Model-Based Development Methods for CPS; (III) CPS Resource Management and Evolving Computing Platforms; and (IV) Architectures for CPS.

This book represents the Special Issue of Energies, entitled "Demand-Response in Smart Buildings", that was published in the section "Energy and Buildings". This Special Issue is a collection of original scientific contributions and review papers that deal with smart buildings and communities. Demand response (DR) offers the capability to apply changes in the energy usage of consumers-from their normal consumption patterns-in response to changes in energy pricing over time. This leads to a lower energy demand during peak hours or during periods when an electricity grid''s reliability is put at risk. Therefore, demand response is a reduction in demand designed to reduce peak load or avoid system emergencies. Hence, demand response can be more cost-effective than adding generation capabilities to meet the peak and/or occasional demand spikes. The underlying objective of DR is to actively engage customers in modifying their consumption in response to pricing signals. Demand response is expected to increase energy market efficiency and the security of supply, which will ultimately benefit customers by way of options for managing their electricity costs leading to reduced environmental impact.

In the last few years, the leading semiconductor industries have introduced multi-gate non-planar transistors into their core business. These are being applied in memories and in logical integrated circuits to achieve better integration on the chip, increased performance, and reduced energy consumption. Intense research is underway to develop these devices further and to address their limitations, in order to continue transistor scaling while further improving performance. This Special Issue looks at recent developments in the field of nanowire field-effect transistors (NW-FETs), covering different aspects of the technology, physics, and modelling of these nanoscale devices.

weakly upper semicontinuous; essential maps; homotopy; Riemann-Liouville fractional differential equation; delay; lower and upper solutions; monotone-iterative technique; homoclinic solutions; fourth-order p-Laplacian differential equations; minimization theorem; Clark''s theorem; exponential dichotomy; roughness; asymptotically constant matrices; double fuzzy Sumudu transform; partial Volterra fuzzy integro-differential equations; <i>n</i>-th order fuzzy partial <i>H</i>-derivative; m-dissipative operators; limit solutions; integral solutions; one-sided Perron condition; Banach spaces; fixed point; complete metric space; fractional differential equations; optimal feedback control; Voigt model; alpha-model; fractional derivative; Riemann-Liouville fractional differential equations; nonlocal boundary conditions; positive solutions; existence; multiplicity; Caputo derivative; Riemann-Liouville integral; multipoint and sub-strip boundary conditions; existence; fixed point theorem; fractional Navier-Stokes equations; variable delay; modified fractional Halanay inequality; generalized comparison principle; dissipativity; Fourier-Laplace transforms; porous material; eigenvalues method; fractional time derivative

Water is necessary to produce energy, and energy is required to pump, treat, and transport water. The energy-water nexus examines the interactions between these two inextricably linked elements. This Special Issue aims to explore a single "system of systems" for the integration of energy systems. This approach considers the relationships between electricity, thermal, and fuel systems; and data and information networks in order to ensure optimal integration and interoperability across the entire spectrum of the energy system. This framework for the integration of energy systems can be adapted to evaluate the interactions between energy and water. This Special Issue focuses on the analysis of water interactions with and dependencies on the dynamics of the electricity sector and the transport sector

Food webs describe the structure of communities and their energy flows, and they represent interactions between species in ecosystems. Recently, we have witnessed rapid development of techniques for both experimental studies and theoretical/computational studies on food webs as well as species interactions. This reprint book is focused on food chains and food webs in aquatic ecosystems, with seven papers published in the corresponding Special Issue of Applied Sciences. The topics include empirical studies on food chains and food webs as well as effects of environmental factors on organisms in aquatic ecosystems.

Over the years, there has been increasing interest into the public health impact of cannabis use, especially by young adults. This follows the evidence of a growing prevalence of regular cannabis use worldwide, with approximately 200 million users. Recreational cannabis use, especially a frequent use of products with high levels of its main psychoactive ingredient delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ 9-THC), can cause dependence and have transient and long-lasting detrimental mental health effects, also negatively impacting cognitive processing and brain function and metabolism. In regular users, the development of tolerance to some of the effects of cannabis, especially the pleasurable ones, may lead to progressively heavier use in order to obtain the same effects in terms of their intensity, with higher health risks. However, the Cannabis Sativa plant contains different chemicals with different potential effects. In this regard, cannabidiol has gained interest because of its potential therapeutic properties, in line with evidence that CBD and Δ9-THC may exhibit opposite effects at the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1), Δ9-THC being a partial agonist and CBD an antagonist/inverse agonist. Different cannabinoids may modulate human brain function and behavior in different ways, with different risk-benefit profiles.

Biomarkers are of critical medical importance for oncologists, allowing them to predict and detect disease and to determine the best course of action for cancer patient care. Prognostic markers are used to evaluate a patient''s outcome and cancer recurrence probability after initial interventions such as surgery or drug treatments and, hence, to select follow-up and further treatment strategies. On the other hand, predictive markers are increasingly being used to evaluate the probability of benefit from clinical intervention(s), driving personalized medicine. Evolving technologies and the increasing availability of "multiomics" data are leading to the selection of numerous potential biomarkers, based on DNA, RNA, miRNA, protein, and metabolic alterations within cancer cells or tumor microenvironment, that may be combined with clinical and pathological data to greatly improve the prediction of both cancer progression and therapeutic treatment responses. However, in recent years, few biomarkers have progressed from discovery to become validated tools to be used in clinical practice. This Special Issue comprises eight review articles and five original studies on novel potential prognostic and predictive markers for different cancer types.

Metabolic syndrome has been the topic of countless publications. It still remains a subject of debate and some experts have even questioned its clinical relevance. Its diagnosis is nevertheless predictive of an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease even in the absence of traditional risk factors. Many years ago, our team made the point that the most prevalent form of metabolic syndrome was linked to abdominal obesity, which can be found even among individuals who are not considered obese by body weight standards. Imaging techniques such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging have revealed the link between regional body fat partitioning and cardiometabolic risk. Visceral obesity is the most dangerous form of obesity, with subcutaneous obesity being associated with lower health risk. We have proposed that excess visceral fat may be a marker of subcutaneous adipose tissue dysfunction not being able to serve as a metabolic sink, causing lipid accumulation at undesired sites, a condition described as ectopic fat deposition. Among the effective approaches to prevent, delay, or manage metabolic syndrome, lifestyle changes are the key elements, with an emphasis on the importance of healthy global dietary patterns, regular physical activity, and adequate sleep quality.

Alzheimer''s disease (AD) represents the most common form of dementia in the elderly population worldwide. AD is characterized by progressive neurodegeneration that leads to a gradual deterioration of memory and other cognitive functions. Given the global prevalence and impact of AD, there is a critical need to establish biomarkers that can be used to detect AD in individuals before the onset of clinical signs and provide mitigating therapeutics. The aim of this Special Issue is to discuss the current knowledge as well as future perspectives on the role of biomarkers in the screening, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of AD.

This book includes papers published in the Special Issue titled "Coastal Dynamic and Evolution", which aimed to collect multidisciplinary studies that involved the evaluation of coastal evolution at different temporal scales, from hours and days to months and years, as well as historical changes. The volume contains investigations carried out by means of aerial photos and satellite images, as well as results from in situ surveys and observations aimed at assessing morphological changes in shoreline and dune systems as a consequence of chronic flooding and erosion processes or the occurrence of specific weather-related events. Studies on the evaluation of past and future sea-level variations and related impacts have also been included. In order to provide the reader with a wide overview of different coastal settings and methodological approaches, case studies from Russia, Italy, California (USA), Morocco, Spain, Indonesia, Ireland and Colombia have been included in this Special Issue. The content may be of interest to those who perform a wide range of investigations related to coastal analysis and management, especially to researchers and academics who can exploit the provided approaches and methodologies.

The present book is devoted to all aspects of biosensing in a very broad definition, including, but not limited to, biomolecular composition used in biosensors (e.g., biocatalytic enzymes, DNAzymes, abiotic nanospecies with biocatalytic features, bioreceptors, DNA/RNA, aptasensors, etc.), physical signal transduction mechanisms (e.g., electrochemical, optical, magnetic, etc.), engineering of different biosensing platforms, operation of biosensors in vitro and in vivo (implantable or wearable devices), self-powered biosensors, etc. The biosensors can be represented with analogue devices measuring concentrations of analytes and binary devices operating in the YES/NO format, possibly with logical processing of input signals. Furthermore, the book is aimed at attracting young scientists and introducing them to the field, while providing newcomers with an enormous collection of literature references.

This book provides a detailed description of all kinds of therapeutic antibodies including IgGs, IgAs, IgEs, and IgMs, bispecific antibodies, chimeric antigen receptor antibodies, and antibody fragments. Details about how each of these antibodies interact with their ligands, the immune system, and their targets are provided. Additionally, this book delves into the details of antibody, Fc, and variable chain structures, and how subtle changes in structure, charge, flexibility, post-translational modification, and the ability to bind to natural antibody ligands can result in a significant impact on antibody activity and functionality. Finally, the book explains the critical quality attributes of modern therapeutic antibodies and how to ensure that antibodies entering development have the best possible chance of success.

Severe plastic deformation (SPD) is a very attractive research field for metallic materials because it provides new possibilities for manufacturing nanostructured materials in large quantities and allows microstructural design on different hierarchical levels. The papers included in this issue address the following topics: novel SPD processes as well as recent advancements in established processing methods, microstructure evolution and grain refinement in single- and multi-phase alloys as well as composites, strategies to enhance the microstructure stability at elevated temperatures, mechanically driven phase transformations, surface nanostructuring, gradient and multilayered materials, and mechanical and physical properties of SPD-processed materials.

In recent decades, new technologies have made remarkable progress in helping to understand biological systems. Rapid advances in genomic profiling techniques such as microarrays or high-performance sequencing have brought new opportunities and challenges in the fields of computational biology and bioinformatics. Such genetic sequencing techniques allow large amounts of data to be produced, whose analysis and cross-integration could provide a complete view of organisms. As a result, it is necessary to develop new techniques and algorithms that carry out an analysis of these data with reliability and efficiency. This Special Issue collected the latest advances in the field of computational methods for the analysis of gene expression data, and, in particular, the modeling of biological processes. Here we present eleven works selected to be published in this Special Issue due to their interest, quality, and originality.

Refrigeration, air conditioning, and heat pumps (RACHP) have an important impact on the final energy uses of many sectors of modern society, such as residential, commercial, industrial, transport, and automotive.          Moreover, RACHP also have an important environmental impact due to the working fluids that deplete the stratospheric ozone layer, which are being phased out according to the Montreal Protocol (1989).                     Last, but not least, high global working potential (GWP), working fluids (directly), and energy consumption (indirectly) are responsible for a non-negligible quota of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere, thus impacting climate change.

Green technologies can be identified as key components in Industry 4.0. The scope of this book is to address how conventional green technologies can be a part of smart industries by minimizing waste, maximizing productivity, optimizing the supply chain, or by additive manufacturing. This theme focuses on the scope and challenges of integrating current environmental technologies in future industries. This book, "Green Technologies: Bridging Conventional Practices and Industry 4.0", aims to incorporate and introduce the advances in green technologies to the cyber-based industries. It is hoped that the novel green technologies presented in this book are useful in assisting the global community in working towards fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals.

This book provides a collection of research and review articles useful for researchers, engineers, students and industry experts in the bioenergy field. The practical and valuable information can be utilized for developing and implementing renewable energy projects, selecting different waste feedstocks, technologies, and products. A detailed insight into advanced technologies such as hydrothermal liquefaction, torrefaction, and supercritical CO2 extraction for making sustainable biofuels and chemicals is provided. A case study on food waste-to-energy valorization processes in Latin America provides experts'' insights to promote a circular economy.

This book is a collection of papers for the Special Issue "Quantitative Methods for Economics and Finance" of the journal Mathematics. This Special Issue reflects on the latest developments in different fields of economics and finance where mathematics plays a significant role. The book gathers 19 papers on topics such as volatility clusters and volatility dynamic, forecasting, stocks, indexes, cryptocurrencies and commodities, trade agreements, the relationship between volume and price, trading strategies, efficiency, regression, utility models, fraud prediction, or intertemporal choice.

Medical centers are widely recognized as vital components of the healthcare system. However, academic medical centers are differentiated from their community counterparts by their mission, which typically focuses on clinical care, education, and research. Nonetheless, community clinics/hospitals fill a critical need and play a complementary role serving as the primary sites for health care in most communities. Furthermore, it is now increasingly recognized that in addition to physicians, physician-scientists, and other healthcare-related professionals, basic research scientists also contribute significantly to the emerging inter- and cross-disciplinary, team-oriented culture of translational science. Therefore, approaches that combine the knowledge, skills, experience, expertise, and visions of clinicians in academic medical centers and their affiliated community centers and hospitals, together with basic research scientists, are critical in shaping the emerging culture of translational research so that patients from the urban as well as suburban settings can avail the benefits of the latest developments in science and medicine. ''Integrating Clinical and Translational Research Networks-Building Team Medicine'' is an embodiment of this ethos at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California. It includes a series of papers authored by teams of leading clinicians, basic research scientists, and translational researchers. The authors discuss how engaging and collaborating with community-based practices, where the majority of older patients with cancer receive their care, can ensure that these patients receive the highest-quality, evidence-based care. Based on our collective experience at City of Hope, we would like to stress that the success of academic-community collaborative programs not only depends on the goodwill and vision of the participants but also on the medical administration, academic leadership, and policymakers who define the principles and rules by which cooperation within the health care industry occurs. We trust that our experience embodied in this singular compendium will serve as a ''Rosetta Stone'' for other institutions and practitioners.

The papers in this SI present valuable results in the topics of soils, sediments, and water contamination according to the consideration of ecological and health risk. They also point out open questions and possible avenues for future research. Biochar application can benefit both soil conservation and contamination, but further research should be conducted to investigate whether these positive effects can be extended to the field scale. Similar to biochar, scale-up design will be helpful for thin-layer capping in in situ sediments using mixed active amendments. Both physiochemical analysis and bioassays mutually supported the evaluation results of river water quality. However, we need better approaches and policies for management to prevent further contamination from the discharge of untreated industrial and domestic waste into this aquatic ecosystem. The use of microorganisms to eliminate antibiotics is a promising strategy, but future work should verify the biodegradation ability of antibiotic-degrading bacteria in wastewater treatment plants.

In this issue, psychometrics researchers were invited to make reanalyses or extensions of a previously published dataset from a recent paper by Myszkowski and Storme (2018). The dataset analyzed consisted of responses to a multiple-choice logical reasoning nonverbal test, comprising the last series of Raven''s (1941) Standard Progressive Matrices. Although the original paper already proposed several modeling strategies, this issue presents new or improved procedures to study the psychometrics properties of tests of this type.

This special issue provides a current snapshot of recent advances and ongoing challenges in the development of titanium alloys for biomedical implants and devices. Titanium offers significant advantages over other materials including higher strength and better biocompatibility. This issue highlights current trends and recent developments, including the uptake of additive manufacturing (3D printing), and approaches to improve processing and performance of titanium alloys for medical applications.

The interaction of bacteria with biomaterials'' surfaces has critical clinical implications on the development and progression of biofilm-related diseases. In this book "Bacterial Interactions with Dental and Medical Materials", encouraging findings on tissue-contacting biomaterials to control biofilms, enhanced understanding of key mechanisms, and clinical perspectives are discussed toward improving healthcare.