Bücher veröffentlicht von Mdpi AG

"Functional Nanomaterials for Healthcare" is a collection showcasing cutting-edge research in advanced nanomaterials for healthcare applications. As healthcare evolves through science and innovation, these articles provide the latest insights into nanomaterial applications. Researchers have tailored nanomaterials for improved diagnostics, medical imaging, precise drug delivery, tissue engineering, and groundbreaking theranostics. This compilation, written by experts, explores advanced nanomaterial synthesis, functionalization, characterization, and diverse medical uses. Dive into this significant contribution to the field, offering a comprehensive overview of the latest innovations in healthcare nanomaterials for researchers, students, and healthcare professionals.

The diversity of wood and non-wood forest products is enormous and reflected in their anatomical, physical and chemical properties as well as their potential applications. Special attention should be given to lesser-known species and even to invasive species, which may be profitable when properly managed, thereby decreasing the overexploitation of threatened species. Besides the market importance of stem wood, other tree components and non-wood forest products, often regarded simply as forest residual materials, are valuable forest resources with various potential applications that can strengthen the circular economy. Assessing the characteristics of these diverse materials, such as their structure and anatomy as well as their physical and chemical properties, is fundamental for evaluating their potential and increasing high-quality end-uses. This knowledge will also contribute to sustainable forest management with enhanced forest diversity and species conservation in addition to the reinforcement of certification and environmental policies.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most prevalent primary liver cancer, accounting for >80% of primary liver cancers worldwide. The diagnosis of HCC, relying solely on noninvasive criteria, is currently under debate due to the need for molecular information that necessitates tissue biopsies, while therapy is provided in accordance with tumor stages and the anticipated advantages of major interventions, following the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging system. Principally, resection, transplantation and local ablation are most commonly performed in patients with early-stage HCC tumors, while TACE and systemic therapy are, respectively, the preferred treatment options for intermediate- and advanced-stage tumors. However, the HCC tumor immune microenvironment (TME) affects the response to current anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapies. Therefore, an enhanced understanding of the immunobiology of TME is essential for the development of predictive biomarkers of patient stratification and strategies of drug combinations to improve therapeutic efficacy, especially for patients with tumors that are unresponsive to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy. Taking into account the health burden of HCC worldwide, with this Special Issue, we aim to enhance our knowledge of innovative diagnostic and prognostic methods and to discuss experimentation with different novel treatment modalities, believed to be of the utmost priority to progress in our seemingly never-ending fight against hepatocellular cancer.

Acoustic sensors have an extremely wide range of applications in many fields, including underwater acoustics, architectural acoustics, engineering acoustics, physical acoustics, environmental acoustics, psychoacoustics, and so on. The signals collected by high-sensitivity acoustic sensors contain a large amount of valid information that facilitates further processing of the collected acoustic signals. In particular, detection and feature extraction, as two important measures of acoustic sensor signal processing, can capture more information regarding the target and extract features with separability.

The current endeavor of publishing a reprint on the astounding field of research on carbon dots has its roots in the launch of the Special Issue entitled "Catalytic methods for the synthesis of carbon nanodots and their applications". Ever since this Special Issue was launched on 29th August 2022, it has attracted great attention from researchers worldwide. Grateful thanks are due to Dr. Nimala Kumar Jangid and coworkers from India; Dr. Syed Hadi Hasan and coworkers from India; Dr. Lerato L Mokoloko and coworkers from South Africa; Dr. Siti Kastom Kamarudin and coworkers from Malaysia; Dr. Selvaraj Roomani and coworkers from India; Dr. Ahmad Umar and coworkers from India, Saudi Arabia and USA; Dr. Ramon Moreno-Tost and coworkers from Spain; Dr. Jae Hong Kim and coworkers from South Korea and Japan; Dr. Yong RokLee and coworkers from India, South Korea and UAE; and Dr. Joydeep Das from India for their scientific contributions. In a duration of 14 months, 12 state-of-the-art papers were published. Out of the 12 papers published, 4 were comprehensive reviews and 8 were original research articles. This shows the enthusiasm that this research topic has aroused globally.

Several factors have been identified as interfering with the success, rehabilitation, and fitness of athletes from childhood to adulthood, as well as in para-sport, and special populations, according to research. The performance and health of this population are affected by the relationships between stress, maturation, training load, and recovery. Environmental approaches aim to increase efficiency and physiological adaptations in this sense. In various situations and conditions, however, this stimulus-performance-adaptation relationship varies.As a result, we received contributions related (but not limited) to the following topics: training load monitoring; stress and physiological responses during exercise or sports; recovery process after exercise; changes after stress and/or training load; physiology of training in health and sports performance.

The present reprint contains all of the articles accepted and published in the Special Issue titled "Limit Theorems of Probability Theory". The papers included in this Special Issue present new directions and advances for limit theorems in probability theory and its applications. The list of topics is extensive, and it includes classical models of sums of both independent and various types of dependent random variables; probabilities of large deviations; functional limit theorems and limit theorems for random processes, in high-dimensional spaces, for spectra of random matrices, and for random graphs, etc. We strongly believe that the selected topics and results will be attractive to and useful for the international scientific community, as well as contribute to further research into the subject of limit theorems in probability theory.

Since the discovery and clinical application of penicillin, microbial natural products have played a critical role in protecting public health. However, the emergence and wide spread of drug-resistant pathogens pose a new grave threat to humankind and make this issue one of the world's most severe public health problems. New chemical entries with antimicrobial activities, new mechanisms, or novel therapeutic methods are urgently needed for drug development. By exploring new sources, new technologies in separation and structural elucidation, genome mining, and synthetic biology, natural product research is entering a new golden age.This Special Issue on natural products with antimicrobial activities covers the discovery of new secondary metabolites, new mechanisms, and new therapeutic methods for potential application in antimicrobial drug screening and development.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disorder characterized by airflow limitation and is one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity across the globe. Although several guidelines have been published over the past three decades, they were generated in response to the fact that COPD is a major cause of mortality and morbidity and remains an important social problem. In the 20th century, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) was the single most important measure in patients with COPD from discriminative, evaluative, and predictive standpoints. We found that dyspnea is a better mortality predictor than FEV1 in 2002 and exercise capacity in 2003. Subsequently, it has become apparent that physical activity is more predictive of mortality. Furthermore, we have recently developed the tendency to use the reduction of the future risk of exacerbation as the endpoint of relatively large-scale clinical trials rather than the improvement of FEV1. Many researchers have continued to seek better outcome markers and have also discussed what should be used as primary or secondary endpoints in clinical trials in subjects with COPD. We have undoubtedly made great progress but still have a lot of work to do for the best interests of patients.

This reprint consists of 12 papers, of which 2 are editorials and 10 are research papers. We hope to share the experimental and research results in this field and inspire new ideas for the design and applications of hydrogels.

In this Special Issue, seven original research articles, two review articles, and one protocol show the impact of female researchers in the field of analytical science. Analytical methods are necessary in dentistry, medicine (both human and veterinary), archaeology, the pharmaceutical industry, food science and technology, and environmental sciences, and these are only a few examples. The multidisciplinary role of chemistry is reflected in all important advances from research groups in technological progress, proving that analytical chemistry is the key issue in scientific progress. In parallel with this outstanding role of analytical chemistry in a variety of scientific fields, we would particularly like to reflect the impact of female researchers in the field of analytical chemistry in this Special Issue to serve as a motivational guide for girls and women pursuing a STEM career. Therefore, we invited well-established scientists to share the results of their research with the scientific community through this Special Issue, which aimed to compile manuscripts written or lead by women analytical chemists.

The characteristics of nanoparticles, such as their size, shape, surface morphology, crystal structure, grain boundaries, and composition, can be tuned to match the intended use. Thus, the design of nanostructured materials with a wide range of applications in the engineering, chemistry, physics, ceramics, biotechnology, biomedicine, and environmental fields represents an active area of research. Nanostructured materials are now widely used in research and industry, and their particular properties enable advanced physicochemical, electrical, thermal, catalytic, coloristic, optical, and magnetic applications.The present Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive overview of original research articles, communications, and reviews that focus on the development, characterization, and/or applications of nanoparticles and their composites.

Welcome to the Reprint of "Innovations in Durability of Sustainable Concrete Materials", a collection presenting cutting-edge research on sustainable and durable concrete. Discover ten insightful manuscripts exploring the various aspects of sustainable concrete technology, from novel materials to advanced modeling methods. This compilation showcases the transformative journey of the concrete industry towards a sustainable future. Join us in this paradigm-shifting exploration at the intersection of durability and sustainability.

The beginning of the 2020s finds connected multimodality at the forefront of urban mobility transformation. Cities grow larger and increasingly face problems caused by transport and traffic. It is expected that Europe's population in urban areas will increase from today's 74% to about 83.7% in 2050. Congestion costs nearly 2% of the EU's GDP annually, while 85% of the EU's urban population is exposed to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) at levels deemed harmful to health. To face this challenge, cities increasingly strive to implement SUMPs (Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans) to increase the quality of life in their areas and encourage economic growth. Meanwhile, Urban Air Mobility (UAM) offers a promising opportunity to mitigate road (surface) congestion by integrating an additional modality or dimension into the urban mobility landscape. Nonetheless, on the path to fully urban operations of capable automated autonomous aircraft and integrated UAM services, plenty of questions remain open.

In times of rising polarization and disinformation at the global level, this reprint, "Geopolitics, Public Communication, and Social Cohesion Facing the Crisis of Democracy: Risks and Challenges", explores the communication of the main conflicts that put integrity and geopolitics at risk. Drawing upon different methods, the contributions offer insightful findings on the role of communication by public institutions in crisis management and the actions of journalists and citizens. Therefore, this reprint furthers our understanding of how to deal with problems such as audiences' distrust in politics, citizens' disaffection with the media, and institutions' loss of credibility.

This reprint, titled "Sustainable Crop Plants Protection: Implications for Pest and Disease Control", has become of scientific interest again for a reason: to continue its mission of advancing the science and practice of sustainable agriculture. This Special Issue delves into the multifaceted world of crop protection, exploring innovative approaches, technologies, and solutions that are pivotal for the future of agriculture. Our objectives remain as relevant today as they were when the first call went out for the Special Issue of sustainability, to shed light on sustainable pest and disease control strategies, foster scientific collaboration, and provide a platform for sharing knowledge that can transform agriculture for the better.

This reprint focuses on the most advanced theories, models, algorithms, and products related to microwave remote sensing of soil moisture. Over the past few decades, significant efforts have been made to develop models, retrieval algorithms, downscaling methods, and validation strategies related to microwave remote sensing of soil moisture. Following the turn of the century, a series of microwave-based satellites/sensors have been successfully launched, and satellite soil moisture products have become increasingly abundant, greatly promoting the various applications of satellite soil moisture datasets. Despite numerous studies and achievements in this field, great challenges remain, such as the spatial resolution, retrieval accuracy, and validation strategies related to satellite soil moisture datasets. This reprint covers research progress on the following topics: (1) downscaling passive microwave-based soil moisture products, (2) estimating soil moisture from active microwave observations, (3) presenting some new algorithms (freeze-thaw state detection algorithm) and models (soil dielectric models) related to microwave remote sensing of soil moisture, (4) evaluating microwave-based soil moisture products, and (5) reviewing the state-of-the-art techniques and algorithms used to estimate and improve the quality of soil moisture estimations.

In the past 20 years, karst desertification control has produced remarkable results, and the South China karst has been a global hotspot for greening. However, in the new stage of karst desertification control, the functional lag of forest ecosystems and the insufficient supply capacity of ecosystem services are gradually becoming prominent. We not only lack systematic research on vulnerability and resilience, structure and stability, ecological assets and services, carrying capacity and ecological security, and service trade-offs/synergies and optimization in controlled ecosystems. There is still a lack of research on the ecological processes of newly constructed forests in improving ecosystem functions and services. Therefore, this reprint mainly focuses on the research improvement of forest ecosystem functions in karst desertification control. This includes the improvement mechanism of ecosystem structure, function, and services, the mechanism of ecosystem service tradeoff/synergy, and function optimization. An optimization model of ecosystem function and an improvement path for eco-product supply are introduced. The role of functional traits in the maintenance of ecological function and services is also established, and social-ecological responses to afforestation in karst desertification control are discussed.

The relationship between individuality and aggregation is an important topic in Complex Systems Science, as both aspects are facets of emergence. This problem has generally been addressed by adopting a classical individual- versus population-level approach, in which boundaries emerge in segregated communities. More specifically, boundaries delimiting and interconnecting aggregates are at play. It is, therefore, crucial to define the properties of complex systems correctly, such as generic agent-based models, with which to simulate communities situated in grid- and scale-free network environments. To do this, complexities may be resolved through simulation, modeling and analysis techniques, which help provide confidence regarding the behavior of such systems, especially of those operating in dynamic environments or under unexpected constraints. Moreover, modeling and simulation help reduce the risks and costs involved in the design and development of validation tests.

Polyoxometalates (POMs) are a large and rapidly growing class of early-transition-metal oxide clusters. POMs are formed via acid-involved condensation reactions from monomeric oxometalate units, thus holding a special position (intermediate state) between monomeric oxometalate units and infinite metal oxide frameworks. POMs continue to show remarkable advances and unexpected surprises in both their fundamentals and applications. The chemical compositions (addenda atoms) of POMs are mainly Mo, W, V, Nb, and Ta, and the heteroatoms of POMs are more variable, including P, As, B, Al, Si, Ge, S, and so on. The wide range of chemical composition variability and the large amount of unusual structural types enable POMs to exhibit a large number of different properties, such as rich solution equilibria, significant chemical and thermal stability, strong acidity, and the ability to act as proton-electron sinks due to their fast and reversible proton-coupled redox processes. Based on their intrinsic multifunctional nature, POMs have significant applications in catalysis, medicine, and materials science, etc. POMs not only can be used widely in different disciplines but can also be combined with polymers, oxides, ionic liquids, or carbonaceous supports to construct new and advanced composite (hybrid) materials, which have important, extensive applications in catalysis, electrode materials, electrocatalysis, photocatalysis, and so on.

In the last few decades, the application of fractional calculus to real-world problems has grown rapidly, with dynamical systems described by fractional differential equations (FDEs) representing one of the ways by which to understand complex materials and processes. Due to the power required to model the non-locality, memory, spatial heterogeneity and anomalous diffusion inherent in many real-world problems, FDEs have attracted significant attention in many fields of science and are still under development. However, generally, fractional mathematical models from science and engineering are so complex that analytical solutions are not available. Therefore, the numerical solution is an effective tool in fractional mathematical models. This Special Issue presents the latest developments in fractional differential equations, reports the state-of-the-art numerical methods, and discusses the future trends and challenges.

This Special Issue includes 14 contributions, with 2 review contributions and 12 research contributions. The review contributions provide a survey with an overview of the state of the art in detecting and projecting cyber-attack scenarios, and the review of a specific application area, the safety of autonomous haulage systems in the mining environment related to both cybersecurity and communication. 10 research contributions are addressing the area of advanced services for intrusion detection systems: (a) the use of different machine learning models depending on the specific scenarios and datasets; (b) the use of deep learning techniques for the detection of zero-day attacks; (c) a proposal of an integrated scalable framework aimed at efficiently detecting anomalous events on large amounts of unlabeled data logs; (d) a spatiotemporal characterization of cyber-attacks for detecting such attacks; (e) a two-stage intrusion detection system for industrial control networks; (f) a chatbot for detecting online sex offenders, based on an artificial conversational entity (ACE); and (g) an open-source platform for manipulating both streaming and archived network flow data in real time. This Special Issue also contains two protection-related research contributions, including: (a) a countermeasure for on-off web defacement attacks and (b) the evaluation of multi-path routing as a protection feature against network attacks and failures.

This reprint focuses on recent developments in laser measurement technologies and innovative applications. Laser-based measurement and sensing technologies have attracted growing attention due to their advantages of high sensitivity and fast responses. Their applications include industrial production, substance analysis, environmental monitoring, and more. In recent years, with the development of laser source and measurement approaches, many new technologies or applications of laser measurement and sensing have appeared. The topics of this reprint include laser measurement and sensing, micro- and nano-photoelectric measurement, the simultaneous measurement of multiple parameters, structured light measurement, and so on.

Plants produce a wide range of phytochemicals, known as non-nutrition compounds, to confirm their identity, and they are used for the production of natural pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and functional food, among other things, due to their pro-health properties. The use of modern chromatographic techniques allows for accurate quantitative and qualitative identification of the above-mentioned phytochemicals and their natural products. Liquid chromatography is one of the most efficient and robust specific techniques due to the merits of convenience and strong separation ability, as well as a wide range of material applications for identification. Liquid chromatography is widely used to analyze plants, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics and in natural product quality control or quantitative determination of bioactive compounds. The most commonly used for identifying different plant materials and pharmaceuticals are ultra- and high-performance liquid chromatography with UV-VIS, fluorescence, and diode array, which is equipped with mass spectrometry or tandem mass spectrometry detection methods. Therefore, for this Special Issue, we published studies concerning the latest scientific news, insights, and advances in the field of innovation of liquid chromatography for the analysis of bioactive compounds for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and functional food interests.

The use of polymer thin films is currently implemented in almost every aspect of modern life due to their cost-efficiency, lightness, flexibility, and unique physical and chemical properties. The reason for focusing research into polymer thin films is to understand their thermodynamic and kinetic mechanisms, such as interfacial interactions, flow behavior, film formation, relationships between deposition process parameters and the film structure, and other advanced functional properties. Thin polymer film research focuses on a wide range of industrial applications, including energy technologies, optics, sensors, microelectronics, medicine, biotechnology, etc.This Special Issue highlights and discusses studies on the formation of polymer films, their morphological analysis, and their use in various applications, including sensors, antifouling coatings, and coatings for harnessing solar energy. In addition, this Special Issue also includes two review papers on the latest research on polymer-waveguide-based optical sensors and the integration of antifouling and anti-cavitation coatings on propellers.

Polyphenols are a group of bioactive compounds in plant foods that have been gaining attention since the 1990s due to their health implications. However, it is still difficult to define their implications concerning health maintenance and chronic disease prevention or even treatment. There are many difficulties in their study, with the first being the fact that this group of compounds includes such a diverse array of chemical structures and effects as part of the food products in which they coexist with many other nutrients and non-nutrients. However, today, it is generally accepted that they exert a vasoprotective effect, that they may modulate blood pressure and exert a regulatory effect both on lipid and glucidic metabolism, and that they have an immunomodulatory and gut microbial effect. It is through all these means that polyphenols may be of use in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases as prevalent as obesity and cardiovascular disease or neurocognitive decline.

This reprint emerges as a beacon guiding researchers, scientists, and medical professionals through uncharted territories. In this volume, we delve deep into the intricate world of immunization, where the fusion of bioinformatics and network medicine reshapes our understanding of vaccines' efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity.

This reprint "Clinical Features of COVID-19 in Elderly Patients" is a crucial resource dedicated to the medical challenges posed by the pandemic, with a specific focus on its impact on elderly people. Given their vulnerability, understanding the clinical aspects of COVID-19 in this demographic is paramount. This reprint compiles a wide array of studies and current knowledge tailored to address the unique challenges faced by elderly people during the pandemic. It surpasses literature reviews, offering critical analysis and in-depth discussions. Its primary goal is to encourage critical analyses and discussions about the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in elderly people. Targeted towards medical professionals, researchers, and healthcare practitioners, it aids in the development of tailored treatment approaches and care protocols. As the COVID-19 pandemic persists, this reprint remains essential for those dedicated to combating the virus, enhancing elderly patients' care, and promoting public health.

Otorhinolaryngology and head and neck specialists worldwide face an increasing incidence and prevalence of various pathologies, some of the cases neglecting the evolution of their condition during the period of COVID-19 pandemics, thus aggravating their evolution. This Special Issue contains reviews and selected rare case series to update the protocols of ENT and allied specialists worldwide. The aim was to present an interdisciplinary point of view of the numerous branches of pathology that form the otorhinolaryngology specialty.

The primary aim of this reprint is to describe the genomics of splenic lymphomas, hairy cell leukemia, Cutaneous lymphomas, plasma cell leukemia, MDS with deletion 5q, mastocytosis, hypodiploid acute lymphoblastic leukemia, CLL with complex karyotype and other rare hematologic cancers.