Bücher veröffentlicht von Mdpi AG

This Special Issue, "Mathematical and Molecular Topology", is open for submissions and welcomes papers from a broad interdisciplinary area, since topology is concerned with the properties of objects that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting, crumpling and bending. One of the oldest problems in topology is The Seven Bridges of Königsberg.Topology naturally finds application in all fields of engineering, physical sciences, life sciences, social sciences, medicine, business and even arts. The motivating insight behind topology is that some geometric problems depend not on the exact shape of the objects involved, but rather on the way they are put together.Circa 1750, Euler stated the polyhedron formula, V ¿ E + F = 2 (where V, E, and F respectively indicate the number of vertices, edges, and faces of the polyhedron), which may be regarded as the first theorem, signaling the birth of topology.Subjects included in topology are graph theory and algebraic topology.

Cities are widely recognized as environments which can present risks to humans. Risks to health and well-being are measured in three groups of indices: physiological, emotional, and cognitive. The environmental factors discussed in studies include physical factors such as noise, heat load, and air pollution, and social factors include feelings of discomfort, crime, transportation, and access to health services. Some studies even argue that stress and health risks are intrinsic to urban environments and that restoration is intrinsic to green environments. This Topic aims to discuss what spaces can be greened and the effect this has on urban environments. It also discusses the effect of the size and layout of parks, vegetation on the walls and roofs of houses, and the effects of different types of vegetation, building materials, and energy-efficient design. Today's environment demands new design processes, construction techniques, occupancy practices, and management strategies to increase the resilience of the built environment to extreme, uncontrollable, and unpredictable events while providing healthy and sustainable environments for people. This Topic reflects on what the new concept of sustainability for the built environment should be and how to guide new research directions.

This book comprises a collection of 20 articles that were accepted and published in the Special Issue titled " Recent Advances in Swarm Intelligence Algorithms and Their Applications" of the MDPI journal Mathematics. These articles cover a wide range of topics related to swarm intelligence algorithms and their theories. The topics include improvements in algorithm mechanisms, fusion algorithms, multiobjective optimization, and the optimization of large-scale problems, as well as the application of swarm intelligence in various fields such as engineering optimization problems, vehicle swarm motion, viscoelastic Maxwell-type DVA, and deep learning.It is hoped that this book will be helpful for scholars engaged in the field of swarm intelligence and also suitable for researchers interested in staying updated with the latest advancements in swarm intelligence algorithms and their applications. Nowadays, swarm intelligence is closely intertwined with various aspects of life. This book aims to provide readers with an understanding of these developments and further expand the application boundaries of such algorithms.

The use of Advanced Oxidation Technologies (AOTs) for wastewater treatment is an important area of research which has not yet been fully exploited at an industrial level and has significant potential in the disposal of many industrial effluents. In particular, this includes effluents that are difficult to treat by conventional biological treatment processes. This reprint covers the latest advances in the field of wastewater treatment by Advanced Oxidation Technologies, with a focus on treatments based on photolysis, TiO2/solar light, ozone/ultraviolet irradiation, oxidant/ultraviolet irradiation, oxidant/catalyst/ultraviolet irradiation, high-energy electron beam irradiation (E-beam), sonication/photocatalysis, etc.

This reprint consists of scientific papers that had been published and covered the synthesis, characteristics, and applications of multifunctional nanomaterials. Smart nanoparticles with two or more engineered properties or characteristics make up multifunctional nanomaterials. These versatile nanomaterials have impressive structural and physical characteristics, which has expanded their industrial application. This reprint will be useful to academics, scientists, engineers, students, and industrial researchers.

In this book, we focus on health and wellbeing in the workforce within the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the post-pandemic era. We begin by exploring the impacts of the pandemic on diverse occupational groups, considering the broader mental health impacts of the pandemic, reactions to national lockdowns and behavioural strategies to control the spread of the virus, such as social distancing and self-isolation, attitudes towards infection control and work presenteeism. Next, we explore the relationship between job factors, working conditions and psychological wellbeing of employees. The papers that follow examine changes in work patterns and locations, such as remote, hybrid, and on-site working, the impact of organizational climate on mental wellbeing, and organizational approaches to return-to-work after lockdown. Finally, we present innovative organizational- and individual-level pandemic mitigation interventions, including SARS-CoV-2 testing services and infection control approaches, digital mental health support, and COVID-19 Vaccine Education. This collection demonstrates the breadth of research on work, health and wellbeing, during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, covering workforce impacts and workforce interventions in various countries and settings. Learning from this research will help to build global preparedness for future pandemics and foster resilience for responding in times of crisis and uncertainty.

This Special Issue is dedicated to collating recent research on the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica Peninsula region. This Issue also considers the spreading of Antarctic Bottom Water. Papers in this issue are focused on field research of the physical properties and ecology of this key region of the Southern Ocean. The main objects of the study are the properties of seawater, currents, ecosystems, and biological communities in the South Atlantic, the Powell Basin of the northwestern Weddell Sea, the Bransfield Strait, and the Antarctic Sound. The Antarctic marine ecosystem is unique in terms of its biodiversity and high productivity of the basic trophic levels of the ecosystem. This ecosystem is efficiently used by organisms such as seabirds, seals, and whales that feed on Antarctic krill.

The Special Issue Modeling and Simulation in Engineering, belonging to the section Engineering Mathematics of the Journal Mathematics, publishes original research papers involving advanced simulation and modeling techniques. The present book, "Modeling and Simulation in Engineering 2nd Edition, 2023", contains 13 papers accepted after peer review by recognized specialists in the field. The papers address different topics in engineering that use modeling, optimization as well as experimental and numerical methods. The subject of the papers addresses technical problems such as adaptive contoller design for non-linear systems, simulation of light scattering produced by special paints, estimation of the magnetic field produced by overhead power lines, angle estimation using inertial measurement units, study of multiple transfer phenomena in viscuous fluid flow, optimization of aircraft tail using numerical methods, the study of new types of adjustable speed drives, investigation of nano-fluid flow in different systems, metaheuristic methods applied for maximum power point tracking in photovoltaic systems, as well as theoretical topics such as the use of surrogate models in optimization problems and characterization of structured singular values. It is hoped that the papers selected for thisSpecial Issue will attract a significant audience in the scientific community and will further stimulate research involving modelling and simulation in mathematical physics and in engineering.

The Special Issue aims to bring together scientists working in various branches of control theory to discuss manufacturing control problems that include the following: enterprise control and digital ecosystem creation; the development of identification theory and methodology, and related mathematical problems; parameter, nonparametric, and structure identification and expert analysis; problems regarding selection and data analysis; control systems with an identifier; modeling in intelligent systems; simulation procedures and software; digital identification; reinforcement learning; quantum modeling; intelligent model predictive control; predictive cognitive issues; problems with software quality for complex systems; and global network resources for support processes of modeling and control.

Nanomedicine is a special medical field focused on the application of nanotechnology to provide innovations for healthcare in different areas, including the treatment of a wide variety of diseases, including cancer, infections, and auto-immune disorders. The field emerged during the 1980s, aligning with the approval of the first regulatory-agency-approved nanomedical oncological drugs. Additionally, nanotechnology has played a pivotal role in the development of mRNA vaccines utilized during the COVID-19 pandemic, further establishing its enduring significance in the domains of science and biomedical innovation. The reasons for the use of nanotechnology in biomedicine can vary but are mostly the protection and/or delivery of bioactive molecules to target tissues. The general idea is to create nanoscopic platforms that can interact differently with biological systems, either through pharmacokinetic modifications or through the preferential activation of some biological pathway. The intricate biomolecular interactions that underlie the functioning of the biological system take place within the nanoscale. So, nanoparticles can be designed to be similar in size to key biological structures like large biomolecules or small organelles, enabling them to interact with biological systems in unique ways, which can improve the effects of drugs used in the treatment of certain diseases. In other words, highly distinct and improved biological effects can emerge from such interactions.

Weeds are the most important biological factor that affects yield in herbaceous and perennial crops. Nowadays, following the recommendations of government institutions and public opinion, there is an urgent need to search for sustainable weed management practices that have a low impact on the environment and on the health of living organisms. This book, established after closing the Special Issue "Sustainable Weed Management" edited by Dr. Alessia Restuccia and Dr. Aurelio Scavo, is a collection of papers (17 research articles and 1 review) related to the recent advancements in sustainable weed control methods and to the biotic and abiotic factors affecting weed adaptation.

The book presents a collection of contributions to various aspects of ship hydrodynamics and dynamics, a part of which was presented at the MARTECH2020 Conference, and all of which were published in a Special Issue of the journal, Marine Science and Engineering. The scope of the collection covers nearly all branches of ship hydrodynamics and dynamics, and so it may be of interest to all specialists in the field as well as for naval architects and applied mechanicians of various levels. The authors are recognized specialists from a number of countries, and to all of whom the Editors express their acknowledgement.

Cities are widely recognized as environments which can present risks to humans. Risks to health and well-being are measured in three groups of indices: physiological, emotional, and cognitive. The environmental factors discussed in studies include physical factors such as noise, heat load, and air pollution, and social factors include feelings of discomfort, crime, transportation, and access to health services. Some studies even argue that stress and health risks are intrinsic to urban environments and that restoration is intrinsic to green environments. This Topic aims to discuss what spaces can be greened and the effect this has on urban environments. It also discusses the effect of the size and layout of parks, vegetation on the walls and roofs of houses, and the effects of different types of vegetation, building materials, and energy-efficient design. Today's environment demands new design processes, construction techniques, occupancy practices, and management strategies to increase the resilience of the built environment to extreme, uncontrollable, and unpredictable events while providing healthy and sustainable environments for people. This Topic reflects on what the new concept of sustainability for the built environment should be and how to guide new research directions.

This book focuses on fundamental and applied research on national parks and protected areas. The destruction and degradation of nature undermine biodiversity and human well-being. Protected areas (including national parks) represent one of the best ways to safeguard nature and preserve biodiversity for the benefit of all life on Earth. Protected areas put the focus on nature conservation while providing various types of ecosystem services and contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this book, special attention is given to wilderness quality, connectivity conservation and ecological networks, ecosystem services, community participation, tourism and other relevant topics.

The book presents new approaches for bio- and immunosensors with nanodispersed labels and their optical registration. The use of nanoparticles as carriers and labels provides possibilities for simple measurements and reaching low detection limits. In this way, novel sensors obtain competitive advantages and good potential for implementation into diagnostic practice. The collected articles demonstrate the current state of developments and their most promising directions in the creation and characterization of such optical sensors.

For a long time, the entry point for most communities and decision makers concerned about climate change was to ask, "what does the science tell us is going to happen?" Consequently, even though some effort was made to bring social and policy sciences to bear with the climate services enterprise, the demand for technological advances such as downscaled climate model projections and climate impact science drove much of the climate services agenda during its first decade and a half. By the 2000s, 'users' of climate information were becoming more sophisticated, and demand-driven innovations began to be recognized in peer-reviewed discussions of climate services; nevertheless, most authors continue to privilege a top-down, science-first flow of knowledge production and innovation. Entitled "Sustainability and Climate Services: Critique, Integration, and Reimagination," the purpose of this Special Issue of Sustainability is to empower unconventional thinking in the hopes of accelerating the relevance of climate services at a time when communities at all levels are pursuing programs of adaptation, resilience, and sustainability. It is our hope that this Special Issue will provide outside-the-box, but constructive, critique to help support the basis for a 'next generation' of weather- and climate-related information products and services.

This book is the proceedings of the 7th International Electronic Conference on Water Sciences (ECWS-7), held online 15-30 March 2003, promoted by the open access MDPI journal Water (ISSN 2073-4441; IF 3.530). The title of ECWS-7 was "Adaptive Water Resources Management in an Era of Changing Climatic, Environmental and Social Conditions". This book of proceedings includes 102 papers, internationally and independently reviewed and presented in the conference. The topics of the papers cover a large number of subjects including Sustainable Water Resources Management, Water Resource Policy and GovernanceHydrology, and Climate Change: Impacts on Water Resources and Hydrology.

The growth of data-driven technologies, 5G, and the Internet place enormous pressure on underlying information infrastructure. There exist numerous proposals on how to deal with the possible capacity crunch. However, the security of both optical and wireless networks lags behind reliable and spectrally efficient transmission. Significant achievements have been made recently in the quantum computing arena. Because most conventional cryptography systems rely on computational security, which guarantees the security against an efficient eavesdropper for a limited time, with the advancement in quantum computing this security can be compromised. To solve these problems, various schemes providing perfect/unconditional security have been proposed including physical-layer security (PLS), quantum key distribution (QKD), and post-quantum cryptography. Unfortunately, it is still not clear how to integrate those different proposals with higher level cryptography schemes. So the purpose of the Special Issue entitled "Physical-Layer Security, Quantum Key Distribution and Post-quantum Cryptography" was to integrate these various approaches and enable the next generation of cryptography systems whose security cannot be broken by quantum computers. This book represents the reprint of the papers accepted for publication in the Special Issue.

Cybersecurity models include provisions for legitimate user and agent authentication, as well as algorithms for detecting external threats, such as intruders and malicious software. In particular, we can define a continuum of cybersecurity measures ranging from user identification to risk-based and multilevel authentication, complex application and network monitoring, and anomaly detection. We refer to this as the "anomaly detection continuum". Machine learning and other artificial intelligence technologies can provide powerful tools for addressing such issues, but the robustness of the obtained models is often ignored or underestimated. On the one hand, AI-based algorithms can be replicated by malicious opponents, and attacks can be devised so that they will not be detected (evasion attacks). On the other hand, data and system contexts can be modified by attackers to influence the countermeasures obtained from machine learning and render them ineffective (active data poisoning). This Special Issue presents ten papers that can be grouped under five main topics: (1) Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs), (2) Intrusion Detection, (3) Malware Analysis, (4) Access Control, and (5) Threat intelligence.AI is increasingly being used in cybersecurity, with three main directions of current research: (1) new areas of cybersecurity are being addressed, such as CPS security and threat intelligence; (2) more stable and consistent results are being presented, sometimes with surprising accuracy and effectiveness; and (3) the presence of an AI-aware adversary is recognized and analyzed, producing more robust solutions.

This Special Issue collects emerging research activities in the field of cooperative microactuator systems, which are expected to generate new synergies, e.g., through parallelization, cascading, and multistability, as well as through inherent sensing.

This Special Issue "Design and Sustainability" aimed to foster discussion on the design and development of products, services and PSS that are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable. It is crucial to consider various facets of design and sustainability in a broad range of sectors and countries, while providing attention to often overlooked 'softer' dimension of social sustainability.

This reprint provides a forum for scientists and engineers to share and discuss their pioneering/original findings or insightful reviews on the "Characterization and Processing of Complex Materials". Reports on successfully coupling complex industrial materials/waste/natural ores with non-destructive characterization method(s) and the unique processing developments were particularly encouraged. On the other hand, any kind of contribution under the broad framework of the understanding and production of complex materials was also highly regarded.This reprint gathers papers on the characterization and processing of complex materials with the following keywords: non-destructive characterization; analytical chemistry and instrumentation; waste management and recycling; selective material recovery/processing; sustainability and circular economy. This includes the waste management and recycling of complex materials (e.g., food and electronic waste) through the development of a new characterization method and/or process intensification. For example, the proper characterization of complex/heterogeneous materials is still an extremely challenging task, since the majority of characterization methods analyze either the average characteristics of the whole material or a narrow area of specific interest. On the other hand, the efficient processing/recycling of complex materials/waste should be strongly supported by their characterization from the viewpoint of economic and environmental concerns.

The present book contains the 11 articles published in the Special Issue "Advances in Delay Differential Equations" of the MDPI journal Mathematics. The papers cover a wide range of topics connected to the theory of differential equations with delay. These topics include, among others, the construction of solutions, analytical and numerical methods for; dynamical properties of; and applications of DDE to the mathematical modeling of various phenomena and processes in physics, biology, ecology, and medicine.It is hoped that the book will be interesting and useful for those working in the area of differential equations with delays and nonlinear dynamics, as well as for those with the proper mathematical background who are willing to become familiar with recent advances in mathematical modelling, which have now entered almost all areas of science.

This reprint gathers the literature regarding diverse disciplines within the context of contemporary urban planning and land use in different regions to address global challenges in sustainable urban development.

This special Issue aimed to collect the latest original research and reviews on the fundamentals and applications of any functional multiphase flow in microfluidics. There were 24 papers submitted to this Special Issue, and 15 papers were accepted. They address numerous topics, mainly on the motion characteristics of particles with different scales and shapes.

The Special Issue "Laser Technologies in Metal-Based Materials" offers a harmonious presentation of the recent achievements in the field of laser-induced physical and chemical phenomena that have evolved into laser techniques to produce diverse functional metal materials and structures. The presented results provide new ideas for researchers, and new solutions for science-consuming manufacturing and industry.

The increasing partial pressure of atmospheric CO2 (pCO2) is reducing surface ocean pH, a process known as ocean acidification (OA) This results in a reduced saturation of the seawater with respect to the CaCO3 polymorphs aragonite, high-Mg calcite, and low-Mg calcite that are involved in the biological formation of calcareous skeletons and shells. The effect of OA on calcium carbonate precipitation and the subsequent dissolution in carbonate depositional systems, such as coral reefs, is a hotly debated topic. While early studies suggested that certain carbonate-secreting organism groups may be strongly affected by OA or may even become extinct, others observed highly variable, species-specific responses to OA, whereby some taxa are negatively affected, some are positively affected, and others are unaffected.The collection of articles presented in this Special Issue presents ongoing research into the effects of OA on calcareous biomineralization while introducing some new questions and provocative hypotheses. The continued investigation of these concepts should advance our understanding of the mechanisms of biocalcification and improve predictions of how future CO2-induced changes in marine and freshwater systems will impact calcifying organisms, as well as the ecosystems they comprise, in the decades and centuries ahead.

This book focuses on both advanced metals and their alloys and the areas of physical and process metallurgy, materials science, and processing techniques. Specific areas of interest also include titanium/nickel-based superalloys, intermetallics, advanced metallic materials, nanomaterials, metal matrix composites, functional materials, related synthesis and processing techniques, finite element modelling, statistical analysis, physical/mechanical property characterization, experimental validation, and other relevant phenomena. Physical metallurgy is important in the design and optimization of advanced materials with superior physical and mechanical properties through microstructural modifications and processing techniques. The goal of this Special Issue is to bring together recent progress, novel technologies, and advanced equipment for the design and development of advanced metals and alloys and provide guidelines/benchmarks for further research in related areas. Composites, intermetallics, and nanomaterials as well as functional materials will be also included. Some of the recent advances in the field of advanced metals and alloys include novel material processing techniques, manufacturing methods and theories, microstructural characterization, modelling development, and advanced equipment. Conventional and nonconventional processes related to machining, forming, laser processing, additive/subtractive manufacturing, surface modification, and the solidification of high-performance alloys/metals are also included.

This book focuses on the complexity of the European Union food systems and their progress in achieving Farm to Forks' and European Green Deal strategies' goals. Nowadays, the sustainability of food systems' issue is a crucial driver for the mitigation and adaptation climate change actions and for the reduction of environmental degradation. The presented research, analyzing different strategies and tools, has provided updated solutions for several agri-food sectors and geographical areas.