Bücher veröffentlicht von Mdpi AG

This Special Issue, entitled "Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods: Bridging Health and Food Under a New Perspective", aims to approach the current state-of-the-art research on nutraceuticals and functional foods. The main issue in this field of research is the sustainability and recovery of bioactive substances from vegetal- or animal-origin byproducts to project and realize novel food supplements and nutraceuticals. Low environmental impact, safety, new food sources and analytical methodologies are of growing interest in the research area of food.The perspective approach addresses the mechanism of action of nutraceuticals, safety and functional foods and nutraceuticals' mechanisms of action, revealing new possibilities for their use as tools in a complementary proactive approach to certain health issues to prevent the onset of health conditions or to be used in subjects who do not qualify for a conventional therapeutical approach. The areas involved in this perspective range from food chemistry and analysis to nutrition and from safety to sustainability; new therapeutical approaches and novel techniques of analysis and formulation are also involved, which require a wide inter- and multi-disciplinary approach. The overall assessment of these aspects creates new challenges for research and also impacts sustainability, health and safety. This Special Issue may also consider the bridging of health and food in their different declinations from a new perspective.

This collection of articles aims to promote the spread of a new way of resuscitating newborns in the delivery room: to perform exactly the same neonatal resuscitation procedures in a different landscape, that is, at mother's side with an intact cord.

The reprint offers a selection of high-quality research articles that tackle the major difficulties in computer vision and machine learning for intelligent sensing systems from both theoretical and practical standpoints. This publication includes intelligent sensing techniques, twelve foundational investigations into sense-making methods, and discusses particular uses of intelligent sensing systems in autonomous driving and virtual reality.

Control systems play a vital role in the advancement of many engineering and science fields. The increasing demand for safety and reliability has led to the development of fault diagnosis (FD) and fault-tolerant control (FTC) systems, which play a paramount role in safety-critical systems, such as water distribution networks, aircrafts, spacecrafts, chemical, and biochemical plants, and nuclear power plants, where even minor faults can lead to catastrophic consequences. FD has primary importance since it enables online monitoring processes, allowing for the implementation of so-called active FTC systems. In an active FTC system, the FD module determines which component exhibits abnormal behavior and feeds this information to the controller. Based on this information, it redistributes or adapts the control law to maintain stability with a controlled degradation of the system's performance. Therefore, there is an increasing interest in creating new techniques or adapting the existing fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant methods to make the above-mentioned systems secure. At the same time, control theory is developing ceaselessly, and new theoretical results are continually being discovered that can be used in innovative fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control techniques.

In recent years, the fascination with shape memory alloys (SMAs) has grown across industries such as aerospace, automotive, naval, civil, and biology. SMAs possess unique properties, including the ability to recover from deformation when heated, exhibit pseudoelastic stress-strain behavior for large deformations, and exceptional biocompatibility for bioengineering applications. However, a comprehensive understanding of critical characteristics like transformation temperature and stress values is necessary to fully utilize SMAs. The shape memory effect, where SMAs regain their original shape after deformation under specific thermal conditions, has driven innovative applications in various sectors. In aerospace, SMAs are used in wing structures and actuation systems, enabling morphing and improving aerodynamics. In healthcare, they are integrated into orthopedic devices, simplifying surgical procedures and providing necessary support. The automotive industry also benefits from SMAs, using them in seatbelts and vibration damping systems for enhanced safety and comfort. Accurate knowledge of critical characteristics is essential for effective utilization of SMAs, unlocking their potential in different fields. The remarkable versatility of SMAs, with their deformation recovery, pseudoelasticity, and biocompatibility, positions them as a material of immense interest. As research and development continue, SMAs are poised to drive future innovations, shaping various industries.

Over the past decade, we have witnessed significant advancements in the label-free biosensing field. Label-free biosensors aim at detecting the target molecules or biological processes without labels, thus allowing evaluation of their intrinsic properties in their natural forms, as well as easy operations without sophisticated pre-treatments of samples, which has drawn more and more attention in biological studies and rapid clinical tests. The main challenges include two aspects. First, the measurement system should be sensitive enough to detect the tiny signals corresponding to the specific target properties. Second, the signal processing protocols should be able to recognize the signals from the complex background. Owing to the great advances of commercial detection components with high sensitivity, more and more ingenious but economic label-free biosensors have been presented for diverse applications. This Special Issue, entitled "Label-free Biosensors", focuses on recent advances in producing sensitive and easy-to-use label-free biosensors and their applications in diverse fields. This collection presents several novel label-free detection techniques to introduce design strategies and operation protocols in practical application, which might be of particular value to beginners and graduate students who have just entered this field.

This Special Issue focuses on recent technology developments in the measurement of the thermal conductivity/diffusivity of micro/nanoscale materials, including 2D materials, micro/nanoscale wires/fibers, and nanostructured materials. Techniques such as photothermal, transient electrothermal, and energy transport state-resolved Raman have been reviewed in great detail.

Complex systems have long been an integral part of modern life and can be encountered everywhere. Undertaking a comprehensive study of such systems is a challenging problem, one which is impossible to solve without the use of contemporary mathematical modeling techniques. Mathematical models form the basis for the optimal design and control of complex systems. The present reprint contains all the articles accepted and published in the Special Issue of Mathematics entitled "Control, Optimization, and Mathematical Modeling of Complex Systems". This Special Issue is focused on recent theoretical and computational studies of complex systems modeling, control, and optimization. The topics addressed in this Special Issue cover a wide range of areas, including numerical simulation in physical, social, and life sciences; the modeling and analysis of complex systems based on mathematical methods and AI/ML approaches; control problems in robotics; design optimization of complex systems, modeling in economics and social sciences; stochastic models in physics and engineering; mathematical models in material science; and high-performance computing for mathematical modeling. It is our hope that the scientific results presented in this reprint will serve as valuable sources of documentation and inspiration to those seeking to delve into complex systems modeling, control, and optimization and examine their wide-ranging applications.

The articles collected focused on the construction of delivery systems aiming at enhancing the physicochemical stability, bioavailability, and bioactivity of active lipids and liposoluble ingredients, as well as flavor retention and slow release, and its potential application in the development of functional foods with different phase states and suitable for the physiopathological characteristics of different populations.A growing application of lipids and liposoluble ingredients are emerging in functional foods, such as beverages, meal replacement powders, and foods with special medical purpose. Liposoluble ingredients including polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), phytosterols (esters), carotenoids, polyphenols, and liposoluble vitamins, play an important role in balancing the insufficient nutrient intake and occurrence of chronic diseases. However, a critical challenge for their efficient and rational application arises due to the properties of strong hydrophobicity, easy oxidation, unpleasant flavor, and adverse interaction with other components. The construction, perfection, and regulation of lipid delivery system are of great significance for overcoming the challenge.

Aquatic products are an important type of food, mainly including fish, shrimp, shellfish, crab, seaweed, etc. They provide human beings with high-quality protein, fatty acids, minerals, and other nutritional elements. Generally, aquatic raw materials need to go through transportation, processing, and preservation from the water area to the dining table.This Special Issue covers papers in the following areas:Advanced live fish transportation and quality change of aquatic products during transportation;New methods of processing on quality of aquatic products;New methods of preservation on shelf life and quality of aquatic products;Improvement of shelf life, nutrition, and quality of aquatic products;New detection, analysis, and management technology involved in transportation, processing, and preservation of aquatic products.

This book focuses on recent advances in the clinical care of patients with acute and chronic coronary syndromes. We must accumulate novel scientific and clinical knowledge in this field to develop seamless treatments and preventive strategies for this patient population. Furthermore, accumulated data have implicated that there are some residual risk factors for coronary syndromes, and the clinical management of cardiovascular/non-cardiovascular complications associated with coronary syndromes is also a critical concern.We hope that this book will facilitate the management of future patients with coronary syndromes; however, further research is still required. It is also our hope that this book will promote future research to enable a better understanding of the clinical practice of coronary syndromes.

As contemporary and emerging engineering applications demand increasingly high performance from metallic materials, research into their degradation in a variety of environments is a hot topic in the scientific community. This book is dedicated to providing the readership with an up-to-date overview of current corrosion research on different metallic materials (steels, aluminum alloys, magnesium alloys, and copper alloys), exploring fundamental and practical aspects related to corrosion mechanisms and protection methods to advance the current knowledge in this field. The content of this book provides new and insightful concepts to promote the development of optimized surfaces with high corrosion protection ability.

In this Special Issue, we will seek advanced knowledge in both basic and clinical research presented in original articles and comprehensive reviews highlighting the latest advances in MCC. Articles focus on but are not restricted to the molecular basis of the disease, translational investigations of biomarkers for prospective clinical applications, and innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in MCC.Dr. Virve KoljonenDr. Weng-Onn LuiProf. Dr. Jürgen C. BeckerGuest Editors

The discipline of aquaculture ecology is developing rapidly and has generated much valuable progress in recent decades. This book mainly describes the recent advances in the individual ecology of commercial aquatic organisms, the ecology of aquaculture systems, the interaction between aquaculture activities and the environment, the structure of function of microbial communities, the principles of environmental management in aquaculture ecosystems, etc.Aquaculture is one of the fastest-growing human activities, and has achieved high and predictable yields in recent decades. However, the industry is also facing numerous long-term challenges, such as environmental pollution, excessive resource consumption, etc. Aquaculture ecology aims to lay an ecological foundation for the sustainable development of aquaculture. This book hosts 10 papers and 1 editorial, with topics including, but not limited to, the impact of floating raft aquaculture on the hydrodynamic environment of an open sea area; the bioremediation of aquaculture wastewater using seaweed; the production environment in biofloc systems; the effects of various environmental factors, including temperature, carbonate alkalinity and protein levels in compound feed on commercial aquatic species; advances in ecology research on major integrated rice field aquaculture models in China, etc. The advances in aquaculture ecology research collected in this book can provide references for the sustainable development of aquaculture.

This book focuses on the key concepts and contemporary issues related to corporate governance, social responsibility, innovation, and sustainable business development goals. It highlights the importance of integrating these principles into the operations of modern businesses. The book aims to explore these concepts, providing theoretical foundations, practical frameworks, and real-world examples to inspire responsible, innovative, and sustainable business practices.

Regular sports practice has a positive influence on the physical, mental, and psychological health of athletes at different levels and in a variety of contexts. Sports performance depends not only on the physical qualities of athletes, but also on psychological variables. In a competitive context, knowledge and manipulation of psychological variables such as attention, self-confidence, stress control, anxiety, motivation, cohesion, self-control or emotional self-regulation, moods, and interpersonal skills can influence the performance and health of an athlete.This publication brings together the latest research on these psychological factors that influence sports performance, physical health, the mental and psychological well-being of athletes, and adherence to sport.

This reprint focuses on applications of machine learning models in a diverse range of fields and problems. It reports substantive results on a wide range of learning methods; discusses the conceptualization of problems, data representation, feature engineering, machine learning models; undertakes critical comparisons with existing techniques; and presents an interpretation of the results. The topics within the chapters of the publication fall into six categories: computer vision, teaching and learning, social media, forecasting, basic problems of machine learning, and other topics.

This reprint considers a vast range of questions devoted to environmental geochemistry. The themes of the research cover different problems of the geochemistry of sediments, such as the reconstruction of the paleoenvironment in the lake basins, climate evolution during the Late Carboniferous-Early Permian period, and the study of the paleoenvironment in the eastern Tethys. Several articles discuss the features of the geochemistry of sedimentation in places of prehistoric anthropogenic activity. Based on the geochronological analysis, the magnetic susceptibility anthropogenic sources of metals in south-eastern Baltic lake sediments from the Neolithic to the Medieval Age were determined. A new approach using the geochemical indication was developed for the determination of the functional zones of prehistoric archaeological sites in Eastern Europe. The application of geochemical multi-element and geochronological analyses of the Iron Age and early Roman cultural layers was considered at the archaeological site in the Netherlands. Some papers are devoted to the pollution hazard problem concerning, for example, the accumulation and distribution of a hazardous contaminant, mercury (Hg), in the basin of Onega Lake, Russia, the second largest lake in Europe, and the distribution of arsenic in the soils of the Verkhnekamskoe potassium salt deposit, Perm Krai, Russia. The ecological state of basins as a result of technogenic processes using a geochemical approach is illuminated in the papers devoted to the mineralogical and geochemical contents of the bottom sediments of Al-Kharrar and Al-Shuaiba Lagoons, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia.

This book contributes to the debate on the Ecological Transition and Circular Economy from a multidimensional perspective. Research from several scientific fields has been developed, providing a comprehensive picture of the complexity of the circular transition. Indeed, the book highlights how creating a functioning circular economy requires combining different knowledge, skills, perspectives and approaches to shift towards sustainable consumption and production patterns successfully.Special attention is given to the multiple dimensions of circular economy applications, with articles focused on different circular economy application levels, such as processes, companies, supply chains, and cities. Furthermore, the book explores in detail how a circular economy becomes applied to the energy, construction and agri-food sectors that are particularly committed to this circular transition.

The present text is an edited Special Issue in reprint form. This Special Issue took the opportunity to invite researchers to contribute their latest original research findings, which were either advances in the state-of-the-art of mathematical methods, theoretical studies, or experimental studies that extend the bounds of existing methodologies to new contributions, addressing current challenges and engineering problems on "Recent Advances in Mathematical Aspect in Engineering". Although this reprint is not a formal textbook, it will definitely be useful for university teachers, research students and industrial researchers, and will assist in overcoming difficulties while dealing with the nonlinear governing equations of fluid mechanics, energy, heat transfer, steady and unsteady flow problems, nanofluids, thermodynamics, magnetohydrodynamics, peristaltic and blood flow. For nonlinear and coupled differential equations, it is often more difficult to achieve an analytic solution or even a numerical one. This reprint has successfully handled this challenging task with the techniques reported within. In addition, the findings of the simulations are logically realistic and meet the standard of sufficient scientific value.

This Special Issue contains new developments and advanced ideas in optical spectroscopy and imaging for their active translation to biological and clinical practice. The published manuscripts provide new insight into state-of-the-art modern methods of biomedical optics and provides new knowledge to potential readers about possible areas of their application. It highlights the advantages and unique features of using optical diagnostic technologies in the detection and analysis of lesions. The articles discuss the development and application of optical methods, expanding the current diagnostic capabilities of various diseases, and other aspects of the use of spectroscopy and imaging in biology and clinical practice.

Over the last decades, interest in forensic toxicology has continually increased. Consequently, the discipline assumed a leading role, becoming one of the reference sciences for elucidating events of judicial importance. The need to reconcile analytical problems (e.g., relating to the qualitative/quantitative analysis of substances of abuse in complex biological matrices) with judicial requirements (i.e., providing data that can be used as documentary evidence in proceedings) makes the discipline unique among all "analytical" sciences. Thus, the availability of validated procedures, the constant monitoring of analytical performance through quality assurance protocols, the availability of certified "in matrix" standards, and the analytical problems underlying the analysis of new psychoactive substances in the blood and other biological fluids represent the challenges of modern forensic toxicology. The correct interpretation of analytical data, especially to elucidate the extent of impairment induced by a certain substance, and "old" issues related to the correct interpretation of post-mortem data (given the impossibility of translating the therapeutic ranges defined in vivo) represent further areas of research and debate among scientists. Finally, the possibility of interacting with other disciplines (such as proteomics and social sciences) allows for extending the concept of analytical data acquisition/interpretation beyond the classical limits of forensic toxicology (for example, considering the influence of gender when interpreting the effect of a substance).

Recently, aluminium scandium nitride (AlScN) emerged as a material with superior properties compared to aluminium nitride (AlN). Substituting Al with Sc in AlN leads to a dramatic increase in the piezoelectric coefficient as well as in electromechanical coupling. This discovery finally allowed us to overcome the limitations of AlN thin films in various piezoelectric applications while still enabling us to benefit from all of the advantages of the parent material system, such as a high temperature stability, CMOS compatibility, and good mechanical properties. Potential applications include RF filters (bulk acoustic wave (BAW) or surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators), energy harvesting, sensing applications, and infra-red detectors. The recent progress in MOCVD- and MBE-grown AlScN has led to high-frequency and -power electronics, (high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs)). AlScN is the first wurtzite III-nitride where ferroelectric switching was observed, allowing for many new possible applications in semiconductor memories additionally, it enables the additional functionality of switching to applications where piezoelectric materials are already in use. This Special Issue was very successful in covering all of the main aspects of AlScN research, including its growth, the fundamental and application-relevant properties, and device fabrication and characterization. We can see that AlScN technology is mature enough to be utilized in wafer-level material development and complicated devices, but there is still much to discover in terms of deposition process control, anisotropy, and, in particular, ferroelectric behavior.

Advancements in medical imaging modalities have resulted in increasing the importance and demand of pediatric radiology. This reprint showcases various examples of advanced research in pediatric radiology and nuclear medicine. These include the use of medical imaging modalities such as computed tomography, general radiography, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, single-photon emission computed tomography, and ultrasound for diagnosis, as well as the performance of artificial intelligence (AI) in computer-aided detection and diagnosis in the pediatric population. The radiation dose issue of pediatric radiological examinations and emerging AI technology for dose reduction, as well as the use of three-dimensional printing based on medical images for pediatric surgical planning, healthcare professional education, and patient-clinician communication are also covered.

This topic has been successfully completed. A total of 180 scientific articles were sent, of which 66 have been accepted for publication. These 66 articles are published in this reprint.

Marine engines are efficient machines, but stricter legislation about emissions makes continuous research necessary in order to reduce their consumption and improve their efficiency. This Special Issue, "Marine Engines Performance and Emissions II", is a continuation of "Marine Engines Performance and Emissions". It contains a set of peer-reviewed works about marine engine performance and emissions.

Dynamical system theory has been widely used to study scientific problems. The purpose of this reprint is to introduce the latest research results related to dynamical system theory. This reprint is a reference for researchers engaged in applied mathematics, biomathematics and related fields.

This reprint focuses on proteins as critical components of plant cell walls. They contribute not only to the overall architecture of the walls but also to the rearrangement of the cell wall polymers to enable growth, differentiation, and appropriate responses to biotic and abiotic stresses, thus allowing the adaptation of plants to their changing environment.Different experimental approaches are illustrated and the roles of a set of protein families are described. Moreover, new concepts involving the role of cell wall proteins in organ morphogenesis through calcium signaling are discussed.

This reprint provides a comprehensive overview and critically explores the recent trends in the zirconia additive manufacturing process or 3D printing and various surface treatments and their characterization for application in the dental and biomedical fields. It will be a valuable resource for the researchers to design or fabricate the implants according to clinical demands.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is closely linked with the pathogenesis of cervical cancer and many other cancers. HPV vaccines are vaccines that prevent infection from certain types of human papillomavirus. However, despite the various prevention strategies and treatments, such as HPV screening, prophylactic HPV vaccines, surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, the disease burden remains heavy worldwide. Currently, three types of prophylactic vaccines-quadrivalent HPV vaccines, bivalent HPV vaccines, and a new nonavalent HPV vaccine-are commercially available. Although these vaccines protect against 90% of HPV infections, their capacity to eliminate pre-existing infections is limited.In this Topical Collection, we aim to systematically cover the progress, current status, and future prospects of various vaccines being developed for the prevention and treatment of HPV-associated lesions and cancers.