Bücher veröffentlicht von Mdpi AG

Hot deformation is a key method of processing metallic materials and controlling their final properties through structure-forming processes. The ability to exploit the structural potentiality of both traditional alloys and new progressive materials is crucial in terms of sustainable development and economic growth. This reprint focuses not only on conventional technologies (e.g., rolling or forging) but also on modern procedures, such as various types of complex thermomechanical processing and controlled cooling. Most papers are based on the application of advanced hot deformation simulators and structural analysis methods, as well as computer simulations of bulk-forming processes.

This reprint is a collection of research that contributes to a better understanding of energy transfer related to alternative vehicles. The hybridization of power units and alternative propulsion systems are the mainly developed technology in the automotive field today. The modernization of conventional propulsion sources is justified by the increasingly stringent economic, ecological, and comfort requirements. The common link in any renewable energy source or propulsion system today is electric motors. Their correct use in propulsion offers the possibility of reducing or eliminating harmful emissions both in the form of toxic compounds and noise or unwanted vibrations. The research works were related to energy transfer in both hybrid and electric vehicles, and conversion of energy from renewable sources such as photovoltaic installations to power alternative vehicles. However, you will also find in this reprint papers that are related to modules of alternative propulsion such as drivetrain efficiency analysis, ways of energy accumulation in batteries, and influence of the charging method on the energy consumption of a vehicle during its life cycle.

This reprint includes papers from different research fields, reflecting the sectional talks presented at the 10th edition of the Scientific Conference of the Doctoral Schools of "Dun¿rea de Jos" University of Galäi, which took place in June 2022. The objective of the 2022 Conference was to bring together perspectives and challenges in doctoral research in a common forum and to provide a platform enabling doctoral researchers to meet and share state-of-the-art developments in their fields. It comprises 13 papers presented at the conference from several fields, including mechanical and industrial engineering, food science and biotechnology, electrical/electronic engineering, systems engineering and information technologies, chemistry, electrochemistry, and economic models and strategies.

This reprint is tightly related to minerals engineering. The solution mining (heap leaching, in situ leaching, etc.) offers an environmentally friendly, low-cost, and efficient method to extract these minerals, especially copper sulfides (chalcopyrite, chalcocite, etc.), sandstone uranium, and sandstone gold deposits. After years of development, solution mining has made great progress, but it has also encountered some technical bottlenecks. To better understand the current status of low-grade minerals and mine wastes recovery, we carefully collected 13 contributions in this Special Issue, which are mainly divided into following three aspects:· Reaction mechanisms of chemical/bio-leaching-includes the leaching kinetics of copper sulfides, assisted leaching (chloride acidic leaching, iodide assisted leaching, etc.), in situ leaching of uranium and salt deposits, etc.· Process detection, characterization, and visualization-includes the detection of reaction products, visualization of fluid flow and mass transfer, pore strucutre characterization of leaching systems (ore-packed beds, etc.), microbial successions of leaching bacteria, etc.· Recovery, recycle, and reuse of mine wastes-includes cleaner leaching, disposal or production methods (dump leaching, etc.), the recovery of mine waste (waste rock, tailings, etc.), assessment of operations problems, etc.

This reprint gathers several works focused on recent and novel research in solar radiation modeling and forecasting where remote sensing techniques and retrieval information is employed as a part of the methodology. The use of machine learning algorithms in solar irradiance modeling and solar power forecasting is included in some of the works here presented. This is a topic with high interest nowadays because of the impact in solar energy deployment and in atmospheric studies as well. The recent improved remote sensing information and available data and the advances in machine learning algorithms have a relevant presence in this reprint indicating the current ad near future path of the contributions in solar radiation modeling.

Knowledge of the different elements that determine the optimal method for drug loading and delivery nanosystems using nanoparticles of different natures is experiencing a remarkable boom in many scientific fields, especially in medicine, chemistry, biology, materials science and molecular biotechnology. Not only is it necessary to fully understand what type of nanoparticle is most appropriate in each particular situation, but the interactions of the used nanoparticle with the system under study and the analysis of the release process are important as well. To design nanoparticle drug delivery agents well, a high ratio of drug to nanoparticles must be achieved. Furthermore, biocompatibility and knowledge of the time that the release process takes are fundamental factors for the construction of operative NPs as drug delivery vectors.Today, efforts on the development of appropriate nanosystems are focused on producing new materials that release drugs in a sequential manner with different therapeutic efficacy. To achieve optimal results among researchers from various areas, this reprint of Nanomaterials will try to consider all of these key factors that need to be taken into account for nanosystems to be suitable for drug release. "New Avenues of Research for Nanoparticle Drug Delivery Systems" brings together the recent research articles published in Nanomaterials. Specifically, five original research articles, with one of them being a review, were published by authors from different countries on current issues in this field of research.

Antimicrobial resistance remains a major concern in medicine, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, where microbial infections were frequent complications. To combat drug-resistant pathogens, there has been a renewed interest in the use of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). This reprint focuses on the in-silico approaches used for the rational discovery and design of AMPs. Such computational methodologies range from classical homology-based and machine-learning prediction algorithms to complex similarity networks and evolutionary algorithms that use models of sequence evolution. Furthermore, the reprint explores the improvement of high-throughput screening techniques in the discovery of AMPs from biological samples, which has also led to the evolution of computational approaches that aid in this biodiscovery process. The reprint contains original research and review papers, which serve as valuable references for researchers dedicated to peptide drug development.

This reprint covers a wide range of topics related to collective intelligence, exploring the interplay between swarm intelligence, network intelligence, and other emerging technologies. The first set of chapters focuses on the behavior and mechanisms of swarming. One chapter describes a locust-inspired model of collective marching on rings, while another demonstrates the experimental validation of entropy-driven swarm exploration under sparsity constraints using sparse Bayesian learning. These studies provide new insights into the principles of swarming and its potential applications in fields such as robotics and mobile crowdsensing. The next set of chapters discusses the integration of swarm intelligence with other emerging technologies such as deep learning and graph theory. These studies show how swarm intelligence can be combined with other advanced technologies to solve complex problems and improve decision-making processes. The reprint also covers the topic of network intelligence, including the study of social network analysis, Twitter user activity, and crowd-sourced financial predictions. These studies provide insights into how network intelligence can be harnessed to understand social dynamics and improve decision-making processes in various domains. The reprint concludes with a chapter that proposes a generative design approach for the efficient mathematical modeling of complex systems.

In Canada, survival from breast cancer has steadily increased since 1989, and breast cancer mortality has decreased by 48%. While 82% of women with breast cancer are diagnosed at stage 1 or 2, there are still 18% who present at a late stage and 25% who develop metastatic disease. Improved survival has been achieved through early diagnosis of breast cancer with screening, allowing for more effective and targeted treatments. This reprint summarizes the latest evidence on the early detection of breast cancer and highlights areas where this may be improved.

This Special Issue explores recent developments and advanced concepts related to the valorisation of organic wastes and other biomass through the application of anaerobic digestion (AD). Biological phenomena, the efficiency of the AD process, the viability of full-scale AD installations, the integration of hydrogen and biomethane concepts, and biorefineries are some of the themes covered. While AD is addressed under different perspectives, the results all strengthen AD to fulfil its important role as a sustainable and highly versatile technology. Further research and development needs are also presented.

The reprint focused on innovative developments in the fields of advanced propulsion system and thermal management technology. Propulsion systems develop along the direction of wide speed range and long endurance both for civil aircrafts and military applications. The research works of propulsion systems mainly include overall design, combustion, aerodynamic, internal flows and heat transfer etc. High efficiency is pursed not only by optimized designs but also from development of materials as well as application of new fuel. Along with development of high efficiency propulsion system, thermal management technology is also developed to meet the demand of external aerodynamic heating and internal combustion heat at a high flight speed. Common thermal management technology includes blade cooling in gas turbines and regenerative cooling in rocket engines. Thermal protection of engines achieves high efficiency by heat transfer enhancement, such as use of superficial fluid, nanofluids and new designed roughened surfaces. Also, some heat transfer enhancement methods in heat exchangers, battery and fuel cells are also introduced into propulsion systems.

This reprint provides research on how technologies such as artificial intelligence-based machine learning and deep learning can be applied to remote sensing. Through this, we can see the process of solving the existing problems of image and image signal processing for remote sensing. These techniques are computationally intensive and require the help of high-performance computing devices. With the development of devices such as GPUs, remote sensing technology, and aerial sensing technology, it is possible to monitor the Earth with high-resolution images and to obtain vast amounts of Earth observation data. The papers published in this reprint describe recent advances in big data processing and artificial intelligence-based technologies for remote sensing technology.

Einstein's theory of gravitation is perhaps one of the best-established theories ever conceived. However, it is based on the hypothesis that space-time carries curvature alone, leaving torsion out. Because torsion is a natural part of the most general geometric background in which Einstein gravity is built, it is all too natural that the torsional completion of gravity should be considered. Constructing an underlying stage in which both curvature and torsion are present, the fact that curvature couples with energy suggests that torsion may couple with spin, which is the other conserved quantity in quantum field theory. Torsion-gravity with spinning matter is, therefore, a complete and self-consistent setting for modern physics, with potential applications wherever spin effects may be important, stretching from quantum mechanics to the standard models of particle physics and early cosmology. However, this fact is not as present in today's literature as it might be. The scope of the present collection of papers is to consolidate the wisdom of various experts in the field so as to clarify the present status of torsion in gravity and spin in quantum field theory.

Evidence has shown that botulinum toxin A has advantages in lower urinary tract dysfunctions (LUTDs), especially in interstitial cystitis, urethral sphincter dysfunction, and inflammatory bladder disorders which currently cannot be adequately treated with oral pharmacological medications. This Special Issue has collected original or review articles that focus on the novel applications of botulinum toxin A in LUTDs. The research has been updated and contains novel therapeutic applications of botulinum toxin for bladder or urethral dysfunctions. This Special Issue of Toxins provides current knowledge surrounding the status of botulinum toxin in functional urology and LUTDs.

Although DNA repair enzymes play a crucial role in maintaining the integrity of the genome, the hyperactivity of certain enzymes of the DNA repair system can lead to the resistance of tumors to chemo- and radiotherapy, aimed at damaging the DNA of cancer cells. Therefore, the inhibition of DNA repair enzymes could help to overcome this resistance. The reviews and research articles included in this collection describe the molecular mechanisms of action of some important enzymes of the DNA repair system, as well as some new inhibitors of such enzymes and the pharmacological properties of these inhibitors. This reprint clearly demonstrates the importance of the inhibition of DNA repair enzymes to fight various diseases, especially cancer.

This reprint was established after the 9th International Workshop on Numerical and Evolutionary Optimization (NEO), representing a collection of papers on the intersection of the two research areas covered at this workshop: numerical optimization and evolutionary search techniques. While focusing on the design of fast and reliable methods lying across these two paradigms, the resulting techniques are strongly applicable to a broad class of real-world problems, such as pattern recognition, routing, energy, lines of production, prediction, and modeling, among others. This volume is intended to serve as a useful reference for mathematicians, engineers, and computer scientists to explore current issues and solutions emerging from these mathematical and computational methods and their applications.

This reprint brings together a group of articles that were published as a Special Issue on prosthetic joint infection in the journal Antibiotics. They cover various aspects of risk factors and prevention, medical and surgical treatment, and outcomes of prosthetic joint infections.

The concept of sustainable development refers to four distinct areas-human, social, economic, and environmental-known as the four pillars of sustainability. Cultural industries are a challenge for the future of culture. This field includes four main topics, namely features, domination, individualization, and the characterization of the culture industry itself. The purpose of cultural industries is important for ensuring the continued development of society and is at the heart of a creative economy for generating considerable economic wealth.Design and cultural creativity will eventually be implemented into specific designs. The complexity of the design itself requires careful consideration in all aspects and especially in the field of engineering. How can we make designs more in line with human nature? How can we implement the spirit and concept of sustainable development in the cultural industry? This all requires mutual cooperation between designers, engineers, and companies. Meanwhile, how to make consumers realize the necessity and urgency of sustainable development through cultural industries also needs to be considered. The articles in this Special Issue can be divided into four categories:- Study of Tourism in Relation to Sustainability.- Study of Cross-Culture Design in Relation to Sustainability.- Study of Heritage in Relation to Sustainability.- Study of Local Culture in Relation to Sustainability.

Many of the most common diseases are influenced by a combination of multiple factors, which include environmental effectors as well as genetic and epigenetic variations. Therefore, these diseases are grouped under the term "complex" diseases because, from the point of view of genetics, they cannot be explained by simple Mendelian inheritance. The aim of this special issue was to identify genetic and epigenetic factors involved in such diseases in order to improve not only the knowledge of risk factors for those diseases, which could be of help for prevention, but also the understanding and characterization of each disease and to optimize and personalize the treatment.

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 reprint.

This reprint focuses on the research of textile materials for conventional and protective clothing. More than ever, multidisciplinary research applied to the field of new textile materials and new techniques of processing and joining materials is needed. The main research topics of this Special Issue include research and development of new materials and the improvement of their properties, and the mechanical and thermal properties of yarns, materials and clothing. Simulations based on the physical and mechanical properties of fabrics for the purpose of prediction assessment of the appearance and behavior of clothing, as well as 3D virtual garment prototypes using 3D body models and involving 3D human-body scanning, are interesting and significant topics in the field of clothing engineering. The problem of microplastics that are produced during the manufacture or cleaning of synthetic textiles has also been investigated in this Special Issue.

This Special Issue, "Ecophysiology and Ecology of Grassland", contains 11 research articles and 1 review that focus on recent advancements in integrated research on natural grasslands and artificial grasslands in response to human disturbances, abiotic stresses and climate change from a species to ecosystem level.

The survival of plants under stressful environments requires the study of the mechanisms that help in reversing the adverse impacts of reactive oxygen species (ROS) excessively generated under these conditions. Understanding the mechanisms helps in adopting strategies to induce such mechanisms for the better acclimation of plants. These ROS, if not scavenged, cause damage of cellular components, including lipids, proteins, nucleic acids, and metabolites, and, in extreme cases, even the death of cells in plants. Confronted with abiotic stress, there is an initial elevation in ROS that activates redox signaling to initiate defense in plants through the activation of antioxidant activity. The improvement in the capacity of antioxidant machinery is one of the essential strategies with which to develop tolerance and relieve the pressure of abiotic-stress-induced oxidative changes for the survival of plants. This book provides knowledge on the following aspects: Impact of abiotic stress factors and the response of antioxidant machinery to changing abiotic stress conditions, as well as strategies with which to strengthen antioxidant machinery for the survival of plants; Strategies to improve the tolerance mechanisms of plants against abiotic stress factors; Roles and the mechanisms of the plant signaling molecules/growth modifiers/mineral nutrients/hormones/other elicitors in relieving the impacts of abiotic stresses; The utilization of approaches such as genomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, ionomics, and nutiomics to strengthen antioxidant machinery and make plant life easier under abiotic stress conditions.

The topic of the reprint is very important nowadays, because ever-evolving machine learning techniques make it possible to obtain better real-world data. Therefore, this reprint contains information related to real data in fields such as automatic sign language translation, bike-sharing travel characteristics, stock index, sports data, fake news data, and more. However, it should be noted that the reprint also contains a lot of information on new developments in machine learning, new algorithms, algorithm modifications, and a new measure of classification quality assessment that also takes into account the preferences of the decision maker.

We are delighted to present this Special Issue to celebrate a remarkable milestone in the journey of Applied Dentistry. With great pleasure, we announce the publication of the journal's 20,000th paper. This remarkable achievement reflects the unwavering commitment and dedication of our esteemed authors, reviewers, and readers who have contributed to the advancement of dental research.Over the years, Applied Dentistry has emerged as a beacon of knowledge, serving as a platform for the dissemination of cutting-edge research and innovative ideas in various domains of dental science. Our journal encompasses a wide range of disciplines, covering everything from dental materials and biomaterials to preventive and therapeutic strategies, from clinical applications to regenerative dentistry.We envision this milestone as a stepping stone toward even greater accomplishments. Through the collaboration and collective efforts of researchers worldwide, we strive to push the boundaries of dental science, explore new frontiers, and improve oral health outcomes for individuals across the globe.In conclusion, we extend our warmest congratulations to all those who have contributed to the publication of the Special Issue celebrating Applied Dentistry's 20,000th paper milestone.

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 reprint.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a new respiratory disease caused by infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that caused a global pandemic. COVID-19 patients often develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which involves acute and lethal respiratory failure. In a meta-analysis, the median incidence of ARDS in COVID-19 patients was found to be 35 (2-79)%, while the mortality rate in COVID-19-associated ARDS patients was found to be 39 (12.5-73.1)% (Hasan, et al. Expert Rev Repoir Med. 2020; 14: 1149). As of 12 December 2021, 270,373,764 cases had been confirmed as COVID-19 and 5,321,321 cases had resulted in death, according to the World Health Organization webpage. Various symptoms such as persistent fatigue, myalgia, and insomnia can persist after recovery from COVID-19; these symptoms are called "long COVID-19". Patients with COVID-19 who survive but develop pulmonary fibrosis may experience persistent dyspnea upon exertion, a decrease in pulmonary function, and/or a radiological abnormal shadow. Antifibrotic drugs including nintedanib and pirfenidone are candidate drugs for the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis due to COVID-19; randomized controlled trials are ongoing.However, there are limited studies about respiratory disease caused by COVID-19. Given the clinical significance of this topic and its impact on clinical practice and public health, Medicina have published a Special Issue entitled "Respiratory Disease in the COVID-19 Era" with the aim of gathering accurate and up-to-date scientific information of this topic.

The fields of quantum electronics (e.g., quantum dots and superconducting circuits) and optoelectronics have garnered much interest in the past few years. They deal with quantum and optical platforms in combination with electronic and condensed matter systems, which may serve as building blocks for a plethora of applications in quantum computing and optical technology.In this reprint, we reprint the articles of the Special Issue "Quantum and Optoelectronic Devices, Circuits and Systems", published in Electronics (MDPI).

The present reprint contains 33 articles accepted and published in the Special Issue entitled "Advancement of Mathematical Methods in Feature Representation Learning for Artificial Intelligence, Data Mining and Robotics, 2022" in the MDPI journal, Mathematics, which covers a wide range of topics connected to the theory and applications of feature representation learning for image processing, artificial intelligence, data mining and robotics. These topics include, among others, elements from image blurring, image aesthetic quality assessment, pedestrian detection, visual tracking, vehicle re-identification, face recognition, 3D reconstruction, the stability of switched systems, domain adaption, deep reinforcement, sentiment analysis, graph convolutional networks, knowledge graphs, geometric metric learning, etc.It is hoped that this reprint will be interesting and useful for those working in the area of image processing, computer vision, machine learning, natural language processing and robotics, as well as for those with backgrounds in machine learning who are willing to become familiar with recent advancements in artificial intelligence, which, today, is present in almost all aspects of human life and activities.

Achieving economic growth and sustainable development requires that we urgently reduce our ecological footprint by changing the way we produce and consume goods and resources. We consume more resources than the planet can generate, and growing rates of pollution and waste only worsen the problem. In this context, globally, a significant number of frameworks and programs on sustainable consumption and production have been introduced. Most of them concern the environmentally sound management of energy and raw materials and all wastes throughout their life cycle; the substantially reduce of waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse; the adoption of sustainable practices and the integration of sustainability information into their reporting cycle; the promotion of procurement practices that are sustainable; the enhancement of scientific and technological capacity intending to more sustainable patterns of consumption and production etc. This reprint" Sustainable Production and Environmentally Responsible Consumption" takes a broad view of all these issues and aimed to inform about ways contributing to sustainable consumption and production by reducing our environmental impact, promoting the use of renewable sources of energy and encouraging responsible purchasing decisions.