Bücher veröffentlicht von Mdpi AG

This publication summarizes the proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Hand-Arm Vibration, held on 6-9 June 2023 in Nancy, France. This multidisciplinary conference was organized by the INRS (National Research and Safety Institute, France) under the patronage of the International Advisory Committee on Hand-Arm Vibration. It brought together experts from many different backgrounds to present and discuss their most recent work on hand-arm vibration. This conference aimed to develop a better understanding of the health risks resulting from vibration exposure in order to improve risk control measures. This event was intended for scientists, occupational physicians, epidemiologists, machine manufacturers, metrologists, health and safety practitioners, standardization groups, and government agencies.

This reprint focuses on basic and applied research on fatigue and fracture processes in engineering of materials and composites. Special attention is given to understanding fracture processes from the point of view of micro and nano damage mechanisms related to material microstructure. Advanced experimental methods such as tomography, digital image correlation, high resolution electron microscopy and fractography are applied in combination with theoretical multiscale models based on finite element methods and fracture mechanics to reveal the fundamental causes of material failure.

The present reprint, entitled 'Scaffolds and Surfaces with Biomedical Applications', published 13 papers (10 research and 3 review papers) that describe the synthesis of new materials for biomedical applications and their thorough characterization using conventional and emerging techniques.

This collection of articles includes the latest results related to applications of dynamical systems in the mathematical modelling of engineering problems, such as those concerning power system dynamics, material science, energy systems, gas dynamical networks, etc.Its purpose is to bring together mathematicians with engineers and physicists, as well as other scientists. The articles accepted and included are of a high quality and have original research results.

Electric motors consume about 70% of industrial electricity and about 40%-45% of produced electricity in the world. This means that using high-efficiency electric motors will improve the level of energy consumption. In addition, it will reduce the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the environment. Furthermore, it will significantly reduce the need for new power plants, thus reducing the invested resources to do so. Electric machines employing rare-earth magnets have higher efficiency and power density. However, rare-earth magnets are expensive, and their manufacturing process, as well as the process of mining rare-earth raw materials, is harmful to the environment. Thereby, the development of energy-efficient electric machines without rare-earth magnets is of great interest. The aim of this book is to gather new research publications in various topics related to improving the energy efficiency of electric machines without using rare-earth magnets. Ten articles have been published which cover various topics.

Catholic education faces many challenges, mainly due to secularisation. This applies to both content and methods, as well as teacher training. In response to these challenges, the publication titled "Catholic Education" has been prepared. This topic is understood very broadly and includes all dimensions of education provided within the Catholic Church, in Catholic schools and Catholic communities around the world. The main aim of this book is to specify and answer new challenges for Catholic education and Catholic religious education that arise from secularisation and other reasons. This reprint contains 17 chapters authored by researchers from various countries and different traditions. Drawing from their diverse experiences, they not only address the issues within their own environments but also analyse global problems. Papers presenting Catholic education and Catholic religious education in historical, contemporary, and future perspectives are also present.

The business model concept has gained a prominent position both in academia and among practitioners during the past 30+ years. The aim of this Special Issue of Systems is to contribute to a stronger theoretical basis for the business model concept. This includes a focus on the systemic character of business models and the systems approaches that this entails. Another important aspect is to allocate more attention to innovations of business models. The business models that emerged with e-commerce and e-business as such were in themselves innovations. However, innovations of business models have received too little attention. Most of the business models analyzed and discussed in the business model literature have been rather static instead of dynamic. This is the reason why this Special Issue of Systems, entitled 'Business Model-the Perspective of Systems Thinking and Innovation', has been developed.

Electrospinning can be used to prepare nanofibrous membranes from diverse polymers. The large surface-to-volume ratio makes them suitable for diverse fields of applications, from filters to catalysts to tissue engineering.Here, we search for the latest developments dealing with nanofiber mats for biomedicine. From wound healing to slow release, and from tissue engineering to stem cell differentiation, nanofibrous membranes can be found in a broad range of biomedical applications. For these utilizations, their chemical as well as physical properties are important, such as hydrophobicity, fiber morphology, membrane porosity, mechanical strength, etc. This Special Issue focuses on nanofibrous membranes for biomedical applications, measuring and optimizing the correlated membrane properties. It covers the full range from basic research on new materials and producing novel electrospun structure to drug release to cell growth on nanofiber mats.

Digital health, virtual assistance, and telemedicine are terms often used interchangeably to refer to remote medical assistance, monitoring and care. Several studies and insights have developed these issues, analyzing the advantages and disadvantages and successes and failures and offering reflections on the implications and issues of these technologies in the health domain. The results of these investigations are affecting the redesign of hospital and outpatient management based on digital innovation using eHealth and mHealth. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this approach made it possible to offer assistance and continue care at home, protecting patients, preserving health workers, limiting the spread of the virus, and reducing the need for hospitalization. This reprint contains contributions dealing with the development of DH during the COVID-19 pandemic. The contributions are from various experts in different fields regarding the application of digital health, which, in some cases is also integrated with artificial intelligence, including digital contact tracing, mHealth, virtual reality, mental health, physiology, and rehabilitation.

This book is dedicated to Professor Delfim F. M. Torres for his 50th birthday.Professor Delfim F. M. Torres is a recognized researcher, particularly in the calculus of variations, optimal control, and mathematical biology.In this book, several studies in his research fields are presented.

Virtual and augmented reality technology has seen tremendous progress in recent years, enabling novel and exciting ways to interact inside virtual environments. An interesting approach to interaction in VR and AR is the use of tangible user interfaces, which leverage on our natural understanding of the physical world and how our bodies move and interact with it, and on our learned capabilities to manipulate physical objects.For this Special Issue, we are interested in gathering research that bridges atoms and bits in virtual and augmented environments. Basic research papers that demonstrate new interaction technologies or techniques, descriptions of applications that use tangibles in VR/AR in any domain, and survey papers that can help structure and systematize current knowledge on this area are all suitable.

Air pollution is a mixture of particles and gases, which can reach unsafe concentrations for human health, the environment, vegetation, and materials. It has become one of the main sustainability issues and a concerning topic in atmospheric science. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 90% of the world's population lives in highly polluted environments, and about 7 million premature deaths are caused yearly by outdoor and indoor air pollution. The combination of fast-growing populations, transport, fossil fuels, and biomass burning leads to pollution levels being especially high in some urban areas. Agriculture and natural phenomena are also important sources of pollution, underscoring the multi-faceted and transboundary nature of air pollution. The monitoring and understanding of the temporal and spatial behaviours of air pollutant concentrations are essential for both the implementation of air quality policies and the definition of effective measures to mitigate air pollution and its effects. Quantifying and monitoring exposure to air pollution in terms of public health is also a critical component in policy discussion. This reprint presents recent research activities concerning the characterization of air pollution and the applied modelling approaches.

This book follows up on the previous volume focusing on the different biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases. It includes original research works and review articles focusing on an improved understanding of disease mechanisms. It also aims to identify aspects of early therapeutic intervention for enhanced disease management. Some critical approaches include studies involving human tissue samples, mouse disease models, and different imaging techniques. These studies present the essential information necessary to address such pathological conditions in the future.

This Special Issue is dedicated to the investigation and optimization of supply chain management in the context of sustainable development. In order to meet the needs of social development, enterprises are gradually innovating their supply chains to achieve sustainable development. Sustainable supply chain management can improve the competitiveness of enterprises; promote the sustainable development of enterprises; and realize the coordinated development of society, the economy, and the environment. However, the current development of sustainable supply chain management is not perfect. Therefore, scholars have become more and more interested in investigating supply chain management optimization. Supply chain management problems usually include product production and pricing, transportation location, upstream and downstream supply, and marketing problems. Existing research usually selects some of these problems and combines optimization methods, such as data-driven robust optimization methods, to optimize the status quo. Finally, an optimized scheme can be obtained, and some constructive suggestions are put forward to achieve sustainable and optimized development of supply chain management.

The sustainable management of water cycles is crucial in the context of climate change and global warming. It involves managing global, regional, and local water cycles, as well as urban, agricultural, and industrial water cycles, to conserve water resources and their relationships with energy, food, microclimates, biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and anthropogenic activities. Hydrological modeling is indispensable for achieving this goal, as it is essential for water resources management and the mitigation of natural disasters. In recent decades, the application of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques in hydrology and water resources management has led to notable advances. In the face of hydro-geo-meteorological uncertainty, AI approaches have proven to be powerful tools for accurately modeling complex, nonlinear hydrological processes and effectively utilizing various digital and imaging data sources, such as ground gauges, remote sensing tools, and in situ Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The thirteen research papers published in this Special Issue make significant contributions to long- and short-term hydrological modeling and water resources management under changing environments using AI techniques coupled with various analytics tools. These contributions, which cover hydrological forecasting, microclimate control, and climate adaptation, can promote hydrology research and direct policy making toward sustainable and integrated water resources management.

This reprint focuses on a very important topic in metrology, which is represent by measurement uncertainty. Any good metrologist or scientist in engineering knows that no measurement makes sense without an associated uncertainty value: without an uncertainty value, no decision can be taken; no comparisons can be made; no conformity can be assessed. Any decision, comparison or conformity assessment made without considering the measurement uncertainty affecting the measurement value is completely useless and meaningless. Stated that, it becomes very clear that uncertainty in measurement plays indeed a very important rule in our everyday life. This is the reason why there is a great need to have a fruitful academic and scientific discussion on this topic.We have been speaking about measurement uncertainty for less than 30 years, since the concept of "measurement uncertainty" has been introduced in 1995 by the "Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement" (GUM). Thirty years seems to be many, but still the concept of measurement uncertainty has not been spread worldwide and the GUM is a document that is not known everywhere. On the other hand, this document should be considered not only in academic scenario, but also in any technical and industrial scenario, where it is pivotal to know the meaning of measurement uncertainty, identify the uncertainty contributions and know how these contributions affect the final measurement result.

This volume is a reprint of the Special Issue "Theory and Application of Web 3.0 in the Media Sector". Launched to highlight vital multidisciplinary perspectives, the SI's contents are both theory- and application-oriented. The advancements of computational processing and storage capacities (at affordable or decreasing costs), the evolution of content compression techniques, and the constant update of networking infrastructures led to the domination of the so-called User-Generated Content (UGC). The proliferation of mobile devices, offering inherent networking with enhanced content capturing and sharing capabilities, also fueling the models of Participatory and Citizens' Journalism. Thus, the interest has shifted to semantic services, purposing, among others, to automate content production, publishing, validation, documentation, and management. Such technological solutions have already entered the media sector, with their successful growth and elaboration requiring multidisciplinary effort supported by digital literacy initiatives. Nevertheless, further research is needed for the transition to the new media era in which algorithmic automations and semantic services will serve their original purposes, helping both media professionals and broader audiences. A total of 11 contributions were published within this volume, enlightening various aspects of contemporary Web 3.0 services from both technological/algorithmic and conceptual/social science approaches..

The pressure upon natural resources and the increasing awareness of the necessary transformation of the global food system are driving the quest of both academia and industry towards more sustainable approaches. Sustainability in the agro-food sector begins with the valorization of food industry waste and side streams, products with an extremely high intrinsic value but often discarded because unfit for further processing that meet consumers expectations. Apart from their use as feed, a more practical solution responding to the modern vision of circular economy must be sought. Indeed, several processes can guarantee that the potential of food industry by-products is fully unleashed, generating high-value ingredients while ensuring nutritional quality. In this framework, this Special Issue included the most recent advances in the valorization of food by-product (of both animal and plant origin), from extraction to bioprocessing, including their application in a variety of food-related industries throughout the entire food supply chain.

To address the increasingly prominent environmental pollution and energy shortage, many countries devote themselves to green manufacturing and logistics in which some optimization problems are common and challenging, e.g., production planning and scheduling, supply chain management, location and allocation problems, vehicle routing problem, resource optimization, and pricing strategies. The present book contains all of the articles accepted and published in the Special Issue "Mathematical Modeling and Intelligent Optimization in Green Manufacturing & Logistics" from the MDPI Mathematics journal. This Special Issue is focused on collecting recent mathematical modeling and intelligent optimization research in green manufacturing and logistics, including operations research, game theory, (meta)heuristics, machine learning, knowledge-driven, digital twin, and so on. We hope that the scientific results presented in this book will serve as a valuable source of documentation and inspiration to those researching the modeling and optimization of green manufacturing and sustainable logistics.

Polymeric products made from petrochemical polymers are extremely stable in environmental conditions. After their exploitation, this becomes a serious problem for the environment. Most of the products made of plastic are stockpiled in landfills, and the decomposition time of such products is often several hundred years. The solution to this problem may be the use of biodegradable polymers derived from renewable materials, undergoing a process of biodegradation.Biodegradable polymers are distinctly different than regular polymers in material characteristics. Biodegradable polymers like any other polymer can be processed using conventional techniques such as injection molding, extrusion, and compression molding. Furthermore using appropriate methods of modification, new or improved properties of materials can be obtained. However, the distinct narrow modification and processing window makes them a challenge to modify or process.Continuing technological progress in the modification and processing of biodegradable polymers leads not only to the enhancement of the product quality, but also to the reduction of their prices. As a result, biodebradable polymers may be used to produce both common-use articles or packaging materials, as well as more complex engineering applications.In this reprint, we aimed therefore to publish original work and reviews about the current trends and technologies for the modification and processing of biodegradable polymers and its composites aimed at improving their properties and extending the application possibilities.

This reprint describes how lifestyle changes can impact the incidence and progression of chronic non-communicable diseases. In this context, regular physical activity and heathy nutritional habits are very important. Moreover, natural bioactive compounds could represent a new adjuvant therapy in the clinical management of these pathological conditions.

Maternal and infant nutrition has been on the global agenda as central to health, sustainable development, and progress in low- and middle-income countries. Micronutrients, which play a major role in the metabolism of macronutrients, cellular metabolism, and organ development of the fetus, are important for maintaining pregnancy and fetal growth. Besides, during pregnancy, there is an elevated demand for micronutrients, the excess or deficiency of which can result in an increased risk of pregnancy complications and adverse birth outcomes. As China is a rapidly developing country with a large population, micronutrient status and its influence on maternal and infant health have always been a concern.This Special Issue aims to estimate the influence that micronutrients can have on maternal and infant health, which provides evidence for clinical interventions and government nutrition-related policies. Additionally, this Special Issue provides study directions for research on micronutrients among pregnant women and infants.In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include, but are not limited to, the following: Micronutrient status of pregnant women and infants; Relationship between micronutrients and pregnancy complications as well as birth outcomes. I/We look forward to receiving your contributions.

New scientific advances in different areas have allowed the design of more precise strategies for the prevention and treatment of metabolic disorders through nutrition. In this context emerges the term Precision Nutrition, a new approach that takes advantage of scientific knowledge about the interaction of internal and external environmental factors to develop dynamic and precise nutritional recommendations.Therefore, Precision Nutrition includes personalized advice based on genetics and well-documented gene-nutrient-phenotype interactions, as well as other factors such as individual metabolome, transcriptome, and microbiota profile; food behavior; and dietary, physical activity, and life-style habits; and the resulting interactomes.Precision Nutrition should be based at least on three sequential steps: conventional nutritional approaches (considering age, gender, and physiological states); the incorporation of nutritional and health status information (e.g., metabolites, physical and nutritional behavior); and the genetic baggage including multiomics functional integration.

As the crime of human trafficking/modern slavery is multifaceted, collaborating to counter it across sectors, disciplines, regions, and from local to international levels is widely understood to be of utmost importance. However, the processes of organizing and leading robust collaborations are complex and challenging, and to be sustainable, such processes must result in both positive outcomes for the collaborating partners and demonstrable progress toward countering human trafficking. Despite a growing body of published research on anti-trafficking collaboration, many aspects of it remain understudied. In this Special Issue of Societies, researchers and collaboration leaders in the anti-trafficking field share research findings and evidence-supported practices on how to conceptualize, catalyze, and support collaboration to generate and sustain constructive impacts.

Due to increasing concern about the use of pesticides and its potential side effects, this book considers the development and application of alternative, environmental-friendly, plant protection methods for the control of weeds, disease, and pests (predators, parasitoids, competitors, plant-plant interactions, microelements, biopesticides). Some of the main advantages of the measures presented in papers are the absence of toxicity to humans and vertebrates, beneficial organisms, and the environment, as well as the absence of pest resistance. In order to provide sustainable and eco-friendly food production, those are important subjects, both in conventional, organic and integrated agricultural farming. Through reviews and original research articles, this book covers all aspects of alternative measures in plant protection.

The thirty-plus years of progress in the field of structural health monitoring (SHM) have had a huge impact on our everyday lives. Be it for the monitoring of fixed- and rotary-wing aircrafts, for the preservation of the cultural and architectural heritage, or for the predictive maintenance of long-span bridges or wind farms, SHM has shaped the framework of many engineering fields. Given the current state of quantitative and principled methodologies, it is nowadays possible to rapidly and consistently evaluate the structural safety of industrial machines, modern concrete buildings, historical masonry complexes, etc., to test their capability and to serve their intended purpose. However, old unsolved problems as well as new challenges exist. Furthermore, unprecedented conditions, such as stricter safety requirements and ageing civil infrastructure, pose new challenges. Therefore, the second volume of this Special Issue series gathers the main contributions of academics and practitioners in civil, aerospace, and mechanical engineering to provide a common ground for structural health monitoring in dealing with old and new aspects of this ever-growing research field.

We are in the modern era of innovations, technological developments and minimisation in the field of urology. While laparoscopy and robotic surgery have revolutionised pelvic and upper tract oncology, there is continuous evolution and increasing use of these in the field of benign conditions and paediatric urology. As lasers have changed endourology, new minimally invasive surgical techniques (MISTs) have given a new meaning to benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) surgery. Oncological developments for prostate cancer now include treatments such as robotic prostatectomy, brachytherapy, radiotherapy, cryotherapy and HIFU. Robotic partial nephrectomy and cryotherapy have changed the face of renal cancer. While robotic cystectomy is also gaining popularity for muscle-invasive bladder cancer, new concepts of En-bloc resection of bladder cancer are emerging and being increasingly adopted. MISTs for BPH include laser (Holmium, thulium and green light), water-based treatments (Rezum, Aquablation) and other minimally invasive procedures such as prostate artery embolisation (PAE), TIND and Urolift. There is increasing emphasis on the role of suction in endourological procedures, while the quest for better intrarenal pressure and temperature monitoring continues. The use of Thulium fibre laser (TFL), Moses technology and small disposable ureteroscopes all help in pushing the boundaries of ureteroscopy (URS) and percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) procedures. These new technological developments have led to improvements in patients' quality of life (QoL), shorter hospital stays and reductions in complication rates.

Cystic Fibrosis is an inherited disease that starts in utero. It is caused by a defective protein called the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) and while the effects are seen throughout the body, changes in the lungs, gastrointestinal tract, pancreas and liver primarily impact nutritional status. Survival and pulmonary function have been linked to nutritional status. Malnutrition and growth failure were historically the hallmark of disease. Patients with pancreatic insufficiency require pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy and fat-soluble vitamin supplements. With improvements in many areas including newborn screening, nutrition supplements, pancreatic enzymes, CFTR modulator drugs, inhaled antibiotics and mucolytics, life expectancy has increased. In this issue, we will review the latest information in children and adults regarding important factors that play a role in optimizing nutrition status, including body composition, the gut microbiome, food security, pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy, growth and bone health, and micronutrient abnormalities. Pediatric and adult providers both need to be aware of the nuances of care as more patients with CF become adults. Optimizing nutritional status, anticipating and preventing the complications of CF will result in best management practice.

This reprint focuses on fundamental and applied research on asymmetry of movement and postural balance and underlying functions in humans. Experimental protocols based on kinetic, kinematic, radiological, functional magnetic resonance imaging and transcranial Doppler ultrasound data taken from healthy, young, elderly and pathological individuals provide new insights into asymmetry in human movement and posture and are presented in the Special Issue.

This reprint focuses on state-of-the-art technologies, the latest findings and current challenges in IoT with emphasis on healthcare, transportation, antenna design and disease detection. The included papers cover numerous topics of interest that include:IoT communication protocols;LPWAN for IoT (Sigfox, LoRa, etc.);Antenna design for IoT applications;Large-scale, high-density IoT networks and architectures;IoT applications and multi-sensors for transportation and traffic control;IoT convergence for Smart Health;Machine-learning/deep-learning algorithms for sensing IoT;Machine-learning-based healthcare applications and disease detection using IoT architectures;Applications and examples of use.