Bücher veröffentlicht von Mdpi AG

Over the last 50 years, people's lives and health have been increasingly defined and influenced across the life course and across levels of influence by different processes of medicalization and social control. Although medicalization is not a new concept, new actors, in addition to medical professionals and patients, and new phenomena, such as consumerism and human enhancement, influence the processes of the transformation of human conditions into medical problems today. This reprint integrates several articles that stimulate reflexivity on the use of the concept of medicalization. The articles selected for this reprint, written by research experts in their topic of interest, contribute to the discussion on the wide variety of ethical issues that arise from medicalization processes in areas ranging from medical research conduct to reproductive health. The reader will find a fertile space for theoretical and empirical reflection, where several social science researchers with different backgrounds share their research rigorously and innovatively.

Processing and Conversion of Oil and Gas: Modeling, Control, Simulation, and Optimization describes the core of the activity of petrochemical engineers, process controller engineers, industrial engineers, energy engineers, and researchers in the oil and gas field. This book explores the modeling, control, simulation, and optimization of new and revamped petrochemical processes using proven software. Thus, it offers novel illustrative examples, prospective applications, and solutions to improve these processes. This book aims to combine theoretical principles with examples modeled by commonly used simulation software employing steady-state or dynamic process simulation. Furthermore, applying numerical methods and optimization at both the theoretical and practical levels is within the scope of this book.

This reprint focuses on different techniques and strategies to obtain high-quality crystalline structures of biological macromolecules via X-ray diffraction and synchrotron radiation. Contributions cover various aspects ranging from the fundamentals of crystal growth of biomolecules with biomedical applications and materials science through to the biotechnological applications of crystals.

The use of biocatalysts, including enzymes and metabolically engineered cells, has attracted a great deal of attention in the chemical and bio-industry, because biocatalytic reactions can be conducted under environmentally-benign conditions and in more sustainable ways. The catalytic efficiency and chemo-, regio-, and stereo-selectivity of enzymes can be enhanced and modulated using protein engineering. Metabolic engineering seeks to enhance cellular biosynthetic productivity of target metabolites via controlling and redesigning metabolic pathways using multi-omics analysis, genome-scale modeling, metabolic flux control, and reconstruction of novel pathways. The aim of this book is to cover the recent advances in biocatalysis and metabolic engineering for biomanufacturing of biofuels, chemicals, biomaterials, and pharmaceuticals. Reviews and original research articles on the development of new strategies to improve the catalytic efficiency of enzymes, biosynthetic capability of cell factories, and their applications in production of various bioproducts and chemicals are included.

This book brings together featured papers that relate to several technologically important applications of coatings. These range from non-wetting coatings to underwater resistance and biomedical implant surfaces. In particular, nine interesting coating works have been collected with specific applications in the plasma treatment of polymers for superhydrophobicity, special coatings for glass glazing modification, non-sticky special inorganic coatings for polymeric surfaces, surfactant-controlled cationic polymer self-assembly from solutions, silicone-modified waterborne acrylic emulsion coatings, coating deamination/degradation resistance to corrosive water immersion, surface texturing of concrete to improve coating adhesion, electrochemical polymeric coatings for surgical implants and outdoor fungal growth mechanisms on various polymeric coatings. In terms of coating materials, the researchers have studied polystyrene, acrylic emulsions, epoxy formulations, vinylic polymers, alkyd coats, biopolymers, inorganic alloys such as CrN; CrAlN; CrAlSiN, and cationic polymers. Although the papers are diverse, there are several common attributes that each paper addresses in one way or another. For instance, adhesion failure under certain environmental conditions, hydrophobicity or non-stick performance, effect of substrate texture and resistance to biofouling. The collection will serve as a valuable reference for anyone wishing to stay abreast of the latest advances in the realm of specialized technological coatings.

Progressive changes in technology also cause changes in the methods used in food research, including microbiological aspects. The cooperation of research centers with industry is also important, as it poses new challenges to science. This reprint is devoted to the latest achievements in analytics, and to the application of new methods in food production technology. We present both original research and review articles focused on recent advanced technology in food science and microbiology, especially modern methods of the production and testing of food as well as the sustainable development of agriculture and the food industry. This topic will cover research on microbiological food ingredients and related topics such as microbial metabolites with application in food and feed as preservatives, texturants, and beneficial microorganisms, and methods to study and modify microbiota.

Considering the worldwide problem of aquatic pollution, we proposed this reprint, which presents a collection of articles on different aspects of environmental pollution, from monitoring to the evaluation of toxicity. In particular, the volume concerns the issues specifically related to emerging contaminants in aquatic environments, such as plastics and pharmaceuticals. However, to confer to this volume a more holistic view, some articles on priority pollutants, such as heavy metals and pesticides, are also reported.

This reprint focused on the advancements in the field of shoulder arthroplasty in recent years. These concern surgical indications that have dramatically evolved and planification and navigation. The rapid development of surgical techniques and new prosthetic designs, as well as glenoid and humeral reconstruction for various conditions, is also overviewed. Despite the important progress highlighted in this reprint, there is currently a myriad of prosthetic designs, highlighting the evolving nature of this field.

Over the last few decades, the field of fault diagnostics and structural health management has been experiencing rapid developments. The reliability, availability, and safety of engineering systems can be significantly improved by implementing multifaceted strategies of in situ diagnostics and prognostics. With the development of intelligence algorithms, smart sensors, and advanced data collection and modeling techniques, this challenging research area has been receiving ever-increasing attention in both fundamental research and engineering applications. This has been strongly supported by the extensive applications ranging from aerospace, automotive, transport, manufacturing, and processing industries to defense and infrastructure industries.

This reprint focuses on the theoretical principles and practical adoption of remote sensing approaches and datasets in understanding the nexus between urbanization, natural landscapes, urban micro-climate, climate change and Urban Heat Islands. Urbanization, characterized by natural landscape transformation, influences thermodynamics, surface energy and micro- and macro climate perturbations. These changes result in environmental deterioration that in turn adversely affects bio-physical processes and quality of urban life. A major consequence of urbanization is the Urban Heat Island (UHI). It is anticipated that the increased UHIs, in concert with the increasing anthropogenic activities, will further increase the vulnerability of urban landscapes to climate-related disasters such as floods and heatwaves. Recent advances in optical and thermal remotely sensed datasets offer great potential in understanding the relationship between urban bio-physical characteristics and UHIs. Hence, this reprint provides a basis for understanding urban ecological and thermal patterns, which is critical for the management of urban physical, ecological and social processes within a remotely sensed data framework. This reprint should be of interest to both specialists and generalists interested in, among other fields, urban planning, ecological conservation, the urban micro-climate, and climate change.

Non-destructive testing and evaluation are commonly referred to as the vast group of analysis techniques used in civil, medical, and industrial sectors to evaluate the properties of materials, tissues, components, or structures, without causing any damage. Automation offers many benefits for non-destructive testing to cope with increasing demands, including improved reliability and higher inspection speeds. Additionally, robots enable inspections in locations that are not easily accessible to human operators and allow for humans to be removed from potentially dangerous environments. However, the perceived complexity and high costs have limited the adoption of automation. As a result, the full potential that could be derived from the seamless integration of robotic platforms with sensors, actuators, and software has not been fully explored; it could still revolutionise the way that automated inspections are performed and conceived. The recent advancements in electronics, robotics, sensor technology and software pave the way for new developments in automated testing and data-driven autonomous robotic inspections in several sectors. This Special Issue aimed to attract the latest research outcomes in the field of robotic sensing. Five papers relate to inspection systems based on robotic fixed-base manipulators, three of which are associated with in-process inspection in manufacturing applications (robotic wire-arc welding and additive manufacturing). Four papers report research advancements in mobile robotic-enabled sensing.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are considered as essential components of a healthy human diet, due to their pleasant taste and rich nutrients. However, fruits and vegetables are characterized by production seasonality, regionality, and perishability, which greatly affect the acceptance of consumers and increase the challenges of their post-harvest storage and preservation. A plurality of preservation technologies, including chemical treatment (calcium chloride, 1-methylcyclopropene, salicylic acid, etc.), physical methods (low-temperature conditioning, controlled atmosphere storage, ultraviolet-C irradiation, etc.), and biotechnology (such as genetic engineering technology) have been applied to maintain storage quality and to extend the storage life of fresh fruit and vegetables in recent years. Developing advanced preservation techniques to prolong the storage life of fruit and vegetables is of importance for improving social and economic benefits.Therefore, we invited authors to contribute original research articles and review articles focused on the innovative preservation technology of fresh produce, addressing storage problems, such as post-harvest quality deterioration caused by senescence, physiological disorders, and disease, to extend the shelf-life of fresh produce and reduce post-harvest loss.

The community of biologists has been eager to realize the promise of DNA barcodes since the concept was first proposed in 2003. As we approach twenty years of DNA barcoding, their application continues to increase, and methods continue to be developed that utilize this ever-expanding resource for multiple fields of biology. The nearly ten million DNA barcodes available today provide a database that is especially useful for ecology and evolutionary biology. Thanks to these large and well-curated DNA barcode resources, fundamental biological questions can be more rigorously addressed regarding community evolution, assembly, herbivory, pollination, and species interactions across and among diverse habitats and organisms, including plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms. This reprint illustrates the wide variety of applications of DNA barcodes, especially in plants, to tackle research topics in ecology, evolutionary biology, plant-animal interactions, taxonomy, conservation, and ethnobotany.

This Special Issue of the journal Applied Sciences presents recent advances and developments in the use of digital 3D technologies to protect and preserve cultural heritage. While most of the articles focus on aspects of 3D scanning, modeling, and presenting in VR of cultural heritage objects from buildings to small artifacts and clothing, part of the issue is devoted to 3D sound utilization in the cultural heritage field.

Arthropod disease vectors transmit not only serious diseases, such as malaria, but many other diseases as well, many of which are neglected to various extents. In most cases, a tripartite interaction is involved between the arthropod disease vector, the vertebrate host, and the vector-borne pathogens. The reprint aims to present a selection of the latest data (and up to date information in the case of reviews) about the molecular and biochemical events that mediate this tripartite interaction with emphasis on ticks and mosquitoes.

When adopting remote sensing techniques in precision agriculture, there are two main areas to consider: data acquisition and data analysis methodologies. Imagery and remote sensor data collected using different platforms provide a variety of information volumes and formats. For example, recent research in precision agriculture has used multispectral images from different platforms, such as satellites, airborne, and, most recently, drones. These images have been used for various analyses, from the detection of pests and diseases, growth, and water status of crops to yield estimations. However, accurately detecting specific biotic or abiotic stresses requires a narrow range of spectral information to be analyzed for each application. In data analysis, the volume and complexity of data formats obtained using the latest technologies in remote sensing (e.g., a cube of data for hyperspectral imagery) demands complex data processing systems and data analysis using multiple inputs to estimate specific categorical or numerical targets. New and emerging methodologies within artificial intelligence, such as machine learning and deep learning, have enabled us to deal with these increasing data volumes and the analysis complexity.

Authenticity and traceability are crucial in order to overcome frauds in the international food trade. Control measures are perceived as the greatest vulnerability in the food supply chain. In order to decrease contribution to the overall perceived fraud vulnerability, analytical approaches and chemometrics are usually employed.

Civil engineering structures may vibrate due to different sources of excitations such as earthquakes, wind, traffic, humans, etc. The resulting vibrations may not be acceptable from the perspective of vibration comfort or can even impair the structure's safety. Depending on the excitation mechanism, anti-vibration measures range from increasing the structural damping using local dampers, decoupling the structure from the disturbance using vibration isolators and compensating for the excitation forces using vibration compensators. The Special Issue "Efficient Damping and Isolation Systems for Civil Structures" presents some of the recent advances in the associated fields of research and development.

Cardiothoracic and pulmonary diseases are a significant cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the lack of access to clinical care, the overburdened medical system, and the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in improving medicine. There are a variety of diseases affecting the cardiopulmonary system including lung cancers, heart disease, tuberculosis (TB), etc., in addition to COVID-19-related diseases. Screening, diagnosis, and management of cardiopulmonary diseases has become difficult owing to the limited availability of diagnostic tools and experts, particularly in resource-limited regions. Early screening, accurate diagnosis and staging of these diseases could play a crucial role in treatment and care, and potentially aid in reducing mortality. Radiographic imaging methods such as computed tomography (CT), chest X-rays (CXRs), and echo ultrasound (US) are widely used in screening and diagnosis. Research on using image-based AI and machine learning (ML) methods can help in rapid assessment, serve as surrogates for expert assessment, and reduce variability in human performance. In this Special Issue, "Artificial Intelligence in Image-Based Screening, Diagnostics, and Clinical Care of Cardiopulmonary Diseases", we have highlighted exemplary primary research studies and literature reviews focusing on novel AI/ML methods and their application in image-based screening, diagnosis, and clinical management of cardiopulmonary diseases. We hope that these articles will help establish the advancements in AI.

This Special Issue reprint consists of 10 research articles published in "Challenges in Work and Employment during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The authors, originating from six countries, have studied different professional and occupational groups during the pandemic. Their topics range from theoretical analysis of remote work to the experiences of self-leadership, and from new types of job demands to new support needs required to experience relatedness in the pandemic era.

This Special Issue includes 10 contributions centered on aquatic plants (and charophytes) in inland waters, with different approaches: floristic contributions and new reports of interesting or rare species, ecological studies on the use of macrophytes to characterize rivers and ponds, a genetic study to assess the diversity of an aquatic species within and among populations, the importance of herbaria in the study of a species, and finally a couple of interesting reviews on the use of hydrophytes and charophytes in wetland restoration.

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a complex neurological syndrome, characteristic of patients with liver disease, that causes a wide and complex spectrum of nonspecific neurological and psychiatric manifestations, ranging from a subclinical entity such as minimal or covert hepatic encephalopathy to a deep form in which a complete alteration of consciousness can be observed: overt hepatic encephalopathy. Both minimal and overt hepatic encephalopathy have a high impact on patients, caregivers, and national health services, driving substantial consumption of economic resources. In this Special Issue, we discussed the current state-of-the-art research, address ongoing knowledge gaps, and ongoing controversies related to the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and therapeutic management of hepatic encephalopathy.

This reprint of "Nanomaterials for Drug Delivery and Cancer Therapy" covers the recent advances in the use of nanoparticle systems, with an emphasis on preparation and characterization methods, functionalization chemistry, and their associated applications in drug delivery and cancer therapy.

Epilepsy is one of the most prevalent neurological disorders and is characterized by recurrent seizures resulting from abnormal neuronal excitability in the central nervous system. Despite the availability of thirty-six antiseizure medications, about one-third of patients with epilepsy do not respond to the pharmacological treatment and develop a so-called "pharmaco-resistant epilepsy" or "refractory epilepsy." Thus, there is an urgent need to develop novel, effective therapies based on novel mechanisms underlying neuronal excitability that leads to seizures. This reprint's original research papers and review articles highlight unknown mechanisms underlying pharmaco-resistant resistant epilepsy, epileptogenesis, and seizure suppression.

The crystalline state is the most commonly used as an essential solid in active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). The characterization of pharmaceutical crystals encompasses many scientific disciplines. Still, the core is crystal structure analysis, which reveals the molecular structure of essential pharmaceutical compounds. Crystal structure analysis provides important structural information related to the API's wide range of physicochemical properties, such as solubility, stability, tablet performance, color, and hygroscopicity. These properties should be understood in terms of molecular structures and interactions between molecules in crystals. Information on three-dimensional molecular structures also affords insights into the biological activity of molecules.The second reprint in the series, "Crystalline Pharmaceuticals (Volume II)" focused on the relationship between crystal structure and physicochemical properties. In particular, the new crystal structure of pharmaceutical compounds involving multi-component crystals, such as co-crystals, salts and hydrates, and polymorph crystals, were reported with interest. Such crystal structures contributed to the latest studies that combine morphology, spectroscopic, theoretical calculation, and thermal analysis with the crystallographic study. Thus, this reprint highlights the importance of crystal structure information in many areas of pharmaceutical science and presents current trends in the structure-property study of pharmaceutical crystals. The Guest Editors of this reprint hope the readers enjoy a wide variety of recent studies on "Crystalline Pharmaceuticals."

The demand for global fossil energy continues to be strong, meaning that the exploitation of oil and gas resources is still very important. In addition, due to the continuous reduction in conventional oil and gas recoverable resources, the development of unconventional oil and gas resources and geothermal energy has gradually become an important replacement. Therefore, it is urgent to improve the existing mechanism analysis, research methods and engineering technology to improve the production and development efficiency of oil, gas, and geothermal resources. This reprint presents 11 recent works on the application of new theories and technologies in oil, gas, and geothermal reservoirs. The content covers well-drilling, cementing, hydraulic fracturing, improved oil recovery, conformance control, and geothermal energy development. The new progress presented in this reprint will help scientists and researchers to better understand and master the latest theories and techniques for oil, gas, and geothermal reservoirs, which has important practical significance for the economical and effective development of oil, gas, and geothermal resources.

Drought stress is one of the main factors limiting horticultural crops, especially in environments like the Mediterranean basin, which is often characterized by sub-optimal water availability. The global change will determine the increase in semi-arid conditions, so all horticultural crops will have to cope with the water scarcity. Appropriate plant selection and new cultivation methods, especially methods of deficit irrigation, are crucial in improving the crop cultivation performances.Horticultural plants can have specific adaptive mechanisms to overcome the negative effects of drought stress. Drought-tolerant plants show different adjustment mechanisms to overcome this stress, including morphological, physiological, and biochemical modifications. The plant responses include increasing the root/shoot ratio, growth reduction, leaf anatomy change, reduction of leaf size, and reduction of total leaf area to limit the water loss and guarantee the photosynthesis process. Furthermore, drought stress influences gas exchange and other physiological parameters. Recent acquisitions on the mechanism of signal transduction and the development of drought tolerance in plants are useful to understand the action mechanisms.Dr. Stefania ToscanoDr. Giulia FranzoniDr. Sara ÁlvarezGuest Editors

The Special Issue "Fucoxanthin and Astaxanthin-Production, Biofunction, and Application" focuses on the research of marine fucoxanthin and astaxanthin and contains two reviews, ten articles, and one communication.

Many heterogeneous causes (e.g., metabolic, inflammatory, autoimmune, vascular, and renal diseases, and even drugs), collectively grouped as secondary causes of osteoporosis, may lead to bone loss or damage to architecture through a number of mechanisms. Although these secondary causes of osteoporosis are the most frequently observed causes of unexpected bone loss, they can only be diagnosed via a high degree of suspicion and clinical experience and by performing the appropriate investigations. In inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis or chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, as well as vascular diseases, T-cell activation, and consequently pro-inflammatory cascades, trigger the increased expression of T-cell-derived RANKL. In addition, a new biomarker signature of bone-related miRNAs is promising in certain clinical features. Glucocorticoids, often used to control disease activity, decrease the number and function of osteoblasts and inhibit OPG expression. The ubiquitous occurrence of disease-related secondary changes in bone metabolism implies that numerous medical disciplines need to interact. Screening for secondary causes of osteoporosis and the search for new modes of action should present a substantial aspect of osteoporosis management. In the book, the current management of osteoporosis and related metabolic bone diseases is discussed.

The present reprint contains all of the articles accepted and published in the Special Issue "Probability and Stochastic Processes with Applications to Communications, Systems and Networks" from the MDPI Mathematics journal. This Special Issue is devoted to probability, statistics, stochastic processes and their different applications in system and network analysis. The Special Issue includes works related to the analysis and applications of different queuing models, which begin with general approaches in modeling queuing systems and networks; an analysis of probabilistic and statistical methods in telecommunication; an asymptotic analysis of queuing networks in the condition of a large load; general complex networks and their structures, e.g., topology and graph theory; mathematical methods and models in smart cities; exclusive statistical methods, such as statistical estimates in bio/ecology, medicine and neural networks; and studies that estimate parameters in complex technical systems, etc. We hope that the scientific results collected in this reprint will help foster future research related to probability, stochastic processes and their applications.