Böcker utgivna av Mdpi AG

To celebrate the publication of 20,000 articles in Applied Sciences, we launched this Special Issue "Celebrating Applied Sciences Reaching Its 20,000 Article Milestone: Feature Papers of the Applied Biosciences and Bioengineering Section". We have invited well-known experts in different areas of interest covered in "Applied Biosciences and Bioengineering" to submit their original research papers and review articles of the highest quality in celebrating together with our readers on this special occasion.This Special Issue has collected more than 10 papers featuring important and recent developments or achievements in biosciences and bioengineering, with a special emphasis on recently discovered techniques or applications.

This Special Issue on "Business Models and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)" presents five research studies that examine transformative business models designed to support the United Nations SDG Agenda for 2030. The studies examine SDGs from the firm to national levels. Every organization has a business model that defines how the organization is designed to function. It is the engine that powers an organization, defining the value proposition of the venture, how it balances resources with the ecosystem where it operates, and how it generates cash flow and creates value. Changes to an organization's business model are recognized as a fundamental approach to implementing innovations for sustainability. The capability to transform or transition to new business models is an important source of competitive advantage, providing leverage to improve the performance of an organization. A sustainable business model includes pro-active management, monetary and non-monetary value for a broad range of stakeholders, and takes a long-term perspective. A sustainable business model is where change, success, and hope for our planet's future rests.

This book focuses on fundamental and applied research on humoral immune responses to viral infections in humans. The comprehensive study of antibody response is critical for the development of diagnostic tools, vaccines, and immunotherapeutics against life-threatening viral infections. Special attention is given to serological surveillance and characterization of virus-neutralizing antibodies.

What is life? How, where, and when did life arise? These questions have remained most fascinating over the last hundred years. Systems chemistry is the way to go to better understand this problem and to try and answer the unsolved question regarding the origin of Life. Self-organization, thanks to the role of lipid boundaries, made possible the rise of protocells. The role of these boundaries is to separate and co-locate micro-environments, and make them spatially distinct; to protect and keep them at defined concentrations; and to enable a multitude of often competing and interfering biochemical reactions to occur simultaneously.The aim of this Special Issue is to summarize the latest discoveries in the field of the prebiotic chemistry of biomolecules, self-organization, protocells and the origin of life. In recent years, thousands of excellent reviews and articles have appeared in the literature and some breakthroughs have already been achieved. However, a great deal of work remains to be carried out. Beyond the borders of the traditional domains of scientific activity, the multidisciplinary character of the present Special Issue leaves space for anyone to creatively contribute to any aspect of these and related relevant topics. We hope that the presented works will be stimulating for a new generation of scientists that are taking their first steps in this fascinating field.

Antiferromagnetic spintronics is an emerging topic in spintronics that is attracting interest due to its wide range of advantages, including terahertz operation, memory without stray fields, and highly efficient spin generation. The discussion of this topic covers aspects ranging from the development of new antiferromagnetic materials to the applications of these materials in devices. Traditionally, antiferromagnets were treated as less common magnetic materials for fundamental studies and applications. However, recent miniaturisation and high-frequency operation have revealed that they are advantageous over conventional ferromagnets. This Special Issue reviews the current status and future perspectives of antiferromagnetic spintronics.

With advances in dental materials and their clinical applications, as well as innovations in computer technology, dental treatment is constantly evolving. In particular, adhesion technology to the tooth surface, implant treatments, and the application of CAD/CAM technology are very interesting topics for clinical dentists. As a bonding technique, the influence of the pre-etched area of the tooth surface on the adhesive strength can be reduced by the new application of a functional monomer. Additionally, the effect of an advanced adhesive system as a universal adhesive-derived primer, when compared with the two-step adhesive, is helpful for updating the applications of new materials. Dental implants are one of the most interesting dental treatments. PEEK (polyetheretherketone) has recently been reported as a further innovation in polymer implant materials, although it has not yet met the requirements to be a biomechanical requirement. In the placement of mini-screws used in orthodontic treatments, micro-cracks caused by overtorquing in thick and hard bone, and the consequent heat production, can reduce the success rate. Computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) techniques are becoming increasingly popular. Since complete dentures can be produced using an additive (3D printing) or subtractive (milling) process, CAD/CAM techniques for denture fabrication have many clinical and laboratory advantages. Innovative and convenient dental material technology will be more and more expected in the future. This book has limited findings, but we hope that your clinical capability will be integrated and upgraded.

This reprint presents the current state of knowledge and the latest advances in the development of microstructure and material properties using modern FSP (Friction Stir Processing) and related technologies such as FSW (Friction Stir Welding). The chapters of this reprint contain valuable results of research on changes in the microstructure and properties of materials caused by the use of the above technologies. Detailed analysis of these results allowed for the formulation of constructive conclusions of scientific and technological importance. The issues described in here present a significant cognitive and application potential and indicate the problems and implementation challenges faced by users of FSP and related technologies.

This Special Issue on "Fabrication of Carbon and related materials/ Metal Hybrids and Composites" presents the importance of the development of new composite and hybrid materials in different fields. It consists of 17 articles contributed by authors from different countries all over the world. The articles can be categorized into four classes. The first class of includes articles focusing on the synthesis of carbon fibers, carbon nanotubes, and graphene hybrid and composite materials. The results include the developments of the methodology and know-how of the synthesis and functionalization of the graphene surface of fibers and nanotubes and their effects on binding with the metal matrix. The second class focuses on the synthesis of new polymeric materials based on pitch/polyethylene composites and their electrical and mechanical properties, including the correlations with its microstructures. Additionally, the second class presents the results of articles, including the synthesis of new biocompatible and eco-friendly metal oxide/polymer materials with antibacterial and antimicrobial activities. The third class includes articles focused on the applications of ceramic metal oxides, such as silica and clays in the development of solar cells and in the fabrications of membranes of water treatments and desalinations. The last part of this Special Issue presents results of the articles focused on high-entropy alloys and metal matrix composites and their weldability.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the world as we know it. Recent advances are enabling people, companies, and governments to envision and experiment with new methods of interacting with computers and modifying how virtual and physical processes are carried out. One of the fields in which this transformation is taking place is education. After years of witnessing the incorporation of technological innovations into learning/teaching processes, we can currently observe many new research works involving AI. Moreover, there has been increasing interest in this research area after the COVID-19 pandemic, driven toward fostering digital education. Among recent research in this field, AI applications have been applied to enhance educational experiences, studies have considered the interaction between AI and humans while learning, analyses of educational data have been conducted, including using machine learning techniques, and proposals have been presented for new paradigms mediated by intelligent agents. This book, entitled "AI in Education", aims to highlight recent research in the field of AI and education. The included works discuss new advances in methods, applications, and procedures to enhance educational processes via artificial intelligence and its subfields (machine learning, neural networks, deep learning, cognitive computing, natural language processing, computer vision, etc.).

Energy storage is a key topic for research, industry, and business, which is gaining increasing interest. Any available energy-storage technology (batteries, fuel cells, flywheels, and so on) can cover a limited part of the power-energy plane and is characterized by some inherent drawback. Supercapacitors (also known as ultracapacitors, electrochemical capacitors, pseudocapacitors, or double-layer capacitors) feature exceptional capacitance values, creating new scenarios and opportunities in both research and industrial applications, partly because the related market is relatively recent. In practice, supercapacitors can offer a trade-off between the high specific energy of batteries and the high specific power of traditional capacitors. Developments in supercapacitor technology and supporting electronics, combined with reductions in costs, may revolutionize everything from large power systems to consumer electronics. The potential benefits of supercapacitors move from the progresses in the technological processes but can be effective by the availability of the proper tools for testing, modeling, diagnosis, sizing, management and technical-economic analyses. This book collects some of the latest developments in the field of supercapacitors, ranging from new materials to practical applications, such as energy storage, uninterruptible power supplies, smart grids, electrical vehicles, advanced transportation and renewable sources.

In recent years, the methodologies of teaching have been in a process of transition. Multiple active methodologies have proliferated, with the aim of changing the concept we have had of teaching so far. These advocate for a student who plays a leading role in the process of building learning, while the teacher acts as a figure who facilitates and glimpses the paths to learning. In order to be able to carry out this type of teaching in an optimal way, it is necessary for the teaching and research community to be correctly trained in its pedagogical principles and in the tools that boost its implementation. Among these principles and tools, it is of vital importance that information and communication technologies (ICT) be adequately handled. The use of active methodologies (project-based learning, problem-based learning, service learning, flipped classroom, mobile learning, etc.) or innovative pedagogical approaches (simulation, role-playing, gamification, etc.) promotes an improvement in the motivation of students as well as their skills. This aspect is especially important in the area of mathematics, whose contents are characterized by their abstraction, thus highlighting the need for its dynamization in classrooms of different educational stages.