Böcker utgivna av Mdpi AG

Soil contamination has been identified as one of the main threats to soil, inducing the degradation of global soils and driving long-term losses of the ecosystem services that they provide. As a result of human activities, the amount of soil contamination caused by heavy metal(loid)s has severely increased over the last few decades and has become a worldwide environmental issue that has attracted considerable public attention. Although many research efforts have highlighted how soil contamination is a global threat and provided an overview of the importance of healthy soil, there is still a great need for additional information from different regions around the world, and concrete strategies, which can be implemented to address the causes and impacts of this major threat, urgently need to be developed. In this context, this book was launched with the scope of bringing together articles presenting the development of novel science-based methods and applications that enhance the remediation of contaminated soil by focusing on the identification of the main sources of soil contamination caused by heavy metal(loid)s (HM)/potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in different soil types; the chemistry, potential mobility, and bioavailability of the contaminants that are commonly found in contaminated soils; the assessment of the negative impacts and risks associated with HM/PTE-induced soil contamination on crop yields; soil biota, food security, and human health; and the available methods and strategies for monitoring, assessing, and remediating soils that have been contaminated by HM/PTEs.

Cement and lime currently are the most common binders in building materials. However, alternative materials and methods are needed to overcome the functional limitations and environmental footprint of conventional products. This Special Issue dedicated to "New frontiers in cementitious and lime-based materials and composites" gathers selected reviews and experimental articles that showcase the most recent trends in this multidisciplinary field. Authoritative contributions from all around the world provide important insights into all areas of research related to cementitious and lime-based materials and composites, spanning from structural engineering to geotechnics, including materials science and processing technology. This Topical Collection is intended to foster innovation and help researchers and developers to identify new solutions for a more sustainable and functional built environment.

Games are a natural activity-we all know how to play. Perhaps this is the key feature that explains the increase in the use of game-based learning (GBL) strategies: Applying games to education converts education into a universal activity. Over the last ten years, the way in which education and training is delivered has considerably changed, not only due to a new technologic environment-plenty of social networks, MOOCs, etc.-but also because of the appearance of new methodologies. Such new methodologies are shifting the center of gravity: from the teacher to the student, with the aim of awakening relational aspects, as well as promoting imagination and divergent thinking. One new approach that holds considerable promise for helping to engage learners is, indeed, game-based learning (GBL). However, while a growing number of institutions are beginning to see the validity of GBL, there are still many challenges to overcome before this type of learning can become widespread.In this Special Issue, we want to gather several studies and experiences in GBL to be shared with other teachers and researchers.

All articles in the presented collection are high-quality examples of both basic and applied research. The publications collectively refer to apples, bananas, cherries, kiwi fruit, mango, grapes, green bean pods, pomegranates, sweet pepper, sweet potato tubers and tomato and are aimed at improving the postharvest quality and storage extension of fresh produce. The experimental works include the following postharvest treatments: 1-methylcycloprpene, methyl jasmonate, immersion in edible coatings (aloe, chitosan, plant extracts, nanoemulsions, ethanol, ascorbic acid and essential oils solutions), heat treatments, packaging, innovative packaging materials, low temperature, low O2 and high CO2 modified atmosphere, and non-destructible technique development to measure soluble solids with infra- and near infra-red spectroscopy. Preharvest treatments were also included, such as chitosan application, fruit kept on the vine, and cultivation under far-red light. Quality assessment was dependent on species, treatment and storage conditions in each case and included evaluation of color, bruising, water loss, organoleptic estimation and texture changes in addition to changes in the concentrations of sugars, organic acids, amino acids, fatty acids, carotenoids, tocopherols, phytosterols, phenolic compounds and aroma volatiles. Gene transcription related to ethylene biosynthesis, modification of cell wall components, synthesis of aroma compounds and lipid metabolism were also the focus of some of the articles.

This book examines the state of the art of biosorption as an economical and environmentally friendly technique for pollutant removal in wastewater. Several articles are included that develop the applications of biosorption showing the high efficiency and versatility of this process, as well as showing recent advances in this field. Different modalities of biosorption are demonstrated from free biomass to immobilized biomass, as well as the combination of biomass with modern materials to form composites, emphasizing the significant versatility of this technique. In addition, different examples with biomasses of very different natures are also included and discussed, as are the factors that influence biosorption processes. Other contributions offer some examples of apparently useless materials that are reused and applied in the elimination of pollutants. Therefore, this book is an excellent complement for those researchers who work on biosorption as well as a starting point for those who want to begin research on this topic.

Thermoelectricity is a well-known phenomenon that enables the conversion of heat into electric energy without moving parts. Its exploitation has been widely considered to contribute to the increasing need for energy along with the concerns about the environmental impact of traditional fossil energy sources. In the last few years, significant improvements in the performance of thermoelectric materials have been achieved through chemical doping, solid solution formation, and nanoengineering approaches. Furthermore, the feasibility of flexible, stretchable, and conformable thermoelectric harvesters has been demonstrated and has attracted the interest of an audience from many different fields. However, the path for practical applications of thermoelectrics is still a long one. This Special Issue of Materials intends to bridge the gap between materials science and applications of thermoelectric materials. Many topics are welcome: new thermoelectric compounds; the correlation between material structure and thermoelectric properties; bulk thermoelectric ceramics, oxides, and chalcogenides; bulk thermoelectric alloys and intermetallics; organic and polymeric thermoelectrics; thermoelectric thin films, multilayers, and nanocomposites; theory and modeling; thermal transport and thermal conductivity; applications and devices based on thermoelectric materials; standardization and metrology; and more.

Pancreatic neoplasms include different pathological entities with variable biological behavior and different treatment modalities. Surgery and adjuvant therapy are the cornerstones of the therapeutic approach; however, even after radical resection, the majority of patients experience disease recurrence and the prognosis of pancreatic cancer remains dismal.  A multimodal therapeutic approach, based on a combination of neoadjuvant therapy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy and surgery, appears fundamental to improving the outcomes. This Special Issue of the Journal of Clinical Medicine, entitled "Recent Advances in Pancreatic Neoplasms", focuses on possible new strategies to treat pancreatic neoplasms.

Mobile mapping is applied widely in society, for example, in asset management, fleet management, construction planning, road safety, and maintenance optimization. Yet, further advances in these technologies are called for. Advances can be radical, such as changes to the prevailing paradigms in mobile mapping, or incremental, such as the state-of-the-art mobile mapping methods. With current multi-sensor systems in mobile mapping, laser-scanned data are often registered in point clouds with the aid of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) positioning or simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) techniques and then labeled and colored with the aid of machine learning methods and digital camera data. These multi-sensor platforms are beginning to undergo further advancements via the addition of multi-spectral and other sensors and via the development of machine learning techniques used in processing this multi-modal data. Embedded systems and minimalistic system designs are also attracting attention, from both academic and commercial perspectives.This book contains the accepted publications of the Special Issue ''Advances in Mobile Mapping Technologies'' of the Remote Sensing journal. It consists of works introducing a new mobile mapping dataset (''Paris CARLA 3D''), system calibration studies, SLAM topics, and multiple deep learning works for asset detection. We, the Guest Editors, Ville Lehtola from University of Twente, Netherlands, Andreas Nüchter from University of Würzburg, Germany, and François Goulette from Mines Paris- PSL University, France, wish to thank all the authors who contributed to this collection.

The book entitled "Polymer Materials in Environmental Chemistry" focuses on functionalized natural/synthetic polymeric materials and their preparation, characterization, and multidimensional applications. This book extensively appraises the research papers on the latest developments of the functionalized natural/synthetic polymers, such as the effect of functionalized polymeric additives on the degradation of aliphatic polyesters, development of nanoparticle functionalized bio-based or composite polymeric structures, water or wastewater purification, natural fibers or clay-based hybrid polymers and their applications, environmental remediation of antibiotics and dyes using polymer-based nanofibers, bio-based polymeric conjugate for the synthesis of bimetallic nanoparticles and their catalytic degradation of ecological pollutant, polymeric-grafted membranes based on ethyl cellulose for gas separation, and polyamide-laccase nanofiber membranes for the degradation of organic and antibiotics from water. Additionally, the book envisages the reviews on recent developments in the techniques and visualization of biopolymer structures and their derivatives and fabrication and characterization of polymeric nanofibers via multidimensional electrospinning techniques and their appliances in environmental pollutant removal.

This Special Issue consists of selected papers from the Experimental Stress Analysis 2020 conference. Experimental Stress Analysis 2020 was organized with the support of the Czech Society for Mechanics, Expert Group of Experimental Mechanics, and was, for this particular year, held online in 19-22 October 2020. The objectives of the conference included identification of current situation, sharing professional experience and knowledge, discussing new theoretical and practical findings, and the establishment and strengthening of relationships between universities, companies, and scientists from the field of experimental mechanics in mechanical and civil engineering. The topics of the conference were focused on experimental research on materials and structures subjected to mechanical, thermal-mechanical, and dynamic loading, including damage, fatigue, and fracture analyses. The selected papers deal with top-level contemporary phenomena, such as modern durable materials, numerical modeling and simulations, and innovative non-destructive materials'' testing.

Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness has been a successful Special Issue, which addressed novel topics in any subject related to sports medicine, physical fitness, and human movement. The article collection was able to positively evaluate three systematic reviews, nineteen original articles, and one brief report. These encompassed a broad range of topics ranging from accident kinematics, soccer monitoring, children''s physical evaluation, adapted physical activity, physical evaluation for people with intellectual disabilities, performance analysis in rowers, ultramarathon racers, karateka''s, rugby players, volleyball and basketball players, and cross-fit athletes, and also aspects related to biomechanics, fatigue and injury prevention in racing motorcycle riders, gymnasts, and cyclists.These scientific contributions within the field of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness broaden the understanding of specific aspects of each analyzed discipline.It has been a pleasure for the Editorial Team to have served the International Journal Of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental chronic disorder which etiology seems the result of complex interactions between multiple factors, including genetic, biological, and environmental influences. Treatment research has proved that the combination of both medication with behavioral therapy can improve ADHD symptoms; Moreover, recent studies suggest the need for new approaches aimed at the underlying triggers of this complex disorder (such as stress, poor sleep or certain dietary plans), on the basis that making adequate lifestyle changes to minimize these triggers could contribute to better control ADHD symptoms. In this context, studies addressing the efficacy of nutrition on the developmental course of ADHD observe that deficiencies in certain types of foods can worse the symptoms of attention deficit, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, while adequate dietary plans could optimize brain functions. Nevertheless, the specific causal pathways of the dietary styles adjuvant for medication and psychotherapies contributing to prevent/reduce ADHD symptoms are largely unknown, as well as the long-term effects.This book includes evidence of the potential contribution of the nutrition styles on the treatment outcomes of individuals with ADHD and other frequent mental-psychiatric disorders across development, and the underlying mechanisms explaining the direct and mediational effects. The contents of this book could contribute to the elaboration of guidelines/recommendations for improving caring capacity of healthcare practitioners and family caregiverss.

The main goal of this Special Issue was to contribute to, highlight and discuss topics related to various aspects of two-phase gas-liquid flows, which can be used both in fundamental sciences and practical applications, and we believe that this main goal was successfully achieved. This Special Issue received studies from Russia, China, Thailand, ROC-Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. We were very grateful to see that all the papers presented findings characterized as unconventional, innovative, and methodologically new. We hope that the readers of the journal Water can enjoy and learn about the experimental and numerical study of two-phase flows from the published material, and share these results with the scientific community, policymakers and stakeholders. Last but not least, we would like to thank Ms. Aroa Wang, Assistant Editor at MDPI, for her dedication and willingness to publish this Special Issue. She is a major supporter of the Special Issues, and we are indebted to her.

This volume includes 12 chapters of pilgrim studies on European pilgrimages in the Catholic tradition in multidisciplinary perspectives. The contributions'' methodological perspectives range from quantitative approaches of social science to qualitative approaches of the humanities, from religious studies to political science, and from philosophy to geography. The themes of this contribution reflect on the Italian landscape of pilgrimage, on the Oberammergau passion play, on the pilgrim aspect of the 1989 revolution in Romania, and two types of pilgrimage in the Catholic tradition and how they present themselves on the internet. Three social science chapters provide new data and analysis to the most popular pilgrim destination in Europe: The Ways of St. James to Santiago de Compostela. Five studies discuss papal pilgrims and pilgrim popes. The chapters range from a historical analysis of the pilgrimage from Mexico to Rome in the 19th century and a quantitative analysis of all papal addresses in Fatima in the 20th and 21st centuries, from two chapters on the most influential pilgrim pope, John Paul II, to his homeland Poland, and to an analysis of the Vatican''s virtual approach to pilgrimage.

This book highlights novel nano-engineering advances that enable enhanced bone formation at the implant/biomaterial and bone tissue interface, towards bone tissue engineering applications. Spanning a variety of biomaterial categories, from nanofibrous scaffolds (natural and synthetic) to the nanoscale modification of metallic implants, novel bioactive and therapeutic modifications have made it possible to enhance new bone formation, which could be particularly useful for the management of compromised sites.

This book reprints articles from the Special Issue "Industrial Applications: New Solutions for the New Age" published online in the open-access journal Machines (ISSN 2075-1702). This book consists of twelve published articles. This special edition belongs to the "Mechatronic and Intelligent Machines" section.

The advancements in research related to heat transfer has gathered much attention in recent decades following the quest for efficient thermal systems, interdisciplinary studies involving heat transfer, and energy research. Heat transfer, a fundamental transport phenomenon, has been considered one of the critical aspects for the development and advancement of many modern applications, including cooling, thermal systems which contain symmetry analysis, energy conservation and storage, and symmetry-preserving discretization of heat transfer in a complex turbulent flow. The objective of this book is to present recent advances, as well as up-to-date progress in all areas of heat transfer in engineering and its influence on emerging technologies.

Ensuring microbiological safety in the food (of animal origin) chain is a challenging task due to the complex interactions among animals, humans and the environment. However, technological and analytical advances in recent years have provided a broader insight into microbiological hazards in the food chain and risk assessment. The objective of the proposed Special Issue "Study of Microbiological Safety in the Food Chain" was therefore to obtain scientific papers addressing microbiological hazards in the food chain, such as bacterial antimicrobial resistance, bacterial or fungal spoilage of foods, the antimicrobial potential of the indigenous microbiota, the aminogenic or amine-reducing capacity of the microbiota, and papers that apply novel methods to study the food microbiome to discover potential, previously unknown microbial hazards. This Special Issue of the journal Processes entitled "Study of Microbiological Safety in the Food Chain" consists of nine research papers and one review paper. Four papers focus on the microbiological aspects of milk and dairy products, three on meat and meat products, two on eggs, and one on various market foods. The microorganisms of interest were species of lactobacilli, enterococci and molds, Yersinia enterocolitica, Bacillus cereus and the general microbiota in certain foods.

Biocultural restoration is a process by which the various connections between humanity and nature, as well as between People and Place are revived to restore the health and function of social-ecological systems. This collection explores the subject of biocultural restoration and does so within the context of Hawaiʻi, the most remote archipelago on the planet. The Hawaiian Renaissance, which started in the 1970s, has led to a revival of Hawaiian language, practices, philosophy, spirituality, knowledge systems, and systems of resource management. Many of the leading Indigenous and local scholars of Hawaiʻi who were born into the time of the Hawaiian Renaissance contributed to this collection. More than a third of the authors are of Indigenous Hawaiian ancestry; each paper had at least one Indigenous Hawaiian author, and several papers had a Hawaiian lead author, making this the largest collection to date of scientific publications authored by Indigenous Hawaiians (Kānaka ʻŌiwi). In addition, the majority of authors are women, and two of the papers had 100 percent authorship by women. This collection represents a new emphasis in applied participatory research that involves academics, government agencies, communities and both private and non-profit sectors.

Dear Readers, Oncolytic Viruses (OV) are self-propagating agents that can selectively induce the lysis of cancer cells while sparing normal tissues. OV-mediated cancer cell death is often immunogenic and triggers robust anticancer immune responses and immunoconversion of tumor microenvironments. This makes oncolytic virotherapy a promising new form of immunotherapy and OVs ideal candidates for combination therapy with other anticancer agents, including other immunotherapeutics. There are more than 40 OVs from nine different families in clinical development and many more at the preclinical stage. Each OV has its own unique characteristics, its pros and cons. Although herpes simplex virus is currently the lead clinical agent, a real champion among the OVs has not yet emerged, justifying the continuous development and optimization of these agents. This book, "Oncolytic Virus Immunotherapy", summarizes the state-of-the-art and gives a comprehensive overview of the OV arena with a particular focus on new trends, directions, challenges, and opportunities.

Flows of thermal origin and heat transfer problems are central in a variety of disciplines and industrial applications. The present book entitled Thermal Flows consists of a collection of studies by distinct investigators and research groups dealing with different types of flows relevant to both natural and technological contexts. Both reviews of the state-of-the-art and new theoretical, numerical and experimental investigations are presented, which illustrate the structure of these flows, their stability behavior, and the possible bifurcations to different patterns of symmetry and/or spatiotemporal regimes. Moreover, different categories of fluids are considered (liquid metals, gases, common fluids such as water and silicone oils, organic and inorganic transparent liquids, and nanofluids). This information is presented under the hope that it will serve as a new important resource for physicists, engineers and advanced students interested in the physics of non-isothermal fluid systems; fluid mechanics; environmental phenomena; meteorology; geophysics; and thermal, mechanical and materials engineering.

MicroRNAs are the best representatives of the non-coding part of the genome and their functions are mostly linked to their target genes. During the process of carcinogenesis, both dysregulation of microRNAs and their target genes can explain the development of the disease. However, most of the target genes of microRNAs have not yet been elucidated. In this book, we add new information related to the functions of microRNAs in various tumors and their associated targetome.

The proton exchange membrane fuel cell is an electrochemical energy conversion device, which transforms a fuel such as hydrogen and an oxidant such as oxygen in ambient air into electricity with heat and water byproducts. The device is more efficient than an internal combustion engine because reactants are directly converted into energy through a one-step electrochemical reaction. Fuel cells combined with water electrolyzers, which electrochemically split water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable energy sources such as solar, mitigate global warming concerns with reduced carbon dioxide emissions. This collection of papers covers recent advancements in fuel cell technology aimed at reducing cost, improving performance, and extending durability, which are perceived as crucial for a successful commercialization. Almost all key materials, as well as their integration into a cell, are discussed: the bus plates that collect the electrical current, the gas diffusion medium that distributes the reactants over catalysts promoting faster reactions, and the membrane separating oxygen and hydrogen gases and closing the electrical circuit by transporting protons. Fuel cell operation below the freezing point of water and with impure reactant streams, which impacts durability, is also discussed.

Block copolymers with crystallizable blocks have moved into the focus of current research, owing to their unique self-assembly behaviour and properties. New synthetic concepts give, for example, even access to tetrablock copolymers with four crystalline blocks, bio-based thermoplastic elastomers (e.g., based on ABA triblock copolymers with poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) hard segments), and allow new, exciting insights into the interplay of microphase separation and crystallization in controlling self-assembly in bulk (confined vs. break-out crystalliza┬¡tion).Concerning self-assembly in solution, crystallization-driven self-assembly (CDSA) paved the way to a myriad of crystalline-core micellar structures and hierarchical super┬¡structures that were not accessible before via self-assembly of fully amorphous block copolymers. This allows for the production of cylindrical micelles with defined lengths, length distribution, and corona chemistries (block type or patchy corona), as well as branched micelles and fascinating micellar superstructures (e.g., 2D lenticular platelets, scarf-shaped micelles, multidimensional micellar assemblies, and cross and "windmill"-like supermicelles).This Special Issue brings together new developments in the synthesis and self-assembly of block copolymers with crystallizable blocks and also addresses emerging applications for these exciting materials. It includes two reviews on CDSA and eight contributions spanning from membranes for gas separation to self-assembly in bulk and solution.

The mixture of data in real-life exhibits structure or connection property in nature. Typical data include biological data, communication network data, image data, etc. Graphs provide a natural way to represent and analyze these types of data and their relationships. Unfortunately, the related algorithms usually suffer from high computational complexity, since some of these problems are NP-hard. Therefore, in recent years, many graph models and optimization algorithms have been proposed to achieve a better balance between efficacy and efficiency. This book contains some papers reporting recent achievements regarding graph models, algorithms, and applications to problems in the real world, with some focus on optimization and computational complexity.