Böcker utgivna av Mdpi AG

Acute stressful experiences or high levels of chronic stress are risk factors for mental and physical disorders. Insights into the effects of posttraumatic stress disorder and other stress-related disorders experienced by war veterans, refugees, and immigrants are presented. This volume also presents examinations of the pathological effects of stress that may disrupt the normal relationships between individuals and their families. The health of individuals and their children may be enhanced by interventions to help them manage the effects of stressful life experiences and environments. Innovative and effective interventions are examined and their applications are recommended.

Microgrids are a growing segment of the energy industry, representing a paradigm shift from centralized structures toward more localized, autonomous, dynamic, and bi-directional energy networks, especially in cities and communities. The ability to isolate from the larger grid makes microgrids resilient, while their capability of forming scalable energy clusters permits the delivery of services that make the grid more sustainable and competitive. Through an optimal design and management process, microgrids could also provide efficient, low-cost, clean energy and help to improve the operation and stability of regional energy systems. This book covers these promising and dynamic areas of research and development and gathers contributions on different aspects of microgrids in an aim to impart higher degrees of sustainability and resilience to energy systems.

This book is an exciting collection of research articles that offer a unique view into the fast developing field of metal additive manufacturing, providing insights into this advanced manufacturing technology. The articles span recent advances in metal AM technologies, and their application to a wide range of metals, exploring how the processing parameters offer unique material properties. This book encapsulates the state of the art in this rapidly evolving field of technology and will be a valuable resource for researchers in the field, from Ph.D. students to professors, and through to industrial end users.

The invention of novel and improved catalysts has a valuable impact on human activities and on our planet. Efficient catalysts are expected to be stable, active, and selective. In the past, the development of new catalysts has mainly depended on trial and error, a laborious and time-consuming approach. Nowadays, the mechanistic details of numerous important chemical reactions have been unraveled, and this information is useful for intelligently design novel catalysts. Thus, all the efforts devoted to facilitating a deep understanding of intricate catalytic mechanisms and to the preparation of novel catalysts relying on this are priceless. Chemists must set up adequate strategies, merging experimental and computational knowledge and abilities toward tuning the performance of molecules that might be successful in the lab. The contributions in this book collection are some examples of this modern chemical design.

Construction is one of the main sectors that generates greenhouse gases. This industry consumes large amounts of raw materials, such as stone, timber, water, etc. Additionally, infrastructure should provide service over many years without safety problems. Therefore, their correct design, construction, maintenance, and dismantling are essential to reducing economic, environmental, and societal consequences. That is why promoting sustainable construction has recently become extremely important. To help address and resolve these types of questions, this book explores new ways of reducing the environmental impacts caused by the construction sector, as well promotes social progress and economic growth. The chapters collect the papers included in the "Sustainable Construction" Special Issue of the Sustainability journal. The papers cover a wide spectrum of issues related to the use of sustainable materials in construction, the optimization of designs based con sustainable indicators, the life-cycle assessment, the decision-making processes that integrate economic, social, and environmental aspects, and the promotion of durable materials that reduce future maintenance.

Written by experts in the field of table olives, this book is a source of recent research advances on the characterization and processing of table olives. Research papers are provided relating to the characterization of their composition of volatiles and the sensory profile; mineral composition and bioavailability; changes in bioactive components (chlorophylls) by processing; and new strategies to reduce sodium and additives for stabilizing the organoleptic properties and avoiding defects in table olives. Other research papers are included in relation to microbiological and chemical changes in table olives during spontaneous or controlled fermentation employing different cultivars, and the optimized use of starter cultures for the improvement of the different fermentative processes. In addition, this book includes an overview of the main technologies used for olive fermentation, including the role of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts characterizing this process, and of the processing and storage effects on the nutritional and sensory properties of table olives.

Recent research and development in the field of high-current circuit breaker technology are devoted to meeting two challenges: the environmental compatibility and new demands on electrical grids caused by the increasing use of renewable energies. Electric arcs in gases or a vacuum are the key component in the technology at present and will play a key role also in future concepts, e.g., for hybrid and fast switching required for high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission systems. In addition, the replacement of the environmentally harmful SF6 in gas breakers and gas-insulated switchgear is an actual issue. This Special Issue comprises eight peer-reviewed papers, which address recent studies of switching arcs and electrical insulation at high and medium voltage. Three papers consider issues of the replacement of the environmentally harmful SF6 by CO2 in high-voltage gas circuit breakers. One paper deals with fast switching in air with relevance for hybrid fault current limiters and hybrid HVDC interrupters. The other four papers illustrate actual research on vacuum current breakers as an additional option for environmentally compatible switchgear; fundamental studies of the vacuum arc ignition, as well as concepts for the use of vacuum arcs for DC interruption.

The search for alternative sources of energy is an attempt to solve two of the main problems facing the modern world. Today''s resources are mainly based on fossil flammable substances such as coal, oil, and natural gas. The first problem is related to the expected and observed depletion of deposits, not only those available but also less accessible. Another is related to global warming from emissions of greenhouse gases (mainly carbon dioxide) as well as emissions of other pollutants in the atmosphere. Mitigating the harmful effects of fossil fuel use is an obvious challenge for mankind. This Special Issue includes articles on the search for new raw materials and new technologies for obtaining energy, such as those existing in nature, methane hydrates, biomass, etc., new more efficient technologies for generating electricity, as well as analyses of the possibilities and conditions of use of these resources for practical applications.

Anthropogenic and natural disturbances to freshwater quantity and quality are a greater issue for society than ever before. To successfully restore water resources requires understanding the interactions between hydrology, climate, land use, water quality, ecology, and social and economic pressures. This Special Issue of Water includes cutting edge research broadly addressing investigative areas related to experimental study designs and modeling, freshwater pollutants of concern, and human dimensions of water use and management. Results demonstrate the immense, globally transferable value of the experimental watershed approach, the relevance and critical importance of current integrated studies of pollutants of concern, and the imperative to include human sociological and economic processes in water resources investigations. In spite of the latest progress, as demonstrated in this Special Issue, managers remain insufficiently informed to make the best water resource decisions amidst combined influences of land use change, rapid ongoing human population growth, and changing environmental conditions. There is, thus, a persistent need for further advancements in integrated and interdisciplinary research to improve the scientific understanding, management, and future sustainability of water resources.

This Special Issue covers original and innovative basic research regarding the anti-inflammatory potential of several classes of secondary metabolites (i.e., polyphenols, phytosterols, proteoglycans, and polysaccharides) in manifestations of acute and chronic inflammation in both in vitro and in vivo experimental models.

Modern power and energy systems are characterized by the wide integration of distributed generation, storage and electric vehicles, adoption of ICT solutions, and interconnection of different energy carriers and consumer engagement, posing new challenges and creating new opportunities. Advanced testing and validation methods are needed to efficiently validate power equipment and controls in the contemporary complex environment and support the transition to a cleaner and sustainable energy system. Real-time hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation has proven to be an effective method for validating and de-risking power system equipment in highly realistic, flexible, and repeatable conditions. Controller hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL) and power hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL) are the two main HIL simulation methods used in industry and academia that contribute to system-level testing enhancement by exploiting the flexibility of digital simulations in testing actual controllers and power equipment. This book addresses recent advances in real-time HIL simulation in several domains (also in new and promising areas), including technique improvements to promote its wider use. It is composed of 14 papers dealing with advances in HIL testing of power electronic converters, power system protection, modeling for real-time digital simulation, co-simulation, geographically distributed HIL, and multiphysics HIL, among other topics.

This book comprises 19 papers published in the Special Issue entitled "Corporate Finance", focused on capital structure (Kedzior et al., 2020; Ntoung et al., 2020; Vintilă et al., 2019), dividend policy (Dragotă and Delcea, 2019; Pinto and Rastogi, 2019) and open-market share repurchase announcements (Ding et al., 2020), risk management (Chen et al., 2020; Nguyen Thanh, 2019; Štefko et al., 2020), financial reporting (Fossung et al., 2020), corporate brand and innovation (Barros et al., 2020; Błach et al., 2020), and corporate governance (Aluchna and Kuszewski, 2020; Dragotă et al.,2020; Gruszczyński, 2020; Kjærland et al., 2020; Koji et al., 2020; Lukason and Camacho-Miñano, 2020; Rashid Khan et al., 2020). It covers a broad range of companies worldwide (Cameroon, China, Estonia, India, Japan, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, United States, Vietnam), as well as various industries (heat supply, high-tech, manufacturing).

This volume comprises a series of research articles dedicated to the UNESCO 2019 Forum on Education for Sustainable Education and Global Citizenship. Given the imperative of education in sustainable development, especially in developing countries, the volume covers a wide range of topics: the mobility and mental health of international students, reading habits and academic achievements of junior high school students, core competencies of mid-level managers in higher education, adoption of an international publishing standard, legal rights for education and socio-cultural adaptation of ethnic minorities, and, most recently, students'' learning behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ubiquitination is a biological process mediated by ubiquitin itself, the E1 ubiquitin-activating enzyme, E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme, E3 ubiquitin ligase, and deubiquitinating enzyme, respectively. Currently, these multiple biological steps are revealed to participate in various life phenomena, such as cell proliferation, regulation of cell surface proteins expression, and mitochondrial function, which are profoundly related to human health and diseases. Although clinical applications targeting ubiquitination are still limited compared to those directed toward kinase systems such as tyrosine kinases, multiple enzymatic consequences should be future therapeutic implications. This Special Issue of IJMS entitled "Ubiquitination in Health and Disease" successfully published15 distinguished manuscripts, with a total of 66 international authors and. This book provides the latest and most useful information for researchers and scientists in this field.

With rapid developments being made in the exploration of marine resources, coastal geohazard and offshore geotechnics have attracted a great deal of attention from coastal geotechnical engineers, with significant progress being made in recent years. Due to the complicated nature of marine environmnets, there are numerous natural marine geohazard preset throughout the world''s marine areas, e.g., the South China Sea. In addition, damage to offshore infrastructure (e.g., monopiles, bridge piers, etc.) and their supporting installations (pipelines, power transmission cables, etc.) has occurred in the last decades. A better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms and soil behavior of the seabed in marine environments will help engineers in the design and planning processes of coastal geotechnical engineering projects. The purpose of this book is to present the recent advances made in the field of coastal geohazards and offshore geotechnics. The book will provide researchers with information reagrding the recent developments in the field, and possible future developments. The book is composed of eighteen papers, covering three main themes: (1) the mechanisms of fluid-seabed interactions and the instability associated with seabeds when they are under dynamic loading (papers 1-5); (2) evaluation of the stability of marine infrastructure, including pipelines (papers 6-8), piled foundation and bridge piers (papers 9-12), submarine tunnels (paper 13), and other supported foundations (paper 14); and (3) coastal geohazards, including submarine landslides and slope stability (papers 15-16) and other geohazard issues (papers 17-18). The editors hope that this book will functoin as a guide for researchers, scientists, and scholars, as well as practitioners of coastal and offshore engineering.

Evolved in a huge number of different materials and structures, nature represents a great inspiration for scientists and researchers, which continuously focuses attention on the development of novel approaches and functional biomaterials to mimic the complex architectures and functions of the human body. Bioinspired engineering is considered today as a valuable tool for the design of clinically relevant materials and structures for regenerative sciences and, in this direction, many progresses have been recently made by the scientific research in the biomedical field. This book aims at collecting some recent works addressed to the definition of novel bioinspired approaches in bioengineering and biotechnology, presenting interesting scientific results and a comprehensive overview of attracting materials in research papers and review articles.

Urbanisation and climate change are pushing cities to find novel pathways leading to a sustainable future. The urban context may be viewed as a new experimentation space to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Urban symbiosis and the circular economy are emerging concepts attracting more and more attention within the urban context. Moreover, new business models are emerging around sharing and peer-to-peer practices, which are challenging existing roles of actors in society. These developments are having an important impact on the flows of resources and the use of the city infrastructure, and each research area has taken a different perspective in the analysis of such impacts. This Special Issue aims to explore what a "circular city" could constitute and how and why cities engage in circularity. This Special Issue includes seven high-quality papers on the theories and practices of circular cities. Actors, concepts, methods, tools, the barriers to and enablers of circular cities are discussed and a solid base and inspiration for the future development of circular cities are provided.

Defined as a self-image made with a hand-held mobile device and shared via social media platforms, the selfie has facilitated self-imaging becoming a ubiquitous part of globally networked contemporary life. Beyond this selfies have facilitated a diversity of image making practices and enabled otherwise representationally marginalized constituencies to insert self-representations into visual culture. In the Western European and North American art-historical context, self-portraiture has been somewhat rigidly albeit obliquely defined, and selfies have facilitated a shift regarding who literally holds the power to self-image. Like self-portraits, not all selfies are inherently aesthetically or conceptually rigorous or avant-guard. But, -as this project aims to do address via a variety of interdisciplinary approaches- selfies have irreversibly impacted visual culture, contemporary art, and portraiture in particular. Selfies propose new modes of self-imaging, forward emerging aesthetics and challenge established methods, they prove that as scholars and image-makers it is necessary to adapt and innovate in order to contend with the most current form of self-representation to date. The essays gathered herein will reveal that in our current moment it is necessary and advantageous to consider the merits and interventions of selfies and self-portraiture in an expanded field of self-representations. We invite authors to take interdisciplinary global perspectives, to investigate various sub-genres, aesthetic practices, and lineages in which selfies intervene to enrich the discourse on self-representation in the expanded field today.