Böcker utgivna av Mdpi AG

In the modern world, the competitiveness of bioenergy- and/or bioresources-related activities heavily depends on the effectiveness of supply chain management. A large number of multidisciplinary topics are involved in the bioresources and bioenergy production fields. Although the technical issues that are related with the topic are well-discussed and do not represent major barriers, supply chain management issues, such as design of the network, collection, storage or transportation of bioresources, are still considered as fundamental questions that need to be answered to enable the optimal exploitation of bioenergy and bioresources. Moreover, modeling of material and energy flows; identification of the dynamic character of the supply chains; available reverse logistics (waste management) alternatives; economic, social and environmental sustainability of bioresource supply chains; novelty in the applied business models; and decision support frameworks towards efficient supply chain management for bioenergy and bioresources present critical operational sustainability issues and business-making potential. This Special Issue, entitled "Supply Chain Management for Bioenergy and Bioresources", seeks to contribute to the bioenergy and bioresources agenda through enhanced scientific and multi-disciplinary knowledge that may boost the performance efficiency of supply chain management and support the decision-making process of stakeholders. To that end, the Special Issue includes one extensive review on yellow and woody biomass supply-chain management, together with six original papers which span a number of innovative, multifaceted, technical developments that are related to all different echelons of supply chain management for bioenergy and bioresources.

In recent years, heavy metals have been widely used in agricultural, chemical, domestic, and technological applications, causing environmental and soil contaminations. Heavy metals enter the plant system through soil or via the atmosphere, and can accumulate, affecting physiological processes, plant growth, yield, and human health if heavy metals are stored in edible tissues. Understanding the regulation mechanisms of plant heavy metals accumulation and partitioning is important to improve the safety of the food chain. In this Special Issue book, a total of 19 articles were included; four reviews covering phytoremediation, manganese phytotoxicity in plants, the effect of cadmium on plant development, the genetic characteristics of Cd accumulation, and the research status of genes and QTLs in rice, respectively, as well as fifteen original research articles, mainly regarding the impact of cadmium on plants. Cadmium was therefore the predominant topic of this Special Issue, increasing the attention of the research community on the negative impacts determined by cadmium or cadmium associated with other heavy metals. The articles have highlighted a great genetic variability, suggesting different possibilities for accumulation, translocation and the reduction or control of heavy metal toxicity in plants.

The Hedgehog signaling pathway is an evolutionarily conserved pathway that governs complex developmental processes, including stem cell maintenance, proliferation, differentiation, and patterning. Several recent studies have shown that the aberrant activation of Hedgehog signaling is associated with neoplastic transformation, cancer cell proliferation, metastasis, multiple cancers'' drug resistance, and survival rates. This book focuses on several aspects of Hedgehog signaling in organogenesis and the tumor microenvironment, and presents reviews and original papers on recent efforts in the field of Hedgehog signaling.

Nutritional deficiencies, and different nutritional and dietary lifestyles, whether poor or absent of essential nutrients, aside from excess intake, can lead to inflammatory complications and loss of function. Bioactive compounds are non-nutritional components derived from plants, foods, and beverages with a multitude of biological effects. The improvement of analytical techniques has allowed scientific community to state that the regular consumption of bioactive phytochemicals is related to the prevention of numerous pathologies, through mechanisms that involve oxidative stress reduction, gene expression modulation, and even enzymatic activation inhibition.

The search for bioactive marine natural products calls for the need of efficient chemical profiling strategies, together with the need to make advances in separation and characterization methodologies, in order to expedite their discovery. This Special Issue of Marine Drugs aims to highlight advances in extraction, isolation, purification and dereplication methodologies in the quest for bioactive marine natural products.

The Special Issue of Energies on the subject area of "Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) for Electric Vehicles (EV)", covers new work on EV and associated topics like charging process, smart grids, emerging ITS for EV and applications for electromoV market penetration with an increase of 60% per year, associated challenges of the charging process and system and changes in the energy market and grid. EV is associated with sustainability and the EU has committed to reducing CO2 emissions by 37.5 percent by 2030. The charging process and open energy market with renewable energy create interesting research problems where IoT and intelligent systems play an essential role in the flexibility of the EV charging process and the EV operation.bility. Considering EV market penetration with an increase of 60% per year, associated challenges of charging process and system and the change on the Energy market and Grid. EV is associated with sustainability with the commit of EU in, aiming to reduce CO2 emissions by 37.5 percent from 2021 to 2030. Charging process and open energy market with renewable energy creates interesting research problems where IoT and Intelligent System plays an essential role in the flexibility of the EV charging process and the EV operation.

Mitochondria are critical bioenergetic and biosynthetic machines that are essential for normal cell function. Traditionally, mitochondria have been considered the powerhouse of the cell, as they supply most of the cellular energy through oxidative phosphorylation. In addition, they supply the building blocks needed for the synthesis of cellular biomass. More recently, mitochondria have been recognized as signaling hubs that receive and transmit signals throughout the cell, thereby affecting cell functionality and fate. The signals generated by mitochondria include changes in metabolites, the NAD+/NADH ratio, ATP/ADP ratio, Ca2+, and reactive oxygen species (ROS), but our understanding of their nature, dynamics, targets, and roles in different physiopathological contexts is still under development. Mitochondrial dysfunction, which may originate from primary defects within the organelles or from stress conditions in the microenvironment, is a hallmark of many common diseases, including ischaemia-reperfusion injury, cancer, metabolic disease, and neurodegenerative disorders, and has become a major research focus in medicine. Understanding the biology of mitochondrial signaling and the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in the pathogenesis of many metabolic, degenerative, cardiovascular, and neoplastic diseases is crucial for the development of strategies aimed at therapeutically restoring mitochondrial functionality. This Special Issue presents current knowledge in the field of mitochondrial signaling in health and disease, and recent advances in mitochondrial pharmacology.

This book is dedicated to the use of nanomaterials for the modification of asphalt binders, and to investigate whether or not the use of nanomaterials for asphalt mixtures fabrication achieves more effective asphalt pavement layers. A total of 10 contributions are included. Four are related to "Binder''s modification" and five to "Asphalt mixtures'' modification". The remaining contribution is a review of the effects of the modifications on nanomaterials, particularly nanosilica, nanoclays and nanoiron, on the performance of asphalt mixtures. The published group of papers fosters awareness about the use of nanomaterials to modify asphalt mixtures to obtain more performant and durable flexible road pavements.

Metal-based composites represent a unique way of tailoring the properties of metals, through the selection of type, size, and amount of reinforcement. In this way, the properties of metallic matrices can be adjusted depending on end applications. In view of the dynamic capabilities they can exhibit, this Special Issue will cover all aspects of metal matrix composites: synthesis (including solid, liquid, two-phase and 3D printing); secondary processing; properties (tensile, compressive, fatigue, impact, creep, tribological, etc.); corrosion behavior; and joining techniques. The main objective is to share the latest results on metal matrix composites with the research community worldwide.