The Special Issue, "Architectural Structure," aims to gather general advances in human-made constructions which simultaneously are driven by aesthetic and structural engineering considerations. This Special Issue brings together twelve contributions covering the following topics: analysis of architectural typologies; the study of the mechanical performance of structural materials, structural systems and components; and the proposal of techniques to evaluate the mechanical performance in existing structures and new construction techniques.
The rapid increasing of concentrations of anthropologically generated greenhouse gases (primarily CO2) in the atmosphere is responsible for global warming and ocean acidification. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates that carbon capture and storage (CCS) techniques are a necessary measure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the short-to-medium term. One of the technological solutions is the long-term storage of CO2 in appropriate geological formations, such as deep saline formations and depleted oil and gas reservoirs. Promising alternative options that guarantee the permanent capture of CO2, although on a smaller scale, are the in-situ and ex-situ fixation of CO2 in the form of inorganic carbonates via the carbonation of mafic and ultramafic rocks and of Mg/Ca-rich fly ash, iron and steel slags, cement waste, and mine tailings. According to this general framework, this Special Issue collects articles covering various aspects of recent scientific advances in the geological and mineralogical sequestration of CO2. In particular, it includes the assessment of the storage potential of candidate injection sites in Croatia, Greece, and Norway; numerical modelling of geochemical-mineralogical reactions and CO2 flow; studies of natural analogues providing information on the processes and the physical-chemical conditions characterizing serpentinite carbonation; and experimental investigations to better understand the effectiveness and mechanisms of geological and mineralogical CO2 sequestration.
In recent years, a considerable volume of technical literature has been published on flood hazard analysis, and more recently, on flood vulnerability and resilience. Nevertheless, there is still a shortage of scientific studies and practical experience of real flood risk assessment (both social and economic), including hazard, exposure and vulnerability analyses and their integration. As there are so few references available, applications of flood risk assessment to the design of preventive measures and early warning systems, landscape and urban planning, civil protection, insurance systems, and risk-based information and education, cannot reach their full potential development. This is because the research products available, such as hazard data and maps, do not serve to ensure the efficient prioritization of mitigation measures or communities at risk. Meanwhile, flooding is the natural disaster that causes the greatest loss on a global scale, and due to climate change, this situation is expected to continue. The research manuscripts involved in this book try to offer flood risk managers new tools, data and maps to improve risk mitigation, both preventive and corrective. A wide variety of topics have been covered, including: flood risk data sources; techniques and methodologies for flood risk analysis; flood risk mapping; or flood risk analysis calibrations.
The sustainability of the built environment can only be achieved through the maintenance planning of built facilities during their lifecycle while also considering social, economic, functional, technical, and ecological aspects. Stakeholders should be conscious of the existing tools and knowledge for the optimization of maintenance and rehabilitation actions in consideration of the degradation mechanisms and the risk of failure over time. Knowledge concerning the service life prediction of building elements is crucial to the definition, in a rational and technically informed way, of a set of maintenance strategies over the building''s life cycle. Service life prediction methodologies provide a better understanding of the degradation phenomenon of the analyzed elements, enabling the relation of the characteristics of these elements and their exposure, use, and maintenance conditions with their performance over time. This SI intends to provide an overview of the existing knowledge related to various aspects of "Life Cycle Prediction and Maintenance of Buildings". Relevant topics to this Special Issue include: Methodologies for service life prediction of buildings and components; Maintainability of buildings and components; Serviceability of building elements; Maintenance and repair actions of buildings and components; Definition and optimization of maintenance policies; Financial analysis of various maintenance plans; Whole life cycle costing; Life cycle assessment.
Laser shock processing (LSP) is a continuously developing effective technology used to improve surface and mechanical properties for metallic alloys. LSP is in direct competition with other established technologies, such as shot peening, both in preventive manufacturing treatments and maintenance/repair operations. The level of LSP maturity has increased in recent years and several thematic international conferences have been organized (i.e., the 7th ICLPRP held in Singapore, June 17-22, 2018) to discuss different developments of a number of key aspects. These aspects include: fundamental laser interaction phenomena; material behavior at high deformation rates/under intense shock waves; laser sources and experimental process implementation; induced microstructural/surface/stress effects; mechanical and surface properties with experimental characterization and testing; numerical process simulation; development and validation of applications; comparison of LSP to competing technologies; and novel related processes. All of these aspects have been recursively treated by well-renowned specialists, providing a firm basis for the further development of the technology in its path to industrial penetration. However, the application of LSP (and related technologies) on different types of materials with different applications (such as the always demanding aeronautical/aerospatial field or the energy generation, automotive, and biomedical fields) still requires extensive effort to elucidate and master different critical aspects. Thus, LSP deserves a great research effort as a necessary step prior to its industrial readiness level. The present Special Issue of Metals in the field of "Laser Shock Processing and Related Phenomena" aims, from its initial launching date, to collect (especially for the use of LSP application developers in different target sectors) a number of high-quality and relevant papers representing state-of-the-art technology that is useful to newcomers in realizing its wide and relevant prospects as a key manufacturing technology. Consequently, in an additional and complementary way, papers were presented at the thematic ICLPRP conferences, and a call was made to authors willing to prepare high-quality and relevant papers to the journal, with the confidence that their work would become part of a fundamental reference collection regarding the present state-of-the-art LSP technology. The Special Issue includes two reviews and nine research papers. Each contribution adds to the reference knowledge of LSP technology and covers the practical totality of open issues, which will lead to present-day research at worldwide universities, research centers, and industrial companies.
Renewable energies are becoming a must to counteract the consequences of the global warming. More efficient devices and better control strategies are required in the generation, transport, and conversion of electricity. Energy is processed by power converters that are currently the key building blocks in modern power distribution systems. The associated electrical architecture is based on buses for energy distribution and uses a great number of converters for interfacing both input and output energy. This book shows that sliding-mode control is contributing to improve the performances of power converters by means of accurate theoretical analyses that result in efficient implementations. The sliding-mode control of power converters for renewable energy applications offers a panoramic view of the most recent uses of this regulation technique in practical cases. By presenting examples that range from dozens of kilowatts to only a few watts, the book covers control solutions for AC-DC and DC-AC generation, power factor correction, multilevel converters, constant-power load supply, wind energy systems, efficient lighting, digital control implementation, multiphase converters, and energy harvesting. The selected examples developed by recognized specialists are illustrated by means of detailed simulations and experiments to help the reader to understand the theoretical approach in each case considered in the book.
Adolescents in many countries consume poor quality diets that include high intakes of sugary drinks and fast food and low intakes of vegetables. The aims of this Special Issue on adolescent dietary behavior were to identify methods and approaches for successful interventions to improve diet quality in this age group and identify at-risk subgroups that need particular attention. In total, 11 manuscripts were published in this Special Issue: three qualitative studies that included a systematic review, five cross-sectional studies, and three quantitative evaluations of interventions. This Special Issue discusses the contribution of the studies and provides suggestions to improve the success of future interventions in adolescents. It is important that adolescents are involved in the design of interventions to improve social and cultural acceptability and relevance. Interventions targeting schools or communities framed within a larger food system, such as issues around climate change and the carbon footprint of food, may improve engagement. Targeting adolescents in areas of deprivation is a priority where diet quality is particularly poor. Potentially successful interventions also include environmental policies that impact the cost and marketing of food and drinks, although evaluations of these were not included in this Special Issue.
"Functional Polymer Solutions and Gels-Physics and Novel Applications" contains a broad range of articles in this vast field of polymer and soft matter science. It shows insight into the field by highlighting how sticky (non-covalent) chemical bonds can assemble a seemingly water-like liquid into a gel, how ionic liquids influence the gelation behavior of poly(N-Isopropylacrylamide) as well as how the molecular composition of functional copolymers is reflected in the temperature-responsiveness. These physics were augmented by theoretical works on drag-reduction. Also, drug-release - an improved control of how fast or dependent on an external factor - and antibacterial properties were the topic of several works. Biomedical applications on how cell growth can be influenced and how vessels in biological systems, e.g., blood vessels, can be improved by functional polymers were complemented with papers on tomography by using gels. On totally different lines, also the topic of how asphalt can be improved and how functional polymers can be used for the enrichment and removal of substances. These different papers are a good representation of the whole area of functional polymers.
Bioelectric sensors are unique diagnostic principles and technologies. Although they share many traits with electrochemical sensors, especially regarding the common features of instrumentation, they are focused on the measurement of the electric properties of biorecognition elements as a reflection of cellular, biological, and biomolecular functions in a rapid, very sensitive, and often non-invasive manner. Bioelectric sensors offer a plethora of options in terms both of assay targets (molecules, cells, organs, and organisms) and methodological approaches (e.g., potentiometry, impedance spectrometry, and patch-clamp electrophysiology). Irrespective of the method of choice, "bioelectric profiling" is being rapidly established as a superior concept for a number of applications, including in vitro toxicity, signal transduction, real-time medical diagnostics, environmental risk assessment, and drug development. This Special Issue is the first that is exclusively dedicated to the advanced and emerging concepts and technologies of bioelectric sensors. Topics include, but are not restricted to, bioelectric sensors for single cell analysis, electrophysiological olfactory and volatile organic compounds sensors, impedimetric biosensors, microbial fuel cell biosensors, and implantable autonomous bioelectric micro- and nano-sensors.
Throughout the history of materials science and physics, few topics have captured as much interest as the phenomenon of superconductivity (SPC), discovered in 1911. Perhaps this is because of the intriguing interpretation of the phenomenon, which remains controversial, or for the secret hope of being able to synthesize a material with a critical superconductive transition temperature (TC) high enough to revolutionize the sector of energy generation and transport. As a matter of fact, the search for new superconductor materials has motivated an army of scientists, in particular, after the discovery of high-TC superconductor cuprates (HTS) in the mid-80s. Besides the unremitting interest in HTS, new materials, such as intermetallic borides, iron-nickel-based superconductors, heavy fermion, and organic and superhydride systems, are still delivering outstanding achievements to the scientific community, among which includes thousands of papers and a handful of Nobel prize winners). This Special Issue "Synthesis and Characterization of New Superconductor Materials" is a collection of scientific contributions providing new insights and advances in this fascinating field, addressing issues ranging from the fundamental research (theory and correlation between critical temperature, TC, and structural properties) to the development of innovative solutions for practical applications of superconductivity: Synthesis of new superconducting materials Magnetic and/or electric characterization of the TC transition Role of crystal symmetry and chemical substitutions on TC TC dependence on external stimuli and/or non-ambient conditions Theoretical modeling
Engineering practice requires the use of structures containing identical components or parts, useful from several points of view: less information is needed to describe the system, design is made quicker and easier, components are made faster than a complex assembly, and finally the time to achieve the structure and the cost of manufacturing decreases. Additionally, the subsequent maintenance of the system becomes easier and cheaper. This Special Issue is dedicated to this kind of mechanical structure, describing the properties and methods of analysis of these structures. Discrete or continuous structures in static and dynamic cases are considered. Theoretical models, mathematical methods, and numerical analyses of the systems, such as the finite element method and experimental methods, are expected to be used in the research. Machine building, automotive, aerospace, and civil engineering are the main areas in which such applications appear, but they are found in most engineering fields.
Advanced intelligent (ADI) control through Versatile Intelligent Portable (VIP) Platforms is a rapidly developing, complex, challenging field with great practical importance and potential. ADI control is an interdisciplinary field which combines and extends theories and methods from control theory, computer science, and operations research areas with the aim of developing controllers that are highly adaptable to significant unanticipated changes. Deep research and communicating new trends in the design, control, and applications of the real time control of intelligent sensors systems using advanced intelligent control methods and techniques is the main purpose of this book. Innovative multi-sensor fusion techniques, integrated through VIP platforms, are developed and combined with computer vision, virtual and augmented reality (VR&AR), and intelligent communication, including remote control, adaptive sensor networks, human-robot (H2R) interaction systems, and machine-to-machine (M2M) interfaces. Intelligent decision support systems (IDSS), including remote sensing, and their integration with DSS, GA-based DSS, fuzzy sets DSS, rough set-based DSS, intelligent agent-assisted DSS, process mining integration into decision support, adaptive DSS, computer vision-based DSS, and sensory and robotic DSS are highlighted in the field of advanced intelligent control. Approaching new technologies using advanced intelligent control through versatile intelligent portable platforms involves complex multidisciplinary research covering enhanced IoT technologies and applications in the 5G densification era, bio-inspired techniques in future manufacturing enterprise control, cyberphysical systems approach to cognitive enterprise, developing the IT Industry 4.0 concept, industrial systems in the digital age, cloud computing, robotics, and automation with applications such as human aid mechatronics moving in unstructured and uneven environments, rescue robots, firefighting robots, rehabilitation robots, robot-assisted surgery, and domestic robots.
This Special Issue contains novel results in the area of out-of-equilibrium classical and quantum thermodynamics. Contributions are from different areas of physics, including statistical mechanics, quantum information and many-body systems.
Sustainability is an urgent developmental task for our society and is attracting increasing attention. Therefore, higher education institutions (HEIs) are also called upon to deal theoretically, conceptually, methodically, critically, and reflectively with the associated challenges and the processes and conditions of transformation in order to contribute to sustainable development. How can complex organisations such as HEIs succeed in initiating and maintaining the process of sustainable development within their own institutions and make it a permanent responsibility? How can as many protagonists as possible be persuaded to get involved in sustainable development? This book deals with the promotion of sustainable university development and provides an overview of how universities can be organised sustainably and how sustainable development can be implemented in their various functional areas. In the sense of a "whole-institution approach", which encompasses entire HEIs, the focus is not only on the core areas of teaching (higher education for sustainable development) and research (sustainability in research) but, also, on the operational management of HEIs. In addition, this book focuses on sustainability governance and transfer for sustainable development at HEIs as cross-disciplinary issues.
Most complex respiratory conditions invoke interactions between genetic and environmental factors, such as smoking, pollution, and diet. There is increasing evidence that diet and nutrition are important factors, not only in disease prevention, but also in their contribution to the chronicity and heterogeneity of lung disorders. Nutrients exert potent effects on metabolism through a variety of regulatory mechanisms, resulting in local and systemic changes in metabolite levels. In this issue of Nutrients, we would like to bring together papers dealing with the topic of "Respiratory Diseases and Nutrition". We welcome manuscripts detailing human and animal studies focused on the roles of dietary and metabolic factors in the initiation and progression of respiratory diseases, including, but not limited to, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. In vitro studies aimed at elucidating the potential molecular mechanisms of diet-metabolic interactions are also invited. We welcome different types of manuscript submissions, including original research articles and up-to-date reviews and commentaries.
Fungi are important components of ecosystems. Their level of diversity is very high and only lower than that of insects. This book deals with fungal diversity in the Mediterranean, a large area recognized as a biodiversity hot spot. Micro and macrofungi contribute to characterizing many environments, both terrestrial and marine, in which they are associated with particular forest stands and also contribute to providing plant and soil nutrients. They also show potential applications in the medical and pharmaceutical fields, have a recognized nutritional and commercial value and still provide many insights to scholars in terms of description of new species and actions aimed at in situ and ex situ conservation.
This book celebrates the ten-year anniversary of the Barcelona Expert Center by presenting recent contributions related to the topics on which the team has been working during these years. The Barcelona Expert Center expertise covers a wide variety of remote sensing fields, but the main focus of the research is on the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) data processing and its ocean, land, and ice applications. This book contains 14 scientific papers addressing topics that range from the description of the new data processing algorithms that are implemented in the last version of the operational SMOS Level 1 processor, to scientific applications derived from SMOS: results on the sea surface salinity assimilation in coastal models; synergies of the sea surface salinity with temperature and chlorophyll, and their impact on the better retrieval of ocean surface currents; quality assessment of SMOS derived sea ice thickness; sea surface salinity; and soil moisture products, among others. Moreover, one of the papers verifies the potential of the future CIMR mission within the CMEMS SSS operational production after the SMOS era.
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry (InSAR) is an important remote sensing technology used for topographic mapping and deformation monitoring, and has created a new type of radar datum that has significantly evolved during the last couple of decades. This book includes the latest InSAR studies published in the Special Issue "InSAR Signal and Data Processing" of Sensors. We hope that readers of all levels will be able to gain a better understanding of InSAR as well as the when, how, and why of applying this technology.
Microbial virulence factors encompass a wide range of molecules produced by pathogenic microorganisms, enhancing their ability to evade their host defenses and cause disease. This broad definition comprises secreted products such as toxins, enzymes, exopolysaccharides, as well as cell surface structures such as capsules, lipopolysaccharides, glyco- and lipoproteins. Intracellular changes in metabolic regulatory networks, governed by protein sensors/regulators and non-coding regulatory RNAs, are also known to contribute to virulence. Furthermore, some secreted microbial products have the ability to enter the host cell and manipulate their machinery, contributing to the success of the infection. The knowledge, at the molecular level, of the biology of microbial pathogens and their virulence factors is central in the development of novel therapeutic molecules and strategies to combat microbial infections. The present collection comprises state of the art research and review papers on virulence factors and mechanisms of a wide range of bacterial and fungal pathogens for humans, animals, and plants, thus reflecting the impact of microorganisms in health and economic human activities, and the importance of the topic.
Nowadays, more and more people realize the importance of global sustainability. Also, there has been an increasing number of quantitative studies investigating the connection between climate change and human societies in academia. Given this background, the Atmosphere Special Issue "Climate Change, Climatic Extremes, and Human Societies in the Past" aimed to highlight the major aspects of the climate-society nexus in ancient and recent human history. There are eight papers based on quantitative approaches to illustrate different forms of climate-society nexus in ancient, historical, and contemporary periods. Regarding ancient periods, the interconnection among climate, agriculture, and human societies is focused. Regarding historical periods, the non-linear and complex relationship between climate change and the positive checks (wars, famines, and epidemics) in historical China and pre-industrial Europe is revealed. Regarding contemporary periods, the papers focus on weather-related phenomena that significantly affect human societies. The complexity of those phenomena is also highlighted. The associated findings can help human societies to mitigate the adverse impacts of weather extremes better. This special issue contributes to the field of quantitative analysis of the climate-society nexus, both theoretically and methodologically, which could facilitate a more fruitful discussion about the climate-society nexus.
The Special Issue "Assessment and Nonlinear Modeling of Wave, Tidal, and Wind Energy Converters and Turbines" contributes original research to stimulate the continuing progress of the offshore renewable energy (ORE) field, with a focus on state-of-the-art numerical approaches developed for the design and analysis of ORE devices. Particularly, this collection provides new methodologies, analytical/numerical tools, and theoretical methods that deal with engineering problems in the ORE field of wave, wind, and current structures. This Special Issue covers a wide range of multidisciplinary aspects, such as the 1) study of generalized interaction wake model systems with elm variation for offshore wind farms; 2) a flower pollination method based on global maximum power point tracking strategy for point-absorbing type wave energy converters; 3) performance optimization of a Kirsten-Boeing turbine using a metamodel based on neural networks coupled with CFD; 4) proposal of a novel semi-submersible floating wind turbine platform composed of inclined columns and multi-segmented mooring lines; 5) reduction of tower fatigue through blade back twist and active pitch-to-stall control strategy for a semi-submersible floating offshore wind turbine; 6) assessment of primary energy conversion of a closed-circuit OWC wave energy converter; 7) development and validation of a wave-to-wire model for two types of OWC wave energy converters; 8) assessment of a hydrokinetic energy converter based on vortex-induced angular oscillations of a cylinder; 9) application of wave-turbulence decomposition methods on a tidal energy site assessment; 10) parametric study for an oscillating water column wave energy conversion system installed on a breakwater; 11) optimal dimensions of a semisubmersible floating platform for a 10 MW wind turbine; 12) fatigue life assessment for power cables floating in offshore wind turbines.
Food, by nature, is a biological substrate and is therefore capable of supporting the growth of microbials that are potential producers of toxic compounds. Among them mycotoxins, marine biotoxins, plant toxins, cyanogenic glycosides, and toxins occurring in poisonous mushrooms pose not only a risk to both human and animal health but also impact food security and nutrition by reducing people''s access to healthy food. This book collects some of the recent key improvements of analytical methodologies for the detection of natural toxins and their metabolites in food, and highlights the challenges yet to be resolved. Special emphasis is given to emerging or less-investigated toxins, to provide the scientific community with new tools and/or data supporting a better understanding of related food safety issues.
Beyond being the most important natural compound source, actinomycetes are the origin of up to two-thirds of all clinically used antibiotics. Currently, new antimicrobials are urgently needed, as infections caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens are on the rise. In the identification of new antibiotics, many scientists are currently investigating biosynthetic aspects of antibiotic production in actinomycetes. Since the emergence of next-generation sequencing technologies, the field of antibiotics research has experienced a remarkable revival. These bacteria have the potential to produce more antibiotics than previously thought possible. Some antibiotics are produced in standard media, while others require the presence of a specific signaling molecule in the medium. Others, however, are only produced when the native regulation of the biosynthesis gene cluster is overruled. This book covers topics in the field of antibiotic-producing actinomycetes. The following tops are addressed: - Approaches to access novel antibiotic producers for novel natural compounds - Omics and genome mining approaches for the discovery of novel natural compounds - Analyses and genetic engineering of antibiotic biosynthesis - Regulation of the secondary metabolism in actinomycetes
The articles in this volume present a variety of theoretical and historical cases to enlarge our understanding of religious conflict and coexistence. Seven out of the ten articles discuss cases of major religions in Korea, including Shamanism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Christianity. They explore the particularity of Korean religions in seeking theological and philosophical inclusiveness, playing a positive role in society and building stable interreligious relations. The other three articles cover non-Korean themes including religious conflict of interfaith families, a biblical analysis of particularism and universalism and a new interpretation of Paul''s letter to the Romans. All of these articles are aimed at identifying major causes of religious conflict and finding some effective solutions drawn from various theoretical and practical domains.
This Special Issue showcases poets who enhance the breadth of modernist literary practices. The cohering concept is a complex relationship to both gender and modernity through original experiments with language. Leading scholars explore writers who both fit and extend orthodox modernist histories: Marianne Moore, H.D., Edna St Vincent Millay, Dorothy Parker, Katherine Mansfield, and Charlotte Mew were born around the cusp of the twentieth century and flourished during the 1920s and 1930s; Lynette Roberts, Helen Adam and Hope Mirrlees were contemporaries but publishing or recognition came later; the next generation can include Gwendolyn Brooks, Stevie Smith and Muriel Spark; Veronica Forrest-Thomson represents a third generation who published into the 1980s, while Frances Presley and M. NourbeSe Philip hinge this group with the contemporary poets Carol Watts and Natasha Trethewey, whose works continue and rejuvenate progressive stylistics. The essays offer new readings of both well-known and unfamiliar poets. They are truly groundbreaking in plundering diverse theoretical fields in ways that disturb any lingering notions of a homogenized women''s poetry. The authors supplant into literary poetic analysis notions of geometry and mathematics, maritime materialities, tourism and taxonomy, architecture, classicism, folk art, Christianity and death, whimsy and empathy.
This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue of Crystals entitled Pressure-Induced Phase Transformations. It includes selected articles on the behavior of matter under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions, describing and discussing contemporary achievements, which were selected based on their relevance and scientific quality.
Rice feeds more than half of the world population. Its small genome size and ease in transformation have made rice the model crop in plant physiology and genetics. Molecular as well as Mendelian, forward as well as reverse genetics collaborate with each other to expand rice genetics. The wild relatives of rice belonging to the genus Oryza are distributed in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Oceania. They are good sources for the study of domestication and adaptation. Rice was the first crop to have its entire genome sequenced. With the help of the reference genome of Nipponbare and the advent of the next generation sequencer, the study of the rice genome has been accelerated. The mining of DNA polymorphism has permitted map-based cloning, QTL (quantitative trait loci) analysis, and the production of many kinds of experimental lines, such as recombinant inbred lines, backcross inbred lines, and chromosomal segment substitution lines. Inter- and intraspecific hybridization among Oryza species has opened the door to various levels of reproductive barriers ranging from prezygotic to postzygotic. This Special Issue contains eleven papers on genetic studies of rice and its relatives utilizing the rich genetic resources and/or rich genome information described above.
Mitochondria are subcellular organelles evolved by the endosymbiosis of bacteria with eukaryotic cells. They are the main source of ATP in the cell and engaged in other aspects of cell metabolism and cell function, including the regulation of ion homeostasis, cell growth, redox status, and cell signaling. Due to their central role in cell life and death, mitochondria are also involved in the pathogenesis and progression of human diseases/conditions, including neurodegenerative and cardiovascular disorders, cancer, diabetes, inflammation, and aging. However, despite the increasing number of studies, precise mechanisms whereby mitochondria are involved in the regulation of basic physiological functions, as well as their role in the cell under pathophysiological conditions, remain unknown. A lack of in-depth knowledge of the regulatory mechanisms of mitochondrial metabolism and function, as well as interplay between the factors that transform the organelle from its role in pro-survival to pro-death, have hindered the development of new mitochondria-targeted pharmacological and conditional approaches for the treatment of human diseases. This book highlights the latest achievements in elucidating the role of mitochondria under physiological conditions, in various cell/animal models of human diseases, and in patients.
This Special Issue covers solution synthesis, processing, and applications of non-metallic nanomaterials. Zhang et. al. and Jiang et. al. focus on synthesis of kesterite materials, and Wu et. al. and Zhang et. al. focus on synthesis of copper chromium oxide delafossite nanomaterials. Three of these papers discuss solar cell applications using these materials. Yun and Park''s review paper explores the self-assembly of complex nanostructures. Bhalothia et al. show enhanced catalytic activity for NiOx@Pt nanostructures and Wu et. al. report high-sensitivity ammonia sensors made from SnO nanoshells. On flexible electronics, Nakamura et. al. developed Cu nitride ink for rapid photonic processing of conducting lines, Liu et. al. made Au/HfO2/Pt resistive random access memory devices, and Moreira et al. fabricated solution combustion oxide thin film transistors.
Today, herbicide-resistant weeds dominate research and development efforts in the discipline of weed science. The incidence, management challenges, and cost of multiple herbicide-resistant weed populations are continually increasing worldwide. Crop varieties with multiple herbicide-resistance traits are being rapidly adopted by growers and land managers to keep ahead of the weed resistance tsunami. This Special Issue of Plants comprises papers that describe the current status and future outlook of herbicide resistance research and development in weedy and domestic plants, with topics covering the full spectrum from resistance mechanisms to resistance management. The unifying framework for this Special issue is the challenge posed to all of the contributing authors: What are the (potential) implications for herbicide resistance management?
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