Böcker utgivna av Mdpi AG

This special issue entitled “Soft and hard tissue regeneration” will cover both periodontal and implant therapies. Regenerative periodontal treatment goal is to restore functional periodontal support offering a valuable treatment alternative even for teeth with large periodontal destruction, which may be successfully treated and maintained in health for long periods. In most cases where teeth are extracted for periodontal reasons, implant therapy will demand large bone augmentation procedures. Lack of sufficient bone volume may prevent placement of dental implants. In extreme cases, large bone reconstruction is indispensable before implant placement can be performed. Although, most bone grafts are only able to fill and maintain a space, where bone regeneration can occur (“osseoconductive”), the ideal bone graft will also promote osseous regeneration (“osseoinductive”). Several bone augmentation procedures have been described, each, presenting advantages and shortcomings. Success of bone augmentation procedures depends on the presence of bone forming cells, primary wound closure over the augmented area, space creation and maintenance where bone can grow and proper angiogenesis of the grafted area. Factors that influence the choice of the surgical technique are the estimated duration of surgical procedure, its complexity, cost, total estimated length of procedure until the final rehabilitations may be installed and the surgeons’ experience. This special issue will have a definite clinical orientation, and be entirely dedicated to soft and hard tissue regenerative treatment alternatives, both in periodontal and implant therapy, discussing their rationale, indications and clinical procedures. Internationally renowned leading researchers and clinicians will contribute with articles in their field of expertize.

This book looks at the ways that energy, food, and water help to create connections between sustainability and security. The concept of security is in our current societies increasingly connected with sustainability, which seeks to ensure that we as humans are able to live and prosper on this planet now and in the future. The concepts of energy security, food security, and water security—used separately or together—manifest the burgeoning linkages between security and sustainability. This book brings together ten scientific articles that look at different aspects of security, sustainability, and resilience with an emphasis on energy, food, and/or water in the context of Finland and Europe. Together, the articles portray a rich picture on the diverse linkages between both energy, food, and water, and between security and sustainability. In sum, the articles and related preface conclude that ensuring sustainable security—or secure sustainability—requires systemic, structured processes that link the policies and actors in these two important but still distant fields.

The role of biochar in improving soil fertility is increasingly being recognized and is leading to recommendations of biochar amendment of degraded soils. In addition, biochars offer a sustainable tool for managing organic wastes and to produce added-value products. The benefits of biochar use in agriculture and forestry can span enhanced plant productivity, an increase in soil C stocks, and a reduction of nutrient losses from soil and non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions. Nevertheless, biochar composition and properties and, therefore, its performance as a soil amendment are highly dependent on the feedstock and pyrolysis conditions. In addition, due to its characteristics, such as high porosity, water retention, and adsorption capacity, there are other applications for biochar that still need to be properly tested. Thus, the 16 original articles contained in this book, which were selected and evaluated for this Special Issue, provide a comprehensive overview of the biological, chemicophysical, biochemical, and environmental aspects of the application of biochar as soil amendment. Specifically, they address the applicability of biochar for nursery growth, its effects on the productivity of various food crops under contrasting conditions, biochar capacity for pesticide retention, assessment of greenhouse gas emissions, and soil carbon dynamics. I would like to thank the contributors, reviewers, and the support of the Agronomy editorial staff, whose professionalism and dedication have made this issue possible.

Gems have been used in the manufacture of jewellery and as ornaments since antiquity. Considering gems, recent statistics have shown that about 15 billion Euros are annually at stake. Nowadays, gemmology, i.e., the study of gem materials, is one of the most expanding fields in the earth sciences, positioned between academia and industry. As an applied science, in gemmology, the instruments used should be non- or microdestructive, and their cost should be reasonable both in terms of equipment and time consumption. Gemmology can also be used contribute to the development of pure science and in some cases, destructive techniques may have to be used. Taking into account the fact that gems are albeit rarely available for scientific research, this compilation of 20 articles by around 100 researchers from over 30 different institutions situated in 20 countries from around the globe, presented in the Special Issue entitled “Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Gems”, offers very good examples on the application of various methods for their study which will hopefully contribute to our better understanding of gem formation in general and will enhance scientific debates attracting more scientists from various disciplines to get involved in this field.

The scientific advances in life sciences and engineering are constantly challenging, expanding, and redefining concepts related to the biocompatibility and safety of medical devices. New biomaterials, new products, and new testing regimes are being introduced to  scientific research practices. In order to provide clinically predictive results and to ensure a high benefit–risk ratio for patients, we need to optimize material and implant characteristics, and to adapt performance and safety evaluation practices for these innovative medical devices. Various characteristics related to materials and implant development such as raw materials composition, implant surface morphology, design, geometry, porosity, and mechanical properties need to be thoroughly characterized before evaluating the biological performance of implants. Furthermore, with the increase of regulatory demands, biological evaluation needs to ensure appropriate models and methods for each implant development stage. This book is a result of the Special Issue of Materials on "Biomaterials and Implant Biocompatibility”, which focused on the recent progress in development, material testing, and the biocompatibility and bioactivity evaluation of various materials including, but not limited to, bioceramics, biopolymers, biometals, composite materials, biomimetic materials, hybrid biomaterials, and drug/device combinations for implants and prostheses with medical applications spanning from soft to hard tissue regeneration. The book covers aspects ranging from investigations into material characterization to in vitro and in vivo testing for the assessment of biological performance of advanced, novel biomaterials and implants.

Modern power systems are affected by many sources of uncertainty, driven by the spread of renewable generation, by the development of liberalized energy market systems and by the intrinsic random behavior of the final energy customers. Forecasting is, therefore, a crucial task in planning and managing modern power systems at any level: from transmission to distribution networks, and in also the new context of smart grids. Recent trends suggest the suitability of ensemble approaches in order to increase the versatility and robustness of forecasting systems. Stacking, boosting, and bagging techniques have recently started to attract the interest of power system practitioners. This book addresses the development of new, advanced, ensemble forecasting methods applied to power systems, collecting recent contributions to the development of accurate forecasts of energy-related variables by some of the most qualified experts in energy forecasting. Typical areas of research (renewable energy forecasting, load forecasting, energy price forecasting) are investigated, with relevant applications to the use of forecasts in energy management systems.

This Special Issue presents the latest advances in the field of Textile-Reinforced Cement Composites, including Textile-Reinforced Concrete (TRC), Textile-Reinforced Mortar (TRM), Fabric-Reinforced Cementitious Matrix (FRCM), etc. These composite materials distinguish themselves from other fibre-reinforced concrete materials by their strain-hardening behaviour under tensile loading. This Special Issue is composed of 14 papers covering new insights in structural and material engineering. The papers include investigations on the level of the fibre reinforcement system as well as on the level of the composites, investigating their impact and fatigue behaviour, durability and fire behaviour. Both the strengthening of existing structures and the development of new structural systems such as lightweight sandwich systems are presented, and analysis and design methods are discussed. This Special Issue demonstrates the broadness and intensity of the ongoing advancements in the field of Textile-Reinforced Cement composites and the importance of several future research directions.

This Special Issue Book entitled "Lamiaceae Species: Biology, Ecology and Practical Uses" contributes to the knowledge of selected Lamiaceae species from several perspectives, such as diversity and phytogeography, taxonomy, ethnobotany, and quantitative and qualitative composition, as well as the biological activity of secondary metabolites.

Repetitive DNA is ubiquitous in eukaryotic genomes, and, in many species, comprises the bulk of the genome. Repeats include transposable elements that can self-mobilize and disperse around the genome, and tandemly-repeated satellite DNAs that increase in copy number due to replication slippage and unequal crossing over. Despite their abundance, repetitive DNA is often ignored in genomic studies due to technical challenges in their identification, assembly, and quantification. New technologies and methods are now providing the unprecedented power to analyze repetitive DNAs across diverse taxa. Repetitive DNA is of particular interest because it can represent distinct modes of genome evolution. Some repetitive DNA forms essential genome structures, such as telomeres and centromeres, which are required for proper chromosome maintenance and segregation, whereas others form piRNA clusters that regulate transposable elements; thus, these elements are expected to evolve under purifying selection. In contrast, other repeats evolve selfishly and produce genetic conflicts with their host species that drive adaptive evolution of host defense systems. However, the majority of repeats likely accumulate in eukaryotes in the absence of selection due to mechanisms of transposition and unequal crossing over. Even these neutral repeats may indirectly influence genome evolution as they reach high abundance. In this Special Issue, the contributing authors explore these questions from a range of perspectives.

Trace gas sensing technologies are widely used in many applications, such as environmental monitoring, life science, medical diagnostics, and planetary exploration. On the one hand, laser sources have developed greatly due to the rapid development of laser media and laser techniques in recent years. Some novel lasers such as solid-state, diode, and quantum cascade lasers have experienced significant progress. At present, laser wavelengths can cover the range from ultraviolet to terahertz, which could promote the development of laser gas sensing technologies significantly. On the other hand, some new gas sensing methods have appeared, such as photothermal spectroscopy and photoacoustic spectroscopy. Laser spectroscopy-based gas sensing techniques have the advantages of high sensitivity, non-invasiveness, and allowing in situ, real-time observation. Due to the rapid and recent developments in laser source as well as the great merits of laser spectroscopy-based gas sensing techniques, this book aims to provide an updated overview of the state-of-the-art laser gas sensing technologies.

The goal of this Special Issue is to bring together state-of-the art articles on applied linguistics which reflect investigation carried out by researchers from different parts of the world. By bringing together papers from different perspectives, we hope to be able to gain a better understanding of the field. Hence, this Special Issue intends to address the study of language in its different dimensions and within the framework of multiple methodologies and formal accounts as used by researchers in the field. This Special Issue is dedicated to research in any area related to applied linguistics, including language acquisition and language learning; language teaching and curriculum design; language for specific purposes; psychology of language, child language and psycholinguistics; sociolinguistics; pragmatics; discourse analysis; corpus linguistics, computational linguistics and language engineering; lexicology and lexicography; and translation and interpretation.

Organophosphorus chemistry is an important discipline within organic chemistry. Phosphorus compounds, such as phosphines, trialkyl phosphites, phosphine oxides (chalcogenides), phosphonates, phosphinates and >P(O)H species, etc., may be important starting materials or intermediates in syntheses. Let us mention the Wittig reaction and the related transformations, the Arbuzov- and the Pudovik reactions, the Kabachnik–Fields condensation, the Hirao reaction, the Mitsunobu reaction, etc. Other reactions, e.g., homogeneous catalytic transformations or C-C coupling reactions involve P-ligands in transition metal (Pt, Pd, etc.) complex catalysts. The synthesis of chiral organophosphorus compounds means a continuous challenge. Methods have been elaborated for the resolution of tertiary phosphine oxides and for stereoselective organophosphorus transformations. P-heterocyclic compounds, including aromatic and bridged derivatives, P-functionalized macrocycles, dendrimers and low coordinated P-fragments, are also of interest. An important segment of organophosphorus chemistry is the pool of biologically-active compounds that are searched and used as drugs, or as plant-protecting agents. The natural analogue of P-compounds may also be mentioned. Many new phosphine oxides, phosphinates, phosphonates and phosphoric esters have been described, which may find application on a broad scale. Phase transfer catalysis, ionic liquids and detergents also have connections to phosphorus chemistry. Green chemical aspects of organophosphorus chemistry (e.g., microwave-assisted syntheses, solvent-free accomplishments, optimizations, and atom-efficient syntheses) represent a dynamically developing field. Last, but not least, theoretical approaches and computational chemistry are also a strong sub-discipline within organophosphorus chemistry.

The present book covers all research areas related to magnetic nanoparticles, magnetic nanorods, and other magnetic nanospecies, their preparation, characterization, and various applications, specifically emphasizing biomedical applications. The chapters written by the leading experts cover different subareas of the science and technology related to various magnetic nanospecies—providing broad coverage of this multifaceted area and its applications. The different topics addressed in this book will be of great interest to the interdisciplinary community active in the area of nanoscience and nanotechnology. It is hoped that this collection and its various chapters will be important and beneficial for researchers and students working in various areas related to bionanotechnology, materials science, biosensor applications, medicine, and many others. Furthermore, this book is aimed at attracting young scientists and introducing them to this field, in addition to providing newcomers with an enormous collection of literature references.

The worldwide potential of electric power generation from marine tidal currents, waves, or offshore winds is enormous. The high load factor resulting from the fluid properties and the predictable resource characteristics make tidal and wave energy resources attractive and advantageous for power generation and advantageous when compared to other renewable energies. The technologies are just beginning to reach technical and economic viability to make them potential commercial power sources in the near future. While only a few small projects currently exist, the technology is advancing rapidly and has huge potential for generating bulk power. Moreover, international treaties related to climate control and dwindling fossil fuel resources have encouraged us to harness energy sustainably from such marine renewable sources. Several demonstrative projects have been scheduled to capture tidal and wave energies. A number of these projects have now reached a relatively mature stage and are close to completion. However, very little is known to the academic world about these technologies beyond the basics of their energy conversion principles. While research emphasis is more towards hydrodynamics and turbine design, very limited activities are witnessed in power conversion interface, control, and power quality aspects. Regarding this emerging and promising area of research, this book aims to present recent results, serving to promote successful marine renewable energies integration to the grid or to standalone microgrids.

In Noether's original presentation of her celebrated theorem of 1918, allowances were made for the dependence of the coefficient functions of the differential operator which generated the infinitesimal transformation of the Action Integral upon the derivatives of the dependent variable(s), the so-called generalized, or dynamical, symmetries. A similar allowance is to be found in the variables of the boundary function, often termed a gauge function by those who have not read the original paper. This generality was lost after texts such as those of Courant and Hilbert or Lovelock and Rund confined attention to only point transformations. In recent decades, this diminution of the power of Noether's Theorem has been partly countered, in particular, in the review of Sarlet and Cantrijn. In this Special Issue, we emphasize the generality of Noether's Theorem in its original form and explore the applicability of even more general coefficient functions by allowing for nonlocal terms. We also look at the application of these more general symmetries to problems in which parameters or parametric functions have a more general dependence upon the independent variables.

Some of the most beautiful studies in Mathematics are related to Symmetry and Geometry. For this reason, we select here some contributions about such aspects and Discrete Geometry. As we know, Symmetry in a system means invariance of its elements under conditions of transformations. When we consider network structures, symmetry means invariance of adjacency of nodes under the permutations of node set. The graph isomorphism is an equivalence relation on the set of graphs. Therefore, it partitions the class of all graphs into equivalence classes. The underlying idea of isomorphism is that some objects have the same structure if we omit the individual character of their components. A set of graphs isomorphic to each other is denominated as an isomorphism class of graphs. The automorphism of a graph will be an isomorphism from G onto itself. The family of all automorphisms of a graph G is a permutation group.

DNA methylation, a modification found in most species, regulates chromatin functions in conjunction with other epigenome modifications, such as histone post-translational modifications and non-coding RNAs. In mammals, DNA methylation has an essential role in development by orchestrating the generation and maintenance of the phenotypic diversity of human cell types. Recent years have brought spectacular advances in our understanding of the mechanism, function and regulation of DNA methyltransferases through their interaction with other epigenome modifications, chromatin factors and post-translational modifications, which are described in this Special Issue of Genes. Manuscripts are specifically addressing describing the targeting and regulation of DNA methyltransferases by interacting factors and their roles in cellular differentiation and the development of diseases. Prof. Dr. Albert Jeltsch and Prof. Dr. Humaira Gowher, Guest Editors

We are currently experiencing a climate crisis that is associated with extreme weather events worldwide. Some of its most noticeable effects are increases in temperatures, droughts, and desertification. These effects are already making whole regions unsuitable for agriculture. Therefore, we urgently need global measures to mitigate the effects of climate breakdown as well as crop alternatives that are more stress-resilient. These crop alternatives can come from breeding new varieties of well-established crops, such as wheat and barley. They can also come from promoting underutilized crop species that are naturally tolerant to some stresses, such as quinoa. Either way, we need to gather more knowledge on how plants respond to stresses related to climate breakdown, such as heat, water-deficit, flooding high salinity, nitrogen, and heavy metal stress. This Special Issue provides a timely collection of recent advances in the understanding of plant responses to these stresses. This information will definitely be useful to the design of new strategies to prevent the loss of more cultivable land and to reclaim the land that has already been declared unsuitable.

Imaging and analysis are widely involved in various research fields, including biomedical applications, medical imaging and diagnosis, computer vision, autonomous driving, and robot controls. Imaging and analysis are now facing big changes regarding intelligence, due to the breakthroughs of artificial intelligence techniques, including deep learning. Many difficulties in image generation, reconstruction, de-noising skills, artifact removal, segmentation, detection, and control tasks are being overcome with the help of advanced artificial intelligence approaches. This Special Issue focuses on the latest developments of learning-based intelligent imaging techniques and subsequent analyses, which include photographic imaging, medical imaging, detection, segmentation, medical diagnosis, computer vision, and vision-based robot control. These latest technological developments will be shared through this Special Issue for the various researchers who are involved with imaging itself, or are using image data and analysis for their own specific purposes.

For the editors of this collection, new materialisms have always been the entanglement of epistemology, ontology, ethics, and politics. Looking back to the notion of “situated knowledges” (Haraway, 1988) that – among others – “planted the seed for feminist new materialism” (van der Tuin, 2015, 26) – one sees how those (at least) four planes are entangled (Rogowska-Stangret, 2018) in order to bring forth “response-able” (Haraway, 2008) research. New materialism is thus an ethico-onto-epistemological framework (Barad, 2007; Revelles-Benavente, 2018) that by activating its ethico-politics helps to diagnose, infer, and transform gendered, environmental, anthropocentric, social injustices from a multidimensional angle. Social injustices are a driving motivation to pursue research and are the reason why the editors and authors of this Special Issue cannot understand new materialism without feminism (in the lines of eds. Hinton & Teusch, 2015). Contemporary feminist researchers are providing new materialisms with a transversal approach, (Yuval-Davis 1997) that comes from many different disciplines without canonizing back again knowledge creation and production and in hope that they will not enter back into classifixations (van der Tuin, 2015). It is “situated” (Haraway, 1988) research “response-able” (Haraway, 2008) to material-discursive practices that iterate in a dynamic conceptualization of matter.

Mobile robotics is a challenging field with great potential. It covers disciplines including electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, cognitive science, and social science. It is essential to the design of automated robots, in combination with artificial intelligence, vision, and sensor technologies. Mobile robots are widely used for surveillance, guidance, transportation and entertainment tasks, as well as medical applications. This Special Issue intends to concentrate on recent developments concerning mobile robots and the research surrounding them to enhance studies on the fundamental problems observed in the robots. Various multidisciplinary approaches and integrative contributions including navigation, learning and adaptation, networked system, biologically inspired robots and cognitive methods are welcome contributions to this Special Issue, both from a research and an application perspective.

Mobile robotics is a challenging field with great potential. It covers disciplines including electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, cognitive science, and social science. It is essential to the design of automated robots, in combination with artificial intelligence, vision, and sensor technologies. Mobile robots are widely used for surveillance, guidance, transportation and entertainment tasks, as well as medical applications. This Special Issue intends to concentrate on recent developments concerning mobile robots and the research surrounding them to enhance studies on the fundamental problems observed in the robots. Various multidisciplinary approaches and integrative contributions including navigation, learning and adaptation, networked system, biologically inspired robots and cognitive methods are welcome contributions to this Special Issue, both from a research and an application perspective.

Mobile robotics is a challenging field with great potential. It covers disciplines including electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, cognitive science, and social science. It is essential to the design of automated robots, in combination with artificial intelligence, vision, and sensor technologies. Mobile robots are widely used for surveillance, guidance, transportation and entertainment tasks, as well as medical applications. This Special Issue intends to concentrate on recent developments concerning mobile robots and the research surrounding them to enhance studies on the fundamental problems observed in the robots. Various multidisciplinary approaches and integrative contributions including navigation, learning and adaptation, networked system, biologically inspired robots and cognitive methods are welcome contributions to this Special Issue, both from a research and an application perspective.