Böcker utgivna av Mdpi AG

The use of machine learning in mechanics is booming. Algorithms inspired by developments in the field of artificial intelligence today cover increasingly varied fields of application. This book illustrates recent results on coupling machine learning with computational mechanics, particularly for the construction of surrogate models or reduced order models. The articles contained in this compilation were presented at the EUROMECH Colloquium 597, « Reduced Order Modeling in Mechanics of Materials », held in Bad Herrenalb, Germany, from August 28th to August 31th 2018. In this book, Artificial Neural Networks are coupled to physics-based models. The tensor format of simulation data is exploited in surrogate models or for data pruning. Various reduced order models are proposed via machine learning strategies applied to simulation data. Since reduced order models have specific approximation errors, error estimators are also proposed in this book. The proposed numerical examples are very close to engineering problems. The reader would find this book to be a useful reference in identifying progress in machine learning and reduced order modeling for computational mechanics.

This book collected studies focused on the management of tourist destinations. Destinations are complex and adaptive systems, where the different elements that make them up have to be oriented towards achieving a common objective that improves the competitiveness of the destination. Five main lines of research on tourist destinations can be established: 1) the management, planning, and marketing of destinations, with special attention to the tourism supply chain, communication, and integral management; 2) the sustainability of resources and capabilities; 3) the renewal of destinations in order to update their offer and main resources to maintain competitiveness; 4) online reputation and communication through social media in order to create and enhance a strong brand image and customer loyalty; and 5) the application of new technologies in order to develop smart destinations. The book is made up of five research studies that focus on analyzing the transition towards a more circular tourist activity in hotels, image as a competitive factor of destinations, the value of cultural creativity, the coherence of online reputation, and the relationship between hotel prices and online reputation in different tourist destinations.

This book contains various works presented at the Dynamics Days Latin America and the Caribbean (DDays LAC) 2018. Since its beginnings, a key goal of the DDays LAC has been to promote cross-fertilization of ideas from different areas within nonlinear dynamics. On this occasion, the contributions range from experimental to theoretical research, including (but not limited to) chaos, control theory, synchronization, statistical physics, stochastic processes, complex systems and networks, nonlinear time-series analysis, computational methods, fluid dynamics, nonlinear waves, pattern formation, population dynamics, ecological modeling, neural dynamics, and systems biology. The interested reader will find this book to be a useful reference in identifying ground-breaking problems in Physics, Mathematics, Engineering, and Interdisciplinary Sciences, with innovative models and methods that provide insightful solutions. This book is a must-read for anyone looking for new developments of Applied Mathematics and Physics in connection with complex systems, synchronization, neural dynamics, fluid dynamics, ecological networks, and epidemics.

Within the last decade, the high and continuing demand for precious and base metals, as well as critical elements, has prompted a global rush on a scale never before seen. This eventually resulted in the demand for considerable innovation and improvement in mineral deposit genetic modelling and ore formation regimes for the many different types of gold deposits, now recognized, and paralleled by the wide employment of exploration techniques and a rapid expansion of geological databases.This Special Issue will show case studies of porphyry polymetal systems, orogenic gold formations, water–rock reaction, ore-forming structure evolution, mineralogy and petrology of ore deposit, ore formation regime, geochronology and geochemistry of ore deposit, ore-forming evolution, mineral exploration and cutting-edge technology in ore deposit study.

The cryosphere is very sensitive to climate change, and glaciers represent one of the most important archives of atmospheric composition and its variability. From the Himalaya to the European Alps, the longest mid-latitude mountain chain in the world, lie thousands of glaciers that have collected atmospheric compounds over the last millennia. China and Italy are located at the opposite terminals of this long mountain chain, comprising strategic positions for understanding climate evolution and providing important information for the modeling of future climates.The results presented are highlights of some of the most recent advances in cryospheric studies, especially on the topic of mineral dust and aerosols in the atmosphere. They evidence the complexity of the chemical–physical processes involving solid compounds occurring in glacier, snow, and permafrost environments, covering different aspects such as spatial and temporal trends, as well as the impact of mineral and nonmineral particles. Results also show that recent advances in measurement techniques and source apportionment may be powerful and sophisticated tools to provide novel, high-quality scientific information.

The rapid growth of global energy consumption and simultaneous waste discharge requires more sustainable energy production and waste disposal/recovery technology. In this respect, microbial fuel cell and bioelectrochemical systems have been highlighted to provide a platform for waste-to-energy and cost-efficient treatment. Microbial fuel cell technology has also contributed to both academia and industry through the development of breakthrough sustainable technologies, enabling cross- and multi-disciplinary approaches in microbiology, biotechnology, electrochemistry, and bioprocess engineering. To further spread these technologies and to help the implementation of microbial fuel cells, this Special Issue, entitled “Microbial Fuel Cells 2018”, was proposed for the international journal Energies. This Special Issue mainly covers original research and studies related to the above-mentioned topic, including, but not limited to, bioelectricity generation, microbial electrochemistry, useful resource recovery, system and process design, and the implementation of microbial fuel cells.

Stimuli-responsive polymer systems can be defined as functional materials that show physical or chemical property changes in response to external stimuli such as temperature, radiation, chemical agents, pH, mechanical stress, and electric and magnetic fields. Recent developments in manufacturing techniques have facilitated the production of a wide range of stimuli-responsive polymer systems, such as micro- and nanoscale structures, with potential applications in soft sensors and actuators, smart textiles, soft robots, and artificial muscles. This book brings together the recent progress in manufacturing techniques, with particular emphasis on 3D and 4D printing and applications of stimuli-responsive polymer systems in biomedicine and soft robotics.

Climate and anthropogenic changes impact the conditions of erosion and sediment transport in rivers. Rainfall variability and, in many places, the increase of rainfall intensity have a direct impact on rainfall erosivity. Increasing changes in demography have led to the acceleration of land cover changes in natural areas, as well as in cultivated areas, and, sometimes, in degraded areas and desertified landscapes. These anthropogenized landscapes are more sensitive to erosion. On the other hand, the increase in the number of dams in watersheds traps a great portion of sediment fluxes, which do not reach the sea in the same amount, nor at the same quality, with consequences on coastal geomorphodynamics. This book is dedicated to studies on sediment fluxes from continental areas to coastal areas, as well as observation, modeling, and impact analysis at different scales from watershed slopes to the outputs of large river basins. This book is concentrated on a number of keywords: “erosion” and “sediment transport”, “model” and “practice”, and “change”. The keywords are briefly discussed with respect to the relevant literature. The contributions in this book address observations and models based on laboratory and field data, allowing researchers to make use of such resources in practice under changing conditions.

This Special Issue of Cancers (Basel) is mainly dedicated to selecting papers from the talks given during the first Joint Meeting on Lung Cancer (JMLC) between the MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, Texas USA) and the Hospital University Federation (HUF) OncoAge (University Côte d’Azur, Nice, France) (Nice, September 2018). The central theme of JMLC is to discuss new advances and exchange ideas regarding lung cancer. Notably, the talks covered different topics on new therapeutic strategies (targeted therapy and immuno-oncology), molecular and cellular biology, biomarkers, and the epidemiology of lung cancer. Special attention was also given to lung cancer in elderly patients. The articles published in this Special Issue covered subjects such as the assessment of new biomarkers and new approaches for the early detection of lung cancer, epidemiological data, and emphasized a place for the newly characterized cellular pathways in lung cancer, which opens room for therapeutic perspectives for lung cancer patients.

Religion and Politics: New Developments Worldwide features ten articles about recent developments in the interaction of Religion and Politics in various countries of Asia, Africa, Europe, and both North and South America. Most articles focus on one country, and including China, South Korea, India, Nigeria, Malaysia, France, and Cuba. Others address issues across regions such as Latin America, Southeast Asia, or the Middle East. The fifteen contributors are scholars from diverse disciplines as well as diverse regions of Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Subjects include the Indian government’s favoritism for Hinduism over rival religions; the way the Sikhs of India avoid the religion–politics divide; the way the Western media fails to fully understand the Chinese government’s policies on religious minorities; the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo demonstrations in France; religious attitudes toward tax politics in South Korea as well as among Christians compared to Muslims; how to lessen the radicalization of Muslims in Southeast Asia; whether Nigeria should encourage its Muslims to be active in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation; the spiritual role played by the permaculture movement in Cuba; and how the former tendency of scholars to polarize religion and politics is no longer viable, especially in Latin America.

Monitoring of vegetation structure and functioning is critical to modeling terrestrial ecosystems and energy cycles. In particular, leaf area index (LAI) is an important structural property of vegetation used in many land surface vegetation, climate, and crop production models. Canopy structure (LAI, fCover, plant height, and biomass) and biochemical parameters (leaf pigmentation and water content) directly influence the radiative transfer process of sunlight in vegetation, determining the amount of radiation measured by passive sensors in the visible and infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Optical remote sensing (RS) methods build relationships exploiting in situ measurements and/or as outputs of physical canopy radiative transfer models. The increased availability of passive (radar and LiDAR) RS data has fostered their use in many applications for the analysis of land surface properties and processes, thanks also to their insensitivity to weather conditions and the capability to exploit rich structural and textural information. Data fusion and multi-sensor integration techniques are pressing topics to fully exploit the information conveyed by both optical and microwave bands.