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Crystal engineering is a broad area of research that includes crystal habit modification, polymorphism, solid dispersions, and salt formation. This reprint covers state-of-the-art applications of crystal engineering and includes a combination of research and review articles, with special emphasis on novel drug delivery and targeting applications.

The use of advanced and scalable algorithms, along with parallel programming frameworks and high-performance computers, is commonly used to solve Big Data problems and obtain valuable information and learning processes in a reasonable time. This Special Issue includes high-quality research papers in the fields of big data, cloud-based data analysis, and machine learning systems. In particular, wide-ranging surveys and advanced research papers are included, focusing both on aspects relating to big data (e.g., frameworks for big data analysis or systems for big data management) and on the use of big data in application areas (e.g., big data from social media or big data from streams).

Arthritis has a high prevalence globally and includes over 100 types; the most common types are rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and inflammatory arthritis. All types of arthritis share common features, including monocyte infiltration, inflammation, synovial swelling, pannus formation, stiffness in the joints, and articular cartilage destruction. The exact etiology of arthritis remains unclear, and no cure exists as of yet. Anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs and corticosteroids) are commonly used for the treatment of arthritis. However, these drugs are associated with significant side effects, such as gastric bleeding and an increased risk of a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems. Therefore, it is crucial that we continue to research the pathogenesis of arthritis and novel modes of therapy. This reprint summarizes and discusses the themes of 19 articles published in our Special Issue "Research of Pathogenesis and Novel Therapeutics in Arthritis 3.0". The reprint details important novel research discoveries that contribute to our current understanding of arthritis.

This reprint aims to investigate some of the numerous ways in which Christianity venerated and represented the Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Fifteen researchers in various areas of the Arts and Humanities have brought together here their efforts to address in part this inexhaustible objective. The reprint is divided into two main parts. In one of them, composed of six chapters, we study some of the several ways in which the Christian faithful rendered worship and devotion to the Virgin Mary during the more than one thousand years under consideration. The other part, made up of seven chapters, analyzes various iconographic manifestations through which medieval and Renaissance Christians made their devotion to the mother of Christ visible in pictorial or sculptural forms. Therefore, this reprint will be very useful not only for specialists in Christian studies, especially in Marian themes but also for those interested in the development of the societies and cultures of medieval and Renaissance Europe.

This special issue contains 11 papers dealing with various aspects related to the usage of artificial intelligence in service provision. The Special Issue includes a broad range of papers covering recent applications of AI and new technologies across service businesses. The papers cover managerial and customer challenges, technologies, service robotics and research trends. Overall, the Special Issue offers knowledge for advancing the adoption of AI in services and inspiring managerial decisions and innovation in the fields of: service systems, smart service, service digitization, customer interactions, artificial intelligence, emotion detection, servitization, service robots and digitalization.

Blockchain technology is becoming one of the most powerful future technologies in supporting logistics processes and applications. It has the potential to destroy and reorganize traditional logistics structures. Both researchers and practitioners all over the world continuously report on novel blockchain-based projects, possibilities, and innovative solutions with better logistic service levels and lower costs. The idea of this Special Issue is to provide an overview of the status quo in research and possibilities to effectively implement blockchain-based solutions in business practice.This Special Issue reprint contained well-prepared research reports regarding recent advances in blockchain technology around logistics processes to provide insights into realized maturity.

This reprint aims to disseminate the latest research achievements, findings, and ideas in the robotics field, with particular focus on the Italian scenario. It covers a range of topics related to the theory, design, practice, and applications of robots, such as robot design and kinematics, dynamics of robots and multi-body systems, linkages and manipulators, control of robotic systems, trajectory planning and optimization, innovative robots and applications, industrial robotics, collaborative robotics, medical robotics, assistive robotics, and service robotics. The reprints contributions include (but are not limited to) revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers that were presented at the 2nd International Conference of IFToMM, Italy (IFIT 2018).

It is estimated that about 15% of all animals spread across the majority of lineages are venomous. Animals use venom for various purposes including prey capture, predator deterrence, sexual combat and the provision of food for their offspring. Humans have always been fascinated by venomous animals, albeit in a Janus-faced way. On the one hand, venomous animals have gained a fearsome reputation in the public media, which is further boosted by an annual global death toll in the hundreds of thousands (with many more cases of permanent disablement) with the leading cause being tropical snakes. For this reason, snake envenomation has recently been classified by the World Health Organization as a neglected tropical disease. On the other hand, a growing global scene of enthusiasts in industrialized countries is keeping venomous animals such as snakes, spiders, scorpions, and centipedes in captivity as pets. The (also venomous) honeybees are even used as production animals in agriculture for the pollination of a wide variety of crops, which ensures the survival of billions of people and has the added benefit of yielding delicious honey. Furthermore, recent scientific research focused on exploiting animal venoms for the benefit of humanity in form of novel therapeutics or biopesticides.

This book is focused on recent advances in land-atmosphere interactions and their effects on climate change over the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding regions using multisource remote sensing data and in situ measurements.Retrieval of land surface variables and surface heat fluxes as well as change monitoring in snow, glaciers, lakes, and other land-surface covers are of particular interest. Special attention is given to the retrieval of land-surface key properties, variations in land-surface heat fluxes, estimation of precipitation and evapotranspiration, change monitoring of glacier and lakes, the responses of lakes to climate change, carbon, water and heat exchange in terrestrial ecosystems, risk assessment of snow disasters, estimation of turbulence characteristics, and vegetation dynamics and its response to weather and climate.This book was funded by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (Grant No. 2019QZKK0103); National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42230610, 91837208, 41875031).

As we know, strokes are one of the world's leading causes of death, and the cruel aspect of a stroke is that it leaves people with severe functional disability and/or cognitive impairment. Strokes have a significant impact on economies worldwide, as it is estimated that about 10% of the male population and 8% of the female population are affected by them. Such people need personal help in their everyday life and must be materially supported by social services. With the advancement of medicine, artificial intelligence, and new technologies have been developing rapidly and are gradually applied in diseases of the nervous system, increasingly helping diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and prognosis of disease.This Special Issue has collected the 14 papers on artificial intelligence and new technologies in strokes, including in the aspects of diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, rehabilitation, and nursing. We welcome your reading.

Humans have eaten nuts for thousands of years, yet their consumption was discouraged just a few decades ago due to their high-fat content. This perspective began to change in the early 1990s due to seminal publications from the Adventist Health Study, which showed that nut consumption significantly improved heart health-related outcomes. Many randomized clinical trials, epidemiological studies, and in vitro/in vivo mechanistic studies have since explored the role of eating nuts and its relation to health. Similarly, dried fruits have been scrutinized due to their concentrated sugar content despite their non-sodium micronutrient and fiber density. Due to accumulating evidence on nut and dried fruit intake and health outcomes, an international scientific meeting was organized for leading experts to examine and recapitulate in detail what is well known and established and what avenues of knowledge are still lacking in nut and dried fruit research. This book summarizes proceedings from this international scientific meeting and the latest information relating to: (1) energy balance and body weight; (2) insulin resistance and diabetes; (3) lipoproteins and dyslipidemia; (4) gastrointestinal system; (5) inflammation and oxidation; (6) cardiovascular disease; (7) cognition; (8) cancer; (9) dried fruit and health; (10) future lines of research. These findings highlight the beneficial health potentials of nuts for researchers, health professionals, other stakeholders, and the public while simultaneously pinpointing areas for further investigation to continue informing and guiding health practices and policies.

This reprint contains the original articles and reviews compiled in the Special Issue "The Role of PPARs in Disease II" published in Cells. Nicole Wagner and Kay-Dietrich Wagner from the University Côte d'Azur served as the Guest Editors of this Special Issue and compiled the reprint.

Mycotoxins are a diverse group of chemicals that present wide toxicological responses in animals and humans. Their ingestion causes toxic effects that go from acute toxicity to long-term or chronic health disorders. Some mycotoxins have caused outbreaks of human toxicoses, and at least one mycotoxin, aflatoxin B1, is an assumed human hepatocarcinogen. As part of a comprehensive effort to curtail the adverse health effects posed by mycotoxins, substantial research has been conducted to determine the mechanism of action of mycotoxins. Although much information has been obtained regarding the action of several mycotoxins, future research topics should continue to address several areas of critical concern.In vitro studies in different cell lines could detail and explain many of these mechanisms, while in vivo can give a real scenario in the development of a toxic effect. This Special Issue of Toxins collected the most recent reports on the mechanism of action of mycotoxins on single or combined mycotoxins studied in vivo or in vitro, the identification of known and unknown mycotoxins metabolites and other metabolites in different cell lines and animals or matrices (including organs, urine, or blood), and the development of analytical skills to study these mechanisms. A total of eleven papers, eight research papers and three review articles, are included in this reprint.

This collection of research papers focuses on ultra-low-power (ULP) integrated circuits (ICs) that operate within a constrained power budget. This is a requirement in the design of electronic devices that rely less and less on batteries in order to enable the Internet of Things (IoT). Several ULP IC design solutions and building blocks are explored and described.

Vols 1 and 2 contain 57 papers in the Special Issue of 'Plant Genomics 2009' and cover a wide range of topics, highlighting the significant progress that has been made in recent years in our understanding of the genetics and genomics of plants' growth, development, and stress responses. These studies provide valuable insights into the potential applications of genomic tools and technologies for crop improvement and sustainable agriculture, as well as fundamental questions about the evolution and function of plant genes and genomes.

This book focuses on personalized medicine in ophthalmic diseases, their challenges and opportunities, which often involves methods to achieve personalized diagnosis and treatment of ophthalmic diseases. Personalized medicine is a broadly used term to encompass approaches used to tailor healthcare to the needs of individual patients. It has been early adopted in ophthalmology and is mainly achieved through disease stratification and individualization. Therefore, diagnostic techniques that can realize comprehensive individual assessment are very important. Previous studies have put forward techniques such as next-generation sequencing and translational research. Gene therapy-based treatment trials have been presented for ophthalmic diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. Recently, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence and interdisciplinary collaboration, concepts such as machine learning and wearable devices have been frequently discussed in ophthalmic research. There might be new promising methods to realize personalized ophthalmology.

Physical and chemical properties of simple and complex liquids or mixtures play an important role in industrial manufacturing processes. Liquids serve as the reaction solvent media in the preparation of new chemical compounds, as an extraction solvent in the purification of synthesized materials, as a solubilizing agent in both pharmaceutical formulations and personal healthcare products, as a fuel to meet industrial heat demand, and as a coolant to maintain a desired reaction temperature. Special emphasis was given to studies that reported the latest technical and theoretical results concerning the properties and processes of industrial significance.This Special Issue reports new experimental data for select liquid mixtures, and discusses modern experimental and computational methods for measuring and predicting thermophysical properties and phase equilibria. Each paper provides valuable insight into the underlying fundamental principles that govern the studied processes. The predictive expressions and models presented in the published papers will enable practicing scientists and engineers to estimate physical and thermodynamic properties needed in industrial process design calculations.This Special Issue has constituted an international forum for various groups of researchers to summarize their most recent developments and ideas applied to the liquid state.

Wound healing has three overlapping steps: 1) coagulation and inflammation, 2) the proliferation and formation of new tissue, and 3) tissue remodeling. The initial phase of acute wound healing is the coagulation and the formation of a temporary wound matrix. This phase begins immediately after the injury and is completed within a few hours. Inflammation is crucial to the clean-up-repair process. Early inhibition of inflammation can hinder regeneration processes. Inflammation is associated with the activation of the innate immune system. At the site of inflammation, neutrophils appear first, followed by monocytes, which may differentiate into macrophages. The main function of macrophages and immune cells is to remove cell debris and microorganisms. These cells, in addition to the functions mentioned below, play an essential role in preparing the next phase by coordinating cellular processes. The second phase starts with the division of the cells. This process allows damaged and lost structures to be replaced. Granulation tissue formed by the extracellular matrix (ECM) and new blood vessels generated by angiogenesis fills the lesion. This process usually takes 2-10 days. In the final phase, the blood vessels regress, the inflammation resolves, and the granulation tissue becomes functional tissue. In this phase, the ECM transforms from a temporary ECM to a permanent collagen matrix. This phase starts 2-3 weeks after injury and can last for years if tissue regeneration is inadequate.

Vols 1 and 2 contain 57 papers in the Special Issue of 'Plant Genomics 2009' and cover a wide range of topics, highlighting the significant progress that has been made in recent years in our understanding of the genetics and genomics of plants' growth, development, and stress responses. These studies provide valuable insights into the potential applications of genomic tools and technologies for crop improvement and sustainable agriculture, as well as fundamental questions about the evolution and function of plant genes and genomes.

In the last decade, the incidence of cancer in young patients has increased in several cancer types according to the US Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Result (SEER) data and other worldwide registries. Recently, Sung and colleagues published an extensive pooled analysis from the US in Lancet Public Health, which revealed a dramatic increase in cancer incidence among younger adults (aged 25-49 years), mainly in "obesity-related" cancers, most of which occur in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Several studies over the past decade have indicated a significant increase in colorectal cancer incidence among young adults below the age of 50 years. Current evidence suggests that the majority of early-onset GI cancers are sporadic and harbor no familial etiology, indicating the potentially significant role of environmental and behavioral factors in their pathogenesis. Furthermore, the gut microbiome has been proposed to play a key role in CRC carcinogenesis. The scope of this Special Issue of Cancers is to highlight perspectives regarding biology, etiology, late-term toxicities and quality of life which are unique and relevant to young-onset GI cancer cases.

This Special Issue, entitled "Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods: Bridging Health and Food Under a New Perspective", aims to approach the current state-of-the-art research on nutraceuticals and functional foods. The main issue in this field of research is the sustainability and recovery of bioactive substances from vegetal- or animal-origin byproducts to project and realize novel food supplements and nutraceuticals. Low environmental impact, safety, new food sources and analytical methodologies are of growing interest in the research area of food.The perspective approach addresses the mechanism of action of nutraceuticals, safety and functional foods and nutraceuticals' mechanisms of action, revealing new possibilities for their use as tools in a complementary proactive approach to certain health issues to prevent the onset of health conditions or to be used in subjects who do not qualify for a conventional therapeutical approach. The areas involved in this perspective range from food chemistry and analysis to nutrition and from safety to sustainability; new therapeutical approaches and novel techniques of analysis and formulation are also involved, which require a wide inter- and multi-disciplinary approach. The overall assessment of these aspects creates new challenges for research and also impacts sustainability, health and safety. This Special Issue may also consider the bridging of health and food in their different declinations from a new perspective.

This collection of articles aims to promote the spread of a new way of resuscitating newborns in the delivery room: to perform exactly the same neonatal resuscitation procedures in a different landscape, that is, at mother's side with an intact cord.

The reprint offers a selection of high-quality research articles that tackle the major difficulties in computer vision and machine learning for intelligent sensing systems from both theoretical and practical standpoints. This publication includes intelligent sensing techniques, twelve foundational investigations into sense-making methods, and discusses particular uses of intelligent sensing systems in autonomous driving and virtual reality.

Control systems play a vital role in the advancement of many engineering and science fields. The increasing demand for safety and reliability has led to the development of fault diagnosis (FD) and fault-tolerant control (FTC) systems, which play a paramount role in safety-critical systems, such as water distribution networks, aircrafts, spacecrafts, chemical, and biochemical plants, and nuclear power plants, where even minor faults can lead to catastrophic consequences. FD has primary importance since it enables online monitoring processes, allowing for the implementation of so-called active FTC systems. In an active FTC system, the FD module determines which component exhibits abnormal behavior and feeds this information to the controller. Based on this information, it redistributes or adapts the control law to maintain stability with a controlled degradation of the system's performance. Therefore, there is an increasing interest in creating new techniques or adapting the existing fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant methods to make the above-mentioned systems secure. At the same time, control theory is developing ceaselessly, and new theoretical results are continually being discovered that can be used in innovative fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control techniques.

In recent years, the fascination with shape memory alloys (SMAs) has grown across industries such as aerospace, automotive, naval, civil, and biology. SMAs possess unique properties, including the ability to recover from deformation when heated, exhibit pseudoelastic stress-strain behavior for large deformations, and exceptional biocompatibility for bioengineering applications. However, a comprehensive understanding of critical characteristics like transformation temperature and stress values is necessary to fully utilize SMAs. The shape memory effect, where SMAs regain their original shape after deformation under specific thermal conditions, has driven innovative applications in various sectors. In aerospace, SMAs are used in wing structures and actuation systems, enabling morphing and improving aerodynamics. In healthcare, they are integrated into orthopedic devices, simplifying surgical procedures and providing necessary support. The automotive industry also benefits from SMAs, using them in seatbelts and vibration damping systems for enhanced safety and comfort. Accurate knowledge of critical characteristics is essential for effective utilization of SMAs, unlocking their potential in different fields. The remarkable versatility of SMAs, with their deformation recovery, pseudoelasticity, and biocompatibility, positions them as a material of immense interest. As research and development continue, SMAs are poised to drive future innovations, shaping various industries.

Over the past decade, we have witnessed significant advancements in the label-free biosensing field. Label-free biosensors aim at detecting the target molecules or biological processes without labels, thus allowing evaluation of their intrinsic properties in their natural forms, as well as easy operations without sophisticated pre-treatments of samples, which has drawn more and more attention in biological studies and rapid clinical tests. The main challenges include two aspects. First, the measurement system should be sensitive enough to detect the tiny signals corresponding to the specific target properties. Second, the signal processing protocols should be able to recognize the signals from the complex background. Owing to the great advances of commercial detection components with high sensitivity, more and more ingenious but economic label-free biosensors have been presented for diverse applications. This Special Issue, entitled "Label-free Biosensors", focuses on recent advances in producing sensitive and easy-to-use label-free biosensors and their applications in diverse fields. This collection presents several novel label-free detection techniques to introduce design strategies and operation protocols in practical application, which might be of particular value to beginners and graduate students who have just entered this field.

This Special Issue focuses on recent technology developments in the measurement of the thermal conductivity/diffusivity of micro/nanoscale materials, including 2D materials, micro/nanoscale wires/fibers, and nanostructured materials. Techniques such as photothermal, transient electrothermal, and energy transport state-resolved Raman have been reviewed in great detail.

Complex systems have long been an integral part of modern life and can be encountered everywhere. Undertaking a comprehensive study of such systems is a challenging problem, one which is impossible to solve without the use of contemporary mathematical modeling techniques. Mathematical models form the basis for the optimal design and control of complex systems. The present reprint contains all the articles accepted and published in the Special Issue of Mathematics entitled "Control, Optimization, and Mathematical Modeling of Complex Systems". This Special Issue is focused on recent theoretical and computational studies of complex systems modeling, control, and optimization. The topics addressed in this Special Issue cover a wide range of areas, including numerical simulation in physical, social, and life sciences; the modeling and analysis of complex systems based on mathematical methods and AI/ML approaches; control problems in robotics; design optimization of complex systems, modeling in economics and social sciences; stochastic models in physics and engineering; mathematical models in material science; and high-performance computing for mathematical modeling. It is our hope that the scientific results presented in this reprint will serve as valuable sources of documentation and inspiration to those seeking to delve into complex systems modeling, control, and optimization and examine their wide-ranging applications.

The articles collected focused on the construction of delivery systems aiming at enhancing the physicochemical stability, bioavailability, and bioactivity of active lipids and liposoluble ingredients, as well as flavor retention and slow release, and its potential application in the development of functional foods with different phase states and suitable for the physiopathological characteristics of different populations.A growing application of lipids and liposoluble ingredients are emerging in functional foods, such as beverages, meal replacement powders, and foods with special medical purpose. Liposoluble ingredients including polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), phytosterols (esters), carotenoids, polyphenols, and liposoluble vitamins, play an important role in balancing the insufficient nutrient intake and occurrence of chronic diseases. However, a critical challenge for their efficient and rational application arises due to the properties of strong hydrophobicity, easy oxidation, unpleasant flavor, and adverse interaction with other components. The construction, perfection, and regulation of lipid delivery system are of great significance for overcoming the challenge.

Aquatic products are an important type of food, mainly including fish, shrimp, shellfish, crab, seaweed, etc. They provide human beings with high-quality protein, fatty acids, minerals, and other nutritional elements. Generally, aquatic raw materials need to go through transportation, processing, and preservation from the water area to the dining table.This Special Issue covers papers in the following areas:Advanced live fish transportation and quality change of aquatic products during transportation;New methods of processing on quality of aquatic products;New methods of preservation on shelf life and quality of aquatic products;Improvement of shelf life, nutrition, and quality of aquatic products;New detection, analysis, and management technology involved in transportation, processing, and preservation of aquatic products.