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Model-informed precision dosing (MIPD) is an advanced quantitative approach focusing on individualized treatment optimization. MIPD integrates mathematical models of drugs and diseases combined with individual patient characteristics (e.g., genotype, anthropometric factors, and organ function). MIPD has been highlighted as a useful tool for drug dosage selection in both the drug development process and clinical practice and it is a rapidly growing discipline that is supported by the main drug regulatory agencies. Despite the potential benefits of this methodology toward personalized medicine, its application is still limited. The Special Issue presented here includes several PKPD and PBPK models focused on improving the current state of art regarding the PK behaviour of different drugs with the aim of improving the efficacy/safety balance of these treatments and their clinical outcome; the Special Issue is intended to be of particular interest for clinical pharmacologists, pharmacometricians, and specific clinicians who routinely use the considered drugs.

This book focuses on advanced research topics on human lactation, such as breastfeeding experiences, milk composition and production, COVID-19 and human milk, food allergens in human milk, the human milk microbiome, and the impacts of human milk on infant growth and development. The symposium proceedings aim to add diversity, passion, and innovation to lactation research and have a positive impact on mothers, infants, and communities worldwide, showcasing integrative mother/infant-centered research.

In view of the general trend that the development of the global energy industry is oriented toward green, low-carbon, and efficient utilization, scientific research teams in various fields dominated by the coal industry have conducted much research on coal and coal-like materials by borrowing the technologies and concepts of modern materials science and rock mass mechanics, hoping to explore new directions for the high value-added utilization of structural coal resources and the development of new coal-like materials. On behalf of Materials, we invited you to contribute an original research article to a Special Issue on the microstructure, characterization, and mechanical properties of coal and coal-like materials. This Special Issue aimed to showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements and cutting-edge test technologies in the study of coal and coal-like materials, with exploration of their structural change characteristics and mechanical properties under various influencing factors. Hot topics to be covered include: Analysis of mechanical properties of coal and coal-like materials;Multiscale characterization of coal and coal-like materials;Development and utilization of coal resources with high added value;Void structure and seepage characteristics of coal and coal-like materials;Establishment of constitutive relationships.

This Special Issue published one editorial, eight articles and four reviews from approximately one hundred authors. It aimed to provide cutting-edge research on pre-clinical development and the clinical translation of radiopharmaceuticals within the molecular imaging community. The Special Issue covered radioligand development, existing radiotracer optimization, imaging agent evaluation in animal models, the clinical production of radiopharmaceuticals, and investigative research on the use of molecular imaging probes in human subjects. We appreciate all the authors' significant contributions to this Special Issue and hope the readers will enjoy the content.

Air pollution and the changing climate are some of the greatest threats to the health and functioning of forest ecosystems, strongly jeopardizing their ecological and economic functions as well as services. The impact of increasing temperatures and extreme weather events (droughts, storms, temperature and precipitation extremes) on the vitality of forest trees is often difficult to separate from the impact of pollution, such as nitrogen deposition and tropospheric ozone, as they can exhibit synergistic effects. The use of indicators is elementary in modern forest ecophysiological research, as they help us to disentangle complex interactions between trees and various stress-inducing factors as well as better estimate the level of damage to trees and forest ecosystems.Eleven papers are included in this Special Issue, with wide-ranging topics from various disciplines but centered around tree responses to environmental stress. The task of this Special Issue is twofold: one, to remind us that a better understanding of the physiological processes influencing tree vitality under the changing climate and air pollution pressures requires considerable research efforts and constant advancements in research methods and approaches; two, to highlight the fact that the environmental pressures instigating the use of tree stress response indicators are more present than ever, and will likely continue to affect tree vitality in the foreseeable future.

The delicate balance of resource intensity and efficiency of a solution for a very complex problem raises the issue of how these aspects constitute a symmetrical or asymmetrical system. Computational Intelligence (CI) offers a plethora of efficient tools for the potential and rather good quality solution of highly complex, often mathematically intractable problems. This "toolbox" is one of the best examples for the study of the above mentioned issue, namely, how to find the best balance, how to establish a symmetry of weights or costs in a particular field, for a particular problem. This special issue presents a number of interesting novel applications of CI for the tackling of a wide variety of difficult problems. The Introduction gives a short insight into the symmetry and asymmetry aspect of the topic.

In recent years, we have been witnessing the exponential proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT), networks of physical devices, vehicles, appliances and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators and connectivity that enables these objects to connect and exchange data. Enabling the introduction of highly efficient IoT, wireless sensing and network technologies will reduce the need for traditional processes that are currently be carried out manually, thus freeing up the precious resources of dwindling working staff, to do more meaningful and human-centered work.This reprint aims to bring together innovative developments in areas related to IoT, wireless sensing and networking. The aspects covered include software-defined network (SDN)-based IoT networks, artificial intelligence (AI) for IoT, industrial IoT, smart sensors, optimization of energy efficiency for IoT, and wireless sensor networks, IoT applications for agriculture, smart cities, healthcare, localization and environment monitoring.

Novel Anticancer Strategies reviews important findings and updates within the cancer therapy field, of great interest to those in academic research studying the development and validation of novel anticancer approaches. The Editor invited preeminent specialists to contribute to original and review articles devoted to key areas of major progress and expectations. Key features: Nanoparticle-based drug delivery in cancer therapy; Extracellular vesicles for anticancer drug delivery; Peptide-based drug conjugates; Cancer stem cells as a valuable target to eradicate tumor relapse; Spheroids in preclinical model for cancer research; and cancer immunotherapy.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the character of academic conferences has changed. Formerly, conferences required the physical presence of their members and audiences. However, travel restrictions due to the pandemic caused a shift in the traditional conference format, thus resulting in the rise of online conferences after 2020. In 2021 and 2022, the journal "Diversity" similarly organized online conferences. The well-attended online conference in March of 2021 attracted a wide range of speakers on biodiversity, ecology and evolution, as well as on 17 publications from this Special Issue.The publications cover several timely aspects of biodiversity, such as the importance of invasive species, the ecology of urbanization, the effects of drought on wildlife in Southern Africa, the results of human activities on insect, mammal, bird, reptile and amphibia populations, and the genetic diversity of animal breeds, microbiomes and planktonic organisms. Additionally, taxonomic and biosystematic topics are also covered in several SI publications.

This reprint contains 12 high-quality original research and reviews papers by 62 authors from 10 countries on 3 continents: Asia (China, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia), Europe (Austria, Czech Republic, Portugal, Romania, and Ukraine), and Africa (South Africa). These papers were published in a Special Issue, "Recent Developments in Eco-Friendly Wood-Based Composites II", of the journal Polymers. These papers provide examples of the most recent developments in eco-friendly wood-based composites.

Optic neuropathies are conditions in which there is damage to the optic nerve (ON) caused by a variety of causes, including glaucoma, inflammation, gene abnormalities, ischemia, trauma, and toxicity. ON damage triggers a process of axon degeneration, inflammatory cytokine upregulation, breakdown of the blood-optic nerve barrier, and, eventually, the induction of apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), resulting in optic atrophy. To date, there is no effective treatment for most optic neuropathies; however, because the damage initially is axogenic, there may exist a window of therapeutic opportunity before the death of RGCs. Thus, the search for effective treatments for various optic neuropathies before there is permanent damage to prevent or limit visual dysfunction and the development of methods to stimulate axon and/or RGC regeneration to restore vision after damage has occurred is pivotal.This reprint collected 19 articles published in this Special Issue of IJMS which covers the molecular mechanisms to protect RGCs and/or axonal damage, translational research, gene therapy, regenerative medicine, and neuroprotection for glaucoma.

This Special Issue contains an editorial and ten papers on a range of fundamental and applied topics within the area of spider ecology and behaviour with one paper on biological control, seven papers on fundamental topics within the broad areas of ecology and behaviour, and two papers focusing on novel methodologies for studying spider behaviour.

The aim of the reprint was to provide readers with updated research findings on the psychological and psychiatric consequences of the pandemic. The wide scope of the reprint reflects the complexity of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health. The focus of the studies ranges from the psychological consequences of social distancing and the closure of schools to the neurological consequences of the viral infection, and from the stressful impact of an increased workload on frontline health workers to the unmet needs of special populations such as pregnant women, veterans and patients with neurodevelopmental disorders. Thanks to its richness in content and worldwide perspectives (contributors were from Canada, Croatia, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Spain, and the USA), the reprint is a valuable source of information to researchers and clinicians interested in the mental health implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This reprint "The November 23rd, 1980 Irpinia-Lucania, Southern Italy Earthquake: Insights and Reviews 40 Years Later" presents a collection of 13 scientific contributions proposed by 44 researchers with different expertise and multidisciplinary approach highlighting the most important aspects of the Irpinia-Lucania earthquake (Ms 6.9, Io X MCS) from a seismological and geological point of view, without neglecting the reconstruction of cultural heritage, the resilience of the population, and the socioeconomic development of the internal areas of the Southern Apennines after the earthquake. The 1980 earthquake struck Irpinia-Lucania region (Southern Italy) and it is remembered in Italy not only for being the strongest earthquake recorded in the last 100 years causing devastation of entire regions and severe loss of human life, but also for the destruction of the cultural heritage in the epicentral area. This volume, far from being exhaustive, nevertheless wants to be an important point of reference for the new generations of researchers who will have both a historical and multidisciplinary approach to the knowledge of this earthquake.

Steroids are essential hormones that regulate biological processes across their lifespan. Steroid hormone production and action must be tightly controlled otherwise there can be detrimental effects on physiological function leading to disease. This reprint contains original and review articles by experts at the cutting edge of their fields published in a Special Issue on the "Molecular mechanisms of steroid hormone biosynthesis and action" of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. The topics include: 1) Steroid hormone biosynthesis, including substrate availability, mechanism of steroidogenic enzyme action, and the impact of mutations; 2) Molecular and cellular regulation of steroidogenesis, including steroidogenic cell response to hormone stimulation, signaling pathways, kinases, transcription factors, and gene expression; 3) Molecular mechanisms of endocrine disruptor action on steroidogenic cells; and 4) New tools and approaches to detect and study steroid hormones.

Consumer interest in plant-based diets has been rapidly increasing in the past decade. Non-dairy and non-meat alternatives have gone mainstream. New products are appearing in the marketplace continually. The marketplace has been driven recently by millennials and flexitarians. Food companies have focused on providing nutritious food products that satisfy the demand for alternative items that look and taste like their animal counterparts. The marketplace wants products that improve human and planetary health worldwide. Questions have arisen as to how nutritionally sound and healthy are these products. How sustainable are these plant-based diets? How significantly do they alter traditional dietary patterns? What impact do they have on food security? Do these plant-based meat and dairy alternatives help lessen environmental degradation? Are the new products considered ultra-processed foods? What are the barriers and motivations that drive people to switch to a plant-based diet? Will plant-based diets help in the goal to greatly diminish malnutrition and over-nutrition (leading to obesity) around the world? These questions challenge scientists to provide meaningful answers through their ongoing research. Some of these issues are discussed in this reprint, based upon the latest research.

This reprint is focused on the exploitation of natural nanoparticles for cancer diagnosis and treatment.It compiles articles related to exosomes and protein nanocages, but also presents the use of some organic natural compounds in cancer treatment, which have been extensively studied as agents for cancer treatment since their biological nature guarantees a better safety, biocompatibility, and biodegradability profile in comparison to synthetic nanoparticles and drugs. These features are strongly appealing in order to face cancer, where the development of tumor-targeted specific devices and the use of natural compounds could be useful in improving patient compliance.

"Microbial Biopolymers: Trends in Synthesis, Modification and Applications" is a comprehensive reprint that explores the latest research and innovations in the field of biopolymers. The reprint covers the production and functionalization of two key types of microbial biopolymers: polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and exopolysaccharides (EPSs). With contributions from leading experts in the field, the reprint provides a thorough overview of the production processes, chemical and physical properties, and applications of these biopolymers. The reprint is an essential resource for researchers, engineers, and industry professionals interested in developing sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives to conventional plastics and materials.

Electronics nanotechnology represents a multidisciplinary field with a very broad range of applications used to address different challenges. This reprint, through eleven original research articles, aims to acknowledge recent developments related to the fabrication and applications of nanomaterials: synthesis, characterization, and device fabrication.

Polymer science represents a domain of great interest due to the possible applications of polymers in areas that range from the most common to those that are high-tech. To achieve this, synthesis and characterization techniques, as well as the correlation of the chemical structure and morphology with their properties, is critical. From the perspective of synthesis, there are two strategies for obtaining polymers: step-growth (polyaddition, polycondensation, and reversible-deactivation radical polymerization) and chain polymerization (radical polymerization, coordinative polymerization, and cationic and anionic polymerization).The advancement of polymer applications continues to lead to the expansion of the synthesis and characterization techniques that can be facilitated by novel, smart, multifunctional polymers. There is a correlation between structure, composition, morphology, and properties of applications that leads to substantial benefits for specific applications.This Special Issue will establish a collection of articles and reviews that follow the latest developments in polymer synthesis, their characterization techniques, and the correlation between structure and properties.

This reprint explores the complex relationship between renewable energy consumption and economic growth. The reprint contains 14 papers covering a wide range of topics related to energy use efficiency in various countries and economic sectors. The articles include studies on adopting renewable energy sources, the impact of battery electric vehicles on greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union, the influence of philanthropy on eco-efficiency, and the impact of energy efficiency regulations on energy poverty. This reprint also includes studies on the race to zero emissions in MINT economies, the competitiveness of the cultural industry and its impact on Chinese economic growth, and the impact of education levels on the energy-growth-environment nexus. This reprint serves as a call to action for all stakeholders to contribute to the global energy transition by identifying and analyzing the effects of renewable energy consumption on economic growth. It inspires policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to embrace sustainable energy practices and support the development of measures that foster green growth. Therefore, this reprint provides important insights into energy use efficiency theories, methods, and diverse applications, making it a valuable resource for anyone interested in the future of energy and its impact on the global economy.

Near-Infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) has become one of the most attractive and used technique for analysis as it allows a fast and simultaneous qualitative and quantitative characterization of a wide variety of food samples. NIR spectroscopy is essential in various other fields, e.g., pharmaceuticals, petrochemical, textiles, cosmetics, medical applications, and chemicals such as polymers. The high level of interest in NIR spectroscopy among scientific and professional sectors demonstrates its relevance. We feel that the Special Issue's scope has facilitated the interchange of ideas and thereby aided in expanding the new development in this field of knowledge. Furthermore, we aimed to provide the readership with a comprehensive summary of present state-of-the-art NIR spectroscopy, current development trends, and future possibilities. We also believe that by doing so, we will be able to provide an accceptable opportunity for all contributors to make their results and methodologies more visible, as well as to highlight their recent achievements in their respective fields which have been made possible by the use of NIR spectroscopy. The Special Issue had a resoundingly enthusiastic response, with several submissions from academics and professional spectroscopists, resulting in the collection of 13 papers, including 1 exhaustive review paper. The articles submitted well represent the variety of the application field. These articles cover a wide range of topics related to NIR spectroscopy in a broad sense. The majority of the papers concentrate on applied qualitative and quantitative analysis in a variety of fields.

This book features the latest reviews and cutting-edge research articles on bio-based and natural polymers. It clearly demonstrates the increased interest in this field and will inspire researchers to further develop this field and thus contribute to more sustainable future societies.

This reprint offers a comprehensive and updated overview of the current state-of-the-art techniques in the management of various neurological disorders. These disorders include neurodegenerative diseases, neurovascular disorders, and neuro-oncological diseases. The reprint also presents the latest advances and innovations in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of these complex conditions, emphasizing the role of cutting-edge technologies, such as neurobiology, neuroimaging, neuroinformatics, neuropharmacology, and neurosurgery. This reprint is a useful resource for researchers, clinicians, students, and anyone interested in the current challenges and perspectives of neurological disorders.

This Special Issue of Geosciences focuses on the application of the cosmogenic nuclides (3He, 10Be, 14C, 21Ne, 26Al and 36Cl) in diverse disciplines in the field of earth sciences, as well as on improvements in sampling, analytical sample preparation and analytical techniques. After the past three decades, and nearly 70 years after the first application, cosmogenic nuclides have become an amazingly versatile tool for Earth scientists to disentangle the unsolved pieces of Earth's history during the Quaternary. Today, Earth scientists apply cosmogenic nuclides to establish the timing of Quaternary ice volume fluctuations, and volcanic and palaeoseismic events, to gauge surface and/or rock uplift and denudation rates and to reconstruct terrace chronologies, as well as to determine the rates and styles of local and large-scale erosion, soil development and landscape evolution.

This Special Issue features a collection of state-of-the art articles on the intonational patterns of different types of bilinguals (e.g., second language learners; heritage speakers; simultaneous bilinguals), with a particular focus on understudied language pairings and encompassing a wide variety of languages (e.g. Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, German, English, French, Inuktitut, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, and Spanish). The papers in this Special Issue address a number of questions that have so far remained unanswered: Can we determine a hierarchy of difficulty or transferability? How does prosody interact with other components of the grammar, such as morphology or syntax, in a contact situation? Which aspects are more prone to bidirectional interference? Which changes in intonation make speakers sound foreign in their second (or first) language? The papers in this Special Issue offer answers to these questions and open up multiple avenues for future research. We hope that this Special Issue will inspire future studies on intonation and bilingualism.

This reprint focuses on the recent progress on fractal and fractional methods in characterizing the physical and mechanical behaviors of geomaterials. Special attention is given to the fractal laws for contact networks/pore structures in soft and granular soils, numerical and theoretical aspects of fractional mechanics for geomaterial with local/nonlocal deformation, anomalous diffusion and conduction phenomena, among others.

Grateful thanks are given to Dr. Fouad El Monsouri and coworkers for contributing Chapter 1, which deals with ground water contamination with nitrate. Thanks are due to Dr. Arcadius Martininen Agassin Ahogle and coworkers for contributing Chapter 2, dealing with the assessment of soil organic carbon. Grateful thanks are provided to Dr. Puttapati Sampath Kumar and coworkers for contributing Chapter 3, dealing with the exploitation of eucalyptus leaves for electrode fabrication in supercapacitors. Indebtedness is due to Dr. Almaz S Jalilov and coworkers for contributing Chapter 4, dealing with the production of activated carbon from petroleum waste (vacuum residue). Thanks are due to Dr. Yongdan Li and coworkers for contributing Chapter 5, dealing with the use of exhausted olive pomace for the production of fuel for direct carbon fuel cells (DCFC). Grateful thanks are due to Dr. Roberta Mota-Panizio and coworkers for Chapter 6, dealing with the development of a concept for the production of essential oils and biomethane from biomass waste. Thanks are due to Dr. Vitali Nitsenko and coworkers for contributing Chapter 7, dealing with the modelling studies on the yield of biogas from organic mass. Thanks are due to Dr Imane Moulefera and coworkers for contributing Chapter 8, dealing with the adsorption of atenolol. Grateful indebtedness is due to Dr. Denis Mirohnichenko and coworkers for contributing Chapter 9, dealing with the development of bioedegradable polymer gels. Finally, indebtedness is due to Dr. Steven C Peterson and coworkers for contributing Chapter 10, dealing with the production of porous and polar biochar for composite applications.

This reprint is a collection of papers published in a Special Issue that collected the recent advances within and investigations of the research fields of manufacturing and the characterisations or modelling of materials. The variety and quality of all these papers are addressed to both academic and industrial researchers who are looking for new information that can contribute to the advancement of future research in these highly challenging fields.

With the continuous advancement of coastal, offshore, and deep-sea engineering construction (e.g. marine oil, gas, and mineral resource development, offshore wind power projects), associated studies on marine geological environments and hazards have also advanced in parallel. This book "Advances in Marine Engineering: Geological Environment and Hazards" is formed by a Special Issue (SI) that was organized by Prof. Xiaolei Liu from the Ocean University of China, Prof. Thorsten Stoesser from the University College London, and Dr. Xingsen Guo from the University College London to document research advances in the topics of marine engineering, including marine geological environments, marine geological hazards, marine engineering geology, marine hydrodynamics, marine fluid mechanics, and marine geotechnical engineering. The high-quality papers collected in this book involve many classic and innovative methodologies in this research field, including but not limited to analytical and statistical analyses, numerical simulations, laboratory testing, and marine surveys. The book represents the state-of-the-art in the latest research concepts, advanced methods, and data that will contribute greatly to the development of the field of marine geological environments and hazards.