Böcker utgivna av Mdpi AG

Today's world is fraught with crisis and uncertainty. This creates a significant obstacle in child rearing and development. Children, inherently a vulnerable demographic, are at the epicenter of these crises. Approaches to address these problems need to be based on high-quality scientific research, to understand the root causes and determine effective approaches to reduce behavioral and mental health problems in children (BMPC). This is a special research reprint focusing on BMPC. It collected 14 high-quality papers from authors distributed across many countries, including the United States, France, China, Japan, Israel, and Thailand. This reprint included two main sections. The first section aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the social and mental mechanisms leading to BMPC. The second section aimed to develop behavioral and mental health promotion strategies and policies for children, as well as to provide some considerations in the design and implementation of effective intervention programs. We believe that this reprint is of great significance for the development and progress of research and practice in the area of children's behavior and mental health. This reprint is suitable as a reference book for researchers, and also has significance for guiding practical workers in this field. In the end, we noted that, in some papers, it was necessary to further improve them, to obtain in-depth and comprehensive overviews and to expand on the design and implementation of effective intervention programs.

At the end of the 20th century, documents such as the World Heritage Guidelines or the European Landscape Convention proposed new and challenging ways of conceptualizing landscape assessment and governance. At the same time, social media has become a rich source of data that has had an impact on how we view spaces. Currently, many researchers are advocating the value of social media data to better understand ecosystem service provision, use, and intensity. This Special Issue explores the relationship between contemporary forms of landscape valuation and governance and present-day social media. The collected papers provide a wide range of answers to questions relevant to today's world: Is social media useful for governments to identify and adapt to changes in land use, mobility patterns, or landscape meaning? Does it lead to a more democratic understanding of landscape and its conservation? Does it help local communities express their feelings about government policies? Are any of these factors in line with the concepts of international organizations, such as IUCN, UNESCO, or the Council of Europe?

Circular Bioeconomy is a concept becoming an integral part of industrial green technological processes, whereby residues are considered as novel resources and a new sustainable closed model based on high-value applications of biomass is developed. In the field of food technology, the scientific community is undertaking efforts to utilize food processing by-products as highly sustainable resources for the production of food packaging materials and bioactive compounds. Thus, multiple research groups are currently engaged in the complete valorization of food wastes into alternative feedstocks for monomers and intermediates to produce biopolymers and green composites, as well as in the extraction and purification of antioxidants, natural preservatives or antimicrobials to enrich food quality and ensure food safety. This Reprint aims to compile the most recent advances in the processes and materials concerning with the valorization of food wastes, as well as the conversion of food residues into new nutrients and innovative solutions for food preservation.

This reprint focuses on the sustainable development of the Yangtze River Delta region. The reprint encompasses the exploration of the evolutionary state of the human-land relationship through the study of human-nature coordination and promotes the coupling and coordination of human-land systems, carbon peaking, and carbon neutrality in the Yangtze River Delta in the context of climate change, urban-rural coordination, and rural revitalization as well as territorial space optimization and natural resource management.

This Special Issue encompasses thrilling state-of-the-art techniques, materials and technologies in dentistry. It compiles a series of original articles that include review articles, in vitro studies and clinical studies, presenting the latest developments in this area.

Natural language processing (NLP) is a crucial technology in use today, particularly due to the vast and increasing amount of online text that requires comprehension to fully realize its value. Human language technology (HLT) poses a significant challenge for computing, with it requiring advanced NLP and the availability of big data to create large-scale systems and applications. Researching software and systems that bridge the linguistic gap between people and machines requires knowledge of natural language processing (NLP) and computational linguistics (CL), including their application-oriented aspects. This Reprint contains all accepted articles published in the Special Issue "Current Trends in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Human Language Technology (HLT)". The aim of this Special Issue was to focus on technologies for processing human language in the form of text, using natural language processing (NLP) tools and techniques to address the two main challenges: natural language understanding and natural language generation. This Special Issue presents innovative research in the domain of NLP and HLT. It is our hope that the research results will contribute to fostering future research in NLP and inspiring future studies in related fields.

The growing propagation of microgrids and their remarkable effects on the operation of the smart grid is leading to the development of a sustained environment which is moving away from traditional frameworks. Therefore, tending to microgrid systems to increase their range of benefits can play a significant role in outlining an effective negotiation framework for the microgrids that are connected to the smart grid.In recent years, numerous research and development projects have been carried out to design energy transactions and economic models and implement local control platforms for manufacturers, consumers, and microgrids. Furthermore, the attention paid to peer-to-peer constructions for energy exchanges and management has grown significantly.This Reprint highlights and discusses the appropriate negotiation structures to maximize the benefits of microgrids that are connected to the smart grid and contributes to the derivation of sustainable future energy systems. In addition to modern techniques for managing uncertainty parameters regarding the microgrid and smart grid, this Reprint also examines multilateral economic distribution frameworks that need to be implemented easily and efficiently without the need for a central agent, with a limited exchange of information comprising the amount and price of the energy exchange.

Brassica crops include vegetable, oil, ornamental and condimental crops. Many of these, such as Chinese cabbage, cabbage and rapeseed, are important crops cultivated globally. Brassica species are unique not only because of their economic importance but also because of the domestication of extreme morphological types, such as leafy heading, root/stem enlarging and florescence heading, in these species. Moreover, Brassica species represent several important polyploidization events, including paleo-, meso- and present polyploidization, which make them ideal as model species for the investigation of polyploidization. With the fast progress that we are making in sequencing technologies, a number of genomes of Brassica crops species have been sequenced, and several high-quality chromosome scale assemblies have been obtained. Moreover, the large-scale resequencing data of germplasm resources of B. rapa, B. oleracea and B. napus have been made available, which allow GWAS and domestication analysis in these important crops. This Special Issue contains studies and reviews focusing on Genomic Exploration, Functional Genomics and Molecular Marker-Assisted Breeding in Brassica crops. These research findings will contribute to advancements in breeding research conducted on Brassica crops.

Dietary antioxidants represent the nutrients and secondary bioactive molecules in foods that modulate the oxidation and inflammation signaling pathways. The antioxidant molecules in the human diet constrain cardiovascular, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases and combat the signs of aging. Recently, the cosmetics industry used food antioxidants as an alternative to petroleum-derived ingredients to respond to the consumers' demand for healthy products. New environmental policies and the increased demand for natural antioxidants have enticed researchers to develop valuable methods to recover them even from organic waste (i.e., agricultural waste, food waste, and beached algae). Food antioxidants are employed in topical applications such as "cosmeceuticals" (combining "cosmetic" and "pharmaceutical", these are cosmetics formulated with bioactive ingredients) and oral formulations such as "nutricosmetics" (food supplements containing nutrients and secondary active metabolites combined with cosmetic creams to enhance people's appearance). New devices have been developed to improve the bioaccessibility of these active ingredients. This reprint collected research articles and reviews papers on food antioxidants and delivery systems capable of improving their cosmetic performance. The knowledge about the progress regarding the best methods for their isolation, determining the mechanism of action, the identifying the devices capable of improving their performance may allow the development of new, natural, high-performance cosmetics.

MEMS inertial devices, including MEMS gyroscopes and MEMS accelerometers, are widely used sensors in the MEMS technology and instrumentation research field. They have the advantages of small size, light weight, low cost, strong batch production capacity, and good impact resistance. MEMS inertial devices have important application value and broad application prospects in the fields of national economy, national defense, and military. The development of the current information intelligence era has brought new development opportunities for MEMS inertial devices. With the progress of semiconductor processing technology and the improvement of measurement and control technology, the performance indicators of MEMS inertial devices have significantly improved, and they are replacing traditional inertial devices in more and more application areas.This special report focuses on all topics related to the structural design, manufacturing, measurement and control technology, data processing, and engineering applications of MEMS inertial devices, providing ideas for the difficulties faced by the further development of MEMS inertial devices.

This Special Issue, entitled "Design and Optimization of Pharmaceutical Gels", in Gels, was established to shed light on gels in terms of material development, system construction, structural characterization, and the effect for disease treatment, since research on gels with high translational potential is particularly sought after. We received submissions from around the world, reflecting high cultural diversity.

This reprint aims to showcase manuscripts presenting efficient SOH estimation methods using AI which exhibit good performance such as high accuracy, high robustness against the changes in working conditions, and good generalization, etc. Lithium-ion batteries have a wide range of applications, but one of their biggest problems is their limited lifetime due to performance degradation during usage. It is, therefore, essential to determine the battery's state of health (SOH) so that the battery management system can control the battery, enabling it to run in the best state and thus prolonging its lifetime. Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies possess immense potential in inferring battery SOH and can extract aging information (i.e., SOH features) from measurements and relate them to battery performance parameters, avoiding a complex battery modeling process.

The rapidly changing global climate has a detrimental impact on agriculture and jeopardizes global food security. Due to changes in the environment, plant breeders are forced to create new and improved cultivars that are more resilient to biotic and abiotic stressors. To adapt to increasingly demanding and changing environments, crops' genetic diversity must be preserved and conserved in genebanks worldwide. The availability of useful and properly characterized genetic variation is one of the core parameters for securing genetic gains in plant breeding programs. This may be accomplished by using sophisticated molecular, biochemical, and physiological techniques for the extensive phenotyping and genotyping of genebank collections, wild species, historical cultivars, landraces, and breeding materials. This Special Issue highlights aspects of "Germplasm Resources Exploration and Genetic Breeding of Crops" and focuses on a variety of ideas, concepts, and strategies aiming to accelerate plant breeding through the exploration of germplasm resources.

Despite the development of strong antibiotics, deaths from pneumonia are rapidly increasing due to population ageing. Since pneumonia deaths mainly affect older people, to overcome them, we should focus not only on pathogens, but also on host defense. Pathogens range from bacteria to viruses and unknown, emerging infectious diseases. Host defense includes not only immune function, but also physical function and other physiological functions. Geriatric functional declines, such as sarcopenia, dysphagia, dystussia, and frailty, play pivotal roles in the development of pneumonia in older people. Therefore, in addition to pathogen-oriented therapy, function-oriented therapy emerges as the remedy for pneumonia in older people. Comprehensive approaches with a multidisciplinary team are also important. This Special Issue reveals the importance of skeletal muscle and interdisciplinary approaches in pneumonia in older people. Impaired pharyngeal sensitivity results in delays in triggering the swallowing reflex, which is the most serious problem caused by dysphagia. Ageing weakens pharyngeal sensitivity by affecting sensory receptors, the peripheral nervous system and microcirculation, resulting in altered detection, reduced sensory conduction and an abnormal efferent response. We believe that other ageing-related deteriorations in sensation are also involved in pneumonia in older people. The relationships between sensation impairment and pneumonia in older people thus become crucial topics for future research.

Narratives of Resistance in Everyday Lives and the COVID-19 Crisis brings together 21 global scholars of political narratives across five continents focused on the impact of the COVID-19 events on political societies. From Seoul to Stockholm the wave of sudden and dramatic changes in work, social life, political order, and bodily regulation affected pre-existing social forces and relations. This collection of chapters asks what changed, and with what degree of permanence? It explores which master/grand narratives retained their coherence, and which were called into question. Having established radical new protocols of social distancing, remote working and learning, masking, isolation, and quarantining, the reprint reveals the political and social possibilities that came to prominence and which ones were occluded. It questions what the prospects for a post-COVID-19 order might be. Most importantly, it asks, what happened to political agency, community activism, resistance, protest, and mobilization throughout the pandemic? Three general themes emerge across the contributions to this volume: first, the deep complexities of political resistance throughout the pandemic; second, the emergence of progressive conceptions of alternative futures, conditioned by responding to the exigencies of the pandemic; and, finally, notwithstanding these developments, the persistent reproduction of "business as usual".

When dealing with diagnostic pathology related to gynecologic diseases, one may come across various scenarios. These may include benign lesions that appear malignant and vice versa. This Special Issue includes original research articles, reviews, and clinical cases that help understand the different aspects of gynecological pathology. It covers papers on endometriosis and its role in malignancies, primary and metastatic synchronous tumors, the impact of viruses and bacteria on the development of tumors in gynecology, and infertility and pregnancy-related topics.

Biomedical imaging is a broad and crucial field, encompassing various techniques for capturing images that have diagnostic and therapeutic applications. These are pivotal in early disease detection, treatment planning, monitoring treatment effectiveness, and advancing our understanding of human physiology and pathology. The widespread use of biomedical images has increased our need for advanced image processing and analysis algorithms. As imaging technologies evolve, becoming more complex and producing larger volumes of data, the development of efficient, accurate, and reliable algorithms becomes essential. This Special Issue has gathered two topical reviews and eight original research articles on the algorithms and software tools used for image processing and analysis in different application fields. This Special Issue presents a body of work that enriches the state-of-the-art in the vast field of biomedical imaging and beyond.

Certain families of materials have been strongly investigated in the last decades. Among them, layered materials, as Layered Double Hydroxides (LDH) and clays, have received intense attention. A lot of work has been devoted to the development and improvement of their synthesis, purification and modification, on their characterization, and, on the other hand, on their applications, as adsorbents or (photo)catalysts, among other uses. The group of research on Solid State Chemistry, Materials Chemistry and Heterogeneous Catalysis, created and headed by Professor Vicente Rives at the University of Salamanca (Spain), has intensely worked on these and related subjects during the last forty years. Thus, this This Special Issue, "A Themed Issue in Honor of Prof. Dr. Vicente Rives", is dedicated to Prof. Rives on his retirement. It consists of eighteen peer-reviewed papers (six review papers and twelve research papers), in which the authors revise on the applications of different materials or report their last research results, these papers covering materials as LDH, clays, carbons, g-C3N4 or silica, and applications as catalysis and photocatalysis, capture of CO2, preparation of advanced supercapacitors or preparation of nanoparticle black pigments for ceramic industry, and conservation of Cultural Heritage. The readers may find very interesting papers written by top groups in these research fields.

By imitating certain characteristics of creatures in nature, such as grasp, twist, locomotion, or flying, etc., bio-inspired smart machines can engage in certain difficult tasks instead of human beings, such as medical surgery, rapid manufacture and assembly, disaster search and rescue, and scientific investigation, and this has become one of the most interesting areas in the robotics community. This reprint focuses on the latest theoretical and technological advances in bio-inspired smart machines and their structure, mechanisms, and applications. Generally, bio-inspired smart machines can be divided into two categories: rigid machines and soft machines. Rigid machines are composed of different rigid components assembled together, and the joints are mainly driven by electric motors or hydraulic means. In soft machines, the rigid hinges and bolts together with the body structure are replaced by soft components usually made from stimulus-responsive materials that change shape in response to stimuli. The whole reprint consists of eighteen research articles, which include state-of-the-art research on bio-inspired smart machines and their subsystems and components, such as bio-inspired rigid machines, soft machines and robotics, active materials, controls, sensors and actuators, structure and modeling, etc., and can provide a reference for researchers in related fields, including but not limited to robotics, soft robotics, intelligent control, intelligent sensing, etc.

The transition to higher education (HE) is a significant life event that is expected to be a very rewarding endeavor for students. Nevertheless, the impacts of this transition are not linear and are shaped by students' psychosocial variables and their own perceptions of the HE environment.The transition to higher education involves a wide range of emotions, both positive and negative, such as the joy of successful enrolment and the anxiety of social rejection or academic failure.This Special Issue focuses on the transition to higher education, examining the personal and developmental variables of first-year students. The various chapters cover different themes that address the various actors involved in this adventure: the students, their families, the teachers, and the higher education institution.

To pay tribute to his countless key contributions in many different domains in Materials Chemistry, the journal Magnetochemistry has decided to publish this memorial Special Issue (SI) entitled Perspectives on Molecular Materials-A Tribute to Professor Peter Day, including a total of twenty-two contributions from some of his collaborators and friends.

We would like to invite you to contribute to an edited volume devoted to "Transitioning to Sustainable Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure". We believe that this should be a systemic issue, taking into account the contexts of social ecology and the environment (Cynical, 2014; Eiglad, 2015). New urban and industrial infrastructure and innovation in this area should take into account new urban plans for the creation of human-friendly spaces and smart cities (Azkuna, 2012) and the impact of the development of tourism on the changes of this space and great sporting and cultural events (Sieber and Cynarski 2010; Edizel and Ward 2016). Facilities for people with disabilities are included in the infrastructure that is being built. Innovations are being made regarding the materials used and savings including waste management, energy savings (preference for green energy) and other resources used in economies and industries (Wolniak et al., 2020; Piątkowski, Gajdzik and Mesjasz, 2020).In the past, sustainability was the doctrine of economics, which assumes a quality of life at the level allowed by the current development of civilization. The idea of sustainable development is summarized in the first sentence of the WCED-Our Common Future report: "At the current level of civilization, sustainable development is possible, that is, a development in which the needs of the present generation can be met without diminishing the chances of future generations meeting them" (Brundtland, 1987). A sustainable economy (including industry) should balance economic growth, environmental protection, quality of life and human health. It is not only about the natural environment, but also the artificial-i.e., man-made (as in Chicago School's work on human ecology). The doctrine of sustainable development strives for social justice by using environmental projects for higher efficiency. It is important to work and life now but needs to factor in future generations and their heritage, both cultural and natural (cf. Kozlowski 2000, 2007; Caradonna 2014; Alhaddi 2015). The priority is to set ecological standards for preserving the homeostasis of the ecosystem.Modern business is becoming more and more digital and intelligent. Enterprises implement new technologies of the fourth industrial revolution in the sustainable environment. Sustainable Industry 4.0 is a new concept for discussion by scientists and business (Gajdzik, B. et al., 2020). This concept has been gaining more and more interest among scientists and practitioners in recent years because there is more and more information about Industry 4.0 (Kagermann et al., 2011). Factories are becoming smarter, more efficient, safer and more environmentally friendly by linking and integrating production technologies and devices, information and communication systems, data and services in network infrastructures (Saniuk et al., 2020). New business models with cyber-physical systems (CPSs) are being built (Lee, et al., 2015; Gajdzik, Chapter 3 in: Scalability and Sustainability, 2020) but sustainability must not be forgotten in these models.Transitioning to Sustainable Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure is part of MDPI's new Open Access book series Transitioning to Sustainability. With this series, MDPI pursues environmentally and socially relevant research which contributes to efforts toward a sustainable world. Transitioning to Sustainability aims to add to the conversation about regional and global sustainable development according to the 17 SDGs. The book series is intended to reach beyond disciplinary, even academic boundaries.

Machine Learning (ML)-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms have the capability to learn from known examples, creating various abstract representations and models. When applied to unfamiliar examples, these algorithms can perform a range of tasks, including classification, regression, and forecasting, to name a few.Frequently, these highly effective ML representations are challenging to comprehend, especially in the case of Deep Learning models, which may involve millions of parameters. However, in many applications, it is crucial for stakeholders to grasp the reasoning behind the system's decisions to utilize them more effectively. This necessity has prompted extensive research efforts aimed at enhancing the transparency and interpretability of ML algorithms, forming the field of explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI).The objectives of XAI encompass: introducing transparency to ML models by offering comprehensive insights into the rationale behind specific decisions; designing ML models that are both more interpretable and transparent, while maintaining high levels of performance;, and establishing methods for assessing the overall interpretability and transparency of models, quantifying their effectiveness for various stakeholders.This Special Issue gathers contributions on recent advancements and techniques within the domain of XAI.

This reprint contains a collection of articles showing how the environmental processes governing the Earth's system can induce the formation of sudden and severe natural phenomena as their most violent expression. Their impact is unevenly distributed over the Earth's surface because of the presence of complex overlapping global or local endogenous and exogenous factors. Climate change and anthropogenic forcing can directly or indirectly exacerbate most of the occurrences at different spatial and temporal scales in the tropospheric area. When such phenomena interact directly with inhabited areas and society, different risk scenarios can develop even for human life itself. The degree of safety in a community is determined by the differential exposure to these events and the level of preparation based on awareness and perception. The social development and uncontrolled (or poorly regulated) spatial growth of human activities via the consumption of soil and natural resources have further contributed to creating vulnerability, increasing the challenges of conscious societies in coping with severe natural processes and their effects. As a whole, all the papers collected here highlight how the protection of territory, in its social and environmental complexity, is ultimately a key element for the pursuit of sustainable development.

This reprint contains a collection of articles showing how the environmental processes governing the Earth's system can induce the formation of sudden and severe natural phenomena as their most violent expression. Their impact is unevenly distributed over the Earth's surface because of the presence of complex overlapping global or local endogenous and exogenous factors. Climate change and anthropogenic forcing can directly or indirectly exacerbate most of the occurrences at different spatial and temporal scales in the tropospheric area. When such phenomena interact directly with inhabited areas and society, different risk scenarios can develop even for human life itself. The degree of safety in a community is determined by the differential exposure to these events and the level of preparation based on awareness and perception. The social development and uncontrolled (or poorly regulated) spatial growth of human activities via the consumption of soil and natural resources have further contributed to creating vulnerability, increasing the challenges of conscious societies in coping with severe natural processes and their effects. As a whole, all the papers collected here highlight how the protection of territory, in its social and environmental complexity, is ultimately a key element for the pursuit of sustainable development.

The 29th International Conference on Amorphous and Nanocrystalline Semiconductors (ICANS 29) served as a continuation of the biennial conference that has been held since 1965. ICANS 29 was held from 23 to 26 August at the campus of Nanjing University-a great venue for global academic researchers, industrial partners, and policymakers to come together and share their latest progress, breakthroughs, and new ideas on a wide range of topics in the fields of amorphous and nanocrystalline thin films and other nanostructured materials, as well as device applications.It was the first time that this prestigious event was held in China, and it provided the perfect opportunity for young Chinese researchers and students to participate more actively in academic exchange as a part of the conference and become familiarized with the latest developments in the fields in which they work. And despite a one-year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ICANS 29 still attracted more than 300 paper submissions from 11 countries, including both on-site and virtual oral and poster presentations, which made it truly both a global and hybrid conference.

This reprint contains a collection of articles showing how the environmental processes governing the Earth's system can induce the formation of sudden and severe natural phenomena as their most violent expression. Their impact is unevenly distributed over the Earth's surface because of the presence of complex overlapping global or local endogenous and exogenous factors. Climate change and anthropogenic forcing can directly or indirectly exacerbate most of the occurrences at different spatial and temporal scales in the tropospheric area. When such phenomena interact directly with inhabited areas and society, different risk scenarios can develop even for human life itself. The degree of safety in a community is determined by the differential exposure to these events and the level of preparation based on awareness and perception. The social development and uncontrolled (or poorly regulated) spatial growth of human activities via the consumption of soil and natural resources have further contributed to creating vulnerability, increasing the challenges of conscious societies in coping with severe natural processes and their effects. As a whole, all the papers collected here highlight how the protection of territory, in its social and environmental complexity, is ultimately a key element for the pursuit of sustainable development.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has affected life throughout the world, and dentistry is no exception. Dentistry has already been shown to be a hazardous occupation due to the numerous infectious and health risks associated with it. Over the past year and a half, this risk has only grown because of the highly transmissible nature of the Coronavirus. Dentistry, being a profession where the operator and the assistants are in close contact with the patients, has seen numerous changes. Not only this, but even dental education has been impacted as most of the teaching over the pandemic period has been conducted online. Furthermore, dental education has been highly impacted as a major part of it involves hands-on training. Due to this, there are several social, financial, and health-related repercussions that must be analyzed and understood. This Special Issue invited manuscripts, both research and review, that analyze the SARS-CoV-2 situation with regard to dentistry and dental education.

Material degradation is a long-standing issue that poses a number of challenges from both a scientific and engineering perspective. In particular, metallic materials and their surfaces can be significantly affected by the effects of degradation, which reduce their properties over time, thereby leading to premature failure or loss of functionality. This reprint presents a collection of studies on the mechanical, corrosive, and tribological degradation of metal coatings and modified metallic surfaces. The subject is discussed from theoretical, experimental, and synthesis perspectives.

This reprint is a collection of 11 peer-reviewed articles that focus on the biology and ecology of eels. This reprint addresses the current advances and challenges in eel studies, including both the European eel, Anguilla anguilla, and the Japanese eel, Anguilla japonica. The reprint comprises a high diversity of selected topics on the interface between fundamental science and the management of eel resources. Topics range from genomics and environmental DNA used to detect the presence of eels and ascertain eel biomass to observations of eel abundance based on catches. Other topics addressed include the study of the swimbladder function, assessing migration patterns in estuaries, eel reproduction, the effect of water pollution, otolith studies, and the optimization of the design of passage facilities for juvenile European eel (Anguilla anguilla).