Böcker utgivna av Mdpi AG

Filter-feeding in marine invertebrates is a big and important research subject, which cannot be even approximately covered by the present six articles. But although these articles deal with a limited and rather random selection of both topics and filter-feeding species, they give an update of certain aspects of important ongoing research. The articles deal with many topics, such as: filtration rates, energy budgets, growth rates, bioenergetic modeling, filter-pump design, particle-capture mechanisms, functional morphology, and hydrodynamics studied in sponges, jellyfish, mussels, and other filter-feeding marine invertebrates. This makes the Special Issue relevant for all marine biologists.

This book reports cutting-edge technology in nanoprobes or nanobiomaterials used for the accurate diagnosis and therapy of tumors, involving a multidisciplinary of chemistry, materials science, oncology, biology, and medicine.

Phenolic compounds in food such as fruits, vegetables, wine, spices, and oils have been characterized and their possible effects on human health has been studied in depth. Several technological aspects have also been considered concerning the sustainable extraction of phenolic compounds, the long-term storage effects, and the influence of fermentation and boiling techniques on their properties.

Metal manufacturing is a fundamental and indispensable technology in the processing of raw metals into desired products, which significantly promotes the development of industry and society overall. This book presents original research and a state of the art review of contemporary metal manufacturing processes, especially in the modeling, optimization, and design of the manufacturing processes. This book covers topics such as machine learning algorithms in manufacturing metal products, the fabrication and optimization of mechanical properties of metals, and numerical simulations and experiments in the machining of metals. The book presents some essential theories and successful manufacturing techniques for the low-cost and highly efficient production of metals.

This book presents recent advances in the field of bone tissue engineering, including molecular insights, innovative biomaterials with regenerative properties (e.g., osteoinduction and osteoconduction), and physical stimuli to enhance bone regeneration.

This Special Issue of Forests explores the role of soundscapes in urban forested areas. It is comprised of 11 papers involving soundscape studies conducted in urban forests from Asia and Africa. This collection contains six research fields: (1) the ecological patterns and processes of forest soundscapes; (2) the boundary effects and perceptual topology; (3) natural soundscapes and human health; (4) the experience of multi-sensory interactions; (5) environmental behavior and cognitive disposition; and (6) soundscape resource management in forests.

Dear Colleagues, Ruminant production systems are very important in many areas of the world and a key aspect of the economy and culture. Food quality is a complex term that includes, in addition to safety, such intrinsic characteristics as appearance, color, texture, and flavor, which are modified by both pre- and post-mortem factors. For this Special Issue, we included studies on any of these factors or preservation methods for improving the quality and shelf-life of meat. We also collected manuscripts on carcass development, quality, and valorization. We are interested in applied research and the interaction between pre- and post-mortem factors, e.g., nutrition and preservation methods for improving the quality and conservation of a carcass and meat, and methods for assessing carcass quality (ultrasound, image analysis, etc.). However, manuscripts related to the extrinsic characteristics (origin, quality labels, price, etc.) of a carcass or meat do not fall into the scope of this Special Issue.

Dinoflagellates are an important group of aquatic microbial eukaryotes, showing great diversity in life histories, ecological niches, morphology, and pigment composition. They include species with photosynthetic, heterotrophic, symbiotic, mixotrophic, and parasitic lifestyles, and encompass coral symbionts, harmful algal bloom forming species, and important fish parasites. They are present in fossil records that date back several hundred million years. Dinoflagellates include the majority of species that produce marine biotoxins, impacting aquaculture. In recent years, molecular approaches have been applied to understand dinoflagellate biology, including techniques for studying dinoflagellate ecology, physiology, basic genetics, and evolution. This Special Issue, edited by Professor Shauna Murray, is dedicated to the application and development of molecular approaches for enhancing our understanding of dinoflagellate biology.

The primary objective of this book is to provide the current status of and new data on the molecular mechanisms affecting the efficacy of somatic cell cloning, but also insightful interpretations of the topical and coming trends in the exploration of genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic and proteomic profiles for nuclear donor cells, nuclear recipient oocytes and SCNT-derived embryos. Comprehensively deciphering the crucial molecular scenarios responsible for inter-genomic, inter-epigenomic, inter-transcriptomic and inter-proteomic communication within the framework of the aforementioned scenarios might be a milestone giving rise to the enhancements in the extra- and intracorporeal epigenetic reprogrammabilities of donor cell nuclei in nuclear-transferred oocytes, embryos, conceptuses and neonates. In turn, this might allow us to use SCNT-mediated ARTs in such research fields as biotechnology, transgenics, medicine, and biopharmacology, as well as scientific efforts targeted at designing the in vitro and in vivo models of molecular and epigenomic landscapes specific for inheritable and acquired disorders in humans and other mammalian species.

Researchers have made great progress in the mechanism of mycotoxins biosynthesis, pathogenicity, and the construction of detection methods. This collection holds fundamental and applied research on pathogenic fungi and mycotoxins in China, which directly or indirectly affect the health of plants, animals, and humans. Some papers mainly study the mechanism of mycotoxin biosynthesis, including the crucial genes, environmental factors, and regulation mechanisms, which is beneficial to advancing our knowledge of this area. Some papers focus on the toxicity of mycotoxins, which is helpful to the detoxification of mycotoxins and the reduction of the hazardous effect of mycotoxins. Special attention is given to the leading detection methods, especially on-site rapid detection. These effective and feasible methods are important for discovering and controlling the risk of mycotoxins.

Fused filament fabrication, also known as 3D printing, is extensively used to produce prototypes for applications in, e.g., the aerospace, medical, and automotive industries. In this process, a thermoplastic polymer is fed into a liquefier that extrudes a filament while moving in successive X-Y planes along the Z direction to fabricate a 3D part in a layer-by-layer process. Due to the progressive advances of this process in industry, the application of polymeric (or even composite) materials have received much attention. Researchers and industries now engage in 3D printing by implementing numerous polymeric materials in their domain. In this Special Issue, we will present a collection of recent and novel works regarding the application of polymers in 3D printing.

In irrigated agriculture, the study of the various ways water infiltrates into the soils is necessary. In this respect, soil hydraulic properties, such as soil moisture retention curve, diffusivity, and hydraulic conductivity functions, play a crucial role, as they control the infiltration process and the soil water and solute movement. This Special Issue presents the recent developments in the various aspects of soil water movement in irrigated agriculture through a number of research topics that tackle one or more of the following challenges: irrigation systems and one-, two-, and three-dimensional soil water movement; one-, two-, and three-dimensional infiltration analysis from a disc infiltrometer; dielectric devices for monitoring soil water content and methods for assessment of soil water pressure head; soil hydraulic properties and their temporal and spatial variability under the irrigation situations; saturated-unsaturated flow model in irrigated soils; soil water redistribution and the role of hysteresis; soil water movement and drainage in irrigated agriculture; salt accumulation, soil salinization, and soil salinity assessment; effect of salts on hydraulic conductivity; and soil conditioners and mulches that change the upper soil hydraulic properties and their effect on soil water movement.

This book is dedicated to the current trends and new challenges that have emerged from the new e-learning environment, focusing on its potential to revolutionize Healthcare Education and exploring how it may help to better prepare future healthcare professionals for their daily practice. "E-learning and Digital Training in Healthcare Education: Current Trends and New Challenges" contains several research articles focused on new insights into the use of interactive and intuitive e-learning tools and innovative teaching methodologies that engage healthcare students in the new web-based environment training. It also includes several case studies of 'pathfinder' e-learning initiatives and surveys related to the penetration and acceptance of digital training in Healthcare Education.

This reprint contains articles published in the Special Issue entitled "Assessing Atmospheric Pollution and Its Impacts on the Human Health" in the journal Atmosphere. The research focuses on the evaluation of atmospheric pollution by statistical methods on the one hand, and on the other hand, on the evaluation of the relationship between the level of pollution and the extent of its effect on the population's health, especially on pulmonary diseases.

This reprint collects high-quality manuscripts with a focus on food composition, with special emphasis on chemical characterization, the content of bioactive molecules, contaminants, and analytical aspects. The roles of variety, cultivation, growing conditions, and technological processes on the nutritional quality of foods have been investigated. Studies dealing with the biological activity and health benefits of bioactive food molecules have been also considered.

Personalized medicine for Parkinson's disease is a growing and emerging concept in light of recent recognition that Parkinson's is a syndromic condition affecting multiple neurotransmitter systems, as well as brain and extracranial structures. The clinical expression is, thus, heterogeneous, and presentation age can range from the 30s to the 90s, with PD in older patients being associated with significant neuropathological comorbidity as well, involving not just misfolded alpha synuclein deposition but also amyloid and tau. Traditional and largely guideline-driven "one size fits all" management strategies adopted in clinical practice are, therefore, often inadequate in holistic management of a patient, particularly when aspects of motor and nonmotor symptoms are taken into consideration. In this supplement of JPM, we present a selection of papers which address several possible strands of personalized medicine in PD, ranging from genomic precision medicine to digital "checklists" to ensure delivery of holistic personalized medicine involving nonpharmacological strategies, as well. We are soliciting any papers addressing biomarkers, genetics and pharmacogenetics, treatment or complementary therapies for personalized or individualized treatment for PD.

This volume is focused on a wide range of topics, including adaptive optic components and tools, wavefront sensing, different control algorithms, astronomy, and propagation through turbulent and turbid media.

This reprint describes the polyphenolic composition of wine and beer, with a special emphasis on extractive and analytical aspects. Furthermore, the effects of wine and beer polyphenols on human health are studied in the depth.

The focus of this Special Issue is language translation in the process of localizing religious musical practice. As an alternative to related concepts (such as contextualization and indigenization), musical localization is presented by ethnomusicologists Monique Ingalls, Muriel Swijghuisen Reigersberg, and Zoe Sherinian in Making Congregational Music Local in Christian Communities Worldwide (Routledge, 2018) as an effective way to account for the complex, diverse, and shifting ways in which religious communities embody what it means to be local through their musical practices: "Musical localization is the process by which Christian communities take a variety of musical practices - some considered 'indigenous,' some 'foreign,' some shared across spatial and cultural divides; some linked to past practice, some innovative - and make them locally meaningful and useful in the construction of Christian beliefs, theology, practice, and identity." (13)This Special Issue shows the balance of translation priorities that local congregations can weigh as they work, between externally prescribed guidelines and exclusively local realities; between translations more oriented to the source language and culture, making that reality more plain, or to the recipients, ensuring that the meaning is adequately transferred to a new context; and between even the decision to translate or not, perhaps choosing to sing the songs of another culture and language as they are while risking appropriation.

The United Kingdom has a proud history of liquid crystal research. Its contributions span from the formulation of the theory of nematic elasticity as it is used today, uncovered via the Leslie-Erickson theory describing the viscosity of mesophases, to the discovery of the first room-temperature nematic and the related developments in the display industry, to name just several pioneering contributions. Today, liquid crystal science in the UK is more diverse and multidisciplinary than ever, ranging from the synthesis of increasingly complex mesogenic molecules, via the physical properties of self-organised systems and composites of both the thermotropic and the lyotropic type, to a wide variety of applications outside of the traditional display sector. The field covers aspects of chemistry, physics, material sciences, chemical engineering, mathematics, biology and device engineering in an overarching effort to advance the fundamental understanding of these soft-matter materials and to promote their technological exploitation in the UK and worldwide. To this end, a large group of individuals and research groups from universities and industry in the UK are working together on a Special Issue to advance the development of this field. The achievements of these scholars can be found in publications in top-class journals and presentations at all large international conferences, in the development of new products, and in events for public engagement.

Success, injuries, future career opportunities of athletes, and the societal gains of participating in sports and organizing (mega) sports events are all related to individual risk-taking behavior. Although the sports economics and management literature has broadly addressed these issues, it is surprising that less attention has been paid to the implications of risk-taking on the organization of sports in general and, more particularly, on the design and behavior of sports organization members.

The aim of ITISE 2022 is to create a friendly environment that could lead to the establishment or strengthening of scientific collaborations and exchanges among attendees. Therefore, ITISE 2022 is soliciting high-quality original research papers (including significant works-in-progress) on any aspect time series analysis and forecasting, in order to motivating the generation and use of new knowledge, computational techniques and methods on forecasting in a wide range of fields.

This book focuses on the traditional Chinese ritual system of sacrifice to mountain and water spirits, a significant but largely overlooked sub-field of Chinse religious studies. This system mainly comprised the five sacred peaks, five strongholds, four seas, and four waterways, and was maintained for two thousand years in imperial China. As state ritual, it was constructed of by Confucian ritual culture, but in practice, it gradually interacted and integrated with various religious traditions, such as Daoism, Buddhism, and folk belief, especially in its local manifestation and dissemination. The eighteen great mountains and waters marked geographical and directional borders and territories modelled on the yin-yang and five-phase framework that helped shape Chinese people's cosmographical understanding of the world. Together, they constituted a set of sacred spaces symbolizing the sanctioned political legitimacy of the imperium and functioning as the loca for communication with the divine, as well as the media between religion and its secular context, state ideology and local beliefs, or various ethnic groups. Through the discovery of a rich variety of historical sources, especially stele inscriptions preserved in the sacrificial temples, the contributors of the ten chapters in this volume examine the sacred peaks, strongholds, seas, and waterways respectively. While each of the chapters explores one or more perspectives, together they reveal the rich implications and ramification of the ritual system and present the first comprehensive study of this sub-field.

The use of biomass and organic waste material as a primary resource for the production of fuels, chemicals, and electric power is of growing significance in light of the environmental issues associated with the use of fossil fuels. For this reason, it is vital that new and more efficient technologies for the conversion of biomass are investigated and developed. Today, various advanced methods can be used for the conversion of biomass. These methods are broadly classified into thermochemical conversion, biochemical conversion, and electrochemical conversion. This book collects papers that consider various aspects of sustainability in the conversion of biomass into valuable products, covering all the technical stages from biomass production to residue management. In particular, it focuses on experimental and simulation studies aiming to investigate new processes and technologies on the industrial, pilot, and bench scales.

The aim of this Special Issue is to collect reports regarding all the recent strategies, directed at the improvement of antineoplastic activity of drugs in cancer progression, engaging all the expertise needed for the development of new anticancer drugs: medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, molecular biology, and computational and drug delivery studies.

This book is a collection of papers on different aspects of the diversity and ecology of marine decapod crustaceans, including integrative taxonomy and genetic diversity, DNA barcoding to match larvae to adults, predator-prey interaction, coral-crab symbiosis, Sargassum-shrimp symbiosis, population dynamics of pelagic shrimps, diversity and distribution of oceanic larvae, spatial distribution of crabs, biodiversity of lobsters, and ecology of cave decapods. These contributions illustrate the variety of life forms, habitat use, and interspecific relationships exhibited by decapod crustaceans, one of the most diverse and abundant marine taxa.

The development of clean and low-carbon energy is undoubtedly imperative in the coming decades worldwide. This book focuses on a series of advanced research on geological and geochemical characterization, as well as on the exploration, development, and utilization of coal and coal-related resources, especially critical metals together with unconventional gases in coal and coal-bearing sequences, which are of great significance to achieving carbon neutrality.

Pseudorabies virus (PRV) is an important swine pathogen that impacts swine industry worldwide. PRV belongs to the alphaherpes virus subfamily of the herpesviruses that has been widely used as a model herpes virus. Most recently, PRV has been reported sporadically spillover into human and other animals. This book collects the newest advances in the field of pseudorabies virus research, including critical reviews and research on viral evolution, replication, virus-host interaction, pathogenesis and immunity, and novel antiviral strategies.

This book focuses on the up-to-date studies on the sustainability with changing climate and extremes. The main contributors discussed the changing climate and extreme events, as well as their impacts on natural and human dimension sustainability, including the incorporated social-ecologic and socioeconomic processes. Special attention is given to four main sections: natural disasters in agriculture; urban/rural ecosystem, tourism, and ecosystem service; extreme climate indices, and newly created dataset for climate change.

In this book, the emphasis is on various training interventions. Types of exercises that can help improve performance in athletes and health in people facing poor movement diseases. Also, we have presented a variety of strength training interventions in the form of various types of research. On the other hand, we continue to monitor internal and external loads related to non-contact injuries and performance analysis.