Books published by Mdpi AG

Process monitoring and control are fundamental to all processes; this holds especially for bioprocesses, due to their complex nature. Usually, bioprocesses deal with living cells, which have their own regulatory systems. It helps to adjust the cell to its environmental condition. This must not be the optimal condition that the cell needs to produce whatever is desired. Therefore, a close monitoring of the cell and its environment is essential to provide optimal conditions for production. Without measurement, no information of the current process state is obtained. In this book, methods and techniques are provided for the monitoring and control of bioprocesses. From new developments for sensors, the application of spectroscopy and modelling approaches, the estimation and observer implementation for ethanol production and the development and scale-up of various bioprocesses and their closed loop control information are presented. The processes discussed here are very diverse. The major applications are cultivation processes, where microorganisms were grown, but also an incubation process of bird''s eggs, as well as an indoor climate control for humans, will be discussed. Altogether, in 12 chapters, nine original research papers and three reviews are presented.

In recent decades, the development of ensemble learning methodologies has gained a significant attention from the scientific and industrial community, and found their application in various real-word problems. Theoretical and experimental evidence proved that ensemble models provide a considerably better prediction performance than single models. The main aim of this collection is to present the recent advances related to ensemble learning algorithms and investigate the impact of their application in a diversity of real-world problems. All papers possess significant elements of novelty and introduce interesting ensemble-based approaches, which provide readers with a glimpse of the state-of-the-art research in the domain.

The success of any activity and process depends fundamentally on the possibility of balancing (symmetry) needs and their satisfaction. That is, the ability to properly define a set of success indicators. The application of the developed new multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods can be eliminated or decreased by decision-makers'' subjectivity, which leads to consistency or symmetry in the weight values of the criteria. In this Special Issue, 40 research papers and one review study co-authored by 137 researchers from 23 different countries explore aspects of multi-criteria modeling and optimization in crisp or uncertain environments. The papers propose new approaches and elaborate case studies in the following areas of application: MCDM optimization in sustainable engineering, environmental sustainability in engineering processes, sustainable multi-criteria production and logistics processes planning, integrated approaches for modeling processes in engineering, new trends in the multi-criteria evaluation of sustainable processes, and multi-criteria decision-making in strategic management based on sustainable criteria.

This book entitled Marine Algal Antioxidants, as a special issue of the Antioxidants journal, encloses eleven scientific articles with a preface written by the two editors, Christophe Brunet and Clementina Sansone. Marine Algal Antioxidants book reports advances of the research on marine photosynthetic organisms for the growth of biotechnological pipelines aimed to enhance antioxidant molecules production by algae. More than twenty scientists share the results of their research and highlight the relevance of algae for developing marine biotechnology products to flourish the requirements of nutraceuticals or cosmeceuticals in the defense of human health. Multidisciplinarity of the scientific approaches presented in this book - such as physiological, molecular, chemistry, technical or technological methodologies - lays the foundation for harmonizing the links between them towards the unique goal of the improvement of marine algal factory processes.

The success of any activity and process depends fundamentally on the possibility of balancing (symmetry) needs and their satisfaction. That is, the ability to properly define a set of success indicators. The application of the developed new multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods can be eliminated or decreased by decision-makers'' subjectivity, which leads to consistency or symmetry in the weight values of the criteria. In this Special Issue, 40 research papers and one review study co-authored by 137 researchers from 23 different countries explore aspects of multi-criteria modeling and optimization in crisp or uncertain environments. The papers propose new approaches and elaborate case studies in the following areas of application: MCDM optimization in sustainable engineering, environmental sustainability in engineering processes, sustainable multi-criteria production and logistics processes planning, integrated approaches for modeling processes in engineering, new trends in the multi-criteria evaluation of sustainable processes, and multi-criteria decision-making in strategic management based on sustainable criteria.

Heat-transfer equipment, typically represented by, for example, heat exchangers, process furnaces, and steam boilers, is among the essential equipment used for production processes in a number of industries (e.g., chemical and petrochemical, food, pharmaceutical, power, aviation and space) as well as for processes and applications in the communal sphere (e.g., waste incineration plants, heating plants, laundries, hospitals, server rooms, agriculture applications). Increasing demands for economical and efficient heat energy management can only be met when not only the layout of the whole system but also the individual heat-transfer equipment and its details are designed according to state-of-the-art knowledge. The purpose of this Special Issue is to present the latest advances in designing, modeling, testing, and operating heat-transfer equipment, including unconventional and innovative designs of heat-transfer equipment and their applications.

Nature represents an amazing source of inspiration, since it produces a great diversity of natural compounds selected by evolution, which exhibit multiple biological activities and applications. A large and very active research field is dedicated to identifying biosynthesized compounds, to improve/develop new methodologies, to produce/reuse natural compounds, and to assess their potential for pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries, among others, and additionally, to understand their mechanism of action. This book is dedicated to presenting the most recent results on the development of natural compounds'' applications. Ten original research works, organized by applications, and two reviews are included. Each of them contributes to the knowledge advance, insofar as they present new applications for known products, new methodologies to obtain new products, or the evaluation of a given application, with the applications related to health promotion being the most frequently considered. These works are significant contributions and reinforce the dynamic field of natural products'' applications.

The economical and efficient recovery of waste heat produced by industrial processes (such as chemical and petrochemical, food, pharmaceutical, energetics) and processes and applications in the municipal sphere (such as waste incinerators, heating plants, laundries, hospitals, server rooms) are priorities and challenges. This Special Issue focuses on heat exchangers as key and essential equipment for the practical realization of these challenges. The purpose of this Special Issue is to outline the latest insights and innovative and/or enhanced solutions from the design, production, operation, and maintenance points of view of heat exchangers in different applications of effective waste heat utilization.

It is now recognized that workplace aspects (scheduling, shift work, physically demanding work, chemical exposure) not only increase the risk of injury and illness, but also impact health behaviors (smoking, physical activity) and health outcomes (sleep disorders and fatigue, obesity, musculoskeletal disorders). In turn, ill health and chronic conditions can affect performance at work, increasing risk for injury, absenteeism, and reduced productivity. In the past few decades, programs that expand the traditional focus of occupational safety and health to consider nontraditional work-related sources of health and well-being have been shown to be more effective than programs that separately address these issues. This Total Worker Health approach has been recognized by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as a method for protecting the safety and health of workers, while also advancing the overall well-being of these workers by addressing work conditions. This compendium presents work from an international collection of scholars exploring the relationship between workplace factors and worker safety, health, and well-being. It provides guidance for improving the organization and design of work environments, innovative strategies for promoting worker well-being, and novel methods for exposing underlying occupational causes of chronic disease.

This Special Edition Issue on the "Pathogenesis and Treatment of Chronic Pruritus" contains an overview of various known causes of chronic pruritus and emerging therapeutics. Chronic pruritus is an itch that lasts longer than six weeks, and is associated with a variety of dermatologic, systemic, neurologic, and psychiatric etiologies. Itch negatively impacts patient quality of life, and has devastating psychosocial consequences. The manuscripts published in this Special Issue are also a showcase of the current understanding of the pathogenesis of chronic pruritus, along with its epidemiology, diagnostic workup, and therapeutic approaches used to treat chronic pruritus. A special focus is also placed on prurigo nodularis, a severely pruritic chronic inflammatory skin disease.

This Special Issue deals with the theory and applications of differential and difference equations, and includes papers for different branches of differential equations, such as - Boundary Value Problems for Fractional Differential Equations and Inclusions - Spectral Theory for Fractional Differential Equations - Generalized Abel''s Integral Equations - Oscillation Results for Higher Order Differential Equations - Stability of Equilibria under Stochastic Perturbations - Harmonic Functions - Coincidence Continuation Theory for Multivalued Maps - Generalized Briot-Bouquet Differential Equation - Nonlocal Inverse Problem - Lyapunov Type Theorems for Exponential Stability - Fuzzy Functions on Time Scales - Modified Helmholtz Equation on a Regular Hexagon

The progress in the area of nanotechnology has opened the door for the fabrication of soft, biological, and composite nanomaterials for targeted applications. Nanomaterials are known to enhance the properties and functionality of composite materials several fold. The properties for the desired applications can often be achieved by the addition of small amounts of nanomaterials into soft materials such as polymers, gels, and biomaterials. This book condenses investigations by scientific groups from highly diverse research fields, which will be beneficial for the wider scientific community.

The optimization of motion and trajectory planning is an effective and usually costless approach to improving the performance of robots, mechatronic systems, automatic machines and multibody systems. Indeed, wise planning increases precision and machine productivity, while reducing vibrations, motion time, actuation effort and energy consumption. On the other hand, the availability of optimized methods for motion planning allows for a cheaper and lighter system construction. The issue of motion planning is also tightly linked with the synthesis of high-performance feedback and feedforward control schemes, which can either enhance the effectiveness of motion planning or compensate for its gaps. To collect and disseminate a meaningful collection of these applications, this book proposes 15 novel research studies that cover different sub-areas, in the framework of motion planning and control.

This is a collection of 18 papers, two of which are reviews and seven are invited feature papers, that together form the Photonics Special Issue "Semiconductor Laser Dynamics: Fundamentals and Applications", published in 2020. This collection is edited by Daan Lenstra, an internationally recognized specialist in the field for 40 years.

This special issue brings together cutting edge research and insightful commentary on the currentl state of the Cancer Nanomedicine field.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are members of an enzyme family and are critical for maintaining tissue allostasis. MMPs can catalyze normal turnover of the extracellular matrix (ECM) together with other metalloproteinases such as ADAM (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase) and ADAMTS (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motif) families. MMP activity is also regulated by a group of endogenous proteins called tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMPs). All these proteins have a pivotal role involving ECM remodelling in normal physiological processes such as wound healing, embryogenesis, angiogenesis, bone remodelling, immunity, and the female reproductive cycle. An imbalance in the expression or activity of MMPs can also have important consequences in diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease, chronic leg ulcers, and multiple sclerosis. In recent years, MMPs have been found to play an important role in the field of precision medicine, as they may serve as biomarkers that may predict an individual''s disease predisposition, state, or progression. MMPs are also thought to be a sensible target for molecular therapy. The aim of this Special Issue is to explore the most recent findings in this field that may have an impact in healthcare systems.

About forty years after its discovery, it is still common to read in the literature that quasicrystals (QCs) occupy an intermediate position between amorphous materials and periodic crystals. However, QCs exhibit high-quality diffraction patterns containing a collection of discrete Bragg reflections at variance with amorphous phases. Accordingly, these materials must be properly regarded as long-range ordered materials with a symmetry incompatible with translation invariance. This misleading conceptual status can probably arise from the use of notions borrowed from the amorphous solids framework (such us tunneling states, weak interference effects, variable range hopping, or spin glass) in order to explain certain physical properties observed in QCs. On the other hand, the absence of a general, full-fledged theory of quasiperiodic systems certainly makes it difficult to clearly distinguish the features related to short-range order atomic arrangements from those stemming from long-range order correlations. The contributions collected in this book aim at gaining a deeper understanding on the relationship between the underlying structural order and the resulting physical properties in several illustrative aperiodic systems, including the border line between QCs and related complex metallic alloys, hierarchical superlattices, electrical transmission lines, nucleic acid sequences, photonic quasicrystals, and optical devices based on aperiodic order designs.

The relationship between domestic dogs and humans represents a unique example of an interspecific relationship. For this and other reasons, there has been a substantial increase in research on dogs. This Special Issue entitled "Dog Behaviour, Physiology and Welfare" collects important information ranging from basic to applied ethology, dealing with canine endocrinology (prolactin, vasopressin, thyroid hormones), physiology (visual perception), welfare (in shelters and zoos), as well as the context of working dogs (service dogs, co-therapist dogs, herding dogs) and the dog-wolf comparison. All the papers are open access and can be read at https://www.mdpi.com/journal/animals/special_issues/Dog_Behavior

Research on intelligent agents and multi-agent systems has matured during the past decade, and many effective applications of this technology are currently being deployed. Although computational approaches for multi-agent systems have mainly emerged in the past few decades, scholars have been prolific with regard to the variety of methods proposed to solve this paradigm. Different communities have emerged with multi-agent systems as their main research topic. Multi-agent systems allow the development of distributed and intelligent applications in complex and dynamic environments. Systems of this kind play a crucial role in life, evidenced by the broad range of applied areas involved in their use, including manufacturing, management sciences, e-commerce, and biotechnology. There are many reasons for the interest of researchers in this new discipline. Firstly, computational systems have gradually shifted towards a distributed paradigm where heterogeneous entities with different goals can enter and leave the system dynamically and interact with each other. Secondly, new computational systems should be able to negotiate with one another, typically on the behalf of humans, in order to come to mutually acceptable agreements. As a consequence, autonomy, interaction, mobility, and openness are key concepts studied in the area. The purpose of this book is to document some of the advances made in this paradigm and attempt to show the current state of this technology by analyzing different aspects in addition its possible application in various domains. This review of the current state-of-the-art does not intend to make an exhaustive exploration of all the current existing works but, rather, to try to give an overview of the research in agent technology, showing the high level of activity of this area.

Every minute, 34 new patients are diagnosed with cancer globally. Although over the past 50 years treatments have improved and survival rates have increased dramatically for several types of cancers, many remain incurable. Several aggressive types of blood and solid cancers form when mutations occur in a critical cellular signaling pathway, the JAK-STAT pathway; (Janus Kinase-Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription). Currently, there are no clinically available drugs that target the oncogenic STAT3/5 proteins in particular or their Gain of Function hyperactive mutant products. Here, we summarize targeting approaches on STAT3/5, as the field moves towards clinical applications as well as we illuminate on upstream or downstream JAK-STAT pathway interference with kinase inhibitors, heat shock protein blockers or changing nuclear import/export processes. We cover the design paradigms and medicinal chemistry approaches to illuminate progress and challenges in understanding the pleiotropic role of STAT3 and STAT5 in oncogenesis, the microenvironment, the immune system in particular, all culminating in a complex interplay towards cancer progression.

Mycotoxins represent a significant issue for the feed industry and the safety of the feed supply chain, with an impact on human health, animal health and production, economies, and international trade. The globalization of the trade in agricultural commodities and the lack of legislative harmonization have contributed significantly to the discussion about the awareness of mycotoxins entering the feed/food supply chain. The feed industry is a sustainable outlet for food processing industries, converting byproducts into high-quality animal feed. Mycotoxin occurrence in food byproducts from different technological processes is a worldwide topic of interest for the feed industry, aiming to increase the marketability and acceptance of these products as feed ingredients and include them safely in the feed supply chain. Since mycotoxin contamination cannot be completely prevented pre- or post-harvest, the modern feed industry needs new tools for monitoring and managing the risk of mycotoxins and strategies to prevent and reduce mycotoxins in compound feed manufacturing. The aim of this Special Issue book was to bring together a collection of valuable articles with innovative ideas for a sustainable and competitive feed industry.

Geo-spatial analysis has become an essential component of hydrological studies to process and examine geo-spatial data such as hydrological variables (e.g., precipitation and discharge) and basin characteristics (e.g., DEM and land use land cover). The advancement of the data acquisition technique helps accumulate geo-spatial data with more extensive spatial coverage than traditional in-situ observations. The development of geo-spatial analytic methods is beneficial for the processing and analysis of multi-source data in a more efficient and reliable way for a variety of research and practical issues in hydrology. This book is a collection of the articles of a published Special Issue Geo-Spatial Analysis in Hydrology in the journal ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information. The topics of the articles range from the improvement of geo-spatial analytic methods to the applications of geo-spatial analysis in emerging hydrological issues. The results of these articles show that traditional hydrological/hydraulic models coupled with geo-spatial techniques are a way to make streamflow simulations more efficient and reliable for flood-related decision making. Geo-spatial analysis based on more advanced methods and data is a reliable resolution to obtain high-resolution information for hydrological studies at fine spatial scale.

The introduction and widespread implementation of newborn bloodspot screening (NBS) for cystic fibrosis (CF) has offered earlier diagnosis and better outcomes for children with CF in many countries of the world. It represents a paradigm shift in the diagnostic pathway for these families. In contrast to a clinical diagnosis, infants are now referred for diagnostic testing after a positive NBS result. The introduction of NBS has enabled the provision of early appropriate treatment to prevent the manifestations of the disease. In the near future, early diagnosis will facilitate the prompt use of new CFTR modulator therapies that correct the basic underlying molecular defect. NBS for CF has been a global success but continues to raise questions with many varied approaches and the development of new technologies, in particular the ability to undertake extensive gene examination. Which is the best protocol to achieve high sensitivity and specificity, and how to evaluate and manage infants with inconclusive diagnosis are all subjects of ongoing discussion. It is also open to question: what is the best approach to informing and counselling the parents about a positive or inconclusive NBS result? These questions are not easy to answer and require a balanced solution that reflects the local health care system and may appropriately result in different answers around the globe. The articles in this book try to answer these questions and give an overview of the current state of knowledge in NBS for CF.

The global electric car fleet exceeded 7 million battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in 2019, and will continue to increase in the future, as electrification is an important means of decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions of the transportation sector. The energy storage system is a very central component of the electric vehicle. The storage system needs to be cost-competitive, light, efficient, safe, and reliable, and to occupy little space and last for a long time. It should also be produced and disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner. This leaves many research challenges, and the purpose of this book is therefore to provide a platform for sharing the latest findings on energy storage systems for electric vehicles (electric cars, buses, aircraft, ships, etc.) Research in energy storage systems requires several sciences working together, and this book therefore include contributions from many different disciplines; this covers a wide range of topics, e.g. battery-management systems, state-of-charge and state-of-health estimation, thermal-battery-management systems, power electronics for energy storage devices, battery aging modelling, battery reuse and recycling, etc.

This book discusses the geological time that will follow the human-dominated epoch and ways to move there. In addition to an editorial, a total of five articles are published in this volume. The articles engage with a variety of social science disciplines-ranging from economics and sociology to philosophy and political science-and connect to natural science''s insights into the Anthropocene. The volume calls for going beyond anthropocentrism in sustainability theory and practice in order to exit the Anthropocene with applications and insights in the contexts of politics, energy, tourism, food and management. We hope that you will find this book interesting and helpful in contributing to sustainable change.

Bladder cancer is the second most common genitourinary malignancy, with 81,190 estimated new diagnoses in 2018, in the United States alone. Transurethral resection of the bladder and radical cystectomy with bilateral pelvic lymph node dissection constitute the standard treatment for non-muscle invasive or very high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, respectively. However, survival expectations have not shown to improve in the last 20 years, and new diagnostic and therapeutic tools are urgently needed to improve the outcomes of this potentially lethal disease.

Climate change is altering agricultural production and ecosystems around the world. Future projections indicate that additional change is expected in the coming decades, forcing individuals and communities to respond and adapt. Frequently, agriculture and ecosystems are seen as separate entities, resulting in entity-specific solutions in response to threats. Anthropogenic climate change simultaneously stresses both agriculture and ecosystems (AE) along with their interactions, and current research efforts examining climate change effects and possible adaptations fail to integrate agriculture and ecosystems. Research has quantified many AE impacts of climate change, and yet greater impacts are anticipated as climate change proceeds. Thus, an understanding of the implications for changing AE systems is crucial. AE function, health and productivity depend heavily on climatic characteristics. Failure to jointly consider these systems and the associated externalities may underestimate the impacts of climate change or cause adaptation implementation surprises such as the worsening of the adaptation status of some groups or ecosystems. This collection of papers draws on specific studies to explain why ecosystem and agriculture adaptation requires an integrated analytical approach. A synthesis of current literature is used, as well as examples from around the world to help explain concepts and current challenges. Researchers are encouraged to adopt integrated modeling as a means of avoiding implementation challenges and surprises when formulating and implementing adaptations. Failure to incorporate the overlapping effects of agriculture and ecosystems could lead to maladaptation and greater long-term damage under climate change. The papers in this volume address several aspects of these challenges.

Mycotoxins are a Public Health concern that in last year have reached the top 10 food and product hazard categories in the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF), with almost six hundred notifications. The toxicological effects of mycotoxins are evaluated through the extrapolation of results from in vivo and in vitro assays. Studies of mycotoxins'' effects at the cellular level precede those in organs and systems. All these studies are key steps for risk assessment and following legislation for mycotoxins. This Special Issue of Toxins comprises 10 original contributions and two reviews. The Issue reports new findings regarding toxic mechanisms, the use of innovative techniques to study the potential toxicity of mycotoxins not only individually but in combination, reflecting a real scenario according to current studies of mycotoxins.

This volume explores the intersections of religion, power, and resistance in a fast-changing world. The authors herein seek to disrupt the sociology of religion''s dominant paradigms, especially its overemphasis in Europe and the United States, as well as its preference for official religions as opposed to diverse worldviews in all of their manifestations from around the world: Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America. The papers in this volume explore ways of decentering the Global North and of decolonizing the sociology of religion''s core concepts. They explore strategies used by newer and popular forms of religion to challenge existing power structures. Moreover, they examine the intersectionalities that privilege some people''s religious lives and disprivilege others. They show how religion, spirituality, and non-religion are much more complex than the dominant paradigms have led us to believe. This volume seeks to generate robust discussion and critical reflection on new ideas for a divided world, thus contributing to the advancement of the discipline of religious sociology.

This book compiles four review articles and four research papers that highlight recent developments in the field of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) chemistry and biomedicine. The review articles encompass a variety of fields related to PNA, emphasizing the versatility of this DNA mimic. Two excellent reviews detail the use of PNA for molecular diagnostics of miRNAs and genetic point mutations (SNPs). Another review provides a comprehensive analysis of the various approaches for gene editing using chemically modified PNA molecules. Lastly, PNA molecules are elegantly described as effective (antisense) antimicrobial agents in the final review. The high binding affinity of PNA to complementary DNA and RNA is highlighted in three research articles. Two articles show how PNA molecules act as splice modulating and RNA masking molecules, separately. In another contribution, the high affinity and achiral characteristics of PNAs are used to developed a stable L-DNA-based catalytic hairpin assembly. Lastly, chemically-modified PNA molecules are shown to be superior probes for SNP detection. Altogether, these studies illustrate how PNA molecules may be useful for a variety of biomedical applications as either therapeutic or diagnostic agents.