Books published by Mdpi AG

This Special Issue contains original scientific papers in the field of mineral physics (and also rock physics). These papers are grouped into four categories: Reviews, Experimental Science, Theoretical Science and Technological Developments. These papers include those from first authors covering 5 generations of mineral physicists, including contemporaries of Orson [e.g., William Bassett, Frank Stacey], the next generation of leaders in mineral physics throughout the world [e.g., Michael Brown, Eiji Ohtani], current leaders in this field [e.g., Agnes Dewaele, Jun Tsuchiya], senior graduate students [e.g., Jan Borgomano, Vasilije Dobrosavlijevic, Francesca Miozzi], and an undergraduate student [e.g., Tyler Perez]. Mineral physics is the study of mineralogical problems through the application of condensed matter physics. In reality, mineral physicists use not only physics, but also solid-state chemistry; they study not only minerals, but all materials related to natural minerals (e.g., structural analogs, but also glasses, melts and fluids). Mineral and rock physics is intimately connected to many other geoscience disciplines including seismology, planetary science, petrology, geochemistry, geomagnetism, and geodynamics, and even materials and climate science. This book is dedicated to Orson Anderson who died in June 2019 at the age of 94.

This eBook is a volume based on the "Eye Movements and Visual Cognition" Special Issue published in the journal Vision by MDPI and edited by Raymond Klein and Simon Liversedge. The eBook comprises 19 high-quality chapters that are original and topical works by leading academic figures in the field of human vision and visual cognition. In putting together the book, we aimed to provide an informative body of work to stimulate and foster useful intellectual exchange between individuals working on basic theoretical issues as well as on more applied aspects of vision and cognitive science. From the outset, we sought papers that provide concise and astute reviews of topics within this broad field. The present volume includes reviews that are narrative (critiquing and summarizing research on a topic), tutorial (with a focus on methods and findings), empirical (e.g., meta-analytic), and theoretically synthetic. The eBook also features chapters with new empirical content that resolves an undecided issue stemming from an evaluation of the literature. Finally, where possible, we also selected papers that bridge theoretical and applied issues and provide insight into behavior and its neural substrate. All chapters were subject to peer review and went through several rounds of revision prior to acceptance.

Throughout most of the 20th century, the toxinological literature consisted largely of pharmacological and functional characterizations of crude venoms and venom constituents, often constituents that could not be identified unambiguously. The advent of amino acid composition analysis in the 1950s enabled the first forays into physical characterizations of purified toxins, though these remained few in number until the 1970s. Then, the tryptic and chymotryptic cleavage of venom proteins coupled with manual Edman degradation began to provide the first complete sequences, particularly of three-finger toxins. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and improved resins for liquid chromatography permitted improved purification and better gross structural characterization of venom components. The early 1980s witnessed the advent of automated Edman degradation, and entire sequences of longer proteins began to be reported in the literature. Then, the molecular biology revolution enabled the generation of cDNA sequences of more and larger proteins, followed by mass-spectrometry-based proteomics and quantitative high-throughput DNA sequencing and genomics. Today, we face an unprecedented situation in which our capacity to generate sequence/structural data has completely overwhelmed our capacity to functionally characterize venom constituents. This Special Issue of Toxins includes 11 publications addressing the discovery and functional characterization of novel venom constituents of vertebrate and invertebrate venoms.

In recent years, microfluidic devices with a large surface-to-volume ratio have witnessed rapid development, allowing them to be successfully utilized in many engineering applications. A smart control process has been proposed for many years, while many new innovations and enabling technologies have been developed for smart flow control, especially concerning "smart flow control" at the microscale. This Special Issue aims to highlight the current research trends related to this topic, presenting a collection of 33 papers from leading scholars in this field. Among these include studies and demonstrations of flow characteristics in pumps or valves as well as dynamic performance in roiling mill systems or jet systems to the optimal design of special components in smart control systems.

In recent years, microfluidic devices with a large surface-to-volume ratio have witnessed rapid development, allowing them to be successfully utilized in many engineering applications. A smart control process has been proposed for many years, while many new innovations and enabling technologies have been developed for smart flow control, especially concerning "smart flow control" at the microscale. This Special Issue aims to highlight the current research trends related to this topic, presenting a collection of 33 papers from leading scholars in this field. Among these include studies and demonstrations of flow characteristics in pumps or valves as well as dynamic performance in roiling mill systems or jet systems to the optimal design of special components in smart control systems.

Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) are a group of heritable connective tissue disorders (HCTDs) characterized by a variable degree of skin hyperextensibility, joint hypermobility and tissue fragility. The current EDS classification distinguishes 13 subtypes and 19 different causal genes mainly involved in collagen and extracellular matrix synthesis and maintenance. EDS need to be differentiated from other HCTDs with a variable clinical overlap, including Marfan syndrome and related disorders, some types of skeletal dysplasia and cutis laxa. The clinical recognition of EDS is not always straightforward, and, for a definite diagnosis, molecular testing can be of great assistance, especially in patients with an uncertain phenotype. Currently, the major challenging task in EDS is to unravel the molecular basis of the hypermobile EDS that is the most frequent form, and for which the diagnosis is only clinical in the absence of any definite laboratory test. This EDS subtype, as well as other EDS-reminiscent phenotypes, are currently investigated worldwide to unravel the primary genetic defect and related pathomechanisms. The research articles, case report, and reviews published in the Special Issue entitled "Molecular Genetics and Pathogenesis of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Related Connective Tissue Disorders" focus on different clinical, genetic and molecular aspects of several EDS subtypes and some related disorders, offering novel findings and future research and nosological perspectives.

This book addresses various aspects of in vitro digestibility: ΓÇóApplication of meta-analyses and machine learning methods to predict methane production; ΓÇóMethane production of sainfoin and alfalfa; ΓÇóIn vitro evaluation of different dietary methane mitigation strategies; ΓÇóRumen methanogenesis, rumen fermentation, and microbial community response; ΓÇóThe role of condensed tannins in the in vitro rumen fermentation kinetics; ΓÇóFermentation pattern of several carbohydrate sources; ΓÇóAdditive, synergistic, or antagonistic effects of plant extracts; ΓÇóIn vitro rumen degradation and fermentation characteristics of silage and hay; ΓÇóIn vitro digestibility, in situ degradability, and rumen fermentation of camelina co-products; ΓÇóRuminal fermentation parameters and microbial matters to odd- and branched-chain fatty acids; ΓÇóComparison of fecal versus rumen inocula for the estimation of NDF digestibility; ΓÇóRumen inoculum collected from cows at slaughter or from a continuous fermenter; ΓÇóSeaweeds as ingredients of ruminant diets; ΓÇóRumen in vitro fermentation and in situ degradation kinetics of forage Brassica crops; ΓÇóIn vitro digestibility and rumen degradability of vetch varieties; ΓÇóIntestinal digestibility in vitro of Vicia sativa varieties; ΓÇóRuminal in vitro protein degradation and apparent digestibility of Pisum sativum; ΓÇóIn vitro digestibility studies using equine fecal inoculum; ΓÇóEffects of gas production recording system and pig fecal inoculum volume on kinetics; ΓÇóIn vitro methods of assessing protein quality for poultry; and ΓÇóIn vitro techniques using the DaisyII incubator.

The International Institute of Knowledge Innovation and Invention (IIKII, http://www.iikii.org) promotes the exchange of innovations and inventions and establishes a communication platform for international innovations and research. In 2019, IIKII cooperates with the IEEE Tainan Section Sensors Council to hold IEEE conferences, such as IEEE ICIASE 2019, IEEE ECBIOS 2019, IEEE ICKII 2019, ICUSA-GAME 2019, and IEEE ECICE 2019. This Special Issue, entitled "Selected Papers from IIKII 2019 conferences", aims to showcase outstanding papers from IIKII 2019 conferences, including symmetry in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and computer science, etc. It selected 21 outstanding papers from 750 papers presented in IIKII 2019 conferences on the topic of symmetry. The main goals of this Special Issue are to encourage scientists to publish their experimental and theoretical results in as much detail as possible, and to discover new scientific knowledge relevant to the topic of symmetry.

This Special Issue "Recent Advances and Future Trends in Pavement Engineering" was proposed and organized to present recent developments in the field of innovative pavement materials and engineering. The 12 articles and state-of-the-art reviews highlighted in this editorial are related to different aspects of pavement engineering, from recycled asphalt pavements to alkali-activated materials, from hot mix asphalt concrete to porous asphalt concrete, from interface bonding to modal analysis, and from destructive testing to non-destructive pavement monitoring by using fiber optics sensors. This Special Issue partly provides an overview of current innovative pavement engineering ideas that have the potential to be implemented in industry in the future, covering some recent developments.

The structure of sequential behavior and its patterns have attracted the attention of researchers from various disciplines, such as game theory, human and animal behavior, evolutionary ecology, psychology, behavioral economy, and cognitive sciences. Sequential behavior seems to be involved in the processes of sequential learning, decision-making processes, and exploratory behavior. There are, however, competing hypotheses regarding the mechanisms involved in the complexity of the behavioral responses of organisms when exposed to changing environments. The behavioral response to different environmental conditions is often utilized in behavioral ecology studies, where the changes in behavior are quantified in terms of probability of dispersal, distance, and speed of movements or time budget, where the time spent on different activities (foraging, resting, explore, etc.) is registered and analyzed in terms of cost-benefit. This book represents a series of articles covering a broad spectrum of organisms and proposes the analysis of sequential behavior utilizing indices commonly applied in the estimation of developmental instability (fluctuating asymmetry, directional asymmetry, and antisymmetry) toward estimating the degree of "Behavioral Instability". Deviations from symmetry will be interpreted in ecological and evolutionary terms, where the cost and benefits of changes of the degree of behavioral instability will be analyzed in terms of overall costs and benefits and its evolutionary significance. Presented in this collection are multidisciplinary studies (theoretical and computational as well as experimental and empirical approaches) that validate the proposed approach and pave the way for future investigation in the novel field of what is best described as behavioral instability.

Worldwide, liver fibrosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality and is associated with a high medical and economic burden. It is the common consequence of chronic liver injury due to various etiologies. During fibrogenesis, there is a progressive substitution of the liver parenchyma by scar tissue. Recent advances in the understanding of the history of liver fibrosis have shown that the pathogenesis is driven by different cell types and a large variety of soluble mediators. At present, scientists working in this field aim to increase basic knowledge, improve diagnostics, and try to translate experimental findings into new treatment modalities. This book includes 12 selected contributions from the Special Issue "Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms Underlying the Pathogenesis of Hepatic Fibrosis" that was published in Cells. These articles summarize current perspectives and findings in hepatic fibrosis research showing how scientists try to use basic scientific research to create new therapies and diagnostics.

This Special Issue reports on recent research trends in hydraulics, hydrodynamics, and hydroinformatics, and their novel applications in practical engineering. The Issue covers a wide range of topics, including open channel flows, sediment transport dynamics, two-phase flows, flow-induced vibration and water quality. The collected papers provide insight into new developments in physical, mathematical, and numerical modelling of important problems in hydraulics and hydroinformatics, and include demonstrations of the application of such models in water resources engineering.

This Special Issue reports on recent research trends in hydraulics, hydrodynamics, and hydroinformatics, and their novel applications in practical engineering. The Issue covers a wide range of topics, including open channel flows, sediment transport dynamics, two-phase flows, flow-induced vibration and water quality. The collected papers provide insight into new developments in physical, mathematical, and numerical modelling of important problems in hydraulics and hydroinformatics, and include demonstrations of the application of such models in water resources engineering.