Books published by Mdpi AG

The pestiviruses encompass some of the most economically important viral infections in the cattle, swine, and sheep industries worldwide. Discovered more than 70 years ago, bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) and classical swine fever virus (CSFV) were long the main concern, but many new pestiviruses have emerged in recent years, which may also present additional threats to biosecurity and food safety. This issue brings together contributions from multiple disciplines - virology, immunology, veterinary clinical medicine, epidemiology, and pathology - on the subject of BVDV and related pestiviruses, and cover host-virus interactions, virus-cell interactions, cross-species transmission as well as the role of wildlife species as reservoirs of some of the pestiviruses.

Apheresis refers to an extracorporeal therapy which aims at removing pathological constituents from the patients'' blood. Due to the development of new techniques as well as the discovery of novel autoimmune antibodies, it is increasingly recognized as an important therapeutic option for a variety of autoimmune-mediated neurological disorders, including multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, autoimmune encephalitis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and many others. Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) constitutes the standard method of apheresis for most indications, while immunoadsorption (IA) offers a more specific, low-risk alternative. Both methods aim at removing auto-antibodies from the blood. Evidence for most neurological diseases is still low. Interestingly, more recent developments suggest that apheresis is not limited to the removal of autoantibodies but may also be useful in neurodegenerative and possibly even in acute vascular disorders.

In this Special Issue, recent advances in cross-coupling reactions are presented in the form of original research articles, reviews, and short communications. These contributions cover different topics in this area, including novel coupling reactions, reaction conditions, synthetic alternatives, metal ligands, and applications for new pharmaceutical compounds and organic materials. In particular, the reviews deal with methodologies such as the synthesis of diarylketones through palladium catalysis and the most relevant examples of Suzuki-Miyaura and Buchwald-Hartwig coupling reactions in the synthesis of bioactive compounds. The synthetic utility of cross-coupling reactions for the synthesis of medium-size rings and the utility of Stille and Suzuki coupling reactions for the synthesis of new molecular machines based on sterically hindered anthracenyl trypticenyl units are also summarized. The original research articles present the synthesis of 2-alkynylpyrrols by inverse Sonogashira coupling and the synthesis of indoles under oxidative dearomative cross-dehydrogenative conditions. The efficient combination of iridium-catalyzed C-H borylation of aryl halides with the Sonogashira coupling and a sequential iridium-catalyzed borylation of NH-free pyrroles followed by a Suzuki-Miyaura reaction are included. The synthesis of aryl propionic acids, a common structural motif in medicinal chemistry, and the synthesis of new organic dyes are also covered.

Biocatalysis, the application of enzymes as catalysts for chemical synthesis, has become an increasingly valuable tool for the synthetic chemist. Enzymatic transformations carried out by enzymes or whole-cell catalysts are used for the production of a wide variety of compounds ranging from bulk to fine chemicals. The primary consideration for the incorporation of biotransformation in a synthetic sequence is regio- and stereocontrol that can be achieved with enzyme-catalyzed reactions. Biotransformations are thus becoming accepted as a method for generating optically pure compounds as well as for developing efficient routes to target compounds. This Special Issue aims to address the main applications of biocatalysts, isolated enzymes, and whole microorganisms in the synthesis of bioactive compounds and their precursors.

There has been significant progress in the field of interventional cardiology, from the development of newer devices to newer applications of technology, resulting in improved cardiovascular outcomes. The goal of this Special Issue is to update practicing clinicians and provide a comprehensive collection of original articles, reviews, and editorials. To this end, we invited state-of-the-art reviews, including reviews of new technology and therapeutics, as well as original research in this area to be considered for inclusion in this issue. Examples include the history and evolution of interventional techniques, reviews of specific devices and technologies for coronary artery disease (i.e., stent technology, atherectomy devices, coronary physiology, intracoronary imaging, and robotics), structural heart diseases (i.e., ASD: atrial septal defect; LAAC: left atrial appendage closure; MC: MitraClip; PFO: patent foramen ovale; TAVI: transcatheter aortic valve implantation), advances in the management of challenging coronary anatomy, new biomarkers of cardiovascular disease (noncoding RNAs, etc.), and interventional techniques in the management of heart failure, peripheral arterial diseases, and pulmonary embolism. This Special Issue presents the most recent advances in the field of coronary and structural heart diseases as well as their implications for future patient care.

Rheology, defined as the science of deformation and flow of matter, is a multidisciplinary scientific field, covering both fundamental and applied approaches. The study of rheology includes both experimental and computational methods, which are not mutually exclusive. Its practical importance embraces many processes, from daily life, like preparing mayonnaise or spreading an ointment or shampooing, to industrial processes like polymer processing and oil extraction, among several others. Practical applications include also formulations and product development. Following a successful first volume, we are now launching this second volume to continue to present the latest advances in the fields of experimental and computational rheology applied to the most diverse classes of materials (foods, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, polymers and biopolymers, multiphasic systems, and composites) and processes.

African ecosystems comprise a wealthy repository of biodiversity, with a high proportion of native and endemic plant species, which makes them biologically unique and providers of a wide range of ecosystem services. A large part of African populations, in both rural and urban areas, depend on plants for their survival and welfare, but many ecosystems are being degraded, mostly due to the growing impacts of climate change and other anthropogenic actions and environmental problems. Loss of habitat and biodiversity affects livelihoods, water supply and food security and reduces the resilience of ecosystems in the African continent. The knowledge about the great African plant and ecosystem diversity, and the structure, composition and processes involved in vegetation dynamics, is crucial to promote their sustainable use and to preserve one of the most understudied regions in the world. This Special Issue aimed to gather contributions that update and improve such knowledge.

The mechanistic/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), a serine/threonine kinase, is a central regulator for human physiological activity. Deregulated mTOR signaling is implicated in a variety of disorders, such as cancer, obesity, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases. The papers published in this Special Issue summarize the current understanding of the mTOR pathway and its role in the regulation of tissue regeneration, regulatory T cell differentiation and function, and different types of cancer including hematologic malignancies, skin, prostate, breast, and head and neck cancer. The findings highlight that targeting mTOR pathway is a promising strategy to fight against certain human diseases.

In recent years, power electronics have been intensely contributing to the development and evolution of new structures for the processing of energy. They can be used in a wide range of applications ranging from power systems and electrical machines to electric vehicles and robot arm drives. In conjunction with the evolution of microprocessors and advanced control theories, power electronics are playing an increasingly essential role in our society. Thus, in order to cope with the obstacles lying ahead, this book presents a collection of original studies and modeling methods which were developed and published in the field of electrical energy conditioning and control by using circuits and electronic devices, with an emphasis on power applications and industrial control. Researchers have contributed 19 selected and peer-reviewed papers covering a wide range of topics by addressing a wide variety of themes, such as motor drives, AC-DC and DC-DC converters, multilevel converters, varistors, and electromagnetic compatibility, among others. The overall result is a book that represents a cohesive collection of inter-/multidisciplinary works regarding the industrial applications of power electronics.

The electric power sector is poised for transformative changes. Improvements in the cost and performance of a range of distributed energy generation (DG) technologies and the potential for breakthroughs in distributed energy storage (DS) are creating new options for onsite power generation and storage, driving increasing adoption and impacting utility distribution system operations. In addition, changing uses and use patterns for electricity-from plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) to demand response (DR)-are altering demands placed on the electric power system. Finally, the infusion of new information and communications technology (ICT) into the electric system and its markets is enabling the collection of immense volumes of data on power sector operations and use; unprecedented control of generation, networks, and loads; and new opportunities for the delivery of energy services. In this Special Issue of Energies, research papers on topics related to the integration of distributed energy resources (DG, DS, EV, and DR) are included. From technologies to software tools to system-wide evaluations, the impacts of all aforementioned distributed resources on both operation and planning are examined.

Abiotic stress represents the main constraint for agriculture, affecting plant growth and productivity worldwide. Yield losses in agriculture will be potentiated in the future by global warming, increasing contamination, and reduced availability of fertile land. The challenge for agriculture of the present and future is that of increasing the food supply for a continuously growing human population under environmental conditions that are deteriorating in many areas of the world. Minimizing the effects of diverse types of abiotic stresses represents a matter of general concern. Research on all topics related to abiotic stress tolerance, from understanding the stress response mechanisms of plants to developing cultivars and crops tolerant to stress, is a priority. This Special Issue is focused on the physiological and molecular characterization of crop resistance to abiotic stresses, including novel research, reviews, and opinion articles covering all aspects of the responses and mechanisms of plant tolerance to abiotic. Contributions on physiological, biochemical, and molecular studies of crop responses to abiotic stresses; the description and role of stress-responsive genes; marker-assisted screening of stress-tolerant genotypes; genetic engineering; and other biotechnological approaches to improve crop tolerance were considered.

The cooperation of highly specialized cell types maintains the homeostasis of multicellular organisms. The disturbance of that harmony contributes to the development of several diseases. Most of the cellular functions are executed by proteins, so it is essential to investigate biological processes at the protein level. Antibodies, complex biomolecules with high specificity, are used to recognize our protein of interest in a process known as "immunophenotyping". One of the routinely used methods to study cellular proteins is flow cytometry, which detects cell surface or intracellular proteins at single-cell resolution. The other most frequent technique is the traditional immunohistochemical investigation of microscopic sections of human tissues. We called authors to publish their latest data studying cancer or autoimmune diseases by immunophenotyping.

This book collects the peer-reviewed contributions accepted for the publication in the Special Issue "Advances in In Situ Biological and Chemical Groundwater Treatment" of the MDPI journal Water. As such, the contributions refer to a variety of widespread pollutants (chlorinated ethenes, chlorinated phenols, chromium, copper, nickel, and arsenic phenols) and new remediation approaches (bioremediation, bioelectrochemical systems, and sorption), covering lab and field studies.

Despite the efficiency of current cancer treatments, cancer is still a deadly disease for too many. In 2008, 7.6 million people died of cancer; with the current development, it is estimated that the annual cancer death number will grow to 13 million by 2030. There is clearly a need for not only more research but also more innovative and out of the mainstream scientific ideas to discover and develop even better cancer treatments. This book presents the collective works published in the recent Special Issue entitled "Killing Cancer: Discovery and Selection of New Target Molecules". These articles comprise a selection of studies, ideas, and opinions that aim to facilitate knowledge, thoughts, and discussion about which biological and molecular mechanisms in cancer we should target and how we should target them.

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a very useful technique for medical diagnosis and drug development. Radiopharmaceuticals are a key element in PET techniques and one of the pivotal factors influencing the applications of PET. The aim of this Special Issue of Molecules is to report on the recent research work on a number of aspects of PET radiopharmaceuticals and their preclinical and clinical use. More specifically, the content of this Special Issue includes but is not limited to radiolabeling design, radiosynthesis, synthesis techniques, quality control methodologies, GMP production methods, product formulation, in vitro and in vivo preclinical PET evaluations, clinical evaluations, dosimetry, stability study and metabolite analysis, and modeling.

The book provides a contemporary view on different aspects of the deductive systems in various types of logics including term logics, propositional logics, logics of refutation, non-Fregean logics, higher order logics and arithmetic.

For many years, arteriogenesis, also called collateral formation, has been regarded as being a beneficial process to restore blood flow to distal tissues in occluded arteries. Therefore, it is frequently referred to in relation to therapeutic angiogenesis. Despite the big clinical potential and the many promising clinical trials on arteriogenesis and therapeutic angiogenesis, the exact molecular mechanisms involved in the multifactorial processes of arteriogenesis are still not completely understood. A better understanding is needed in order to define successful clinical therapies. In this Special Issue, multiple aspects of arteriogenesis and therapeutic angiogenesis will be addressed, ranging from the role of inflammatory processes and immune cells, to growth factors, microRNAs and environmental factors like hypoxia. Therapeutic angiogenesis will also be discussed in relation to the atherosclerosis and intraplaque angiogenesis in hypoxic lesions, as well as specific forms of arteriogenesis in relation to spinal cord blood supply and aorta surgery. The effects of exercise, a frequently prescribed therapy for PAD patients, on arteriogenesis are also discussed. Overall, the papers in this Special Issue on arteriogenesis and therapeutic angiogenesis provide important new insights in the underlying pathophysiological mechanism of these complex processes and may be helpful to define a successful future intervention directed at therapeutic angiogenesis.

The long-term productivity of forest ecosystems depends on the cycling of nutrients. The effect of carbon dioxide fertilization on forest productivity may ultimately be limited by the rate of nutrient cycling. Contemporary and future disturbances such as climatic warming, N-deposition, deforestation, short rotation sylviculture, fire (both wild and controlled), and the invasion of exotic species all place strains on the integrity of ecosystem nutrient cycling. Global differences in climate, soils, and species make it difficult to extrapolate even a single important study worldwide. Despite advances in the understanding of nutrient cycling and carbon production in forests, many questions remain. The chapters in this volume reflect many contemporary research priorities. The thirteen studies in this volume are arranged in the following subject groups: ΓÇó N and P resorption from foliage worldwide, along chronosequences and along elevation gradients; ΓÇó Litter production and decomposition; ΓÇó N and P stoichiometry as affected by N deposition, geographic gradients, species changes, and ecosystem restoration; ΓÇó Effects of N and P addition on understory biomass, litter, and soil; ΓÇó Effects of burning on soil nutrients; ΓÇó Effects of N addition on soil fauna.

Acoustic emission (AE) techniques have successfully been used for assuring the structural integrity of large rocket motorcases since 1963, and their uses have expanded to ever larger structures, especially as structural health monitoring (SHM) of large structures has become the most urgent task for engineering communities around the world. The needs for advanced AE monitoring methods are felt keenly by those dealing with aging infrastructures. Many publications have appeared covering various aspects of AE techniques, but documentation of actual applications of AE techniques has been mostly limited to reports of successful results without technical details that allow objective evaluation of the results. There are some exceptions in the literature. In this Special Issue of the Acoustics section of Applied Sciences, we seek contributions covering these exceptions cited here. Here, we seek contributions describing case histories of AE applications to large structures that have achieved the goals of SHM by providing adequate technical information supporting the success stories. Types of structures can include aerospace and geological structures, bridges, buildings, factories, maritime facilities, off-shore structures, etc. Experiences with AE monitoring methods designed and proven for large stru

Digital agriculture is gaining traction among scientists implementing different new and emerging sensor technologies to monitor complex soil-plant-atmosphere interactions in an accurate, cost-effective and user-friendly manner. This book presents some of the latest advances in this emerging area of research. The diversity of applications in which digital agriculture can make an important difference in day-to-day farming decision making makes this discipline an important focus of research internationally.

This volume is an exploration of the varied and sometimes unrecognized ways in which music-especially in ritual contexts-can serve as both a spiritual conduit as well as a theological source. With topics ranging from a Congolese choir in Ireland to the Orthodox chant in Georgia, from postmodern reflections on new Passion compositions to reflections on the sacramentality of Black gospel music, this volume offers a rich plumbing of very diverse yet well researched musical traditions-case studies from around the globe-for their spiritual and theological contributions.

In the current context of the electronic governance of society, both administrations and citizens are demanding the greater participation of all the actors involved in the decision-making process relative to the governance of society. This book presents collective works published in the recent Special Issue (SI) entitled "Optimization for Decision Making II". These works give an appropriate response to the new challenges raised, the decision-making process can be done by applying different methods and tools, as well as using different objectives. In real-life problems, the formulation of decision-making problems and the application of optimization techniques to support decisions are particularly complex and a wide range of optimization techniques and methodologies are used to minimize risks, improve quality in making decisions or, in general, to solve problems. In addition, a sensitivity or robustness analysis should be done to validate/analyze the influence of uncertainty regarding decision-making. This book brings together a collection of inter-/multi-disciplinary works applied to the optimization of decision making in a coherent manner.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most common neurological disorders in young adults. The etiology of MS is not known, but it is generally accepted that it is autoimmune in nature. Our knowledge of the pathogenesis of MS has increased tremendously in the past decade through clinical studies and the use of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model that has been widely used for MS research. Major advances in the field, such as understanding the roles of pathogenic Th17 cells, myeloid cells, and B cells in MS/EAE, as well as cytokine and chemokine signaling that controls neuroinflammation, have led to the development of potential and clinically approved disease-modifying agents (DMAs). There are many aspects related to the initiation, relapse and remission, and progression of MS that are yet to be elucidated. For instance, what are the genetic and environmental risk factors that promote the initiation of MS, and how do these factors impact the immune system? What factors drive the progression of MS, and what are the roles of peripheral immune cells in disease progression? How do the CNS-infiltrated immune cells interact with the CNS-resident glial cells when the disease progresses? What is the role of microbiome in MS? Can we develop animal models that better represent subcategories of MS? Understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern the pathogenesis of MS will help to develop novel and more specific therapeutic strategies that will ultimately improve clinical outcomes of the treatments. This Special Issue of Cells has published original research articles, a retrospective clinical report, and review articles that investigate the cellular and molecular basis of MS.

Exceptional loads on buildings and structures may have different causes, including high-strain dynamic effects due to natural hazards, man-made attacks, and accidents, as well as extreme operational conditions (severe temperature variations, humidity, etc.). All of these aspects can be critical for specific structural typologies and/or materials that are particularly sensitive to external conditions. In this regard, dedicated and refined methods are required for their design, analysis, and maintenance under the expected lifetime. There are major challenges related to the structural typology and material properties with respect to the key features of the imposed design load. Further issues can be derived from the need for risk mitigation or retrofit of existing structures as well as from the optimal and safe design of innovative materials/systems. Finally, in some cases, no appropriate design recommendations are available and, thus, experimental investigations can have a key role within the overall process. In this Special Issue, original research studies, review papers, and experimental and/or numerical investigations are presented for the structural performance assessment of buildings and structures under various extreme conditions that are of interest for design.

This book is the printed edition of the Special Issue published in Materials. The book provides an overview of current international research activities in the field of friction and wear management through the laser processing of periodic surface micro- and nanostructures for technical and medical applications. Contributions of renowned scientists from academia and industry provide a bridge between the fields of tribology and laser material processing in order to foster current knowledge and present new ideas for future applications and new technologies.

We are pleased to present "Optical Trapping and Manipulation: From Fundamentals to Applications", a Special Issue of Micromachines dedicated to the latest research in optical trapping. In recognition of the broad impact of optical manipulation techniques across disciplines, this Special Issue collected contributions related to all aspects of optical trapping and manipulation. Both theoretical and experimental studies were welcome, and applications of optical manipulation methods in fields including (but not limited to) single molecule biophysics, cell biology, nanotechnology, atmospheric chemistry, and fundamental optics were particularly welcome in order to showcase the breadth of the current research. The Special Issue accepted diverse forms of contributions, including research papers, short communications, methods, and review articles representing the state-of-the-art in optical trapping.

There is talk of an upcoming antibiotic armageddon, with untreatable post-operative infections, and similarly untreatable complications after chemotherapy. Indeed, the now famous "O''Neill Report" (https://amr-review.org/) suggests that, by 2050, more people might die from antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections than from cancer. While we are still learning all the subtle drivers of antibiotic resistance, it seems increasingly clear that we need to take a "one health" approach, curtailing the use of antibiotics in both human and veterinary medicine. However, there are no new classes of antibiotics on our horizon. Maybe something that has been around "forever" can come to our rescue-bacteriophages! Nevertheless, it is also necessary to do things differently, and use these new antimicrobials appropriately. Therefore, an in-depth study of bacteriophage biology and case-by-case applications might be required. Whilst by no means comprehensive, this book does cover some of the many topics related to bacteriophages as antimicrobials, including their use in human therapy and aquaculture. It also explores the potential use of phage endolysins as substitutes of antibiotics in two sectors where there is an urgent need-human therapy and the agro-food industry. Last but not least, there is an excellent perspective article on phage therapy implementation.

The vast majority of real-world problems can be expressed as an optimisation task by formulating an objective function, also known as cost or fitness function. The most logical methods to optimise such a function when (1) an analytical expression is not available, (2) mathematical hypotheses do not hold, and (3) the dimensionality of the problem or stringent real-time requirements make it infeasible to find an exact solution mathematically are from the field of Evolutionary Computation (EC) and Swarm Intelligence (SI). The latter are broad and still growing subjects in Computer Science in the study of metaheuristic approaches, i.e., those approaches which do not make any assumptions about the problem function, inspired from natural phenomena such as, in the first place, the evolution process and the collaborative behaviours of groups of animals and communities, respectively. This book contains recent advances in the EC and SI fields, covering most themes currently receiving a great deal of attention such as benchmarking and tunning of optimisation algorithms, their algorithm design process, and their application to solve challenging real-world problems to face large-scale domains.

Positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) are in vivo molecular imaging methods which are widely used in nuclear medicine for diagnosis and treatment follow-up of many major diseases. These methods use target-specific molecules as probes, which are labeled with radionuclides of short half-lives that are synthesized prior to the imaging studies. These probes are called radiopharmaceuticals. The use of PET and SPECT for brain imaging is of special significance since the brain controls all the body''s functions by processing information from the whole body and the outside world. It is the source of thoughts, intelligence, memory, speech, creativity, emotion, sensory functions, motion control, and other important body functions. Protected by the skull and the blood-brain barrier, the brain is somehow a privileged organ with regard to nutrient supply, immune response, and accessibility for diagnostic and therapeutic measures. Invasive procedures are rather limited for the latter purposes. Therefore, noninvasive imaging with PET and SPECT has gained high importance for a great variety of brain diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases, motor dysfunctions, stroke, epilepsy, psychiatric diseases, and brain tumors. This Special Issue focuses on radiolabeled molecules that are used for these purposes, with special emphasis on neurodegenerative diseases and brain tumors.

In recent years, several projects and studies have been launched towards the development and use of new methodologies, in order to assess, monitor, and support clean forms of energy. Accurate estimation of the available energy potential is of primary importance, but is not always easy to achieve. The present Special Issue on ''Renewable Energy Resource Assessment and Forecasting'' aims to provide a holistic approach to the above issues, by presenting multidisciplinary methodologies and tools that are able to support research projects and meet today''s technical, socio-economic, and decision-making needs. In particular, research papers, reviews, and case studies on the following subjects are presented: wind, wave and solar energy; biofuels; resource assessment of combined renewable energy forms; numerical models for renewable energy forecasting; integrated forecasted systems; energy for buildings; sustainable development; resource analysis tools and statistical models; extreme value analysis and forecasting for renewable energy resources.