Books published by Mdpi AG

Ever since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the fairy tale has not only become a staple of the small and silver screen around the globe, it has also migrated into new media, overwhelming audiences with imaginative and spectacular retellings along the way. Indeed, modern fairy-tale adaptations, pervading contemporary popular culture, drastically subvert, shatter, and alter the public’s understanding of the classic fairy tale. Because of the phenomenally increasing proliferation of fairy-tale transformations in today’s “old” and “new” media, we must reflect upon the significance of the fairy tale for society and its social uses in a nuanced fashion. How, why, and for whom have fairy-tale narratives, characters, and motifs metamorphosed in recent decades? What significant intermedial and intertextual relationships exist nowadays in connection with the fairy tale? This Special Issue features eleven illuminating articles of thirteen scholars in the fields of folklore and fairy-tale studies, tackling these and other relevant questions.

Monoclonal antibodies are established in clinical practice for the treatment of cancer, and autoimmune and infectious diseases. The first generation of antibodies has been dominated by classical IgG antibodies, however, in the last decade, the field has advanced, and, nowadays, a large proportion of antibodies in development have been engineered.  This Special Issue on "Monoclonal Antibodies" includes  original manuscripts and reviews covering various aspects related to the discovery, analytical characterization, manufacturing and development of therapeutic and engineered antibodies.

The assembly of organic ligands and metal centres yields coordination polymers, many of which find applications in conductivity, catalysis, magnetism, gas sorption, biological sensing and luminescence. The structure and topology of coordination polymers may be manipulated by changing the reaction conditions, leading to a large variety of structurally and topologically unique products. However, controlling and predicting the final outcome of the self-assembly procedure remains one of the major challenges in the field. The final products are often strongly influenced by factors such as the behaviour of a functional group in a molecule, the influence of the crystallization conditions and the various conformations of the components within the crystal.This Special Issue aims to cover a broad range of subjects in coordination polymer chemistry, which are important to the continued growth of the field, showcase current developments and realise its full potential in applications to address major societal challenges.Therefore, we invite you to contribute a research article to this Special Issue and provide a clear snapshot of your research in this field. 

This book contains twenty papers focusing on research investigations in the field of nickel/metal hydride (Ni/MH) batteries in 2017. These papers summarize the joint efforts in Ni/MH battery research from BASF, Wayne State University, Michigan State University, FDK Corp, Institute for Energy Technology, Central South University, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen Highpower, and University of Witwatersrand from 2016–2017 through reviews of active materials, previous academic publications, issued EU Patents and filed Chinese Patent Applications, descriptions of current research results in advanced components and cell performance, and projections of future works.

This Special Issue of Nutrients focuses on advances that extend our knowledge of the biochemical functions and health roles played by both the micronutrient vitamin K and its target Gla proteins.  The scope of potential topics is wide and may include studies in population and patient groups, animal models and at the cellular level.  Examples include the presentation, diagnosis, incidence, causes, and prevention of deficiency syndromes, of which the most obvious is bleeding in infancy, but also extends to other putative roles of vitamin K such as in bone and cardiovascular health.  In trying to define extrahepatic functions of vitamin K it is important to obtain evidence of pathophysiological signatures that may derive from chronic suboptimal vitamin K intakes or as a consequence of vitamin K antagonists.  An important related question is whether the pathophysiology can be ameliorated or prevented by judicious vitamin K supplementation.  Equally important to our understanding of the human physiology of vitamin K are studies that define the relative functional importance of individual vitamers and how differences in their availability and metabolism affect their biological activity.  Recent highlights in metabolism include the delineation of the importance of vitamin K epoxide reductase (VKOR) in maintaining vitamin K status and the intriguing hypothesis that its paralog VKOR-like 1 enzyme (VKORL1) may serve an antioxidant function.  Another highlight illustrating the importance of metabolism to vitamin K function is the discovery that the enzyme UbiA prenyltransferase-containing domain 1 (UBIAD1) participates in the cellular conversion of phylloquinone to MK-4 with menadione as a metabolic intermediate.  We invite authors to submit reviews or original research on any of the above topics.

While the study of vibration and energy dissipation is one of the oldest topics in engineering, it also encompasses some of the most exciting engineering problems of our time. From the exploration of deep sub-sea reservoirs to the stabilization of spacecraft in orbit, the problem of vibration control is ever present. To a certain extent, the technological progress of our civilization is tied to our understanding of vibration, and advances made in this field will only allow us to reach greater horizons. This book attempts to capture a glimpse of our current progress in this field by showcasing over 15 chapters of cutting-edge research performed by world leading experts in vibration control and energy dissipation. We hope the reader will be able to gain an understanding of the state-of-the-art, and if possible, be inspired by the vast scope and possibilities offered by the field of vibration control and energy dissipation. 

The issues facing humanity have become increasingly complex due to the fact they are embedded in a global web of ecological, economic, social, cultural and political processes that are dynamically interlinked. The capacity to conceptualise and redesign solutions, in systems and sustainability terms, will increasingly be what society and employers expect. This “expectation” is globally one of the biggest challenges for education. This Special Issue highlights key developments in the area of systems education and how some of the many challenges are currently being addressed. The 15 articles published fall into five groups: how to design learning systems for systems thinking and sustainability education; insights from the various systems education programs available internationally; different approaches to teaching systems thinking and sustainability; how systems education can be tailored to broaden systems education beyond universities; and possible future pathways for systems education for a sustainable planet. The range and magnitude of the contributions to this book illustrate the diversity of systems education practices and programs (learning systems) in the global systems community, and the relevance of systems thinking and practice to examining issues crucial to the long-term sustainability of the planet.

The field of marine polysaccharides is constantly evolving, due to progress in the discovery and production of new marine polysaccharides. Seaweed remains the most abundant source of polysaccharides, but recent advances in biotechnology have allowed the production of large quantities of polysaccharides from a variety of micro-algae, by controlling growth conditions and tailoring the production of bioactive compounds in a bioreactor. Of particular interest are polysaccharides produced by micro-organisms from extreme marine environments, due to their recognized different biochemistry. Extracellular polysaccharides (EPSs) with unique properties produced by a number of micro-algae are known. The first volume is a collection of papers concerning the identification and characterization of novel marine polysaccharides. It is divided into three chapters; the first two are dedicated to polysaccharides from different marine sources (algae, micro-algae, animals), while the third one gathers information on the isolation, characterization and bioactivity of new EPSs.

The field of marine polysaccharides is constantly evolving, due to progress in the discovery and production of new marine polysaccharides. Seaweed remains the most abundant source of polysaccharides, but recent advances in biotechnology have allowed the production of large quantities of polysaccharides from a variety of micro-algae, by controlling growth conditions and tailoring the production of bioactive compounds in a bioreactor. Of particular interest are polysaccharides produced by micro-organisms from extreme marine environments, due to their recognized different biochemistry. Extracellular polysaccharides (EPSs) with unique properties produced by a number of micro-algae are known. The first volume is a collection of papers concerning the identification and characterization of novel marine polysaccharides. It is divided into three chapters; the first two are dedicated to polysaccharides from different marine sources (algae, micro-algae, animals), while the third one gathers information on the isolation, characterization and bioactivity of new EPSs.